Legal Forms Software For Mac
Lawyers are pretty famous for not doing anything for free. Turns out their software is similar. Beyond a couple standout options (detailed below), there’s not a ton of free and open source law practice management software. However, there are some free tools that, while not full-featured practice management systems, are nonetheless helpful in their own right.
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Legal software can save attorneys tons of time on timekeeping and billing, creating documents and filling out forms, and managing contacts, correspondence, and calendaring. But whether you’re just starting up and trying to keep overhead low, or aren’t yet convinced software will be worth spending money on, you don’t want to shell out lots of dollars.
Keep in mind that “free” generally comes with costs. In the case of free legal software, one major cost is that none of the free versions are cloud-based. So keep in mind that you’ll need to download, host, setup, update and maintain your own installation.
And if you’re looking for additional free software, check out our lists for free contract management software and free and open source time tracking software.
Many, many software providers bill themselves as free when really only the trial is free. Undeterred, I found the two most popular open-source repositories, SourceForge and Debian.org, list many legal/law practice options. Be warned, before you check them out, that many products on those lists are discontinued. Below are the best ones which appear to still be available for download.
Freemium Legal Software Options
1. CaseBox
CaseBox is an open-source, self-hosted document management, records management, and collaboration software solution. It’s listed in our Legal Case Management Software category.
Its features are a little lacking.
It’s got a cool backstory though. It was developed by HURIDOCS, a Geneva-based NGO that gives human rights defenders information technologies and documentation methods to organize and present data about violations.
To figure out if CaseBox is for you, email the team at info@casebox.org to set up a consultation. If it’s not a great fit, the CaseBox team can make recommendations to help. If CaseBox is right for you, the team will cover the steps to implement CaseBox in your organization and will outline the services that HURIDOCS can provide, and provide an estimate of costs for these services.
Used CaseBox? Leave a review!
2. Jarvis Legal
Jarvis Legal is another LPMS that offers an unlimited free version. The free version’s only caps are their case and data caps. You can have up to five simultaneous cases and use up to 5 GB of storage space. And 5 GB of data ain’t too shabby in terms of storage.
Capterra has Jarvis listed in our directory, and reviews for this software are a sparkling 4.5/5, and if you do choose to upgrade it’s only around $35 per user per month.
I’m also personally inclined to enjoy Jarvis Legal because of the name.
Used Jarvis Legal? Leave a review!
Best Free and Open Source Legal Software Options
3. Conflict Finder
Conflict Finder is a python script which searches XML Wikipedia archives for conflicts of interest. Because you can never be too careful. Updated in 2016.
4. Open Source Law
A wiki for lawyers and law students to share each other’s documents. It offers documentation revision control and a centralized repository. Last updated in 2016.
5. CiviCRM
A free, open source software designed for legal nonprofits. It’s a modern replacement to the (formerly listed) open source Legal Case Management System, which was more than ten years out of date and in need of a serious update.
6. Legal Suite
Looking for a full, comprehensive law practice management software on an open source platform? Legal Suite offers case management, document management, time tracking, and legal billing.
Conclusion
There are plenty of free, ancillary tools out there to help you with other aspects of running a law practice.
Are there any good, free legal tools I missed? Add them in the comments below!
If you’re interested in more helpful tools for your law firm or want to keep abreast of the latest in legal tech and trends, subscribe to my mailing list.
Looking for Law Practice Management software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Law Practice Management software solutions.
Preview User Guide
Some PDFs are forms you can fill out and then print or send. If a form requires a signature, you can add your signature to any PDF.
Fill out a PDF form
In the Preview app on your Mac, open the PDF form.
Click a field in the form, then type your text.
If you save the form (by choosing File > Export), you can close it, open it later, and continue to fill it out.
Create and use signatures
To sign PDFs, you can capture your signature using your trackpad, the built-in camera on your Mac, or iPhone or iPad.
In the Preview app on your Mac, if the Markup toolbar isn’t showing, click the Show Markup Toolbar button , then click the Sign button .
Follow the onscreen instructions to create and save your signature.
Create a signature using your trackpad: Click Trackpad, click the text as prompted, sign your name on the trackpad using your finger, press any key, then click Done. If you don’t like the results, click Clear, then try again.
If your Mac has a Force Touch trackpad, you can press your finger more firmly on the trackpad to sign with a heavier, darker line.
Create a signature using your computer’s built-in camera: Click Camera. Hold your signature (on white paper) facing the camera so that your signature is level with the blue line in the window. When your signature appears in the window, click Done. If you don’t like the results, click Clear, then try again.
Create a signature using your iPhone or iPad: Click iPhone or iPad. On your iPhone or iPad, sign your name using your finger or Apple Pencil. When your signature appears in the window, click Done. If you don’t like the results, click Clear, then try again.
Add the signature to your PDF.
Choose the signature you want to use, drag it to where you want it, then use the handles to adjust the size.
If you use iCloud Drive, your signatures are available on your other Mac computers that have iCloud Drive turned on.
Delete a saved signature
In the Preview app on your Mac, if the Markup toolbar isn’t showing, click the Show Markup Toolbar button .
Click the Sign button , then click the X to the right of the signature you want to delete.