CARET Legal Reviews

I like it because I can accurately track my time spent with each client and easily assign fees and expenses.

The truth is that I had to invest a little of my time in learning how to get the most out of the software and getting familiar.

The website and app are easy to use, responsive and have a fairly logical layout. It's easy to search and find information, and data input is relatively simple. Our office doesn't use Zola as an all-in-one solution, but for the parts we use daily (which is still most of the features), we're very happy with the state of the software.

Customer service has been incredibly responsive, and you really get the feel that they are willing to invest the time in problem solving. I also really feel like my input has been taken into account as product updates roll out.

The mobile app has improved by leaps and bounds. It is in an excellent place, and very usable.

There are still a few bugs and features to fill in gaps as the software matures further, but nothing that prevents functionality. I've been with Zola for about 18 months; what would have been my biggest cons 6 months ago have since been addressed.

The email interface requires the most work, but it too is nonetheless in a good state. Tagging emails to cases could be a little easier, and moving emails to different folders could be more responsive and update more quickly.

I'd also quibble about needing to use multiple tabs to get full functionality out of the software (at minimum, Dashboard, Email, and Calendar all need to be semi-permanently open because it's not easy to switch between them otherwise); That's not a huge deal, just a minor annoyance.

Last thing, and this is very minor: I'd love to see a style update through the whole website. It's not cluttered, which is great, but I don't feel like it has a very modern look.

We chose this product for ease of use and functionality promises that were not delivered.

Caret purchased Zola and the transition has not been optimal. The email and calendaring functions are glitchy to the point of non-usability. Customer service is slow or non-responsive. We were promised a customer portal function that doesn't meet our needs.

The responsiveness of tech support and customer service to not only troubleshooting problems, but suggested features and improvements, is absolutely top notch. That alone is enough to really recommend Zola.

Sometimes, the workflow can be a bit awkward, as some features are less intuitive or require more steps. Links that you would expect to be there are sometimes missing (for example, there is no way to click on the Matter on the Task item to go to the Matter page). For the most part, though, these things are often fixed in updates, and the usability continues to be refined so that clunkier parts of the site get better over time.

This software loads fast and is streamlined and instinctive. I am a former abacus user. It took me less than an hour to learn and master tasks in zolasuite that it took me months to figure out on abacus. In addition, the mobile app is huge if you are on the road. Even something as simple as being able to immediately create a timeslip for a phonecall you may have had with a client while waiting during a court recess is huge. It monetizes something you may as soon forget about when you return to the office. This means zolasuite could very well pay for itself based upon revenue you dont lose.

The migration from abacus was an issue. It occurred two weeks ago and what notes that are there are scrambled and attached to cases thet don't belong to. It may be worthwhile to handle this yourself.

Ease of use, everything is all in one spot, great features, incorporates with my other software (i.e. - LawPay)

There are frequent updates to roll out new features. Although this is a good thing, things changing frequently in the software can sometimes slow down processing time.

Intuitive interface; easily syncs with G Suite. I took a demo of all of the top practice management programs and ended up going with Zola. I found the software is the easiest to use and worked well with how I like to organize my files. Honestly, cannot say enough great things about my experience thus far.

I have only been using Zola for a short period of time and have not experienced any cons. If I had to select a Con, it would be the lack of form templates.

Integrated e-mail. So far as I know, this is the only web-based case management software that natively handles e-mail. With other programs, you have to BCC e-mails to a special address to save them in relationship to a matter. With Zola, you simply choose from a drop-down menu.

Help is fantastic, both in the sense of solving particular problems and modifying the program as needs become apparent.

The basic accounting functions are present, but are the weakest part of the program. This is not going to be a replacement for a full-fledged accounting program like Quickbooks, but is adequate to the task of running small to medium firms.

I find it easy to use and self explanatory. The biggest benefit has been the ease of tracking my time and easily generating client invoices.

It's not unusual for the site to freeze on me or to run slow. I've had times where I lost an email I drafted because the system locked up and I ended up starting from scratch without it saving a draft of the email.

On the whole, Zola is an excellent practice management software. The onboarding process was smooth and we were easily able to get our client and matter databases uploaded.

The built-in email integration is hands-down the best feature about Zola. After linking your email account, the integrated email application allows us to quickly and easily save client correspondence and attachments directly to the associated matter. The integration intelligently recognizes the senders email address and suggests the matter to which it should be saved based on the matter contacts.

Billing & Invoicing is a breeze and has saved us so much time. You can set up invoice templates to display relevant information for your clients and then choose which template(s) you would like to use for each individual matter upon creation. It is quick and easy to add flat fees, time entries and expenses for matters, and then Zola quickly generates an invoice of any items you wish to include. Invoices are automatically updated when you add incoming payments and LawPay credit card processing is included with the software.

Matter management is solid and better than competitors like Clio. You can design your matters based on practice area with custom fields to incorporate the most important information for those matter types. The matter dashboard/overview can then be customized to show all the most useful information (including custom fields) from all matters in one spot.

The CRM feels pretty lacking. The fact that it is included is a nice bonus over other practice management offerings, but the overall functionality isn't great. You can't customize the CRM/sales process stages or really anything about the CRM for that matter, so you have to brute force your own process to fit what is given to you. We decided to use a different software for our CRM because it ultimately takes too much time to manage and stay on top of leads in the CRM as it stands now in Zola.

Task management is fine, but could be better. There are task templates which allow you to create an overall task (e.g. "client intake") with subtask workflows, but the templates don't allow you to designate individual due dates for the subtasks or set them up as dependencies, which would be much more useful

User friendly intuitive easy to get implemented

Document automation is somewhat elementary but it works

The interface is intuitive so I can easily teach myself as I go. I like that almost every option is customizable to look and feel the way I want it to - without having jump through a zillion special hoops for the customization process. Just a click or two and I'm done.

Hmmmm, not much, really. There's a glitch with the google calendar sync where it duplicates entries too many times. But I'd rather it tell me twice than not at all! (I think this glitch is fixed now, anyway).

The two big things that Zola gets right are the accounting component and work flow for billing.
Before trying Zola, I tried manual spreadsheets, FreshBooks, Harvest, CaseOne, Clio, Xero, ebility, and probably some others. None of them got out of the way and let me run a business like Zola does. Yes, they assume that I have a dedicated office manager, but even when I do, why would I want to do that to them?
Clio is close, because it understands the way that legal cases files flow, and if Clio were starting now, I think they would handle matters and clients like Zola Suite does. The alternatives I spend the most time with, Clio and Xero, are married to their cloud integration such that it seems that they can't add really obvious features because they would cannibalize (aka "Sherlock") their partners.
Zola is a better platform because other sites that relay on integrations to other apps mean they have one-way sync and one-way is stupid for billing because I need it to be in one place not two.

There are some user interface things that I think will improve in the coming year. (For example, I don't use Zola for email, the fact that it is front and center doesn't help me, but that is not something I have to work around.) They publish their roadmap so I know that the platform is going to develop.

The software provides the ability to keep track of which area is bringing in more clients. Setting up the matters is a good function. Finally syncing the calendar with google is a plus (even if it did double everything at first..

Billing is difficult and does not integrate with bank accounts. Doubles the time. Also making corrections to information or adding information to the client matter is not easy and has no clear directions. Need a how-to manual.

I have NEVER received better customer support from any software company! They pick up the phone right away, they are knowledgable and easy to understand, and they are friendly and polit. A++.

I use this only for billing, but two things could be improved: 1) there should be a field for phone number and email address along with mailing address on the top of bills (I can only plug in mailing address); and 2) it's a bit awkward to have to go from bill creation under Time to invoices under matters.

I like the Zola is very user friendly and easy to use. I also like that the customer support responds in a very prompt manner.

I don't like that you have to click the matters tab every time you would like to switch matters you are working in. I would like Zola better if you could search new matters from anywhere on the website.

The program is easy to manage. I like that the accounting gives a balance owed for all and that there are options for daily notes to be given

can be slow. Also, had a problem with logo size that had to be fixed by support team. In general I find the system very easy to use

it has FULL accounting! Most legal matter management only has some money reports, Zola has full accounting, meaning you can actually run a P&L for your business.

I thought this platform was painstakingly created to include almost every detail you could ask for, in the end, my big boss wanted something that required Quickbooks

What I like most about Zola is the easy access to email on the front screen. I also like how you can enter events into the calendar from the email.

What I like least about this software is the difficulty of creating templates. I signed up for training on how to use templates but it wasn't much help.