--- title: "Legal Practice Management API" url: "https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview" description: "The Unified Legal API enables developers and product managers to access legal practice management data from multiple platforms through a single, standardized interface. Retrieve matters, practice areas, time entries, and expenses from Clio, MyCase, Smokeball, PracticePanther, Actionstep, Filevine, LEAP, and other legal platforms — all with one API." --- # Legal Practice Management API Updated: October 11, 2026 The Unified Legal API enables developers and product managers to access legal practice management data from multiple platforms through a single, standardized interface. Retrieve matters, practice areas, time entries, and expenses from Clio, MyCase, Smokeball, PracticePanther, Actionstep, Filevine, LEAP, and other legal platforms — all with one API. ## [What is the Unified Legal API?](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#what-is-the-unified-legal-api) Legal practice management platforms like Clio, MyCase, and Smokeball each have unique APIs with different authentication methods, data models, and endpoints. Some call a case a "matter", others a "case", "project", or "action". The Unified Legal API normalizes these differences, allowing you to build once and support the practice management systems your law-firm customers already use, without maintaining separate integrations for each provider. Legal integrations represent client engagements as **matters**, the firm's areas of law as **practice areas**, and billable work as **time entries** and **expenses** recorded against a matter. ## [Key Benefits for Developers](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#key-benefits-for-developers) * **Single Integration**: Write code once to support multiple legal platforms — no need to learn different practice management APIs * **Normalized Data Models**: Work with consistent matter, practice area, time entry, and expense structures across all platforms * **Real-Time Data Access**: Every request hits the source API live with no caching, ensuring you always have up-to-date matter and billing data * **Zero Maintenance**: No need to track API version changes or deprecations across multiple legal platforms * **Faster Development**: Ship legal integration features in days instead of months of integration work ## [Benefits for Product Managers](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#benefits-for-product-managers) * **Multi-Platform Support**: Let law firms connect the practice management system they already use without custom development * **Competitive Advantage**: Launch with support for major legal platforms while competitors build integrations one at a time * **Customer Flexibility**: Read and write matters, time, and expenses from a single interface regardless of the firm's software * **Reduced Time-to-Market**: Get legal-tech features to market quickly without waiting for engineering to build multiple integrations * **Scalable Product Strategy**: Easily add new legal platforms as customers request them without significant engineering resources ## [Legal Data Objects](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#legal-data-objects) The Legal API provides access to the following standardized objects: * **Matters**: Cases and client engagements with name, number, description, status (pending, open, closed), billing method (hourly, flat fee, contingency), practice area, and stage. Matters link to their clients through `contact_ids` / `company_ids` and to every related person or organization through `parties`, each with a role (client, opposing party, opposing counsel, co-counsel, witness, expert, judge, referrer). Responsible, originating, and assigned staff are linked through `user_id`, `originating_user_id`, and `user_ids`, along with opened, closed, pending, and statute-of-limitations dates. * **Practice Areas**: The firm's areas of law, such as personal injury, family, immigration, or corporate, with a name, code, and a normalized `type`. * **Time Entries**: Billable and non-billable time recorded against a matter, with timekeeper (`user_id`), date worked, minutes worked and billable minutes, hourly rate, total, billed status, invoice, and UTBMS/LEDES activity and task codes. * **Expenses**: Costs and disbursements recorded against a matter, with quantity, unit price, total, hard or soft cost type, category, billable and billed status, invoice, and UTBMS/LEDES expense code. Calendar events from the [Calendar API](https://docs.unified.to/calendar/overview.md) can also be linked to a matter through `matter_id`, so court dates and deadlines appear alongside the case they belong to. ## [Common Use Cases](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#common-use-cases) ### [Client Intake & Matter Creation](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#client-intake-matter-creation) Build intake tools that create matters in the firm's practice management system as soon as a new client signs up. Set the practice area, client, responsible attorney, and key dates without re-keying data into each platform. ### [Time Tracking & Billing Capture](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#time-tracking-billing-capture) Create time-capture tools that log billable time and expenses directly against the right matter. Record hours, rates, and UTBMS codes from a timer, a calendar, or an AI assistant and push them into the firm's billing workflow. ### [Legal Analytics & Reporting](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#legal-analytics-reporting) Pull matters, time entries, and expenses into analytics dashboards and data warehouses. Report on utilization, realization, matter profitability, and workload by practice area or attorney across the firm. ### [AI Legal Assistants](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#ai-legal-assistants) Build AI agents that read matter details, parties, and activity to summarize cases, draft time-entry narratives, flag upcoming statute-of-limitations dates, and answer questions about a firm's caseload. ### [Document & E-Signature Workflows](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#document-e-signature-workflows) Connect document automation and e-signature tools to the firm's matters. Generate engagement letters and filings from matter and party data, and file them against the right case. ### [Legal Payments & Accounting](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#legal-payments-accounting) Sync billable time and expenses into accounting, payments, and trust-accounting tools. Reconcile what was worked against what was invoiced using billed status and invoice references. ## [Why Use a Unified Legal API?](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#why-use-a-unified-legal-api) **Traditional Approach:** * Build separate integrations for each practice management platform * Learn multiple authentication systems and API specifications * Map each platform's idea of a matter, case, project, or action to your own model * Monitor and update integrations when any platform deprecates or changes their API * Handle platform-specific rate limits, pagination, and webhook implementations **With Unified Legal API:** * Integrate once with a single API that works across legal platforms * Use one authentication flow for all platforms * Work with normalized matter, practice area, time entry, and expense objects * Automatic handling of API changes, rate limits, and platform-specific differences * Built-in webhook support for real-time updates across connected platforms ## [Integration Scenarios](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#integration-scenarios) ### [For Legal-Tech SaaS Applications](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#for-legal-tech-saas-applications) Add "Connect Your Practice Management System" features that work with supported legal platforms. Build intake, document, billing, or client-portal products without building separate integrations for each provider. ### [For AI & Automation Tools](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#for-ai-automation-tools) Create AI-powered assistants that read matter, party, time, and expense data, then summarize cases, draft entries, and automate routine work across platforms using a single, consistent API interface. ### [For Analytics & BI Platforms](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#for-analytics-bi-platforms) Pull matter and billing data from connected platforms into your data warehouse or analytics tool. Create unified utilization, profitability, and caseload reports without building multiple data pipelines. ### [For Payments & Accounting Platforms](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#for-payments-accounting-platforms) Connect billable time and expenses to invoicing, payments, and trust accounting. Keep financial records in step with the work recorded in the firm's practice management system. ## [Real-Time, Live Data](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#real-time-live-data) Unlike other integration platforms that cache data or run periodic sync jobs, the Unified Legal API provides real-time access to legal data. Every API request hits the source platform directly, ensuring you always have the most current matters, time entries, and expenses. This real-time architecture is ideal for: * Dashboards displaying live caseload and billing activity * Time-capture workflows that need the current list of open matters * Deadline tracking tools that rely on current matter dates * AI applications that need fresh data for analysis and recommendations ## [Privacy & Security](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#privacy-security) Unified.to never stores your customers' legal data. All requests are stateless and pass through to the legal platforms directly. Traffic is regionalized (US/EU/AU) to comply with data residency requirements. ## [Data Model](https://docs.unified.to/legal/overview.md#data-model) LEGAL data model SVG fallback viewer [Open SVG](/images/models/UnifiedLegal.svg) Loading diagram... Share [](http://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?mini=true&url=%2Flegal%2Foverview&title=Legal%20Practice%20Management%20API&summary= "Share to LinkedIn")[](http://www.twitter.com/share?url=%2Flegal%2Foverview&text=Legal%20Practice%20Management%20API&summary= "Share to Twitter")[](http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=%2Flegal%2Foverview&title=Legal%20Practice%20Management%20API&summary= "Share to Reddit")[](https://news.ycombinator.com/submitlink?u=%2Flegal%2Foverview&t=Legal%20Practice%20Management%20API&summary= "Share to Hacker News")