How to switch case management software: a migration plan for plaintiff firms

Why switching feels risky, and when it is worth it

A plaintiff firm's case system holds years of cases, documents, liens, offers and deadlines. Moving it is a project, not a weekend. Third-party reporting of G2 buyer data puts average implementations at about four months for Filevine and six for Litify, and reviewers of every major platform describe setup that took longer than planned. The risk that keeps managing partners up at night is simpler: a deadline that falls through the gap between two systems.

Switching is worth it when the current system costs you more than the move will. Common reasons:

• Your system is on a server in the office, or on a version the vendor no longer develops.
• You pay for a case system plus separate tools for AI, intake, client updates and e-signature, and nobody can see a case in one place.
• Your contract renews on terms you don't like, or the price rose with AI add-ons.
• Staff keep work in spreadsheets because the system doesn't fit your practice.

It is not worth it if the real problem is training or process. A new system will not fix a firm that never closes tasks in the old one.

PlaintiffStack publishes this guide and sells case management, so we have an interest in firms switching. The plan below works for any vendor. Our own limits are listed at the end.

Step 1: read your current contract and get your data out

Before you talk to new vendors, find out what leaving costs.

• Term and notice. When does the contract renew, and how much notice must you give? Mark the date.
• Export rights. Does the contract say you own your data and can export it? In what format?
• Export fees. Some vendors charge for a full export or for help producing one. Ask in writing.
• Documents. Can you export every document with its folder structure and the case it belongs to, not just a pile of files?
• Notes and history. Activity logs, notes and emails are often the hardest to get out. Ask specifically.
• Custom fields. If you built fields for liens, providers or offers, make sure they export with labels.

Request a test export early, even before you choose a new vendor. What you get back tells you how hard the move will be.

Steps 2 to 4: inventory, map and test

Step 2: inventory what you have

List what lives in the current system, with rough counts:

Decide what not to move. Closed cases from ten years ago may be better archived as a read-only export than migrated field by field.

Step 3: map the data before anyone moves it

Mapping is where migrations succeed or fail. For each field in the old system, write down where it goes in the new one, and who decides. Pay most attention to:

• Phases and statuses. Your pre-lit, demand, litigation and settlement stages need a clear home.
• Providers and records requests. Each provider, request date and received date should land as data, not a note.
• Liens and offers. Amounts, holders, reductions, offer dates and expiry dates.
• Deadlines. Every statute of limitations, claim deadline and time-limited demand, with its basis.

Ask the new vendor to do the mapping with you, and to show you a sample of migrated cases before the full move.

Step 4: run a test migration

Move a sample first: twenty to fifty cases chosen to be awkward. Include a case in litigation, one with several liens, one with a time-limited demand pending, one with hundreds of documents, and one with an unusual case type. Have the case managers who own those files check them line by line. Fix the mapping, then run the test again.

Step 5: protect every deadline during the cutover

This is the step that matters most. Before cutover, pull a report of every open deadline from the old system and check it against the new one.

• Statutes of limitations. In California, most personal injury claims have two years (Code of Civil Procedure 335.1). See the California statute of limitations calculator.
• Government claims. Claims for injury against a California public entity generally must be presented within six months (Government Code 911.2). See the six-month deadline guide.
• Time-limited demands. Offers and demands with expiry dates, including demands under Code of Civil Procedure 999. See the CCP 999 guide.
• Workers' comp. IMR deadlines after a UR denial and records due to the QME. See IMR and UR deadlines.
• Employment. Civil filing deadlines after a right-to-sue notice and tolling agreements ending. See the right-to-sue deadline calculator.

Assign one person to own the deadline report, and keep the old system readable until every deadline has been confirmed in the new one. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm each deadline against the rule for your case.

Step 6: cut over, then verify

Pick a cutover date at a quiet point, often a Friday, and freeze changes in the old system that afternoon. Move the final data, then verify before Monday:

1. Case counts match by case type and status.
2. Document counts match for a sample of cases.
3. Every open deadline from the report appears in the new system.
4. Liens, offers and balances match for a sample of settled and open cases.
5. Users can log in and see the cases they should, and only those.

Keep read-only access to the old system, or a full export, for as long as your record-retention policy requires.

How long it takes

It depends on the system you leave, how much history you carry and how much you customized. Assembly says most firms moving from Needles to its Neos platform are operational within a few weeks of go-live. Larger platforms report months. Ask every vendor for a written plan with dates and named people, and ask what happens if they miss them.

Your own side takes time too. Someone has to answer mapping questions, check test cases and train staff, and that person is usually a case manager with a full caseload. Budget their hours, not just the vendor's, and avoid cutting over in the weeks before a trial or a big mediation.

Questions to ask the new vendor

1. Who does the migration: your team, a partner or us?
2. Is migration included in the price, or a separate fee?
3. Which systems have you migrated from before?
4. What do you bring over: cases, contacts, documents, notes, deadlines, custom fields?
5. How do we check the result before we switch?
6. What is the contract term, and how do we export if we leave you?
7. What doesn't the new system do that the old one did?

How PlaintiffStack handles a switch

PlaintiffStack brings over your cases, contacts and documents from your current system and checks the result with you before you switch. After the demo, it sends a plan with dates, so you know what moves over and when. Pricing is $250 per case with every app included, no monthly fee and no long lock-in contract; AI usage is billed separately. If you leave, it exports your cases, contacts and documents for you, then deletes its copy.

Know what it does not do before you plan a move. It follows California rules only. It has no trust accounting, so trust stays in your accounting system. Outlook and Gmail are not connected yet; Word and Dropbox are live and RingCentral is in early access. Its agents don't read scans or faxes yet. SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 are in progress. It is a young company. See pricing, integrations, the FAQ, and if you are leaving a specific system, the alternatives pages for Needles and Neos, TrialWorks, MerusCase, CasePeer and Filevine.