The best Docketwise alternatives for immigration law firms
eimmigration's pricing page names Docketwise among the platforms its standard data import covers, and CampLegal's onboarding page names Docketwise among the systems its migration engineers export from. Both vendors publish a route for a firm coming from Docketwise. eimmigration is our pick for a firm that has added offices or staff and wants branch and permission controls in every plan. CampLegal suits a firm that wants a managed four-week implementation with a named migration engineer. INSZoom fits a firm whose caseload has shifted toward H-1B registration for corporate clients.
Start with what the firm needs next
A firm on Docketwise Basic or Pro that needs something its plan leaves out has a choice inside Docketwise as well as outside it. The Docketwise pricing page adds e-filing, e-signatures, text messaging, and lead management on Pro. Advanced adds multiple branches, user permission groups, and multiple account admins. Docketwise's product information page also lists customizable reporting and an open API. So write down what the firm needs, and compare the Docketwise plan that covers it with the cost and work of a move.
WhatIsBest's comparison of immigration law software for US law firms weighs eimmigration, Docketwise, and INSZoom for a firm choosing fresh. A firm that already runs Docketwise starts further along, because it knows which features its staff use every day.
Suppose an eight-person firm on Docketwise Pro opens a second office. It e-files, it texts clients, and it now wants each office set up as a branch with staff permissions that follow the office.
eimmigration: branch and permission controls in every plan
eimmigration's pricing page splits the product into standard features that come with every plan and premium features that a firm selects. Location and branch management is on the standard list, and so are permissions and access. The practice management page says an administrator can add several office locations, which lets forms fill in with each office's details, and can set access by user and by role.
E-filing and SMS messaging are both premium features. The Essentials plan includes four, so our example firm's two needs fit with two selections to spare. On annual billing, eimmigration lists Essentials at $82 per user per month. Docketwise lists Advanced, the plan that adds multiple branches, at $120 per user per month on its yearly setting. For eight users at those list prices, that is $656 a month against $960. A firm that needs more than four can add features individually or move to Complete.
The two plans aren't the same bundle, and the comparison holds only for a firm that wanted branches and little else from Advanced. In the demo, ask eimmigration to show the two offices configured and a staff member in one office signed in. What that person can open in the other office's cases tells the firm whether the permission settings do what it has in mind.
eimmigration lists API access on its Complete plan, for accounts with 10 or more users, and its integrations page says the professional services team builds custom integrations. A firm that relies on a connection built on Docketwise's API should ask eimmigration which of those routes is open to it before planning on the same connection after a move.
INSZoom, CampLegal, and LollyLaw
Mitratech's H-1B registration help article describes importing up to 1,000 beneficiaries from a spreadsheet at a time. Docketwise's registration article sets a current limit of 20 for bulk preparation. A firm that registers hundreds of people for corporate clients feels that difference, and a firm that registers 15 doesn't.
CampLegal's onboarding page describes a four-week implementation led by a migration engineer, with training sessions tailored to each role at launch and unlimited training sessions afterward. Its pricing page says that implementation is included with its plans.
LollyLaw's home page describes more than 40 immigration workflows that come with tasks, deadlines, and forms attached, and its trial page offers seven days with no credit card. Ask LollyLaw how it brings in a Docketwise export.
Moving the records out of Docketwise
In Docketwise's help center, contacts and matters each download as a CSV file and notes export to PDF for one contact or matter at a time. Ask each new vendor which files it works from and how documents and completed forms come across.
eimmigration links conversion charts by source platform from its pricing page. Its data conversion page prices a standard import at $1,000 per database. eimmigration replies within three to five business days of getting the firm's files, saying whether the import is possible and what it will cost in total. After the conversion, the firm gets two business days to check the result, and an import the firm rejects is taken out with no charge.
Two business days go quickly for an eight-person caseload. Pick the matters to check before the conversion starts, and include the ones with the longest histories. Go through the Docketwise chart with eimmigration beforehand and ask what happens to anything the chart leaves out.
On CampLegal's onboarding page, the migration engineer exports the data from Docketwise. CampLegal says it tests that cases, contacts, documents, and notes are accounted for, and the firm approves the result before going live. The page puts downtime at about two business days for most migrations.
Get the terms on paper from whichever vendor does the work. AnswerStack's answer on hidden costs in immigration software lists the contract terms that cost money later, including the refund rule and the fee for getting data out. Docketwise's cancellation article says an admin or owner cancels in settings and that invoices already paid aren't refunded. Finish the review of the imported data before setting a cancellation date, and settle that date against the firm's Docketwise terms.
Trial, training, and the first 90 days
eimmigration's software overview describes a demo followed by a 14-day free trial of the core features, which the firm requests. CampLegal's trial page offers 14 days as well. In each trial, our example firm should re-create one of its matters with invented client details and work it from intake to a finished form.
The same overview says every eimmigration plan includes a live caseworker training session and that an account manager checks in 30 and 90 days after implementation. Keep a running list from the first week of what the import missed and which tasks staff still handle outside the system, and bring it to both check-ins.