A family law discovery portal is one place where your firm loads the discovery you were served, your client answers it through a private link, and you check what the other side actually produced. We built one for family law firms. It cuts out the retyping, the chasing and the month-by-month document checks that eat paralegal time.
Below is how it works, what it fixes, and how it connects to the tools your firm already uses.
The discovery problem in a family law firm
Discovery in a divorce or custody case is mostly admin. Someone retypes the requests into a Word template. Someone emails the client a list of questions they don’t understand. Someone chases them for bank statements, again and again.
Then opposing counsel sends a folder full of PDFs, and someone opens each one to see which request and which month it covers. The gaps go into a deficiency letter by hand.
None of that needs a lawyer. But it lands on your paralegals, and when it slips, deadlines slip with it.
What the discovery portal does
1. Reads the requests you were served
Drag in the Requests for Admission, interrogatories or requests for production, as a PDF or Word file. The portal reads the document and splits it into numbered requests, each with a short name. You see “18 Requests Found” instead of retyping 18 requests.
2. Adds your objections from a library
Each request gets objections from your firm’s library, like relevance, overly broad and unduly burdensome, vague and ambiguous, attorney-client privilege or work product.
When an objection means the client shouldn’t answer, the item locks. The client never sees it as something to fill in.
3. Gives the client a private link, no login
Your client gets a link that opens their own task list. No account, no password to forget.
Each request shows as a plain card. They pick admit, deny or partially admit, type their interrogatory answers, upload documents against each request, and fill in the financial affidavit.
It saves as they go. A bar at the top shows how many they’ve answered, and they press Submit to Attorney when they’re done.
4. Lets the client ask about one item
Every item has an “Ask your attorney a question about this” link. The question lands in your Q&A inbox tagged with the request number, so you know exactly what they’re stuck on. No more “What did you mean by number 14?” emails.
5. Exports your responses to Word
Back on the attorney side, every answer sits under its request. Review it, then export the responses with your objections into a Word document ready to finalize and serve.
6. Checks what opposing counsel produced
When the other side sends their production, drag the whole folder in. The portal reads each file and matches it to the request and the month it covers.
You get one view of what’s complete and what’s missing, like the March bank statement that never came. Then you send the gaps to opposing counsel.
7. Tracks deadlines and status
A dashboard shows each matter, what’s due, and where the client is. A discovery log keeps a record of what was sent, answered and produced.
What it connects to
The portal works on its own, but it’s built to plug into the tools your firm already runs. Here’s what it can connect to.
- Case management systems like Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther and Smokeball. Pull the matter, client and deadlines in when discovery starts. Push the finished responses and the client’s documents back to the matter.
- Lawmatics. When intake turns a lead into a client, the discovery portal invite can go out on its own.
- Gmail or Outlook. Send the client their link and reminders from your own address. Send the deficiency letter to opposing counsel from there too.
- Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive. Save produced documents and exported responses in the matter’s folder, named the same way every time.
- Your calendar. Response deadlines and reminder dates go straight onto the right person’s calendar. For court dates, see how an automated court hearing calendar works.
- E-signature tools like DocuSign. Send the financial affidavit or verification for signature once the client has finished it.
Every firm runs a different stack. We connect the portal to yours, so it fits how your team already works.
You can watch a short walkthrough of the portal. If you want to see it with your own requests and templates, Book a free call.
What about client data?
This is the first question every attorney asks, and it should be.
- Each client link is private and only opens that client’s tasks.
- The attorney side sits behind your firm’s login. Clients never see other matters, your notes or your objections library.
- Privileged items lock, so a client can’t answer something you’ve objected to on privilege grounds.
- Your documents stay in your systems when the portal is connected to your case management and storage tools.
Ask any vendor, us included, where the data lives and who can see it before you put a client’s financials into anything.
What it doesn’t do
The portal doesn’t replace your judgment. It doesn’t decide which objections to raise, and it doesn’t serve anything without you. An attorney reviews every response before it goes out.
It also won’t fix a messy process on its own. If your firm handles discovery five different ways, agree on one first. Our guide to writing SOPs can help.
Where to start
Pick one matter in discovery right now. Picture the requests loaded, the client answering from their phone, and the other side’s production already sorted by month. That’s the time your paralegals get back.
To see how this fits with the rest of your client updates, read about automated client communication. For the bigger picture, here’s our guide to business process automation.
FAQ
What is a family law discovery portal?
It’s software where your firm loads served discovery requests, your client answers them through a private link, and you check the other side’s production for gaps. It replaces the Word templates, email chains and manual document checks.
Can clients use it without creating an account?
Yes. Each client gets a private link that opens their own task list. They answer, upload documents and submit without a login.
Does it work with Clio or Lawmatics?
It can connect to case management systems like Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther and Smokeball, and to Lawmatics for intake. Matters, deadlines and finished documents move between them, so nobody enters them twice.
Does it replace my paralegal?
No. It takes the retyping, chasing and document sorting off their desk, so they spend their time on the work that needs a person.