Moving to a new case management system usually means moving years of clients, matters and contacts. The new tool will only be as reliable as the data it receives.
This article lists what to prepare before the move. It gives no timeline, because that depends on the firm and the tools.
The problem
Data collected over years is rarely consistent. The same client appears twice with different spellings, closed matters sit next to open ones, and contacts have no role.
A migration copies all of it. If the problems are not handled first, they appear in the new system on day one, and people stop trusting it.
What is known
We found no independent study that measures how data preparation affects the result of a migration, so we give no figure.
What is certain comes from how the work is done. Every system has its own fields and rules, so old data must be mapped to the new structure. Whatever cannot be mapped is lost or misplaced unless someone decides what to do with it.
What to do
- Make an inventory of where data lives today: the case management system, spreadsheets, email, shared folders and paper
- List the kinds of record to move: clients, matters, contacts, documents, notes, deadlines and billing history
- Decide what stays behind. Matters closed long ago may be better archived than migrated, following the firm's retention rules and your attorney's advice
- Choose one spelling and one format for names, addresses, phone numbers and dates, and write it down
- Find and merge duplicates, with a person deciding each doubtful case
- Give every matter a clear status and every contact a role, such as client, opposing party, witness or court
- Name one person who approves the final data before it moves
An illustrative example
Illustrative example, not a client case. A small firm exports its clients and matters to a spreadsheet. It adds a column for status, marks the duplicates, and an attorney decides which closed matters to archive instead of migrating. The cleaned file is the one that moves.
A person reviews anything that leaves the firm, and nothing here replaces your attorney's advice.
What to look for when you implement it
- Run a trial migration on a copy and compare it with the original before touching real data
- Check a sample of records by hand: names, dates, linked contacts and attached documents
- Keep the old system available and unchanged until the firm has confirmed the new one
- Confirm that confidential information keeps the same access limits in the new system
- Ask the vendor how data is exported if the firm later leaves the new tool
- Agree on a freeze: after the final copy, new work goes only into the new system