Matter Management vs. Case Management: Key Differences Explained

When it comes to legal operations, the terms matter management and case management are often used interchangeably—but they’re not the same thing. While both help legal teams organize and track their work, they serve distinct purposes and cater to different types of legal professionals.

For law firms, case management is essential for handling litigation, client representation, and court proceedings. Meanwhile, in-house legal teams rely on matter management to oversee a wide range of legal work, from contracts and compliance to regulatory matters and internal advisory.

Choosing the right system is critical for improving efficiency, ensuring compliance, and demonstrating legal’s value to the business.

Let’s break down the key differences between matter management and case management, compare their functionalities, and determine which solution best fits your needs.

Core Differences Between Matter Management & Case Management

At a high level, both matter management and case management help legal teams track and manage their work. However, the fundamental difference lies in what they manage and who uses them.

Matter management is a broad system used by in-house legal teams to track all legal matters—not just litigation. This includes contracts, compliance issues, regulatory requests, internal advisory work, and disputes. The focus is on improving visibility, efficiency, and collaboration across all things legal-related.

Case management, on the other hand, is primarily used by law firms that handle litigation or case-based legal work. It helps attorneys manage court deadlines, filings, case documents, client communications, and billable hours. The focus is on tracking case progress and ensuring compliance with court procedures.

In short, case management law software is designed for external client representation, while matter management is built for internal legal operations.

Key Functionalities Compared

To better understand their differences, let’s compare the core functionalities of matter management vs. case management:

While both systems help legal professionals manage their work, their core functionalities are designed for different legal environments.

Which One Do You Need?

Choosing between matter vs. case management depends on the type of legal work your team handles. Below are common scenarios to help determine which system best fits your needs.

Scenario 1: A Law Firm Handling Litigation

A mid-sized law firm specializes in corporate litigation and employment disputes. Their attorneys need to track court deadlines, manage case filings, and bill clients based on time spent on each case. Since their work revolves around individual legal cases, a case management system is the right fit. It helps with:

• Case tracking and status updates

• Court document and deadline management

• Client communication and billable hours tracking

Scenario 2: An In-House Legal Team at a SaaS Company

A growing SaaS company has an in-house legal team that handles a high volume of contracts, compliance matters, and regulatory requests. Their priority is to streamline legal intake, manage ongoing matters, and track team workload. Since they oversee a variety of legal work beyond litigation, a matter management system is essential. It allows them to:

• Automate legal intake and triage requests efficiently

• Keep track of all legal matters—including contracts, compliance, and disputes

• Provide visibility into legal team workload and performance

How to Choose the Right Software

Now that you understand the differences between matter management and case management, the next step is choosing the right legal case and matter management software for your team. Here are four key steps to help guide your decision:

Step 1: Identify Your Legal Team’s Primary Needs

• If your team handles mainly litigation and court cases, you need a case management system to track filings, deadlines, and case progress.

• If your team manages a variety of legal matters (contracts, compliance, regulatory work, etc.), you need a matter management system for organization, visibility, and workflow automation.

• If you need to track both cases and broader legal work, a hybrid approach or a system with customizable workflows may be ideal.

Step 2: Consider Your Workflow & Automation Needs

• In-house legal teams often deal with high volumes of legal requests—look for AI-powered intake and workflow automation to reduce manual work.

• Law firms need court-focused features, such as case tracking, document filing, and deadline reminders.

• Integration with existing business or legal tools (e.g., HR, finance, CRM, e-filing systems) is critical for seamless operations.

Step 3: Evaluate Reporting & Visibility Requirements

• If you need to track legal team workload, response times, and performance, matter management software offers detailed insights into legal operations.

• If you need billing and case outcome tracking, case management software provides financial and case progress reporting.

Step 4: Look for Scalability & Customization

• Growing legal teams need flexible software that adapts to their evolving needs.

• No two businesses are the same and a customizable system ensures you can tailor workflows to fit your team’s unique structure and processes.

How Can Checkbox Help?

For in-house legal teams, managing a high volume of legal matters—ranging from contracts and compliance to disputes and regulatory requests—can quickly become overwhelming. Without a centralized system, legal work becomes fragmented, making it difficult to track requests, prioritize tasks, and demonstrate the team’s value to leadership.

As a leading matter management software, Checkbox was built to help in-house legal teams streamline their operations with:

AI-Powered Intake & Workflow Automation

• Automates legal intake, triage, and approvals to reduce manual work.

• Ensures legal requests are properly categorized and assigned to the right team members.

A Single Source of Truth for All Matters

• Provides a centralized platform to track all legal work—contracts, compliance, regulatory issues, and disputes—in one place.

• Eliminates the need for scattered emails, spreadsheets, and disconnected tools.

Real-Time Reporting & Visibility

• Tracks legal team workload, response times, and matter status with powerful analytics.

• Helps legal teams communicate their impact to leadership with clear, data-driven insights.

Seamless Integration with Business Systems

• Connects directly with other business systems such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, and more to streamline cross-functional collaboration.

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Unlike case management software, which is built for law firms handling litigation, Checkbox is designed specifically for in-house legal teams—helping them work more efficiently, scale their impact, and provide greater strategic value to the business.

Want to learn more about how Checkbox can work for your team? Schedule a call with one of our technology consultants today.