Many fee earners, one set of rules, no exceptions
At scale the risk is not that the software cannot do the work. It is that access, supervision and the audit trail drift apart across teams until nobody can say who saw what. Writford sets access once and enforces it everywhere, including in the AI.
What does a large law firm need from practice management software?
At scale the requirements are access control, an audit trail and a migration that can be proved. Writford enforces four firm roles on every screen, report and AI answer, records who posted what, and reconciles an import against the export file rather than assuming it landed.
- Does the AI respect our access rules?
- Yes. The AI answers within the access of the person asking, so it will not surface content from a matter that person cannot open. Access is set once at firm level rather than per matter.
- How do we move a large firm off our current system?
- Matters, clients, time entries, invoices, documents and outstanding debt are imported and then reconciled against the export file itself, which is the source of truth, rather than against the old system's screen, which keeps moving while you migrate. Anything unresolved is named in the summary.
- How long is the audit trail kept?
- Audit records are retained for six years. Every posting records who made it and when, and a signed-off period cannot be quietly reopened.
- How do people sign in?
- With their Microsoft 365 work account, or with Google or Apple, so nobody needs another password, or with a password and two-step sign-in. The firm can require two-step sign-in for the roles it chooses.
- Can we integrate with our own systems?
- Writford connects to Outlook, OneDrive and Google Drive, and imports matters, clients, time and bills from LEAP and other systems. API access is coming to the Pro plan; Enterprise arrangements are handled directly.
- Is our data pooled with other firms?
- No. Each firm's material is logically isolated, is never pooled with another firm's, and is never used to train AI models.
Access is a firm-level decision, not a per-matter chore
Four roles decide what every person sees and edits. Adding the hundredth fee earner is the same action as adding the tenth, and the AI answers within the asking person's access, so the assistant cannot become the way round the permission model.
A migration you can prove, rather than hope over
Coming off LEAP or another system, the import is compared against the export file record by record, and anything it could not resolve is named in the job summary rather than skipped silently. On a real 134-matter migration the entire remaining gap was one invoice raised after the export was taken.
The audit trail is the product, not a log file
Every posting keeps who made it and when. Periods lock when signed off and reopening requires a written reason. Audit records are retained for six years, which is the horizon a firm is actually asked about.
Your own precedents, not a generic model's idea of them
The firm's own documents can be indexed so drafts follow house style and answers cite the firm's own work. Your material is never pooled with another firm's and is never used to train a model.
Security controls a larger firm asks about
People sign in with their Microsoft 365, Google or Apple account or a password, the firm can require two-step sign-in for the roles it chooses, everyone can see each device they are signed in on and sign it out, and the activity log exports to a spreadsheet. Pro brings these together as Security+, and API access is on its way to Pro.