Software that fits how your practice actually works
Generic practice management makes every firm start from a blank slate. HammerLex doesn't. Pick your practice area and the platform pre-configures itself — the right matter template, the custom fields your cases need, and, where it applies, a deadline rule set — so your workspace is ready on day one.
Pick a vertical, get a head start
At signup or in settings, choose the practice area that matches your firm. HammerLex then seeds vertical-appropriate starter content automatically — and hides fields that don't apply, like docket and court name for non-litigation work.
Family Law
Matter template plus case fields built for divorce, custody, and support — opposing counsel, filing county, custody arrangement, and retainer tracking.
Estate Planning
Trust and estate matter template, a deadline rule set for reviews, and fields for beneficiaries, trustees, and funding — with litigation-only fields hidden.
Corporate & M&A
Transaction matter template, a closing-driven deadline rule set, and deal fields for counterparty, deal value, stage, and diligence — no docket clutter.
Running a general or mixed practice? General is fully supported too — you get the complete platform without a vertical preset, and you can switch to a practice area at any time. The starter content is added for whatever is missing, without duplicating what you already have.
Why practice-area setup matters
The fields a family law paralegal needs are not the fields a deal lawyer needs. Most tools solve this by making you build custom fields, templates, and deadline rules yourself — before you can even open your first matter. That is hours of configuration, repeated for every new hire who wants it "the way we do it."
HammerLex ships that configuration as a starting point. You still control everything: rename fields, add your own, adjust templates. But you begin from a workspace that already understands the shape of your work, instead of an empty grid. And because the setup is idempotent, changing or adding a vertical later fills in only what's missing — it never overwrites or duplicates the matters and fields you already rely on.
Where the billable hour actually goes
Configuration matters because most billable value is lost before it reaches the bank, and the loss compounds at each stage. Clio's benchmark data puts numbers on each step of that chain.
| Stage | Rate | Of an 8-hour day |
|---|---|---|
| Utilization — hours actually billable | 38% | 3.0 hours |
| Realization — billable hours invoiced | 88% | 2.6 hours |
| Collection — invoiced hours paid | 93% | 2.4 hours |
Read down the right-hand column: an eight-hour day ends as roughly 2.4 paid hours. A firm that cannot see which matters and practice areas drive that gap is optimising in the dark, which is why matter-level profitability is configured per vertical rather than bolted on later.
Frequently asked questions
Which practice areas does The Hammer Lex support?
The platform is practice-area agnostic, with pre-built configurations for family law, estate planning, and corporate and M&A work. Matter types, fields, templates, and deadline rules are configurable, so a firm in another practice area starts from the closest configuration and adjusts it.
Can a firm run more than one practice area in the same account?
Yes. Each vertical brings its own matter types, fields, and templates, and they coexist in one workspace. Profitability reporting then breaks results down by practice area, which is how a mixed firm sees which side of the practice actually pays.
What happens if we add a practice area later?
The setup is idempotent, so adding a vertical fills in only what is missing. It never overwrites or duplicates the matters, fields, and templates already in use.
Do we have to use the pre-built configuration as shipped?
No. Rename fields, add your own, and adjust templates and deadline rules. The configuration is a starting point that saves the initial build, not a constraint on how the firm works.
How does practice-area setup affect profitability reporting?
Practice area is a reporting dimension, so matters are attributed correctly from the first day rather than re-tagged later. That is what makes a by-practice-area margin comparison meaningful instead of an estimate.
See your practice area, pre-configured
Book a short demo and we'll show HammerLex set up for family law, estate planning, or corporate/M&A — on a workflow like your firm's.
Related: all features · compare platforms · free calculators