PracticePanther Release Notes

We’re excited to introduce PantherAccounting Plus! Built natively into PracticePanther, PantherAccounting Plus allows your law firm to seamlessly manage all aspects of your trust and operating accounting directly within PracticePanther. PantherAccounting Plus is now available on PracticePanther's Business Pro plan.

What's New

Trust & Operating Account Management

Manage your trust and operating accounts in one place. Track transactions, balances, and ledger activity directly in PracticePanther, with built-in support for legal accounting workflows.

100% IOLTA and ABA Compliant

Stay aligned with IOLTA and ABA trust accounting standards. PantherAccounting Plus is designed specifically for law firms, with safeguards that help keep your records current, compliant, and audit-ready.

Easy Three-Way Reconciliation

Perform Three-Way Reconciliations in minutes using our Reconciliation Wizard. You can generate a one-click Three-Way Trust Reconciliation Report to satisfy state bar requirements and close out each month with confidence.​

General Ledger, AR & Expense Tracking

Manage and track your general ledger, accounts receivable, and both firm and client expenses from one centralized location. Create journal entries, monitor balances and categorize expenses with ease.​

Customizable Chart of Accounts

Manage and customize your Chart of Accounts to fit your firm’s accounting structure, workflows, and reporting needs.

Comprehensive Financial Reporting

Access key financial reports including Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement, and more, so you can better understand your firm’s financial performance.

Seamless Bank Account Sync

Securely connect your bank and credit card accounts through Plaid to sync transactions into PracticePanther, match them to existing payment records, create new payment records, and simplify month-end reconciliation.

No Third-Party Integrations Required

PantherAccounting Plus brings end to end accounting capabilities directly into PracticePanther, helping eliminate duplicate entry, data gaps, compliance risk and the need for separate third-party accounting software.

PantherAccounting Plus is available exclusively on the Business Pro plan.

Need help getting started? Contact our support team at [email protected].

Billing Analysis Report

The new Billing Analysis Report gives you a clear picture of how work flows from time entries to billed revenue. It breaks down worked, billed, and unbilled amounts over a selected date range.

This report will help answer questions like:
How much time was logged vs. invoiced? Where is revenue getting stuck?
By understanding the difference between “worked” time and what has actually been "billed", firms can better evaluate productivity, billing efficiency, and revenue trends, at a glance.

To learn more about the Billing Analysis Report, click here.

Multi-Select Tags

You can now select multiple tags at one time—no more reopening the tags menu for each selection. This small but helpful improvement makes organizing matters, contacts, and transactions noticeably faster.

Type-In Date Ranges for Filters

Date filters now accept typed input. Instead of having to use the calendar picker, you can manually enter date ranges for quicker, more precise filtering—especially helpful when working with specific reporting periods.

AR Aging Report: Exclude Pending Invoices

The AR Aging Reports by Contact and Matter now include an option to filter out pending invoices. This allows you to focus solely on approved, due balances, giving you a more accurate view of true outstanding receivables.

eSignature capabilities

This month's release brings a significant update to eSignature capabilities in PracticePanther! Introducing eSignature templates - a powerful way to save time and standardize your document and eSignature workflows.

With eSignature templates you can:

• Create reusable templates for frequently used documents, reducing manual steps
• Define signer roles (e.g. Attorney, Client) to streamline the template creation and signing process
• Include merge codes to automatically populate contact, matter and user information
• Customize formatting and layout to ensure documents reflect your firm's needs

Templates help you work faster and more consistently. Spend less time formatting and preparing documents and more time serving your clients. Click here for more information on setting up and using eSignature templates. eSignature capabilities are available on the Business Plan on PracticePanther.

Invoicing

This release also includes enhancements to the Invoices grid, providing better visibility into key billing details. Two additional columns are now available:

• Interest - displays the amount of interest accumulated on each invoice
• Discount percent - shows the percentage discount applied

When viewing Invoice details, you’ll now see a direct link to applied payments —making it faster to access payment information related to each invoice.

Reporting

We've enhanced the Originating Attorney Report with new columns and data points to provider deeper insight into firm performance.

• Added Invoice Date to detailed rows for clearer visibility into invoice, payment and applied dates.
• Introduced a combined Collected Time and Flat Fees column to quickly view total collected amounts for all fees.

Exporting Improvements

• It’s now even easier to export custom information to Excel or PDF.
• You can export custom fields of your choosing from the Contacts page to create reports tailored for you.
• It’s now easier to export Matter Custom Fields as well.

Batch Download LEDES Invoices

• It’s now easier than ever to download LEDES files, whether you need two or two hundred.
• Navigate to your invoices page and follow the steps to download batch invoices quickly.

CheckBox Custom Field

• You can populate the CheckBox custom field via the import tool.
• Name the column and populate the field with either “Yes” or “No” to populate the CheckBox during import.

Tweaked UTBMS Time Code Import and Added Categories

• You can create UTBMS time codes and categories via the import, so you don’t need to create them first in PracticePanther.
• This can be applied to both Time Entries and Expenses.
• To populate this field, type the item or category name and separate them using a “|”.

Added the Ability to have Multiple Assignees for Activity Imports

• You can assign multiple users to activity imports (Notes, Events, Tasks) via the import.
• To assign more than one user, add each email address and separate them with a comma.

Added the Ability to Populate Contact Type Custom Fields

• Via the import, you can populate contact type custom fields to link existing contacts to other contacts.
• Enter the contact’s number you wish to link in the custom field.
• All contacts must have a unique contact number for this to function properly.

January - OneLink Payments

• With the new OneLink payments feature, you can receive payments from various contacts with one easy-to-setup payment link. Even clients who haven't been entered into PracticePanther yet can make payments to your firm with OneLink. Learn about customizing your OneLink experience today, and enjoy a smoother collection process tomorrow.

February - Kenect Integration and Updated Messaging

• Text messages sent through Kenect that are already associated with a Contact or Matter are now displayed in the appropriate Contact and Matter grids within PracticePanther. Additionally, users can now quickly tell if a message was sent via Kenect text messaging or secure messaging through PracticePanther.

March - Speeding up PracticePanther

• We launched a back-end development effort focused on improving the speed and performance of PracticePanther. We are laser-focused on ensuring all our clients have a seamless experience each time they log into the app, and this effort is focused on ensuring you and your team can access any and all information in PracticePanther swiftly.

May - The launch of eSignature

• With our eSignature feature now released to the public, PracticePanther users on the Business plan can create, send, and sign documents for electronic signature directly from within PracticePanther. To learn how to activate eSignature, and for a list of FAQs, head to our eSignature tutorial.

June - eSignature Batch Update

• We have made an update to our eSignature tool which will make it easier for law firms to send batch signature requests. Users now have the ability to send multiple documents to clients in a single batch, which provides a seamless experience to users and signers while significantly increasing their monthly request allotment (5 documents uploaded will now = 1 request instead of 5). Simply click "send documents in single email for signature" to batch your documents.

July - Network fee reports

• Users can now access network fee reports from the reports tab in PracticePanther. Depending on the type of credit card your client uses to submit a payment, some small card network and payment gateway fees may apply. These fees do not apply to every transaction. You can find a list of possible network fees here, and request a network fee report whenever you would like.

September - Batch deposit and transaction history

• You can view the "Batch Transaction Fee Report" by clicking "More" at the top of the page, and then "Reports" and selecting the report name. Simply enter a Start and End date based on which transaction fee withdrawal you'd like a report for, and then select the withdrawal with the date of the transaction in question. After doing so, you can see all the information you need about each related payment and the deducted fees. You'll also have the ability to download the report by clicking the printer icon at the top right of the page.

November - Two-way text messaging

• Native two-way text messaging allows firms to communicate with their clients via text messages directly from PracticePanther, and keep everything logged for easy and secure viewing! Users can pick one phone number for their firm during setup and begin texting clients right away. Learn more about the setup process here.

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!

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.

Summary

This update brings several bug fixes and quality of life improvements, as well as an update to the SMS permissions page to support new regulation with business text messaging.

Originating Attorney Report

Columns and filters on the Originating Attorney Report are now saved between sessions and when refreshing the page.

Payments

When saving a payment, the user is now navigated to the related contact, matter, or invoice.

Text Messaging

The SMS permissions page has been updated to provide dynamic information regarding the approval status of the firm’s application to sign-up/utilize Text Messaging.

Bug Fixes

• Custom fields on the matter record will now retain text formatting.
• Submitting an eSignature request with the ‘Request signature in this order’ option is now working as expected.
• Matter tags are now displaying on the Originating Attorney detailed report as expected.

General

• Speed and performance across PracticePanther has been significantly improved.
• The navigation bar New button is now white, allowing for greater clarity.
• A default intake form to use as a starter template for intake processing is now available for new firms.
• Date validations across PracticePanther now accept non-American date formats.
• Addressed a 500 error that would occasionally come up when logging into PracticePanther.

Contact & Matters

• Phone number fields will now have the proper formatting system-wide.
  Ex: (123) 555-1111
• The custom matter rate field now properly displays the name of the custom rate in the matters grid.
• Matters and Contacts can now be unarchived by clicking on the Bin icon at the top of the record.

Activities

• Tasks now have a "Task Completed Date" that will automatically populate when a task's status becomes "Complete".
• New Note was added to the Activity "New" button.
• In order to improve security across PracticePanther, .Exe and .Msi file types can no longer be uploaded to an Activity.
• Users will now receive email notifications when new tasks are assigned to them by another user as expected.
• All Day events are now properly aligned to the users' time zone as expected.

Invoices

• Matters on multi-matter invoices can now be organized. Choose between matter name or matter number; the invoice will be displayed in the selected order.
• Invoice line items will now remain saved in the order they are set to, if modified by the user.
• Flat fee credits can now be used to fully pay off invoices.
• Resolved an issue where invoices with a price of $1,000 or more in different languages and currencies would sometimes fail to generate.
• The Billed By dropdown menu on invoices will no longer occasionally display [object Object] when clearing the data.

Reports

• "Unapplied Amount" is a new reportable grid column for matters that shows the amount of operating credit that has not yet been applied to invoices for that matter.

PantherPayments

• The Box integration can now only be re-synced by the original user who synced Box.

Additional Invoice Recipients

• Invoices can now be sent to multiple recipients by default, streamlining and automating the invoice sending process.

Default Invoice Template

• A default invoice template can now be set for matters or contacts, adding flexibility for firms with multiple invoice templates to meet practice area, office, or client needs.

Default Workflow

• A new default workflow template is now available for all firms, providing a jump-start in automating the client intake process.

Tags as Grid Columns

• Matter and Contact tags are now available as exportable columns on all grids and reports.

General Improvements

• Speed and consistency on navigation, searching and invoice generation has been improved.
• Users can now save time by navigating to Intake Form Templates directly, instead of going to Intake Form results by default.
• Addressed an intermittent issue where an unexpected null error was encountered on the Sale Document Template screen.
• A bank's type can no longer be changed between Trust and Operating.
• Private matter info remains private even when viewing it through related Time Entries or other records.
• Invalid file types will no longer be accepted by the eSignature and Activity file uploaders, including .msi and .zip files.

Invoices

• Header text on invoice templates will no longer automatically pluralize the words redundantly. It will now match the invoice template's input.
• Evergreen replenishment payments through PantherPayments now distribute remaining funds between trust and operating accounts after applying the retainer.
• The carry forwarded balances of previous invoices that appear on invoice PDFs now update as expected when payments are made to the older invoices.

Payments

• In order to improve the data quality of financial record keeping, the Payee field is now required on all outgoing payments.
• Users can now transfer funds between matters.

Integrations

• Fixed an issue with Task Due Dates syncing with Outlook and Lawmatics, resolving a one-day discrepancy.
• Matters will now sync to Lawmatics as expected.
• LawToolBox has had several changes made that will improve performance and stability.
• The Zapier integration has been improved for performance and stability.

PantherPayments

• In order to meet regulatory standards, a new field for ‘Average Monthly Transaction Volume’ has been added to the PantherPayments signup process.

Reports

• The Time Entries by User report now displays one time entry per user.

Timekeeper Summaries

To provide additional flexibility, Timekeeper summaries can now be toggled between two modes: Include or Exclude Time Entry Write-Downs on timekeeper totals on invoices.

• Users now have the option to exclude write-downs from total hours calculations, improving billing accuracy.
• Write-downs are excluded by default, but users can control this on the invoice template to support their current practice.

Trust Accounting

To support trust accounting best practices, firms can now choose to prohibit trust balances from having a negative balance.

• Creating a payment that would cause a contact or matter's trust balance to go below $0.00 will display an error to the user which must be corrected.
• This option can be controlled in Firm Settings.

Invoices

Invoices now support quantities and hours exceeding 1,000 for Expenses, Time Entries, and Flat Fees.

• Ex: 1,000 miles charged for travel or 1,000 pages copied.

Invoices - Default Invoice Template

• An invoice with no default template for the matter, will now use the default template for the contact.
• Addressed an issue that sometimes applied the wrong template when using the new Default Invoice Template feature for contacts and matters.
• The Invoice Templates column on the invoices grid can now be sorted as expected.

Invoices - Additional Invoice Recipients

• A contact will now remain as an Additional Invoice Recipient, even if the Contact’s relationship to the invoice is no longer valid.
• New contacts can now be created directly from the Default Invoice Recipient dropdown menu.

Invoices - Invoice Categories

Invoice Categories (Flat Fees, Time Entries, and Expenses) will now pluralize or de-pluralize depending if there is only a single item available in that menu.

Invoices - Download LEDES option

The Download LEDES option on the invoice details screens of multi-matter invoices is now available.

Invoices - Deposit To field

The "Deposit To" field on invoices is now displayed correctly depending upon a firm's use of PantherPayments.

General

• Sorting by a column on a grid will now persist when the page is reloaded.
• The Referral menu on the sidebar has been updated.

Contacts

• Contact type custom fields are now available on All Contacts and Primary Contacts grid views providing increased access to all relevant contact information.
• Fixed an issue when creating a new contact through a custom field that would result in the recently added 'Invoice Recipient' field to be duplicated.
• The ‘Assigned To’ field on Contacts is now exporting as expected.

Matters

Users can now clear their 'Originating Attorney' field on a matter if it had been previously populated.

Business Text Messaging

A new signup flow is available for Sole Proprietor businesses that allows them to submit their data without needing corporate information they would not normally have available.

Outlook

• Formatting on Emails Retained - Readability on emails within PracticePanther has been dramatically improved as a result of retaining the message formatting synchronized over the Outlook plugin. This includes images, hyperlinks, and all other formatting elements within the email.

Google Drive

• Google Drive will now only ever create one folder for PracticePanther, significantly improving synchronization stability and consistency.

Reports

• To reduce clutter and improve visual clarity, rows with a $0 entry are now hidden from the Trust Reconciliation Report.

Payments

• Deposit slips for Transfers can now be printed to PDF, supporting improved documentation.

New & Exciting

• The Date field on Time Entries, Flat Fees, and Expenses can now be bulk edited.

Messages

• Browser cache and cookies will now remember which type of messages (SMS or Secure) the user last visited, and will default to that option.

Bug Fixes

• When a workflow emails assignees their tasks, they will now display the proper due date, rather than the date the workflow was generated.
• Editing 'All Day' conditional Tasks will no longer assign a time to those Tasks.
• Sorting has been improved on the modern Matters grid with the 'Billed by', 'Created by' and 'Originated by' columns.

Saved Reports

• This week's release features a very exciting update: Saved Reports! Experience efficiency and convenience with Saved Reports on the new, advanced Modern Matters Grid. This feature allows you to effortlessly save, access, and share your key grid configurations, saving you both time and effort.

Modern Matters Grid

• An updated view is available for the Modern Matters option, improving speed, usability and stability. Personalize your columns and filters which are now remembered across sessions, saving time when setting up your preferred view. Create and edit records easily through the new, streamlined user experience. Export grid spreadsheets (.csv) faster and more easily than ever before, making it simple to access your data for manipulation outside of PracticePanther.

Saved Reports Details

• Enhance your regular routine by saving and accessing your customized report views, tailored for tasks you perform on a regular schedule. Remember filters, columns, and sorting preferences, enabling you to easily craft and reuse reports for specific tasks or metrics. Share these reports with other users on PracticePanther with a reusable URL. This feature is coming to other grids soon!™️

General Updates

• New error 404/504 pages have been introduced which provide clarity on the cause of the error and suggested subsequent steps.

Activities Updates

• A 'Complete' button is now available on Tasks in the Calendar view, significantly simplifying the task completion process.
• Email files (.msg) can now be attached to Activity records.
• Outlook emails synchronized with PracticePanther will maintain correct formatting when adding a tag to the email.