article-time-estimate-icon

3 minute read

Q1 2025 Product Update – New Features & Enhancements

Shreyas Sriram

Shreyas Sriram

In this article

    Elevate legal task and work management with Lupl’s latest features

    At Lupl, our mission is clear: to help legal teams work smarter, not harder.

    This latest product update introduces tools designed to enhance legal tasks and work management and provide actionable insights. Spend less time on logistics and more time delivering exceptional legal services to your clients.

    If you prefer to listen to this update instead, you can do so below, powered by Google’s NotebookLM.

    (Note: audio is AI generated and may include inaccuracies and mispronunciations).

    Here’s what’s new:

    Dashboards: Visualize and optimize your team’s workload

    As demand increases and work becomes more complex, it is useful to have a bird’s eye view across all your matters. Lupl’s Workload Dashboard allows you to easily visualize your team’s workload, track progress and spot bottlenecks before they become an issue – all from one place.

    With the ability to look across all matters or focus on a specific period, matter, or individual – you can tailor the dashboard to show exactly what you need most. So whether you need to see the distribution of tasks across team members or pay attention to upcoming workload, filter as needed to see the changes reflect.

    For legal matter team leads, dashboards enable better task planning and allocation. For individual team members, they provide clarity into assignments and deadlines. The result? Streamlined workflows, improved efficiency, and a balanced workload across all active matters.

    Global Calendar: A bird’s-eye view of legal task management

    Managing multiple legal matters often feels overwhelming. Lupl’s new Global Calendar simplifies legal task management by aggregating deadlines, deliverables, and key dates across all your matters into one comprehensive view.

    This feature provides unparalleled convenience, helping users spot conflicts, prepare for busy periods, and confidently manage their schedules.

    We know that Outlook is the second home for most lawyers, and the Outlook Calendar Sync ensures that you can see the contents of the Lupl calendar – including task deadlines, work item deliverables, and key dates – directly in Outlook.

    Kanban boards for task and work management

    Lupl’s Kanban boards bring a visual, intuitive approach to task and work management. Customize your columns to represent key progress stages, and manage tasks with cards that display assignees, due dates, and essential details.

    Whether you’re managing a complex legal matter or a straightforward project, Kanban boards provide at-a-glance insights into workflow progress, ensuring teams remain aligned and productive.

    Import your Excel trackers for efficient task management

    Breathe life into your static trackers and checklists, by importing them into Lupl. Simply drag-and-drop your spreadsheet to create Workstreams directly, making it easier to transition from traditional task management methods to dynamic, interactive tools.

    Lupl takes care of mapping your column and imports your data to avoid duplication of work. Once created, you can take advantage of automatic reminders, task assignments, the ability to link documents from your DMS, and much more. There are no more limits.

    Best of all, if you share updates with internal or external stakeholders in Excel or Word, you can always export to these formats as needed.

    Workflow Automation to simplify legal work management

    With Lupl, our goal is to reduce and remove the drudgery of manual work. We’ve been hard at work developing Workflow Automation, which will go a long way towards achieving you achieve manual work. This powerful new module will allow you to automate recurring tasks, approval processes, task dependencies, and more.

    These open up the possibility of what can be done with Lupl dramatically, and is something that has been requested by IT teams, innovation leaders, LPMs, and the attorneys. This workflow automation aligns perfectly with legal professionals’ needs, reducing manual effort and saving valuable time so you can focus on delivering excellent legal services.

    Stay tuned for more updates, or get in touch to see a demo of the feature before anyone else.

    Ready to See These Features in Action?

    Lupl’s latest features are redefining task and work management for legal teams. From visualized dashboards to intuitive task imports, this update brings efficiency and clarity to your workflows. And with more innovations on the horizon, the best is yet to come.

    Have questions or want to learn more?

    In this article

      More legal tech insights we think you'll love

      The cost of over-dependence on AI

      AI saves us time, boosts productivity, and lets us do...

      # Lupl Workstream Design Principles: A Practical Guide to Legal Project Management for Lawyers Legal project management works when your setup is simple, ownership is clear, and statuses are unambiguous. This guide shows how to turn existing processes and checklists into a lean, reliable Workstream. Lupl is the legal project management platform for law firms, making it easy and intuitive to apply these principles. It also supports moving your work from Excel, Word tables, or if you are transitioning from Microsoft Planner, Smartsheet, or Monday. You will learn what belongs in a Workstream, a Task, or a Step, and which columns to use. If you want practical project management for lawyers, start here. **Excerpt:** Legal project management works when ownership, dates, and statuses are clear. This guide shows lawyers how to turn checklists into Lupl Workstreams with the right columns, Tasks, and Steps. Use it to standardize project management for lawyers, reduce follow ups, and move matters to done. --- ## How to organize your work with Workstreams, Tasks, and Steps Workstreams, Tasks, and Steps are three different types of objects in Lupl. They form a simple hierarchy. Workstreams contain Tasks. Tasks may contain optional Steps. This hierarchy aligns with standard project management. In project management, you break work into projects, deliverables, and subtasks. Lupl adapts this for lawyers by using Workstreams, Tasks, and Steps. This makes it easier to map legal processes to a structure that teams can track and manage. * **Workstream.** Use when you have many similar or related items to track over time. Think of the Workstream as the table. * Examples: closing checklist, court deadlines, pretrial preparation, regulatory obligations, due diligence, local counsel management. * **Task.** A high level unit of legal work. A key deliverable with an owner and a due date. Tasks are the rows. * Examples: File motion. Prepare Shareholder Agreement. Submit Q3 report. * **Step.** An optional short checklist inside a single Task. Steps roll up to the parent Task. * Examples: Draft. QC. Partner review. E file. Serve. ### Quick test * If it can be overdue by itself, make it a Task. * If it only helps complete a Task, make it a Step. * If you need different columns or owners, create a separate Workstream. --- ## Do you need to track everything in Lupl Not every detail needs to be tracked in a project management system. The principle is to capture what drives accountability and progress. In Lupl, that means focusing on deliverables, not every micro action. * Use the level of detail you would bring to a weekly team meeting agenda. * Position Tasks as key deliverables. Treat Steps as optional micro tasks to show progress. * Example: You need client instructions. Do not add a Task for "Email client to request a call." Just make the call. If the client approves a key deliverable on the call, mark that item Approved in Lupl so the team has visibility. --- ## Start with the Core 5 columns Columns are the backbone of a Workstream. They define what information is tracked for each Task. In project management terms, these are your core metadata fields. They keep everyone aligned without overcomplicating the table. Keep the table narrow. You can add later. These five work across most legal project management use cases. 1. **Title.** Start with a verb. Example: File answer to complaint. 2. **Status.** Five to seven clear choices. Example: Not started, In progress, For review, For approval, Done. 3. **Assignee.** One named owner per row. If you add multiple assignees for collaboration, still name a primary owner. 4. **Due date.** One date per row. 5. **Type or Category.** Show different kinds of work in one table. Example: Filing, Discovery, Signature, Approval. **Priority.** Add only if you actively triage by priority each week. If added, keep it simple: High, Medium, Low. --- ## Add up to three Helper columns Lupl includes a set of pre made columns you can use out of the box. These allow you to customize Workstreams around different phases or stages of a matter. They also let you map how you already track transactional work, litigation, or other processes. Helper columns are optional fields that add context. In task management, these are similar to tags or attributes you use to sort and filter work. The key is to only add what you will update and use. Pick only what you will use. Stop when you reach three. * Party or Counterparty * Jurisdiction or Court * Phase * Approver * Approval, status or yes or no * Signature status * Risk, RAG * Amount or Number * External ID or Client ID * Document or Link * Docket number * Client entity **Guidance** * For Task Workstreams, prefer Approver, Approval, Risk. The rest are more common in Custom Workstreams. * Aim for eight columns or fewer in your main table. Put detail in the Task description, attachments, or Steps. --- ## Simple rules that keep your table clean Consistency is critical in project management. A cluttered or inconsistent table slows teams down. These rules ensure your Workstream remains usable and clear. * Only add a column people will update during the matter. If it never changes, set a default at the Workstream level or set a default value in the column. * Only add a column you will sort or filter on. If you will not use it to find or group work, leave it out. * If a value changes inside one Task, use Steps. Steps show progress without widening the table. * Keep columns short and structured. Use Description for brief context or instructions. Use Task comments for discussion and decisions. Link to work product in your DMS as the source of truth. * One accountable owner per Task and one due date. You can add collaborators, but always name a primary owner who moves the Task. If different people or dates apply to different parts, split into separate Tasks or capture the handoff as Steps. * Add automations after you lock the design. Finalize columns and status definitions first. Then add simple reminders and escalations that read those fields. --- ## Status hygiene that everyone understands Status is the single most important column in project management. It tells the team where the work stands. Too many options cause confusion. Too few cause misalignment. In Lupl, keep it simple and consistent. * Five to seven statuses are enough. * Use one review gate, For review or For approval. Use both only if your process needs two gates. * One terminal status, Done. This is the end state of the Task. Use Archived only if you report on it or need it for retention workflows. --- ## When to split into multiple Workstreams In project management, it is best practice to separate workstreams when workflows, owners, or audiences diverge. Lupl makes this easy by letting you create multiple Workstreams for one matter. Create a new Workstream if any of the following are true. * You need a different set of columns for a chunk of work. * Ownership or cadence is different, for example daily docketing vs monthly reporting. * The audience or confidentiality needs are different. **Signal** * If half your rows leave several columns blank, you are mixing processes. Split the table. --- ## Decision tree, three quick questions Use this quick framework to decide where an item belongs. This is the same principle used in task management software, adapted for legal workflows. 1. Is this a list of similar items over time, or a discrete phase of the matter * Yes. Create a Workstream. 2. Can it be overdue by itself, and does it need an owner * Yes. Create a Task. 3. Is it a step to finish a Task and not tracked on its own * Yes. Create a Step. --- ## Common mistakes to avoid Many project management failures come from overdesigning or misusing the structure. Avoid these mistakes to keep your Workstreams lean and effective. * Wide tables with many optional columns. Keep it to eight or fewer. * Two columns for the same idea, for example Status and Phase that overlap. Merge or define clearly. * More than one approval gate when one would do. It slows work and confuses owners. * Mixing unrelated processes in one table, for example signatures and invoice approvals. --- ## Build your first Workstream Building a Workstream is like setting up a project board. Keep it light, pilot it, then refine. Lupl is designed to let you do this quickly without heavy admin work. 1. Write the Workstream purpose in one sentence. 2. Add the Core 5 columns. 3. Add at most three Helpers you will use. 4. Define clear Status meanings in plain words. 5. Set defaults for any value that repeats on most rows, for example Jurisdiction. 6. Add two light automations, a due soon reminder and an overdue nudge. 7. Pilot for one week and adjust. --- ## Where this fits in legal project management Use these principles to standardize project management for lawyers across matters. Keep structures consistent. Reuse column sets and status definitions. Your team will find work faster, reduce follow ups, and close loops on time. --- ### On page SEO helpers * Suggested title tag. Lupl Workstream Design Principles, Practical Legal Project Management for Lawyers * Suggested meta description. Learn how to design lean Lupl Workstreams for legal project management. Get clear rules for Tasks, Steps, statuses, and columns to run matters with confidence. * Suggested URL slug. legal-project-management-for-lawyers-workstream-design

      Lupl Workstream Design Principles: A Practical Guide to Legal Project Management for Lawyers

      Learn why large‑firm lawyers are ditching Excel checklists for dynamic,...

      Do AI Agents Have An Identity? Notes from InfoSec Discussions

      Agentic AI is in its early phases but advancing fast....