Below is a list of new updates and feature launches for 2022! Check back regularly as we add to this page once each update goes live.
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December
October
September
PracticePanther Update - December 7, 2022
Summary
This update covers some of the latest improvements we've made to PracticePanther's functionality given feedback directly from clients. We wanted to get these updates to our Matters grid, invoices, and Outlook into users' hands as soon as possible. Stay tuned for more new feature releases and improvements in our upcoming major release early next year!
Full Notes
Grids
The new Matters Grid now has the option to display all columns as visible.
A subset of columns are displayed by default.
Improved the results shown when applying Contact tag filters within the new Matters Grid.
Invoices
When attaching a receipt file to an expense and adding it to an invoice, the invoice will now display the expense as a line item.
Expense categories will no longer repopulate after being deleted.
Office 365
🌟 We have resolved the issue that prevented recurring events from syncing over to PracticePanther calendars. All active recurring calendar events will now sync from Outlook to PracticePanther.
Reports
Updated the Originating Attorney report to now display the correct dates for the Apply Date for payments.
SMS
Editing SMS permissions will no longer modify user role permissions.
PracticePanther Update - October 17, 2022
Summary
The October 11 update spotlight is on our new spreadsheet document templates, adding robust new capabilities to helping our growing and larger firms scale into the future. There were also updates to payments and invoices to help streamline the payments tracking experience per attorney.
This update also includes optimizations across PracticePanther to improve performance and user experience, polishing the global search feature, archiving contacts and matters, and data tables. Bugs were also fixed for iCalendar, Dropbox, and time entries.
🖐️ = User Requested Feature
Full Notes
General
System optimizations have improved performance across PracticePanther.
The Daily agenda emailing process was optimized to reduce system resources.
Syncs to internal services were improved.
Archived contacts and matters will no longer appear in other contact or matter drop-down menus, and can now be filtered from reports.
Fixed an issue where grids would occasionally hang or need to be refreshed before displaying all entries.
✋ A message will now display if there are no results when performing a global search.
Activities
🖐️ Created Task records now default to being due Today, and are defaulted to being set All Day.
This supports the recent enhancement to control the time that tasks are set.
Documents
✋ Document templates can now be applied to spreadsheet CSV and XSL files, greatly enhancing the customizability of generated reports.
Integrations
The iCalendar integration on the iPhone has been updated and is now working as expected.
The Dropbox integration was upgraded, providing a new look and feel, and increased stability in the connection with Dropbox. For the time being - you will need to open Dropbox to upload files but in an upcoming release this functionality will be available to drag/drop again.
Invoices & Payments
A new 'Applied Date’ field is now available between Payments and Invoices. This will track the date when any payment is applied to an invoice.
Pre-existing payments will have an Applied Date equal to their payment date, and can be edited at any time by editing the Payment.
When adding a Payment on an invoice, the displayed invoice balance amount is no longer being miscalculated based on the Payment amount.
Multi-matter invoices now have an edit pencil, enabling users to make database edits to their line items directly from an invoice.
Updated eCheck payments to correctly show a failed or chargeback payment instead of sometimes showing a Successful payment.
Originating Attorney Report
The originating attorney report now references ‘Applied Date’ instead of ‘Payment Date’.
PantherPayments
The display for Payment Plan status' will now properly update when the status is active.
Time Entries
Time Entry records can now be imported with UTBMS codes associated to them, which will then dynamically populate in their LEDES invoice exports.
Filters are now properly displaying on the Time Entries grid.
Addressed a bug where time entries with specific times would incorrectly round up.
PracticePanther Update - September 22, 2022
Highlights
New Enhancement - Archiving - Contacts and Matters can now be archived! This process will remove the records from normal access without deleting them.
Additional filters are available to easily locate archived records.
Records can be un-archived by changing their status.
Activity Overdue Status - Events and tasks past their due date will now be marked as Overdue.
More Details
Performance was improved on the Timer, Chat, Notification, and Inbox features, resulting in less hangups and timeouts with these features.
Multi-matter invoices and corresponding payments will appear on the Originating Attorney Report (OAR) as rows separated by Matter.
Each matter will now have its own row on the OAR table.
Full Notes
General
New Enhancement - Archiving: Contacts and Matters can now be archived! This process will remove the records from normal access without deleting them.
Additional filters are available to easily locate archived records.
Records can be un-archived by changing their status.
Performance was improved on the Timer, Chat, Notification, and Inbox features, resulting in less hangups and timeouts with these features.
Canceling an in progress Contact creation will now redirect to the Contacts page.
Searches can now be performed on the Relationships grid.
Activities
Events and tasks past their due date will now be marked as Overdue.
Originating Attorney Report
Multi-matter invoices and corresponding payments will appear on the OAR as rows separated by Matter.
Each matter will now have its own row on the OAR table.
The originating attorney field on Matters can now be edited to remove the listed originating attorney.
Payments
The Payee field is now required on Payments records.
Editing a Payment record’s description now shows the correct processing fees amount after saving.
Time Entries
Users with the Edit Time Entries permission are now able to edit a time entry record on the day it was created, but not afterwards.
Contacts that are not LEDES contacts will no longer require task codes on the multiple time entries page.
PracticePanther Update - September 13, 2022
Highlights
Updated Outlook Support - A new way to sync your Outlook calendar is now available, providing MFA support of Outlook in PracticePanther!
This feature is currently in beta - to opt in, contact your account manager.
Invoice Next & Back Buttons - Invoices can now be navigated through next and back buttons, streamlining the experience of reviewing batches of invoices.
Mailsync Grid Button - The Mailsync link is now accessible on the matter and contact grid menus.
Task Due Time - Tasks can now have a specific due time associated with them in addition to a due date.
Tasks will now appear in the calendar at their designated times.
More Details
The login screen has received a visual update.
The chat feature users list will now properly display a green bubble when a user is active.
Dates on conditional workflows will now properly calculate.
Pueto Rican SMS numbers are now supported in PracticePanther.
Full Notes
General
The login screen has received a visual update.
Activities
Tasks can now have a specific due time associated with them in addition to a due date.
Tasks will now appear in the calendar at their designated times.
Reminders will now trigger based on these designated times.
Note: Pre-existing tasks will be defaulted to a Noon due time of the creators time zone.
Recurring tasks and events now recur 99 times before needing to be re-applied, up from 32.
Expenses
Task codes on expenses are no longer required if your settings do not require them.
Grids
The Mailsync link is now accessible on the matter and contact grid menus.
Items per page on the matters grid will now be saved.
Integrations
A new way to sync your Outlook calendar is now available, providing MFA support of Outlook in PracticePanther!
This feature is currently in beta - to opt in, contact your account manager.
Invoices
Retainer payments on contact invoices are now applicable on matter level invoices.
Merge codes will now be blank when there is no value to pull in invoice notes.
SMS
Pueto Rico SMS numbers are now supported in PracticePanther.
Bug Fixes
Client Matter ID will now properly export in LEDES invoices in multi-matter invoices. The chat feature users list will now properly display as green when a user is active.
The privacy toggle will now always properly hide firm financial information when selected.
Dates on conditional workflows will now properly calculate.
Multi-matter invoices will now properly filter out unselected matters as expected.
Custom date fields that are on contacts and matters will now remember the date that you entered, addressing an issue with time zones impacted the date.
Turning on Repeat Task will now properly effect the task being edited instead of a task in the background.
Editing a time entry will no longer automatically update the hourly rate if the signed in user is not the same as the Billed By user.
Required fields on the Contacts record now properly display the red star to show that they are required.
Resolved an issue where in some instances deleted contacts within a company were still appearing as part of the company when viewing the matter details.
PracticePanther Update - August 15, 2022
Improvements
New log in method to PracticePanther
Now users can log in by pressing the Enter/Return key
Deeper customization in LEDES invoices
Users can now add merge codes to the notes on their invoices, and see the respective values for each field in their downloaded LEDES files.
Added security roles options to allow the restriction of past dated Time Entries.
Users with this setting are no longer able to create, edit or delete a time entry with a past date.
In order to improve OAR reporting, percentage discounts on invoices are now accounted for more clearly.
When using the “Expenses first” filter, discounted invoices will now impact expenses collected more accurately.
PracticePanther now supports formatting styles (bold, italics, underline, bullet points, etc.) when syncing calendar events with calendar integrations.
Fixes
The Navigation bar was updated to improve the color quality for extreme light and dark scenarios.
The Date Calculator has been updated to properly account for all US holidays.
PracticePanther Update - July 15, 2022
Improvements
Navigation Bar Enhancements
The new navigation bar global search will now display suggested result previews.
The green “New” buttom behaves more consistently and has been enlarged to improve user experience
Fixes
PracticePanther activities were updated to improve their speed and performance.
Matter grids were updated to improve their speed and performance.
Tags now properly display in the matters grid.
Intake forms can now properly handle special characters including accent characters.
PracticePanther Update - June 16, 2022
Improvements
PantherPayments Sign Up Process
Our PantherPayments application has been improved to allow firms to enter multiple owners of their firm. This will ultimately help firms get approved faster to start using PantherPayments!
Invoice Updates
In the invoice total section, interest from prior invoices will now display as a parsed-out value. This will make it very clear how much interest is carrying over to current invoices.
Fixes
LawPay Integration - For firms using our LawPay integration, this is a bug fix that ensures only bank accounts display that are connected to LawPay.
Matters Grid - A backend performance improvement to ensure our new Matters grid is as fast as possible!
PracticePanther Update - June 7, 2022
Improvements
Navigation Bar
A revamped main navigation bar was deployed across PracticePanther to allow for a faster user experience and a more streamlined workflow.
LEDES Billing
We've added functionality to the LEDES Billing system which allows for more LEDES values to be exported on expense records.
Fixes
Templates- A bug fix for invoice template functionality where default information is no longer pulled automatically.
Matters grid- Updated Matters grid will show the correct totals at the top and on pagination for all language/ culture firm selections.
Time Entries Import- An improvement to our importing process to support time entries with "null" descriptions.
Notifications- Bug fix for determining which users in a firm receive notifications (based on the Star button on the Contact details page)
PracticePanther Update - May 19, 2022
Improvements
Payments Enhancements
We’ve updated the UX in the event a firm’s online payment status is set to Disabled or Paused so that firms won’t waste time attempting to make new online payments only to get errored out. Now users of Paused or Disabled firms won’t be able to click on certain actions related to online payments.
We’ve added a new way to filter your Originating Attorney Report so that you can see payments based on the assigned attorney at the contact or matter level. This provides firms even more ways to customize their commissions.
Now PracticePanther will create a failed payment record in the firm’s history for every type of payment failure the firm or user can experience.
Fixes
Quickbooks- We fixed an issue where the “Sync to QBO” button was not appearing for certain invoices when it was supposed to.
Invoices- We fixed an issue where ‘Issue Dates’ on certain invoices was appearing 1 day early than what was set during the batch invoice process.
Workflows- We fixed an issue where tasks that were set to not have a due date were getting one when created through a workflow.
Google Calendar- We fixed an issue where a deleted event in Google Calendar, when synced with PracticePanther, would end up in the PracticePanther recycle bin. This will no longer happen.
PracticePanther Update - May 10, 2022
Improvements
Matters Grid
For users who want to view columns on our new Matters grid with specific column sizes, they can now do so and not have to worry about those changes not staying the same when they come back to the grid! Set it once and forget it.
Users will now also be able to easily search and filter their matters by a custom-created date range.
LEDES Billing
Allows LEDES billing users to customize the information that is downloaded within each LEDES invoice.
Fixes
Free Trial Accounts - Fixes bug that auto-logouts free trial users during the welcome wizard.
PracticePanther Update - April 21, 2022
Improvements
Matters Grid
An “Assigned To” filter has been added to the matters grid for simple navigation.
Invoice Reminders
All new trial accounts created in PracticePanther, or current accounts with 0 invoice reminders, will automatically start with 3 default invoice reminders which can later be customized here. If an invoice has been sent from PracticePanther and remains outstanding, these email reminders will be sent out to the client the invoice was sent to.
Trust Invoice Templates
In March, we added a “Deposit To” field to invoices, allowing you to determine which bank accounts your invoice should point to. Now, you can set the bank account at the invoice template level here. We recommend making an invoice template for each bank account you want your invoices to be able to deposit into!
Batch LEDES Downloads
For firms using LEDES billing, we’ve made downloading multiple LEDES files way easier and faster than ever before. Simply check the left-side boxes for each invoice in your invoices grid, then click “Download Multiple LEDES Files”. This will download a single zip file, containing every LEDES file for each invoice you checked.
Notes Filters
On the Contact and Matter details pages, the Notes tab now has filters to help users find what they are looking for.
Fixes
LEDES status option - Fix for saving LEDES option at the contact level
Event and Task Notifications - Bug fix for re-enabled accounts which were not receiving notifications
Trust bubble inaccurate - Bug fix for calculation of failed and canceled payments in the dashboard view.
Bank Account Listings - Bug fix for inactive bank accounts that were being listed as payment options.
PracticePanther Update - April 12, 2022
Improvements
TrustBooks Integration
PracticePanther today launched a one-way integration with Trust accounting software, TrustBooks. Users of both PracticePanther and TrustBooks can automatically sync matter, deposit, and payment withdrawal data between platforms. Access the integration in TrustBooks account settings or learn more here.
PracticePanther Update - April 7, 2022
Improvements
Archived Bank Accounts
Archived bank accounts are no longer usable with new online payments functions including invoices, retainer, setting up payment plans or new OneLink templates. Existing OneLink templates and existing payment request links will associate themselves with another active bank of the same type. In the event that another trust account is unavailable, the existing links will direct the payer to an error message informing them to request a new link from their attorney.
Texting
Users can now print SMS conversation history to PDF.
Invoicing
PantherPayments users can now see which bank account funds were deposited into from paid invoices in the “Deposit to” field in the invoice grid.
Fixes
Credit notes - Small fix where the date on credit notes was off by one day.
Invoice information- Fix where invoice information and amount were not displayed on the user's side. Now includes a “Invoices to Pay” section.
Workflows- Fixed an issue where editing tasks that were not completed were incorrectly triggering due dates for conditional tasks.
PracticePanther Update - March 22, 2022
Improvements
Matters Grid
The Matters grid has been reconfigured to perform faster and provide new functionality. Now, you can filter the grid by multiple statuses in one search query.
PracticePanther Update - March 18, 2022
Improvements
Trust Invoices
When sending out an invoice, customers now have the ability to choose which bank account they’d like funds deposited into — including both trust and operating accounts. If you need help adding bank accounts, you can view our help article here.
Timer Button
We’ve added the “start timer” play button inside contacts and matters. If users are already in a contact or matter, and want to start a timer from there, they can do so. The best part is that the timer automatically links to the contact or matter without the user needing to manually make that change.
Fixes
Batch report calendar - A small fix to the calendar selection of our batch deposit report for PantherPayments users.
PracticePanther Update - February 24, 2022
Improvements
PantherPayments Improvements
We’ve built-in greater transparency to the invoicing process. To bolster your paper trail, all invoices that are sent will be accompanied by a status, leaving a record that it was sent by SMS or email.
In a further effort to speed up the PantherPayments application process, applicants will no longer be able to enter a P.O. Box as their physical address. Allowing applicants to enter a P.O. Box previously resulted in unnecessary follow-up from compliance who would need to collect more information.
Fixes
Payment Plan Dates - Some customers were experiencing date discrepancies when working with recurring payments, this has been addressed.
PracticePanther Update - February 15, 2022
Improvements
Performance Enhancements to the Timer
Keeping accurate time is crucial to your firm’s success. We’ve enhanced our timer so that it runs smoother in the background, allowing operations to continue with no need for buffering or refreshing.
Speeding up PantherPayments Applications
The key to a quick PantherPayments application turnaround is including all relevant information for our compliance team. We’ve added a step to the process to ensure that applicants are including both a front and back image of their legal ID card.
Fixes
Support button blocker - We’ve cleaned up the support button visual so combing through reports is easier and faster.
Network Fee Report modal - When navigating to a Network Fee Report, customers who clicked on the title rather than the Network Fee button itself were taken to a new page that would not allow the user to pull their report. Now, by clicking the title or the button, the Network Fee Report modal fires.
Editing invoices - When editing the "quantity" of line items within an invoice using the pencil editor, edits we’re not being reflected properly on the matter and the invoice. This issue has been resolved.
PracticePanther Update - January 20, 2022
Unlimited eSignature
With the newest upgrade to our built-in eSignature feature, you can now send and track as many signature requests as you want. If you already have eSignature activated on the Business Plan, no further steps are needed to begin!
To learn more about how eSignature works, or how to activate it in your account, you can head to our eSignature tutorial.
Send a text to get paid
We’ve updated our native text messaging feature to give you more ways to get paid!
There is now a “$” button inside conversation windows, which allows users to view a list of Invoices that can be quickly selected and sent via text message to contacts.
Learn more about the native texting feature here.
