A solo lawyer has nobody down the hall. Nobody else sees the retainer before it is spent, nobody notices that a new client’s name matched an old adverse party, and every hour spent on administration is an hour that cannot be billed. Most solos end up running the practice on four or five subscriptions: one for intake, one for e-signature, one for billing, one for documents and a spreadsheet for trust. Each one is reasonable on its own, and together they mean typing the same client in four times.
What a solo practice needs from its software
One record from first call to closed file. The lead, the conflict check, the engagement letter, the matter, the time and the trust ledger should all be the same client, entered once.
Guardrails in place of a second person. A larger firm catches mistakes because a second person looks. A solo needs the software to refuse the common ones: converting a lead before the conflict check, or paying an expense from trust money that belongs to a different client.
The fee in writing, early. ABA Model Rule 1.5(b) asks that the scope of the representation and the basis or rate of the fee be communicated to the client, preferably in writing, before or within a reasonable time after the work starts. For a solo, the engagement letter is that writing, and it should be signed before the work piles up.
Trust records you can stand behind. Model Rule 1.15 requires client money to be kept separate from the lawyer’s own, with complete records kept for a period after the representation ends (the model rule says five years, and states set their own).
No server to look after. A solo does not have an IT department and should not need one.
A way out. If the software stops suiting you, your records should leave with you.
What Coil does for solo attorneys
- Intake to matter in one flow. Web leads with scoring and follow-up sequences, converted to a client and matter only after the conflict check runs. A waiver, when you grant one, is recorded with a reason.
- A conflict check that does the second look. Fuzzy matching across contacts, parties, notes, messages, documents and leads, including alternate and maiden names, showing every role a name has held.
- Engagement letters signed in the browser. A certificate records who signed, when, from where and what, the signed document cannot be changed afterwards, and both sides get a copy.
- Time without a separate app. A timer with six-minute rounding, expenses with categories, and a browser extension that suggests entries from the tabs you had open.
- Trust that will not let you slip. A ledger per client and matter, a refusal to take any client below zero, deposits dated in the future held back until their date, and three-way reconciliation with each period locked once reconciled.
- Only the tools you use. Switch off any tool and it leaves your menu, your dashboard and your matter screens. Nothing recorded is deleted, and it comes back when you switch it on.
- Hosted, with your own database. Each firm gets its own instance, separate from every other firm. Backups run nightly, the restore has been proven by doing it, and updates roll back on their own if a build fails.
- Room to grow. Add a paralegal or a second lawyer with a role that is enforced on every request, and per-office rates if you open a second office.
- Your AI assistant, if you want one. Coil connects to AI assistants through MCP with scopes you choose and a redacted mode that hides client names. Trust accounting is deliberately not exposed to any connection.
- Coming and going. Import a Clio or MyCase export with a preview and a column mapper, and export the whole firm at any time in formats that open without Coil.
Coil is free during the beta, and beta firms keep founding pricing when paid plans start.
What Coil does not do yet
The biggest gap for a solo is billing. Invoicing and online payments, including cards and ACH through your own Stripe account and payment plans, are in Phase 2: built, in testing and not available today. Until they move up, Coil records your time and holds your retainers, and you send the bill another way.
There are no mobile apps; Coil runs in a phone browser, but its screens are laid out for a desktop. Filing email to a matter from your mailbox and a live two-way QuickBooks sync are in Phase 3; today you get CSV exports built for the QuickBooks importer. Court rule sets are generic starters, with real jurisdiction sets in Phase 2. Online booking for consultations is further out, in Phase 4.
The point for a solo
A solo practice cannot afford a mistake in trust or a missed conflict, and cannot afford to spend Friday afternoon re-keying clients between products. Coil is built for the lawyer who is also the bookkeeper, the intake desk and the IT department, and it is honest about the parts that are not ready yet.
Questions
Is Coil built for a one-lawyer firm?
Yes. Coil is hosted practice management for solo and small firms. A solo can run it alone, and when you hire, owner, attorney, paralegal and readonly roles are enforced on every request, with destructive actions written to an audit log.
What does Coil cost?
Nothing during the beta. There is no card and no trial clock. Every beta firm gets its own hosted Coil and keeps founding pricing when paid plans start.
Can I move my practice over from Clio or MyCase?
Yes. The importer takes a Clio or MyCase export, shows you a preview, lets you map the columns and then commits. Duplicates are skipped or updated, trust rows that would overdraw a client are refused, and a failed-rows file explains each row that did not come across.
What happens to my files if Coil stops operating?
You can export everything at any time: the database file, CSVs, your original documents and the PDFs Coil made, all readable without Coil. Before Coil charges any firm, its source code goes into escrow with an independent agent, to be released to customers if Coil stops operating or stops supporting the product.
Last checked October 28, 2026.