Back in 1984, there was no such thing as matter management. Legal departments were doing word processing by then, but most of their other functions were being done by hand, slowly and tediously.

But the IBM PC-XT personal computer had just come out, equipped with something called a "hard drive." It could store 5 megabytes of data—an impossibly huge amount. With that much computing power now on the desktop, we saw that it could be used to fill a real need in legal departments—tracking litigations.

First case management platform

So LAWTRAC was born, the PC—based case management system designed specifically for legal department litigation. By the end of our first year, we had five customers, and we did our best to refine the application to keep up with their needs and wants. When "network" became a PC buzzword, we moved the system onto the Novell networking platform.

Around that time, a major US corporation missed a default judgment on a lawsuit—and they were actively looking for a system that would make sure that never happened again. They chose us—not that they had many choices—and the new relationship earned us a write-up in the National Law Journal. Soon we were up to 20 customers, with more to come.

First Windows-based system

Over time, we saw that LAWTRAC could handle much more than just litigation. Contracts, transactions, regulatory actions, intellectual property management, and more were incorporated into the system.

In 1991, when Windows systems began showing up in corporate legal systems, we completely revamped the product. What was now being called "matter management" was now in its second generation. And LAWTRAC was in front of the curve.

In 1998, we participated as charter members of the electronic billing initiative then being spearheaded by the American Bar Association, American Corporate Counsel, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Over time, this led to an industry—wide acceptance of e—billing.

First Internet platform

Then came the Internet, and it was clear that this would quickly become a serious platform for application software. Our third generation product—LAWTRAC Online—rolled out in 2001, and we changed the name of our company to LT Online.

What next?

Now, over a quarter century since our first launch, matter management systems have proliferated in the marketplace. The competition has made us even more determined to stay in front. As ever, our customers are showing us the way. They want a mobile platform. They want iPads and other tablets. They want to collaborate with any stakeholder, from anywhere, at any time.

But as you can probably tell, new directions are nothing new to us.

See what LAWTRAC can do for General Counsel