The Ultimate 2025 Guide to Salesforce for Legal Teams

Salesforce isn’t just for sales departments – law firms and legal teams are increasingly using Salesforce to transform how they manage clients, cases, and operations​. 

In fact, Salesforce for law firms has become a key trend in legal tech, enabling everything from client relationship management (CRM) to automated case workflows. This ultimate guide explores how legal teams can leverage Salesforce. By the end, you’ll understand the benefits of a legal CRM, how to automate legal work with Salesforce, and why an integrated solution like Bolt Data Legal can revolutionize your firm’s productivity. Let’s dive in!

Why Law Firms Are Adopting Salesforce for Legal Operations

Modern law firms are facing the challenge of managing growing caseloads and increasing client demands without additional resources available. . To keep up, many are turning to technology. Salesforce, the world’s #1 CRM, offers a powerful platform to manage relationships and workflows – and legal teams have taken notice. While Salesforce started as a sales tool, it can be a game-changer for legal operations when properly configured. Here’s why law firms are adopting Salesforce:

• Centralized Client Management: Salesforce provides a unified database for all client information, matters, and communications. Instead of hunting through emails or files, attorneys get a 360° view of each client in one place​.
  
  Having a single source of truth means less time searching for case details and more time delivering great service​. Lawyers and attorneys often use Salesforce to view detailed client records and history, enabling more personalized service​. This centralized approach improves client satisfaction and ensures everyone on the team has up-to-date information.
  
  

• Business Development and CRM: At its core, Salesforce is a CRM – and law firms use it to track leads, prospects, and referrals just like sales organizations do. Salesforce for law firms helps track new client inquiries, automate follow-ups, and nurture relationships over time​. For example, firms can capture leads from their website or events directly into Salesforce and use automated emails to follow up on consultations​.
  
  
• Client Onboarding and Intake: Beyond marketing, Salesforce streamlines client intake and onboarding. With case management workflow tools like Bolt Data Legal, you can evaluate a new prospective client using quick intake forms and distribute them to the appropriate legal team to accept the case. This leads to a smoother start for new matters and can reduce administrative burden by 50% on your team.

• Matter and Case Management: Perhaps the most impactful use of Salesforce for legal teams comes with matter management – tracking the progress of cases, tasks, and outcomes. Out-of-the-box, Salesforce doesn’t include legal case management, but it can be configured to. Many law firms are turning to solutions, such as Bolt Data Legal, that offer a fully customizable case management solution built on Salesforce designed to meet every specific workflow and need your law firm has. 

In Bolt Data Legal, you can assign the appropriate legal team members to manage all of the case-related activities, documents, and client communications from initial discovery through negotiation and litigation. This allows attorneys to waste less non-billable hours by reducing supervision time and automating routine case administration tasks to ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

For Florin Roebig, using Salesforce Case Management Solution Bolt Data Legal enabled the firm to reduce attorney supervising time by 91%. Read the full case study here.

• Document Management and Automation: Legal work is document-intensive. Salesforce, when extended for legal use, can centralize document management and even automate document generation. For instance, in Bolt Data Legal, you can maintain organized case documentation, court dockets, physical correspondence, and negotiation outcomes to ensure all legal procedures are followed precisely. Once documents are signed, they can be stored back into Salesforce records, making Salesforce a one-stop repository for both client data and documents. This beats juggling multiple systems and disorganized virtual filing cabinets. By replacing manual document prep and filing with automation, law firms save tremendous time and reduce errors​.

• Workflow Automation and Scheduling: Legal teams deal with many repetitive tasks – scheduling meetings, setting deadlines, sending reminders, updating clients, and so on. Salesforce can perform these manual tasks automatically.
  
  No two firms are exactly alike, which is why Bolt Data Legal is designed to be customized to the unique needs of each firm, turning your firm’s vision of a perfect case management solution into a reality.
  
  
  
• Client Communication and Service: Lawyers are focused on building client relationships, and Salesforce helps grow and maintain those. Using Salesforce’s communication tools (or integrations with Outlook, Gmail, or SMS apps), firms can log and track all client communications. Some law firms even use Salesforce similarly to how sales teams do, to streamline client communications and ensure timely follow-ups​.
  
  A Salesforce-based legal solution can provide client portals (using Experience Cloud) where clients can get updates on their case and share documents securely – enhancing transparency. By treating clients like valued customers and keeping in touch proactively (e.g. automated check-ins or newsletters via Marketing Cloud), firms foster loyalty and repeat business​.
  
  
  
• Analytics and Reporting: In today’s data-driven world, law firm leaders want insights into daily firm performance and operations. Salesforce’s powerful reporting and dashboard tools give real-time visibility into endless KPIs like case load per attorney, average case resolution time, client acquisition cost, and billable hours. With all data in one system, you can easily utilize analytics and reporting tools to evaluate the firm's performance and identify areas for improvement. For example, advanced analytics can show which referral sources and intake sources generate the most cases or help you evaluate your teams performance, helping you make informed decisions to protect the future of your firm. 

As the above points show, Salesforce for legal can touch nearly every aspect of a law firm’s operations – from the moment a potential client comes in contact, through case handling, to the final outcome and beyond. 

Watch a this on-demand webinar to see how Salesforce is being used to automate case management for law firms.

‍Challenges of Using Salesforce in Legal (and the Rise of Specialized Solutions)

You may be wondering “if Salesforce is so powerful, why doesn’t every legal team use it?” The answer is, Salesforce was originally built for generic business use – primarily sales – and not specifically for legal teams​. Without customization, a law firm would find Salesforce lacking important functions like intake processing, case management, or performance evaluation​. 

However, in 2025, apps and solutions are now available that are designed to meet the specific needs of law firms, making it one of the most powerful legal CRMs on the market. 

Whilst customizing Salesforce from scratch to fit a law firm can be expensive and complex​, a new breed of Salesforce-based legal solutions has emerged. These are apps or managed packages built on the Salesforce platform, but pre-designed for legal use cases.

Litify is one prominent example – an all-in-one legal operating platform on Salesforce, including features like case management, document management, client communication tools, and analytics​.

Litify’s success (and others like it) demonstrates the demand for industry-specific CRM solutions, which means legal teams no longer need to reinvent the wheel or hire a large Salesforce development team – you can adopt a solution that’s built for law firms but runs on the reliable Salesforce infrastructure.

However, not all legal tech solutions are created equal. Bolt Data, a Salesforce consulting and software company, noticed a gap in the legal tech market through their work with law firms​. Many existing solutions, while feature-rich, lacked the extensibility, security, and configurability that individual law firms often require​

In other words, a firm might adopt a one-size-fits-all legal solution for Salesforce and then find it hard to adapt to their unique workflows or integrate with their other systems. Seeing these unmet needs, Bolt Data set out to create a next-generation Salesforce legal solution that offers greater flexibility.

Bolt Data Legal – Salesforce for Legal Teams, Evolved

Bolt Data Legal is a new Salesforce-based case and matter management solution designed to address the shortcomings of generic Salesforce legal software. Launched in 2024 by Bolt Data, this solution was built on Salesforce to help law firms “deliver exceptional case outcomes by automating and streamlining processes” on a trusted, scalable cloud platform​

In essence, Bolt Data Legal combines the power of Salesforce CRM with all the critical functionality a law firm needs for daily operations.

Key strengths of Bolt Data Legal:

• Comprehensive Case and Matter Management: Bolt Data Legal offers a fully-fledged case management system out-of-the-box. From client intake to case closure, it provides workflows for each stage of a matter’s lifecycle. Attorneys can open a new case, assign team members (partners, associates, paralegals), and track progress through phases (e.g. investigation, pre-trial, discovery, resolution). The system auto-logs activities and key dates, giving supervisors a clear view of all active matters. This integrated approach means firms no longer need a separate case management tool – everything runs on Salesforce in one platform.
  
  
• Automation of Routine Legal Work: True to its Salesforce DNA, Bolt Data Legal heavily automates repetitive tasks. For example, when a new matter is created using a template, the platform can automatically generate a set of tasks (like “Send welcome email to client” or “Schedule initial consultation”) and assigns them to the appropriate team members​. Deadline tracking is automated, with reminders and alerts for upcoming court dates or filing deadlines. Document templates can be used to auto-generate standard pleadings or forms populated with Salesforce data (names, case numbers, etc.), saving the team from re-typing information. By automating case tasks and document generation, Bolt Data Legal helps legal teams handle higher volumes without added staff​.
  
  
• Built-In Document Management: With Bolt Data Legal, every case can have all its related documents (contracts, medical records, evidence, correspondence) stored and organized within Salesforce. Users can upload or generate documents and tag them to the case record, ensuring nothing is lost in email or shared drives. Version control and access permissions ensure the right people can collaborate on documents securely. This is a big improvement over generic Salesforce setups that would require separate document repositories – instead, Bolt Data Legal creates a one-stop repository for all case information. Of course, the platform can also integrate with external storage or e-signature tools if needed, but the key is your team has everything at their fingertips within the case view.
  
  
• Time Tracking and Billing Integration: Bolt Data Legal includes time tracking tools so lawyers can log billable hours with one click​. This addresses a pain point many law firms have – tracking billable time often requires separate software or manual logs. In Bolt Data Legal’s solution, whenever a lawyer works on a task, they can start a timer or add a time entry linked to the case. These entries can later be compiled for billing (and since Salesforce can integrate with accounting/finance systems, pushing data to invoicing is straightforward​). By capturing billable time in the same system as the case, firms ensure no time slips through the cracks and they have real-time visibility into workload and billable hours per matter.
  
  
• Analytics and Performance Dashboards: Because Bolt Data Legal runs on Salesforce, it takes advantage of Salesforce’s reporting capabilities, but tailored to legal KPIs. The solution comes with dashboards and reports that matter to law firm management – for example, dashboards showing case pipeline (e.g., number of open cases by stage), productivity metrics (tasks completed, hours billed per attorney), financial metrics (billings, collections by month), and client acquisition metrics (new clients, conversion rates from lead to signed case). With all data in one place, firm leaders can quickly see insights like which practice areas are most profitable or how a particular office is performing.
  
  These analytics help in strategic planning and optimizing operations​. For instance, one law firm calculated using Bolt Data Legal achieved a 91% reduction in supervising attorney time required to manage teams and cases​. That kind of efficiency gain is exactly what data visibility and automation together can deliver.
  
  
• Integration and Extensibility: A standout benefit of Bolt Data Legal is its flexibility to work with whatever other tools your firm uses. It’s built as an open, extensible solution. Bolt Data Legal integrates with nearly any third-party application, including accounting and finance systems, document generation tools, eSignature software, and more.
  This means you don’t have to rip out your favorite legal tech – whether it’s a specialized IP management tool or a billing system – Bolt Data Legal can likely connect with it (thanks to Salesforce’s APIs and Bolt Data’s integration expertise).
  
  For example, if your firm uses DocuSign for e-signatures, Bolt Data Legal can integrate so that documents sent for signature are tracked in the case automatically. If you use an accounting system like QuickBooks or an industry billing system, integration ensures expenses and invoices flow between systems. This level of extensibility future-proofs your investment; as your firm’s tech stack evolves, your core platform can adapt. Bolt Data built the solution specifically to be fully configurable to each law firm’s needs, addressing the rigidity that some older solutions have​. Because it sits on Salesforce, admins can customize fields, workflows, and templates without deep coding – meaning the platform can be tailored without breaking core features.
  
  
• Security and Compliance: Law firms deal with highly sensitive information. Bolt Data Legal leverages Salesforce’s enterprise-grade security (data encryption, robust access controls, user authentication options, etc.) to keep client data safe​.
  
  All data is stored on Salesforce’s secure cloud, which is a relief for firms worried about cloud solutions – Salesforce’s infrastructure is trusted by banks and governments, so it meets or exceeds typical law firm security standards. In short, Bolt Data Legal marries legal functionality with Salesforce’s proven security, giving firms a complete and trustworthy solution for case management​.
  
  
• User-Friendly Interface: Despite packing so many features, Bolt Data Legal is designed with a modern, user-friendly interface (UI). Legal professionals who have seen generic Salesforce screens will appreciate a UI that uses legal terminology and intuitive layouts. For instance, the case detail page in Bolt Data Legal might have sections for “Case Overview”, “Client Details”, “Case Team”, “Key Dates”, “Documents”, “Time Entries”, etc., all organized logically. This reduces the learning curve for attorneys and staff. In fact, Bolt Data built this product on 11+ years of experience developing solutions for service-focused companies​, so they understand change management – a beautiful, easy-to-use UI helps drive adoption within law firms.

Check out this 90-second walk-through of the platform to see Bolt Data Legal in practice.

It’s also worth noting that Bolt Data’s innovation earned them recognition – they won Salesforce’s 2024 Partner Innovation Award in the Business Services category for this legal solution​, underscoring its impact on the industry.