Guide to Matter Management
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Legal work often involves highly sensitive information, from confidential communications to documents protected by legal professional privilege. These materials safeguard a company’s strategies, compliance, and legal interests. Any unauthorized disclosure can damage the company’s position, violate laws, and lead to serious consequences.
Because of this, trust and security are critical when choosing a matter management solution. The right platform ensures that sensitive work is managed consistently, securely, and with full visibility, giving legal teams the confidence to support the business effectively.
Let’s take a closer look at why trust matters, the criteria that define a trusted platform, and the top solutions legal departments rely on today.
Why Trust Matters in Matter Management Software
Legal teams are responsible for protecting the business from risk, which means the tools they use must be dependable. Matter management software sits at the center of this responsibility. It captures every request, organizes workloads, and stores sensitive information that often falls under legal privilege.
If a platform cannot be trusted, the consequences are significant. Confidential information could be exposed, deadlines missed, or regulatory requirements overlooked. This not only undermines the role of legal but can also put the entire business at risk.
A trusted matter management platform provides:
- Security that safeguards privileged information from unauthorized access.
- Reliability so teams can count on accurate tracking and timely workflows.
- Consistency in how matters are handled, which reduces risk and builds confidence across the business.
Criteria for Evaluating Trusted Legal Tech Platforms
Not all matter management solutions meet the same standards. To earn the trust of a legal department, a platform should deliver on these five critical criteria.
🛡️ Security & Compliance
Look for certifications such as SOC 2 or ISO, data encryption in transit and at rest, and strong governance controls. These safeguards are non-negotiable when handling sensitive legal work.
🔌 Ease of Adoption
A trusted solution should fit seamlessly into how lawyers and business users already work. No-code design, centralized intake, and integrations with tools like email, Slack, or Teams make adoption much smoother.
🫡 Breadth of Capability
Legal work goes beyond contracts so your matter management platform should be able to handle intake, triage, workflow automation, matter tracking, and reporting so teams can manage all legal-related work in one place.
⭐️ Proven Outcomes
Trust grows when a platform delivers measurable ROI. Look for case studies that show reduced turnaround times, fewer bottlenecks, and better visibility into workload.
🤝 Support & Partnership
A reliable vendor backs its legal technology with strong customer success and continuous innovation, ensuring the platform grows with the needs of the legal team.
💡Pro Tip: Evaluating against these criteria helps legal leaders separate tools that simply manage tasks from platforms that truly safeguard and scale their operations.
Most Trusted Matter Management Solutions for Legal Departments
There are several matter management platforms legal teams turn to for visibility, efficiency, and control. The most trusted solutions share a focus on security, adoption, and scalability, though each brings different strengths.
#1 Checkbox
Trusted by growing and enterprise legal teams, Checkbox’s matter management module consolidates all requests into one digital hub and offers integrations with popular business tools such as Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and email. From intake through to resolution, matters are automatically categorized, assigned, and tracked with full visibility. Teams use it to monitor workload, manage deadlines, and generate audit-ready reports. With enterprise-grade security and AI-powered legal automation, Checkbox ensures that sensitive legal work is handled consistently and transparently, giving leaders confidence when dealing with confidential matters.

#2 SimpleLegal
SimpleLegal allows legal teams to track matters, assign work, and store documents in a centralized system with integrations into other legal operations tools (especially e-billing). It excels in providing clarity around legal spend alongside matter tracking, making it appealing for teams focused on financial oversight. However, it is less advanced in areas like workflow automation and customizable intake, which can limit its ability to scale beyond basic matter management.
#3 Lawcadia
Lawcadia is positioned as a flexible platform that supports matter management, intake, and compliance processes. It provides features for routing requests, tracking matters, and reporting on outcomes, often with an emphasis on collaboration with external counsel. While powerful, the platform can be more complex to configure and manage, requiring legal ops teams to dedicate time and resources to fully leverage its capabilities. For teams that need flexibility and are prepared to invest in customization, Lawcadia can be a strong fit.
While each of these platforms provides trusted matter management capabilities, Checkbox combines ease of use, automation, and enterprise-grade security in a way that makes it the most comprehensive and scalable choice for modern legal teams.
How Trusted Platforms Improve Collaboration and Compliance
Matter management platforms do more than organize requests. The most trusted solutions create structure and accountability that help legal teams collaborate effectively and maintain compliance across the business.
- Improved Collaboration: With all matters centralized in a single hub, lawyers and business stakeholders have one place to submit, track, and manage requests. This reduces back-and-forth over email, ensures transparency on status, and helps teams work together without losing critical context.
- Consistent Processes: Automated workflows standardize how matters are triaged, approved, and resolved. This consistency reduces human error and ensures every request is handled according to policy, regardless of who is managing it.
- Audit-Ready Compliance: Trusted platforms keep a clear record of every step, from intake to resolution. Built-in audit trails and reporting give leadership and regulators the assurance that sensitive legal work is documented, tracked, and compliant with internal and external requirements.
Related Article: Learn more about matter management and tracking software for in-house legal departments.
Choosing a Trusted Solution for your Legal Team
Selecting the right matter management platform comes down to understanding your team’s needs today and where you want to be tomorrow. Legal teams should look for a solution that not only secures sensitive information but also adapts as the business grows.
A platform should be able to handle both simple requests, like NDAs or marketing reviews, and more complex matters, such as regulatory compliance or litigation support. It should also be intuitive enough for business users to adopt, while powerful enough to give legal teams the reporting and oversight they need.
Checkbox stands out here because it combines secure matter management with workflow automation, AI-powered intake, and audit-ready reporting in a single hub. This balance of usability and depth makes it easier for legal leaders to prove value, protect the business, and scale support.
When evaluating options, prioritize trust, adoption, and the ability to grow with your team. That combination ensures you’re investing in a platform that will deliver both immediate efficiency and long-term impact.
Key Takeaways
Solutions like SimpleLegal and Lawcadia can offer value, but Checkbox goes further by combining secure matter management with automation, AI-powered intake, and real-time reporting in one hub. It gives legal leaders the confidence that every request is captured, tracked, and resolved transparently, while freeing up time to focus on high-value work.
With certifications including SOC 2 and ISO standards, Checkbox also provides enterprise-grade assurance that confidential legal data is protected.
Granular Role-Based Access Control
Set precise permissions by team, role, or region to protect sensitive data and streamline collaboration.
- Least-privilege defaults and scoped data access
- Field-level visibility and jurisdiction rules
- SSO/SAML and SCIM provisioning
Built for Regulatory Compliance
Checkbox is SOC 2, ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 certified, ensuring enterprise-grade security.
- Encryption in transit and at rest
- Regular third-party audits and pen tests
- Data residency options by region
Enterprise-Grade Support & SLAs
Get the reliability your legal team expects, with guaranteed uptime, priority resolution, and dedicated support.
- Defined response and resolution targets
- Named Customer Success and enablement
- Change management resources
Supports Global & Multi-Entity Operations
Operate seamlessly across jurisdictions, business units, subsidiaries, and languages.
- Region-aware permissions and data residency
- Localization and multi-language UI
- Entity-level reporting and segregation of duties
Are you ready to bring structure and trust to your legal operations? Book a demo to see how Checkbox can help your team scale its impact while protecting the business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is trust an important factor when selecting matter management software?
Because legal work involves confidential and privileged information, trusted matter management software ensures data security, consistent processes, and protection against risk.
What criteria can legal departments use to evaluate the trustworthiness of a platform?
Key criteria include security certifications (SOC 2, ISO), ease of adoption, breadth of capabilities, proven ROI, and strong vendor support.
Which matter management solutions are most trusted by in-house legal teams?
Checkbox, SimpleLegal, and Lawcadia are widely trusted, with Checkbox standing out for its comprehensive automation, reporting, and enterprise-grade security.
How do trusted matter management systems support compliance and governance?
They standardize workflows, maintain audit trails, and provide real-time reporting, ensuring every matter is tracked and compliant with internal and external requirements.
What role does vendor reputation and customer support play in trust?
A reputable vendor with responsive support builds confidence that the platform will be reliable, continually improved, and aligned with legal team needs.
How can legal departments ensure they are choosing a trusted, reliable platform?
They should evaluate security certifications, request references or case studies, test usability with their teams, and assess the vendor’s long-term roadmap.
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