Do You Need a Matter Manager or a Matter Management Solution?

Managing legal work efficiently is a challenge for many teams. As legal operations grow, so does the need for better organization, visibility, and control over matters.  

To address this, some teams hire a matter manager—a dedicated person responsible for overseeing workflows and keeping everything on track. Others turn to matter management software, which automates processes and provides a centralized system for tracking and reporting legal work.

Both approaches can improve efficiency, but they serve different purposes. A matter manager offers hands-on oversight, while matter management software streamlines workflows and reduces manual tasks. Choosing the right solution depends on your team’s needs, workload, and long-term goals.  

So, let’s explore the key differences between the two, when to use one over the other, and whether a hybrid approach could be the best fit for your legal team.

What Is a Matter Manager?

Matter Manager → A legal professional responsible for organizing, tracking, and overseeing legal matters from start to finish.

The role of a matter manager is to ensure that all matters—cases, contracts, disputes, and other legal issues—are handled efficiently while keeping clients and stakeholders informed.

Matter managers typically take on responsibilities such as:

• Managing matter intake and assigning work to the right team members

• Tracking deadlines and ensuring tasks stay on schedule

• Communicating with internal teams and external stakeholders

• Generating reports to provide visibility into legal work and performance

Because they offer hands-on oversight, matter managers play a key role in maintaining order within in-house legal teams. They help bridge the gap between legal and the rest of the business, ensuring that requests are handled promptly and no important matters go unnoticed.

What Is Matter Management Software?

Matter management software is a digital solution designed to help legal teams track, organize, and manage their work more efficiently. Instead of relying on spreadsheets, email chains, or manual processes, legal teams can use software to centralize all their matters in one place—providing greater visibility, automation, and control.

Key capabilities of matter management software include:

• Automated matter intake – Standardizes how legal requests are submitted, ensuring all necessary information is captured from the start.

• Centralized tracking – Provides a single source of truth for all legal matters, making it easy to monitor progress, deadlines, and workloads.

• Collaboration tools – Enables legal teams to work together seamlessly, with clear task assignments and document sharing.

• Reporting & analytics – Generates real-time insights on legal work, helping teams measure performance and demonstrate value to leadership.

By automating routine tasks and streamlining workflows, matter management software reduces administrative burdens, allowing legal teams to focus on higher-value work. It also ensures that legal matters don’t get lost in inboxes or scattered across multiple systems—improving efficiency and decision-making.

Key Differences Between a Matter Manager and Matter Management Software

While both a matter manager and matter management software help legal teams stay organized, they serve different functions. A matter manager is a person responsible for overseeing legal matters, while matter management software is a digital tool that automates and streamlines the process.

When to Choose One Over the Other

Deciding between hiring a matter manager and investing in matter management software depends on your legal team’s size, workload, and long-term goals. While both solutions improve efficiency, they serve different needs.

Hire a Matter Manager if:

✅ Your legal team needs a dedicated resource to oversee workflows and ensure smooth coordination.

✅ You require strategic oversight to manage complex legal matters and communicate with stakeholders.

✅ Your team’s workload is manageable without extensive automation, and manual tracking still meets your needs.

Implement Matter Management Software if:

✅ Your legal team struggles with fragmented processes, making it difficult to track and manage matters effectively.

✅ You want to automate intake, tracking, and reporting to save time and reduce administrative work.

✅ Your team wants to improve visibility, efficiency, and data-driven decision-making through a scalable, secure, and accessible solution.

For many teams, software provides an immediate efficiency boost, reducing reliance on manual processes and improving visibility across legal matters. However, some teams may still benefit from having a dedicated matter manager—especially if legal operations require a high level of human oversight and strategy.

But it’s not always just one or the other. That’s where a hybrid approach comes in.

Can You Use Both?

Yes—many legal teams find that a hybrid approach to matter management offers the best solution. A matter manager provides strategic oversight and coordination, while matter management software automates administrative tasks and enhances visibility. Together, they create a system that is both efficient and adaptable.

Matter Management Software (Legal Tech Solution)

Handles intake, tracking, & reporting. Reduces administrative work by automating routine tasks, giving the matter manager more time to focus on higher-level priorities.

Matter Management & Matter Manager (Human Resource)

Oversees strategy & exceptions with a focus on complex, high-value legal work, ensuring that legal matters align with business priorities.

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Single Source of Truth

The software centralizes all legal matters, while the matter manager ensures smooth operations and acts as a bridge between legal and the business.

Why Is This Approach the Best for Scaling Legal Teams?

As legal teams grow, relying solely on a matter manager can become inefficient, and manual processes may lead to bottlenecks. On the other hand, software alone may not fully replace the strategic value that a specialized legal professional brings. By having both a matter manager and a matter management tool, legal teams can increase efficiency, reduce workload, and maintain the legal ops expertise where it matters most.

How Can Checkbox Help?

Checkbox is an in-house legal software solution built to make matter management as easy as possible. Designed specifically for legal teams, it centralizes work, automates processes, and provides real-time visibility so you can manage matters with ease.

One of the standout features is AI-powered intake, which ensures every legal request is captured correctly from the start. No more back-and-forth emails or missing details—just a smooth, standardized process that flows directly into the matter management dashboard.  

Additionally, with Checkbox’s built-in real-time tracking and reporting, legal teams don’t have to worry about calculating metrics and KPIs manually. You can simply check the automatically updating dashboard to monitor team workload, track performance, and showcase legal’s impact to leadership.

And whether you’re a lean in-house legal team or growing fast, Checkbox adapts to your needs, helping you stay organized without adding extra administrative work.

So, if you’re looking for a smart matter management solution, Checkbox has you covered. Want to see it in action? Book a demo today.