Question 1

What is LawNest?

Accepted Answer

LawNest is practice management software for small law firms. It covers leads and inquiry intake, engagement forms, clients, matters, calendar, documents, time tracking, invoicing, retainers, e-signature, workflow automation, legal letters, reporting, and trust accounting — without the complexity of legacy legal software.

Question 2

How long does setup take?

Accepted Answer

Most firms are up and running in under ten minutes. Create your firm, add a client, open a matter, and you can start tracking time and billing the same day.

Question 3

How do I add team members?

Accepted Answer

Go to Settings → Team members and invite lawyers, paralegals, or assistants. Each person gets their own login tied to your firm. The Solo plan includes 2 users; Small Firm and Firm add more seats and advanced collaboration tools. Need more seats on any plan? Add users for $25/month each from Plan & billing.

Question 4

How does the public inquiry link work?

Accepted Answer

Open Settings → Client intake link to copy your firm’s URL (for example lawnest.ca/intake/your-firm). Share it on your website, Google Business, social profiles, or email signature. When someone submits the short inquiry form, LawNest creates a lead in your pipeline and notifies your team — no client file is opened until you qualify and convert them.

Question 5

What is the engagement intake form?

Accepted Answer

After a lead retains you, send the full engagement intake form by email from the dashboard, client page, or lead detail. The client completes a secure link with practice-area questions. Their responses update the client record, matter, and document checklist — with an optional confirmation email via workflow automation.

Question 6

How does the lead → client pipeline work?

Accepted Answer

Open Leads and use the Pipeline view to track inquiries from new lead through consultation, qualified, retained, active matter, and completed. Move leads between stages, schedule consultations, send retainers, and when a retainer is fully signed LawNest marks the lead as retained and activates the matter automatically.

Question 7

Can I switch between day and night view?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Open Settings → Appearance to choose a color scheme (Classic, Slate & Teal, and more) and Day, Night, or System brightness for the firm dashboard. The public website always uses the classic LawNest look. Use the sun/moon toggle in the app header for a quick day/night switch.

Question 8

How do I create an invoice?

Accepted Answer

Open Invoices → Create invoice, pick a client and matter, add line items from time entries or manually, then send or download the PDF. Online payment links are available once you connect Stripe or LawPay in Settings.

Question 9

Can I bill a retainer and send an agreement together?

Accepted Answer

Yes. When generating a retainer PDF you can draft a retainer invoice and send the agreement for e-signature in one flow. The retainer invoice is created separately from regular matter billing.

Question 10

What payment methods can clients use?

Accepted Answer

Connect Stripe or LawPay under Settings → Online payments. Clients can pay invoices through a secure payment link you share by email. Online payments are available on the Small Firm plan and above.

Question 11

Can I add my firm logo to invoices and PDFs?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Open Settings → Letterhead branding to upload your logo and set background, text, and border colors. Your letterhead and footer appear on invoices, legal letters, and retainers. Preview the layout before saving.

Question 12

Can I reuse retainer agreement language?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Create retainer templates in Settings with scope, exclusions, and billing defaults. Place e-sign fields once and save the layout to the template for future retainers.

Question 13

How does e-signature work?

Accepted Answer

Generate a retainer, choose “Send for e-signature,” drag signature fields onto the PDF, then send. Clients sign through a secure link. LawNest records consent, IP address, and timestamps for an audit trail.

Question 14

Can signing order be enforced?

Accepted Answer

Yes. When preparing a retainer for signing you can enable sequential signing so the client must sign before the lawyer, or vice versa.

Question 15

Which plan includes retainers and e-signature?

Accepted Answer

Retainers and e-signature are included on the Small Firm and Firm plans. The Solo plan covers core practice management for two users but not retainers or the client portal.

Question 16

How do I generate a legal letter?

Accepted Answer

Open Legal letters from the sidebar, choose a template (non-engagement, demand, status update, closing letter, and more), fill in client and matter details, then generate the PDF. You can also open a matter and choose Generate Letter to start with that client and matter already selected.

Question 17

Which plan includes legal letter generation?

Accepted Answer

Legal letter generation is included on the Firm plan. Templates use your firm letterhead and footer, with a live preview as you edit.

Question 18

Where do generated letters go?

Accepted Answer

When you generate a letter, LawNest saves the PDF to the matter’s documents (when a matter is linked) so your correspondence stays with the file.

Question 19

Can I sync my external calendar?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Use Connect Google Calendar on the Calendar page for two-way OAuth sync (recommended), or paste an iCal link for Outlook and other feeds. You can run multiple calendars and toggle visibility in the sidebar.

Question 20

How are documents organized?

Accepted Answer

Documents are grouped by client folder. Upload from a client folder to tie files to that client and matter automatically.

Question 21

What can clients see in the portal?

Accepted Answer

Enable the client portal in Settings. Clients can view matters, documents you share, messages, appointments, invoices, payments, and retainers awaiting signature. The client portal is available on the Small Firm plan and above.

Question 22

How do I upgrade or change my plan?

Accepted Answer

Open Plan & billing from the sidebar or Settings. You can switch between Solo (2 users), Small Firm (5 users), and Firm (10 users) plans. Small Firm adds retainers, e-signature, the client portal, and online payments. Firm adds advanced reporting, bank accounts, and legal letter generation. On any plan, add extra users for $25/month each without upgrading tiers.

Question 23

How do I contact support?

Accepted Answer

Signed-in users can open a support ticket from the dashboard or Help & Support in the sidebar. Describe your issue and our team will respond by email. Check ticket status anytime on the support page.

Question 24

Is my firm data secure?

Accepted Answer

Each firm’s data is isolated with row-level security. Staff only see records belonging to their firm. E-sign audit trails and payment processing follow industry-standard security practices.

Frequently asked questions

Getting started

Billing & invoices

Retainers & e-signature

Legal letters

Calendar & documents

Plans & support

Still need help?