I have spent 26 years working inside Australian law firms as a FilePro technician, eastern states agent, and state manager. I have seen every platform on this list up close — what they do well, where they fall short, and what firms tell me they wish they had known before they signed. This is not a marketing page. It is what I actually think.
This guide covers every legal practice management software platform operating in the Australian market in 2026 — LEAP, ActionStep, Smokeball, FilePro, LawMaster, Practice Evolve, Affinity, and Law App. It is written for Australian law firm principals who are evaluating their options, facing a forced migration, or questioning whether their current platform is still the right fit. Every platform is assessed on the same criteria: pricing model, contract terms, accounting capability, data location, and who actually owns the company.
— Kelly Mills, Law Support Australia
Click any platform to jump to the full detail below.
Most Australian law firms evaluate their practice management options as though they are comparing independent products in a competitive market. They are not. The Australian legal software market is controlled by two large groups — and one genuinely independent alternative.
Three of the most recognised names in Australian legal software are owned by the same holding company — the ATI Global group, founded by Christian Beck. When you compare LEAP against Smokeball, or consider Practice Evolve as an alternative, you are comparing products from the same owner's portfolio. The pricing pressure, the contract structures, and the renewal increases all reflect the same underlying financial obligations. the ATI Global group raised $350 million in Term Loan B debt in 2017 alone, arranged by Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. A holding group of that scale, carrying institutional debt, has strong commercial reasons to grow revenue from its existing client base — which firms should weigh when assessing renewal pricing.
Smokeball and LEAP are not merely industry peers — they share a founder, a majority owner, and a parent group. Australian law firms evaluating Smokeball as an alternative to LEAP should be aware they are considering two products from the same stable.
ActionStep is backed by US private equity firm Serent Capital. After acquiring both FilePro and LawMaster, ActionStep is now winding both platforms down and funnelling those firms toward its own product — under tight timelines, with account managers that keep changing, and implementation costs that run into the tens of thousands before you even go live. FilePro firms have until 31 December 2026. LawMaster firms face an uncertain but finite window. Both groups of firms are being moved, not consulted.
Law App is the only independent, full-featured legal practice management platform of meaningful scale in Australia. Full general accounting built directly in — not an add-on, not a second subscription, not a third-party integration. No ATI Global group. No Serent Capital. No institutional debt. No VC. No IPO to prepare for. When a firm chooses Law App, it is not trading one corporate group for another. It is opting out of the group model entirely.
LEAP is the largest practice management platform in Australia by market share. It is also the platform firms most often contact us about leaving — the most common reason Australian firms get in touch with us is a LEAP renewal notice or price-hike letter.
Smokeball was co-founded by a former LEAP employee, with LEAP's own founder Christian Beck as majority owner.
All three platforms are owned by the ATI Global group — the same holding company, the same debt obligations, the same financial incentives at renewal. In 2017, the ATI Global group raised $350 million in Term Loan B debt arranged by Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.¹ A business carrying that load has significant pressure to increase revenue from its existing client base — which is exactly what the renewal notices reflect.
Verified users report LEAP requires a full licence for every staff member, including casual and part-time staff. For a firm of ten lawyers, that bill compounds quickly. Verified users report significant increases at renewal, including one Australian user who reported a 50% rise at the new term. LEAP locks firms into three-year contracts, which means that renewal notice is not an invitation to negotiate. It is a take-it-or-leave-it moment — usually with significant exit costs if you leave.
LEAP does not include general accounting. If you want your office accounting done, you pay for Xero on top. You are running two systems, two subscriptions, and two sets of bank reconciliations every month. Law App includes full general accounting — no Xero, no MYOB, nothing extra.
Verified Australian users on Capterra report a decline in LEAP support, including week-long waits for a support ticket to be acknowledged.
“LEAP is expensive. Incredibly expensive. I have been a LEAP user for 22 years. In that time I have seen the price dramatically increase while the service and support drop off a cliff.”
Verified user — Capterra Australia &sup4;“Getting worse as the years go on. When it first started it was great. Now it gets harder and harder.”
Verified user — Capterra Australia &sup4;ActionStep was not originally built for law firms. It started life as project management software and was adapted for the legal industry. That heritage shows — the platform is highly configurable, which sounds like a benefit until you realise that configurable means your firm pays significant implementation costs before you can even start using it properly.
ActionStep is New Zealand-based and backed by US private equity firm Serent Capital. In 2022 it acquired FilePro. In subsequent years it acquired LawMaster. The strategy is visible: consolidate legacy platforms, wind them down, and funnel those firms toward ActionStep. Firms currently on FilePro and LawMaster are receiving migration pressure emails with tight timelines. Many feel like a number, not a client.
ActionStep requires firms to commit to three-year contracts. FilePro firms being pushed toward ActionStep are being asked to make a long-term commitment under deadline pressure — not ideal conditions for choosing software you will live with for years. Account managers at ActionStep have been changing frequently, which adds to the sense of instability.
ActionStep does offer Australian data hosting as an option — but it is a choice you make at setup, not a default. The platform itself is built and owned overseas and is not specifically tailored to Australian law firms.
“Annual subscription went from $1,306 in 2023 to $5,794 in 2024. A 450% increase in one year. An absolute joke.”
Verified Australian user — Capterra Australia &sup5;“Significant cost increases year on year and now unethical charging practices.”
Verified Australian user — Trustpilot Australia &sup6;Smokeball is a US-headquartered platform (Chicago) that has an Australian presence and an Australian support team. It targets smaller law firms working in conveyancing, family law, and estate planning. It has a template library, automatic time tracking, and a local support team — those are genuine strengths.
The concerns start with contracts and costs. Smokeball operates on three-year contracts in Australia with per-user, per-month pricing. Renewal costs have been increasing, and the add-on charges mount — extras on top of extras. For a growing firm, this model compounds quickly, and the three-year lock-in means you are committed before you fully understand the real cost.
Smokeball does not include general accounting. You will need Xero alongside it — which means two systems, two subscriptions, and duplicated bank reconciliation every month. That is another cost and another layer of complexity that gets harder to justify as your firm grows.
Smokeball requires a Windows desktop installation for full functionality. It is not a purely browser-based platform, which limits flexibility for firms that want genuine cloud access from any device. Its servers span Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom — your data may not stay in Australia depending on how the platform handles your account.
A note on ownership and entity structure. Smokeball Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 46 664 254 200) is a registered Australian entity with a Sydney office. However, the product IP, copyright, and trademarks are held by Smokeball Inc — a US corporation incorporated in Illinois. This is confirmed in the footer of Smokeball's own global website, which reads © 2025 Smokeball, Inc. and notes trademark registration with the US Patent and Trademark Office — on the same page that describes Sydney as the global head office.
Opening a local Pty Ltd does not change the corporate structure of the parent entity. Australian law firms signing contracts with Smokeball should satisfy themselves as to which entity they are contracting with, where the product IP sits, and what that means for data sovereignty and contract enforceability.
Smokeball is also part of the ATI Global group alongside LEAP and Practice Evolve, under common ownership by Christian Beck. Firms considering Smokeball as an alternative to LEAP should note they share the same majority owner.
FilePro was acquired by ActionStep and will reach end of life on 31 December 2026. From that date, all compliance updates cease and the Electronic File Purchase portal closes permanently. Every FilePro firm in Australia must migrate to a new system before that date. There are no extensions and no exceptions.
If you are on FilePro, you already know this. What you may not know is that you have more options than ActionStep wants you to think. ActionStep has been contacting FilePro firms since late 2025, pushing migration to ActionStep with tight timelines. Their available migration windows fill from September to October 2026 — which is closer than it sounds when you factor in planning, data migration, and staff training.
FilePro was per file pricing — one of the things firms loved most about it. Of all the platforms available to FilePro firms right now, Law App is the only one that matches that model. Every other alternative charges per user per month.
I spent 15 years as a FilePro technician, eastern states agent and state manager. I know FilePro data structures, trust accounting setup, and document templates at a level most migration teams simply do not. If you are on FilePro and looking at your options, talking to me costs nothing and takes 20 minutes.
Law App is the only FilePro alternative in Australia with per file pricing. If that matters to your firm — and for most FilePro firms it does — that makes this decision simpler than it might first appear.
LawMaster was a well-regarded platform for mid-to-large Australian law firms. It is now owned by ActionStep, which acquired it as part of the same consolidation strategy that saw them purchase FilePro. LawMaster is being wound down — firms on it face a forced migration with an uncertain timeline.
LawMaster was built on on-premise architecture. It was a solid platform for its era — but that era has passed. Firms on LawMaster know they need to move. The question is where. ActionStep is the obvious push, but it is not the only option — and given that LawMaster firms are typically larger and more complex, the choice of migration destination deserves careful consideration.
If you are on LawMaster, the key questions to ask any alternative platform are: Can you handle our file volumes? Do you have Australian general accounting built in? What does data migration actually look like for a firm of our size? And who specifically will be doing it?
Practice Evolve is an ageing platform. It is not being visibly updated in ways that matter to users. Firms that have been on it for several years tell us consistently that the support they receive today is noticeably worse than it was when they first signed up. That is not a coincidence — it is a pattern.
The single biggest complaint we hear about Practice Evolve is support. Not the software itself — but the experience of trying to get help when something goes wrong. Firms describe long waits, ticket systems that go quiet, and a sense that they are no longer a priority. For a practice management platform, where downtime or errors have direct financial consequences, that is a serious problem.
Practice Evolve is expensive for what it currently offers. Firms that were locked into multi-year contracts have found themselves paying premium prices for a platform that has not kept pace with what modern legal software looks like in 2026.
Affinity is a legacy platform built on older architecture. It is not cloud native — it runs on a traditional workstation installation, which means server maintenance, IT overhead, and limited ability to work remotely without additional configuration.
Affinity has built-in billing and accounting features, which is better than many alternatives. But the broader platform has not kept pace with what Australian law firms expect from software in 2026. Bank feeds are described by users as clunky. End-of-month processes need to be completed before beginning the new month — a constraint that modern cloud platforms eliminated years ago.
Affinity has limited modern integrations and an older interface that reflects its origins. Firms that have grown accustomed to cloud-based workflows find it restrictive. The architecture itself limits how quickly it can adopt new features — including AI tools and compliance integrations that are becoming standard elsewhere.
Law App is a 100% Australian-built legal practice management platform — the most modern platform available to Australian law firms today.
Law App includes full general accounting built in. Not an integration with Xero or MYOB — built in, part of the platform, included in the price. Trust accounting, office accounting, bank reconciliation, BAS assistance, and reporting are all there. One system, one subscription, one place to be.
Law App charges per file opened — not per user per month. There are no per-user charges at all. Ten lawyers or two, the cost structure is the same. Better still, that per file charge can be added directly to the client’s file as a disbursement — effectively funding the software from client matters.
Law App runs on Azure Australia East. Your data stays in Australia — not because you selected a region at setup, but because that is the only option. Australian built, Australian servers, Australian support team. Real people answer the phone. Same people every time.
Schedule a demonstrationThe key facts. No spin.
| Feature | LEAP | ActionStep | Smokeball | FilePro | Practice Evolve | Affinity | RecommendedLaw App ✓ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General accounting | ✗ Requires Xero | Xero or built-in (extra cost) | ✗ Requires Xero | ✓ Yes (sunset Dec 2026) | ✓ Yes (legacy) | ✓ Yes (legacy) | ✓ Fully built in |
| Pricing model | Per user/month | Per user/month | Per user/month | Per file (sunset Dec 2026) | Per user/month | Per user/month | ✓ Per file — no per user charges. Per user per month also available. |
| Contract length | 3 year lock-in — financed option available | 3 year lock-in | Annual — 3 years financed | N/A — end of life | Multi-year — financed option available | Multi-year | ✓ Single year only |
| Australian built | Part of the ATI Global group | ✗ NZ / US VC | ✗ US owned | ✗ Now ActionStep (NZ/US) | ✗ No — built overseas. Now owned within the ATI Global group — same as LEAP | ✗ LexisNexis (US) | ✓ 100% Australian |
| Data location | AWS — region varies | AWS — region selected at setup | AWS — AU, US, UK | N/A | Australian servers | On-premise / local | ✓ Azure Australia East — always |
| Australian support | ~ Reported as declined | ~ Some — not phone | ~ Yes — not phone | ✗ Winding down | ~ Yes (declining quality) — not phone | ~ Some | ✓ Same people every time |
| Cloud native | Hybrid (desktop + cloud) | ✓ Yes | Hybrid (requires Windows install) | ✗ No — legacy desktop | Partial | ✗ No — on premise | ✓ Fully cloud, any browser |
| Venture capital backed | Owned within the ATI Global group | ✓ Yes — Serent Capital | ✓ Yes | ✓ Now ActionStep | ~ Owned within the ATI Global group — same ownership as LEAP | ✓ LexisNexis (public) | ✓ No — owner operated |
| Future certainty | Stable | Stable — growing via acquisition | Stable | ✗ End of life Dec 2026 | Uncertain | Uncertain | ✓ Active development |
Information based on publicly available data and firm feedback. Last updated August 2026. Law Support Australia recommends firms research all platforms before making a decision — including talking to current users.
I have worked inside every platform on this page. I know what the sales pitch leaves out and what firms end up wishing they had asked. A conversation with me is free, takes about 20 minutes, and I will tell you honestly whether Law App is the right fit for your firm — or not.
Kelly Mills — Law Support Australia / 07 3040 3036 / kelly@lawsupport.com.au
FilePro is sunsetting. LawMaster is being wound down. LEAP renewal notices are arriving. If you are evaluating your options — now is the right time to have the conversation.
Information based on publicly available data, verified user reviews, and firsthand experience with Australian law firms. Last verified August 2026. Law Support Australia makes no warranty as to the ongoing accuracy of third-party information. Firms should conduct their own due diligence before signing any contract.