Big enough that nobody sees the whole picture any more
Somewhere between ten and eighty people, a firm stops being one conversation. There is a cashier, there are supervisors, and there are fee earners who should not see each other's matters. Writford draws those lines once and applies them everywhere.
What should a medium sized law firm look for in practice management software?
A mid-sized firm needs separation of duties more than it needs features: a cashier who can move client money without touching the file, fee earners who see only their own matters, and supervisors who see everything. Writford sets those four roles at firm level and applies them to every screen, report and AI answer.
- Can a cashier be kept out of the legal work?
- Yes, and that is what the role is for. A cashier sees every matter, edits none, and handles client money, transfers to office and refunds. It is the only role with read-all and write-none, and the permissions are deliberately separate flags so the two cannot be collapsed by accident.
- Can we stop fee earners seeing each other's matters?
- Yes, and it is the default rather than a setting. A fee earner sees their own matters and whatever is shared with them. Supervisors and administrators see the whole firm.
- How do we supervise time recording across several teams?
- Missing timesheets and per-person billing performance are built-in reports, so a supervisor can see who has not recorded time for a period before it is billed rather than after.
- Do we need a separate legal accounts package?
- No. Client ledgers, designated accounts, client-to-office transfers, cash books, bank reconciliation, a three-way reconciliation report, VAT and period close are in the same system as the matters.
- What happens when we close a period?
- A signed-off period locks. Reopening it needs a written reason, and every posting keeps who made it and when, so the audit trail survives the correction.
- How do credits work across a firm of this size?
- Credits and storage are pooled across the firm rather than rationed per seat, so a heavy month on one team does not stop another team working.
The cashier problem, solved by design
A cashier has to see every matter to do the accounts, and should not be able to edit any of them. Most systems collapse that into one 'firm access' switch, which means giving away edit rights to grant sight. Writford keeps read and write as two separate permissions, so the cashier role reads all and writes none.
A fee earner sees their own work, and that is the default
Not an option somebody remembers to turn on. The narrowest role is the starting point: own matters plus anything explicitly shared. Supervisors and administrators see the firm. The same rule governs what the AI will surface for a given person, so nobody gets an answer drawn from a file they cannot open.
Find out who has not recorded their time before the month closes
Missing timesheets and per-fee-earner performance are reports, not a chase round the office. At this size unrecorded time is the largest single leak, and it is invisible until billing, by which point the week is a blur.
One system, so the numbers cannot disagree
Time, bills, client ledgers and the bank reconciliation sit on the same records. Money is computed once, when it is agreed, and stored. A report reads the stored figure rather than recalculating it, which is why the VAT return and the invoice always say the same thing.