Law firm guide
A law firm runs well when every case has one place: the client, the parties, the court, the dates, the documents and the fee. This guide covers case organisation, court-date tracking, fee invoicing and client data protection.
How to organise your firm in 6 steps
- Case inventory. List active cases with the case number, court, procedural stage and client.
- Client records. Keep individual and corporate clients in one database, linked to their cases.
- Case workflow. Define the stages a case goes through: consultation, case opened, in court, resolved.
- Court calendar. Record every hearing and procedural deadline in the firm's shared calendar.
- Fees and invoicing. Set the fee per case (fixed, hourly or success) and invoice the client.
- Access and confidentiality. Give every lawyer and associate their own account, with access only to what they need.
What managing a law firm means
Managing a law firm means knowing at any moment which cases you have, their stage, the next date and the fee to collect.
In Romania the profession is regulated by Law 51/1995 and the Statute of the legal profession, which require records of legal-assistance contracts and professional secrecy.
Practice-management software replaces paper registers and scattered spreadsheets with one record the whole team can access.
Details: What software do law firms use to manage their cases?
How to track court dates
A missed deadline can mean losing an appeal, so dates belong in a shared firm calendar, not in each lawyer's personal diary.
Hearing dates can be checked on the Romanian courts portal (portal.just.ro) by case number.
- An appeal is usually filed within 30 days of service of the judgment (art. 468 Civil Procedure Code).
- A second appeal (recurs) is usually filed within 30 days of service (art. 485 Civil Procedure Code).
- An enforcement challenge is usually filed within 15 days (art. 715 Civil Procedure Code).
Details: How do I keep track of court deadlines in a law firm?
How to invoice fees
The fee is set in the legal-assistance contract: fixed, hourly, success-based, or a mix.
For each case you record the agreed fee and the amounts collected, so you can see what is left to invoice.
Invoices to Romanian companies are submitted through the RO e-Factura system.
How to protect client data
Client data is personal data protected by Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and, on top of that, by professional secrecy.
Practical rule: everyone in the firm has their own account and sees only the cases they need; no shared logins.
Details: How do I keep client data confidential under GDPR and professional secrecy?
Organise your firm with 4lawyers
Cases, clients, court dates and fees in one account.