Susan handles the full complexity of family practice — divorce proceedings, children matters, financial remedies, and injunctions — with matter management, billing, and sensitive data controls designed specifically for UK family law.
Book a Free DemoGeneric practice management software treats all matter types identically. Family law is different — it involves emotionally sensitive data, complex multi-party proceedings, and distinct billing arrangements. Susan is configured for these realities from day one.
Pre-configured matter templates for divorce (including financial remedy orders), children proceedings (Part 4, Part 7, adoption), cohabitation disputes, domestic injunctions (DVPN/DVPO, non-molestation, occupation orders), and Schedule 1 children act applications.
Family Court directions and tribunal deadlines are automatically entered into the matter timeline. Alerts fire ahead of key dates — statement filing, FHDRA, FDA, final hearing. No deadline slips through because it was buried in a court order.
Child protection matters and safeguarding documents are locked at matter level. Only fee-earners with explicit access can view child-sensitive files. Full audit trail of who accessed which documents and when — essential for LAA audits and SRA inspection.
Before opening any new family matter, Susan checks all parties — client, respondent, children, interveners, and related individuals — against every existing and closed matter. Family law conflicts are some of the most complex; Susan surfaces them before they become a problem.
Susan handles both LAA standard fee claims and private client billing on the same platform. Legal aid billing is configured for family certificated work, CCMS submission workflows, and standard fee schedules. Private client time-recording and fixed-fee billing run in parallel without conflict.
Track CAFCASS officer appointments, expert witness instructions, and guardian ad litem appointments within the matter record. Correspondence threads are linked to the relevant individual, not buried in a generic documents folder.
| Capability | Generic PM Software | Susan for Family Law |
|---|---|---|
| Family law matter templates | ✗ Manual configuration | ✓ Pre-configured |
| Child protection data controls | ✗ Not available | ✓ Built-in access controls |
| LAA certificated billing | ✗ Not supported | ✓ Full support |
| SRA Accounts Rules compliance | ✗ Manual workarounds | ✓ Fully compliant |
| On-premises data storage | ✗ Cloud only | ✓ 100% on-premises |
| Conflict of interest checking | ✗ Manual | ✓ Automated across all matters |
| Court deadline management | ✗ Calendar only | ✓ Matter-linked deadline tracking |
Yes. Susan supports both legal aid billing (with LAA standard fee and hourly rate claims) and private client billing on the same matter or across different matter types. Fee-earner rates, billing categories, and WIP reporting all distinguish between legal aid and private client work, making mixed-client practices straightforward to manage.
Susan's on-premises architecture means that all data — including highly sensitive child protection information, safeguarding reports, and CAFCASS documents — is stored only on your firm's own servers. No data is transmitted to third-party cloud providers. Access is controlled by user-level permissions so that only fee-earners with authorisation can access child protection matter files.
Yes. Susan includes a conflict of interest checking module that searches across all matter parties — clients, opposing parties, witnesses, and related individuals — before a new matter is opened. For family law this is particularly important given the frequency of situations where former clients later appear as opposing parties in subsequent proceedings.
See how Susan handles family matters, sensitive data, and legal aid billing in a free 45-minute demo.
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