Legal document management software that files everything to the matter

In a small firm the case file is often in four places at once: an email thread, a downloads folder, a shared drive and whatever the client last sent from their phone. The cost shows up when someone needs the signed version, the latest draft or the medical record from March and has to ask around for it. Document management software exists to make the matter the one place to look.

What the duty to protect files involves

ABA Model Rule 1.6(c) asks a lawyer to make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of, or unauthorized access to, information relating to a client’s representation. The model rule does not name a technology. In practice it means knowing who can open a file, sharing on purpose rather than forwarding attachments around, and keeping copies you can get back. Your state’s version of the rule, and any guidance your bar has published on it, set the details.

What Coil does

• Documents per matter. Every upload belongs to a matter, with folders and tags to sort it.
• Versions linked to their root. A new draft is stored as a version of the document it replaces, so the history stays together and the latest version is the one you see first.
• Search inside files. Coil extracts the text of each upload, so a full-text search finds the transcript that mentions a name, whatever the file happens to be called. The same text feeds Coil’s AI tools when you use them.
• Upload checks. Coil reads the start of each file, and a file that is not what its name claims is refused. The check works from the file’s signature, so it cannot tell a Word document from another file built on the same zip format.
• Sharing to the portal. You choose which documents a client can see, and the client can upload into their matter from the portal.
• Signing. An engagement letter or other document can go out for e-signature, and the signed copy comes back to the matter with its certificate.
• Templates. Word (DOCX) and HTML templates fill from the matter and save straight into its documents.
• Documents in and out. The importer takes documents as a ZIP of matter folders and files them under Imported. The full firm export gives back every original document and every PDF Coil made.
• Roles and an audit trail. Readonly and paralegal roles are enforced on each request, and every destructive action is logged.

What Coil does not do

Email filing from your mailbox into the matter is built, but it is waiting on a mailbox to prove it against, so it is not something to rely on yet. Bates numbering, bundling and a table of authorities built from your citations are further-out ideas. A check that flags a dollar figure in a matter’s documents that disagrees with the case record is designed and not proven. Text extraction cannot read a password-protected PDF, so that file will not turn up in a search until you upload an unlocked copy.

Why it matters for a small firm

When the file lives on the matter, handing a case to a colleague, answering a client who asks whether you got their records, or getting ready for a deposition all start from the same place. Shared documents reach the client through the portal rather than an attachment that can be forwarded anywhere. And because the export returns the originals in formats that open without Coil, putting your documents there does not trap them.

Coil is hosted, with a separate database for each firm and nightly backups. It is free during the beta, and beta firms keep founding pricing when paid plans start.

Last checked October 28, 2026.