How we compare
Two tables, every cell a published fact.
The twelve questions a buyer's tender asks first, then what the agentic system adds. Every rival cell comes from that vendor's own pages, read on the date given, and says not published where the pages are silent. Where a rival leads, the table says so.
The platform against the five systems a firm of five to fifty runs
This table sets Bracton, the agentic AI case management platform, beside the five systems a firm of five to fifty fee earners in England and Wales most often runs today: LEAP, Clio, Access Legal CaseMatters Evo, Smokeball and Actionstep. The first twelve rows follow the questions a buyer's tender asks first, and the last three show what the agentic system adds. Every rival cell rests on that vendor's own UK pages, read at source on 16 October 2026 and listed with their addresses at the end, and where a vendor's pages say nothing the cell says not published rather than guessing. The Bracton column states what is built and in use today, or what is booked and when.
Read across the rows and the rivals lead in four places. Each of them offers a phone application from the app stores where Bracton installs from the browser, they hold SOC 2 or ISO 27001 where Bracton holds Cyber Essentials with Plus being arranged, Clio staffs support twenty four hours a day on weekdays, and all five name UK customers where Bracton is in trial with three firms. Bracton leads on a full price published for every seat, on the SRA Accounts Rules refused in the software as the work is done, and on the telephone answered and the caller taken through to a file. On the overnight reading of every file Access Legal states of CaseMatters Evo that every file is checked overnight with a morning report, so the two share that ground, and Bracton's cell states what its reading does with each finding, ranked, judged, escalated, reported each morning and filed as evidence of supervision.
| What a buyer asks | Bracton | LEAP | Clio | Access Legal CaseMatters Evo | Smokeball | Actionstep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Published price a user a month, excluding VAT, minimum seats and setup fee | £185 a person a month on a standard seat and £365 on a heavy seat, the platform with the assistant built in. The assistant alone inside another system is £115 and £295. One rate for every size of firm, a minimum of three seats, and every person at the firm holds a seat. A one off deployment charge: the assistant from £2,500 plus VAT, and the platform's deployment with its migration priced in writing before the firm commits. Launch prices with a pooled fair use allowance and a published overage rate. | Not published. One plan charged a user a month, with the figure behind a form. A one time setup fee for migration, configuration and onboarding can apply, amount not published. Minimum seats not published. | Core from £79 a user a month. Signature and Elite priced on request, with Clio Grow and Clio Draft as add ons. VAT, minimum seats and any setup fee not published. | Not published for CaseMatters Evo. The supplier's G Cloud listings price Proclaim at £43 to £251 a user a month and Access Legal Case Management at £65 to £90 a licence a month. Minimum seats and setup fee not published. | Prosper+ from £89 a month and Archie AI £29 a month on top. The page does not say whether the figures are a user or include VAT. Minimum seats and setup fee not published. | Not published. Every product is priced per user plus implementation fees, on request. Minimum seats not published. |
| 2. Contract term, notice and exit, and whether the firm's data leaves at no charge and in what form | An initial term of twelve months, then three months' written notice by either side. The price is held for the first twelve months. The firm's administrator exports the whole record at any time without charge or a request, as tables with a head row and a readme and every paper under its file, and at the end the data processing agreement gives return and certified deletion. | Not published. | Cancel at any time, taking effect at the end of the current monthly or annual term. Contacts, matters and financial records exported in open, non proprietary formats at any time while the account is active or within 90 days of cancellation. Charge for export not published. | Not published for CaseMatters Evo. The Proclaim G Cloud listing provides export documentation at no additional cost, in CSV, XML and other structured formats, with further help on time and materials. Term not stated. | A full backup of data and documents at no cost, at any time and for any reason, per a Smokeball article of 28 April 2026. Format, term and notice not published. | Renews automatically for each billing period, ended by the firm in the subscription settings. A backup is supplied if asked for within 20 days of termination, in a common export format Actionstep chooses, and additional costs can apply. Data can be deleted 30 days after termination. |
| 3. Integrations: Microsoft 365, accounts packages, Land Registry, Companies House, identity and AML checks, e-signature | Sign in through the firm's own Microsoft 365, mail read on the firm's own consent, an Outlook add-in that files an email to a matter, Henry in a Word pane, and Teams meeting transcripts held on the file. Xero built and proved against Xero's demonstration company. HM Land Registry built to the Business Gateway's published interface, waking on the firm's own Gateway account. Companies House fills directors and persons with significant control at take on. Identity, liveness, sanctions and politically exposed person checks proved on a live check. The e-signature is the platform's own. | Microsoft 365, Xero, QuickBooks and InfoTrack named on the UK integrations page, with e-signature backed by DocuSign. Land Registry fees calculated in the forms. A Land Registry connection, Companies House and an identity or AML provider not published on that page. | Microsoft 365 and Outlook, Xero, QuickBooks Online and Klyant. Land Registry searches through InfoTrack. AML and identity through listed partners such as SmartSearch, whose listing names Companies House, and Verify 365. E-signature built in. | Outlook filing, time recording and case search inside Outlook. AML, PEP and biometric ID checks through Access Legal Searches. The Proclaim G Cloud listing names the Ministry of Justice and HMRC as API partners. Land Registry, Companies House and e-signature not published for CaseMatters Evo. | Word and Outlook, with accounting integrations listed without names on the pricing page. Land Registry, Companies House, AML checks and e-signature not published on the UK pages read. | An Outlook add-in for Office 365, Xero, First AML, InfoTrack and DocuSign on the integrations page, with no region shown for each. Land Registry and Companies House not published. |
| 4. Time recording, billing and reporting | Time in six minute units, timers, entries proposed beside each act for the fee earner to accept, and time recorded as an email is filed. Bills between dates under the Solicitors Act, statements of account and the detailed assessment bill. Reports on work in progress by fee earner and age, billing by month, dates due and time recorded against time billed. | Automatic time recording on activities without timers, AI time tracking, a billing engine capturing time, fees and disbursements, financial and practice reports on live data with Power BI and scheduled reports. | Timers and after the fact entries, custom rates and rounding, bills by email or portal, split and LEDES billing, card payments through Clio Payments, AI drafted invoices, and reports on aged debt, matter balances and billing history. | AI assisted time recording, billing, dashboards showing progress, bottlenecks and risk, and Copilot answers on case duration, budget and time loss. | Automatic time tracking, interactive invoices with online payment, and firm insights reporting. | Multiple timers, suggestions for unlogged time, Trace drafting time entries for review, billing, and reports on productivity and finances, with Acumen dashboards. |
| 5. Document management and automation from precedents, Word and Outlook | Every paper held on its file with its words searchable, a precedent library and a precedent bank drawn from the firm's own files, Henry drafting from those precedents, a forms library of eighty one forms, Henry in a pane inside Word for Windows, Mac and the web, and the Outlook add-in holding an email on the file with the minutes beside it. | Thousands of legal forms and precedents, the firm's own letters and precedents, documents pre filled from matter data, and integration with Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams. Matter AI drafts in Word with more than 200 prompts and prepares Outlook drafts. | Unlimited document storage, Clio Launcher opening files in Word, emails saved from Outlook or Gmail to matters, OneDrive, SharePoint and other stores, and advanced document automation through the Clio Draft add on. | Automated document generation, configurable workflows and Outlook filing. Word not named on the CaseMatters Evo page. | Advanced document automation and document management, with Word and Outlook integration and Archie working inside both. | Documents and emails generated from templates, Office 365 integration and Outlook and Gmail filing. |
| 6. Legal accounts to the SRA Accounts Rules, the reconciliation and what the software refuses | Double entry with no stored balance. The software refuses a client ledger going overdrawn, an office receipt past what stands billed, and a transfer from client to office past what is held or properly billed, rule 4.3's discipline, each refusal giving the reason. The rule 8.3 reconciliation is a recorded comparison of statement, cash book and client ledgers, with an alarm if it is missing, unagreed or older than five weeks. | Office and client ledgers in one system, automated reconciliation and a statement that it complies with the SRA rules. Warnings where there is a risk of using money the firm is not entitled to. Refusals not published. | Client and office ledgers managed in line with the SRA Accounts Rules, reconciliation inside Clio and a low balance alert. Refusals not published. | Case overviews carry the accounts ledger, billing, compliance and audit trails. SRA Accounts Rules treatment and refusals not published. | Transactions recorded against the matter and a bank reconciliation with reports. The SRA Accounts Rules and refusals not published. | The Legal Accounting product is available in North America only. Client funds handling on the practice management page. SRA Accounts Rules treatment and refusals not published. |
| 7. Client portal, secure messaging and e-signature | A client portal, a secure message held on the firm's server and read after a one time code, revocable and expiring after thirty days, and an advanced electronic signature of the platform's own carrying the firm's name, with deeds executed on paper. | A client portal powered by LawConnect, which is SOC 2 Type 1, for sharing documents and correspondence, and e-signature backed by DocuSign. | Clio for Clients, a portal for secure messages, documents and case updates, and e-signature sent by email. | A client portal for sharing documents and updates. E-signature not published. | A secure client portal. E-signature not published. | A client portal for matter updates and bills, and DocuSign on the integrations page. |
| 8. Mobile application | No app store application. The platform installs to a phone's home screen from the firm's own address and every screen fits a phone. Phone notifications are built and switched off. | LEAP Mobile on iOS and Android, saving a time entry for each call made through it and scanning documents to the matter. | The Clio app on iOS and Android, with time recording, documents, calendars, portal messages and push notifications. | The CaseMatters Evo page offers browser access and names no application. The case management page names a Proclaim Evo mobile app. | The Smokeball app on iOS and Android for matter details, documents, tasks and events. | The Actionstep app on iOS and Android. |
| 9. Where the data is held, backups and the training position | Records held in London, one database to a firm, backed up every hour with every set kept two days and a daily set kept thirty five days, and the restore rehearsed. The assistant's processing takes place outside the United Kingdom under a processor named in the trust statement and the pilot agreement. Nothing from a firm's record trains any model, a term of the subscription agreement. | The UK data security page places customer data in AWS Dublin, and the security page lists AWS Europe, Dublin and London, for the UK. Some AI features, Matter AI among them, can send limited client data to the US. Encrypted backups within the region. Client data not used to train AI, with the security FAQ adding without explicit consent. | Hosting offered in the EU, Australia, the US and Canada, with no UK region published. Backups several times a day in mirrored facilities. Firm data never used for AI training. | Hosting location not published for CaseMatters Evo. The supplier's G Cloud listings state the United Kingdom for Proclaim and the United Kingdom and EEA for Access Legal Case Management. Data never shared with external AI systems, using a private instance of Microsoft Copilot. | AWS servers in the UK, per a Smokeball article of 28 April 2026, with the security page naming no region. Backups not published. Customer data not given to third parties for AI training. | Regions offered in the USA, Singapore, the EU, Australia and New Zealand, with no UK region, and a UK and SRA addendum committing to storage in the EU or UK. Backups supplied on request. Firm data not used to train AI. |
| 10. Certification held in the vendor's own name, with anything booked and its date | Cyber Essentials in Bracton's own name, 5 August 2026. Cyber Essentials Plus being arranged, with assessment sought before 5 November 2026. ISO 27001 with ISO 27017 and ISO 27018, and ISO 42001, in preparation under a plan of 14 October 2026, with no date set. | SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3, and Cyber Essentials. ISO 27001 aligned, with formal certification in progress. | SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2, the last report covering June 2024 to May 2025. ISO 27001 stated for the hosting facilities. Cyber Essentials not published. | ISO 27001, accredited by ISOQAR since 2014, and Cyber Essentials without Plus, on the supplier's G Cloud listings for Proclaim and Access Legal Case Management. No certification named on the CaseMatters Evo page. | ISO 27001. SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials not published. | SOC 2 Type 2 examination completed, 18 February 2026. ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials not published. |
| 11. Support hours, response times, training, migration and onboarding | Support from 7am to 7pm on working days on 0161 520 2700, with a message line out of hours. A severity one incident acknowledged within one hour, severity two within four support hours. Support unlimited for the first three months after go live, then on fair use. A migration scoped, priced and timetabled in writing before the firm commits, and an import of people, clients, matters, time and diary built. | Unlimited support through the UK helpdesk on live chat and a help centre, free on demand training through LEAP University, a customer success manager, and a transitions team for migration. Hours and response times not published. | Phone, email and live chat 24 hours a day, Monday to Friday, with unlimited training and support on every plan and a 99.9 per cent uptime guarantee. Migration not published on the pages read. | Support throughout onboarding and a customer support portal, with Proclaim workflows, customisations and data carried across. The Proclaim G Cloud listing gives 9.00 to 17.00 on weekdays, or 8.00 to 18.00 on Standard and Premium, with an immediate response to a critical ticket by telephone. | Free unlimited training and support from a UK based team. Migration included as standard at no extra cost, with a trial run on the firm's own data. Hours and response times not published. | Access to the support team and resources, and data imported from existing systems, with implementation fees. Hours and response times not published. |
| 12. Company stability and customers in England and Wales, with the evidence | In trial with Samuels Law, named with its consent, and two further SRA regulated firms in England and Wales, launching in the first quarter of 2027. Bracton Ltd, company 17360622, is a young company without the years of trading the rivals show. | More than 2,600 UK law firms, stated on the UK pricing page. | Working in partnership with the Law Society of England and Wales. Completed a US$1 billion purchase of vLex on 10 November 2025 with a US$500 million funding round at a US$5 billion valuation. UK customers named on its case studies include Adam Benedict, New Quadrant Partners and Leiper Gupta Family Lawyers. | Access Legal states it is trusted by more than 3,500 law firms and over 35 per cent of UK law firms. The CaseMatters Evo page shows the logos of Neves, MAPD, Wolferstans, Biscoes, JMW and Fletchers without saying which product each runs. | More than 34,000 legal professionals worldwide. Four UK firms named in its case studies, among them Temple Gate Solicitors and Johnson May Solicitors. | More than 50 UK law firms won between January 2024 and April 2025, with a UK team of nearly 20, named firms including Dutton Gregory and Levi Solicitors. |
| What the agentic system adds | ||||||
| 13. Every open file read overnight and the next step proposed for a person's press | Built. Henry reads every open file each night and each finding carries a kind, a severity, the date it turns on, the paper it rests on and the act proposed, checked against the file's own dates before it stands. The morning list ranks the files raised by severity and date, the person judges each finding right, wrong or not now in one press, and Settings shows the reading's accuracy by month. A finding nobody answers goes to the supervisor after three nights and to every partner after seven, the night's report reaches the practice manager by email at seven each working morning, a complaint arriving by email, post, message or telephone is recognised and routed to the complaints handler and the compliance officer with the acknowledgement drafted from the firm's own procedure, and Compliance holds the supervision report as a paper the compliance officer files. Nothing leaves the firm until a person presses in their own name. | Matter AI answers, summarises and compares on request. An All Agent workspace appears on LEAP's Australian page and not on the UK page. | AI included in the plan drafts client updates, flags risks and prioritises tasks, with a person approving everything before it goes out. Overnight reading of every file not published. | The CaseMatters Evo page states that every file is checked overnight and a morning report flags the files needing attention, with AI prioritising tasks. | Archie suggests next steps inside a matter and creates tasks, memos and events with the user's confirmation, from 1 May 2026, analysing the matter in real time. Overnight reading of every file not published. | Recommend suggests next steps from business data. Execute, agents carrying out approved work, is marked coming soon. |
| 14. The telephone answered and the caller taken through to a file | Built. An automated receptionist on the firm's line says it is automated and gives no advice, asks the caller the firm's questions for that kind of matter on the same call, and a fee earner opens the file at one press. | Not published. | Not published on the UK pages read. | Not published. | Not published. | Not published. |
| 15. The injury portals, the court forms and legal aid | N1 and N244 filled from the record and a library of eighty one forms. Connections to the Claims Portal and the Official Injury Claim service built to their published interfaces, live once the firm's registrations and the portals' sign off are complete, which none yet has. Crime lower legal aid claims composed into the bulk claim file once a month. | An RTA matter type with the RTA1 claim notification form automated and court bundles produced. Legal aid offered through a separate legal aid software site. Portal connections not published. | Claims to the Legal Aid Agency from billing in England and Wales. Injury portals and court forms not published. | Not published on the CaseMatters Evo page. The case management page refers to the MOJ PI Portal and to bulk claims to the Legal Aid Agency without naming the product, and the Proclaim page names court forms. | Court forms created through TemplateLab. Injury portals and legal aid not published. | Not published. |
The cells marked not published, and the sources
Cells marked not published, and the sources behind them
These cells are marked not published because the vendor's own pages say nothing on the point. For LEAP, the price, minimum seats and setup fee amount, the contract term, notice and exit, a Land Registry connection, Companies House and an identity or AML provider, the SRA refusals, support hours and response times, telephone answering and the injury portals. For Clio, VAT, minimum seats and setup fee, the export charge, Cyber Essentials, migration, overnight reading of every file, telephone answering on the UK pages, the injury portals and court forms. For Access Legal CaseMatters Evo, the price, minimum seats and setup fee, the contract and exit, Land Registry, Companies House and e-signature, the SRA treatment and refusals, its hosting location and certification, telephone answering and the injury portals, court forms and legal aid on its own page. For Smokeball, whether the price is a user and includes VAT, minimum seats and setup fee, format, term and notice, Land Registry, Companies House, AML and e-signature, the SRA treatment and refusals, backups, SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials, support hours and response times, overnight reading of every file, telephone answering, the injury portals and legal aid. For Actionstep, the price and minimum seats, Land Registry and Companies House, the SRA treatment and refusals, ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials, support hours and response times, telephone answering and the whole of row fifteen.
No cell rests on a third party's report. Two Smokeball cells rest on Smokeball's own article of 28 April 2026 rather than a product page, and the Access Legal figures for Proclaim and Access Legal Case Management come from the supplier's own listings on the government's G Cloud marketplace and describe those products, not CaseMatters Evo. Clio's pages refuse automated reading, so they were read in a browser on the same day.
- Bracton, Subscription Agreement and Service Level Statement as they stand on 16 October 2026, the platform's decision records, and Bracton's pricing paper of 11 October 2026 as revised 13 October 2026, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/pricing, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/features/matterai, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/au/features/matterai, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/data-security, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/security, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/integrations, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/features, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/features/legal-accounting/, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/features/mobile-working/, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/features/client-service/, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/support/, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/area-of-law/personal-injury-software/, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/features/document-automation/, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/features/time-recording-billing/, read 16 October 2026.
- LEAP, https://www.leaplegalsoftware.com/uk/features/legal-reporting/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/pricing/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/features/data-security/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/features/client-accounting/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/features/legal-accounting/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/features/mobile-apps/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/law-societies/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/features/legal-documents/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/features/legal-billing/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/features/legal-time-recording/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/features/client-portal/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/grow/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/work/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/customers/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/practice-types/conveyancing-software/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/app-directory/smartsearch/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/about/press/clio-completes-landmark-1b-vlex-acquisition-series-g-5b-valuation/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://www.clio.com/uk/tos/, read 16 October 2026.
- Clio, https://trust.clio.com/, read 16 October 2026.
- Access Legal, https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/legal/software/case-management/, read 16 October 2026.
- Access Legal, https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/legal/software/case-management/casematters-evo/, read 16 October 2026.
- Access Legal, https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/legal/software/case-management/access-legal-proclaim/, read 16 October 2026.
- Access Legal, https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/about/news/lgl-access-legal-launches-casematters-evo-saving-law-firms-up-to-five-hours-per-fee-earner-each-week/, read 16 October 2026.
- Access Legal, https://www.applytosupply.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/g-cloud/services/764763454722568 (the supplier's own G Cloud listing for Proclaim), read 16 October 2026.
- Access Legal, https://www.applytosupply.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/g-cloud/services/497021420693893 (the supplier's own G Cloud listing for Access Legal Case Management), read 16 October 2026.
- Smokeball, https://www.smokeball.co.uk/, read 16 October 2026.
- Smokeball, https://www.smokeball.co.uk/pricing, read 16 October 2026.
- Smokeball, https://www.smokeball.co.uk/security, read 16 October 2026.
- Smokeball, https://www.smokeball.co.uk/features/client-accounting, read 16 October 2026.
- Smokeball, https://smokeball.co.uk/features/matters, read 16 October 2026.
- Smokeball, https://www.smokeball.co.uk/case-studies, read 16 October 2026.
- Smokeball, https://www.smokeball.co.uk/blog/the-next-generation-of-archie-ai-is-here, read 16 October 2026.
- Smokeball, https://www.smokeball.co.uk/blog/what-happens-to-data-when-switching-practice-management-software, read 16 October 2026.
- Smokeball, https://www.smokeball.co.uk/automated-legal-documents/personal-injury, read 16 October 2026.
- Smokeball, https://www.smokeball.co.uk/integrations/xero, read 16 October 2026.
- Actionstep, https://www.actionstep.com/pricing/, read 16 October 2026.
- Actionstep, https://www.actionstep.com/artificial-intelligence/, read 16 October 2026.
- Actionstep, https://www.actionstep.com/faqs/, read 16 October 2026.
- Actionstep, https://www.actionstep.com/terms/, read 16 October 2026.
- Actionstep, https://www.actionstep.com/integrations/, read 16 October 2026.
- Actionstep, https://www.actionstep.com/practice-management/, read 16 October 2026.
- Actionstep, https://www.actionstep.com/actionstep-completes-soc-2-type-2-examination-reinforcing-commitment-to-law-firm-security/, read 16 October 2026.
- Actionstep, https://www.actionstep.com/blog/news/actionstep-celebrates-record-uk-growth-as-midsize-law-firms-embrace-cloud-first-innovation/, read 16 October 2026.
- Actionstep, https://www.actionstep.com/blog/actionstep-releases-actionstep-intelligence-ai-built-for-the-business-of-midsize-law-firms/, read 16 October 2026.
Henry against the five assistants a firm names
This table sets Henry, the assistant in Bracton, beside the five AI assistants a firm in England and Wales names against him: Harvey, Legora, Thomson Reuters CoCounsel Legal, LexisNexis Lexis+ with Protégé, and Alesis. Every vendor cell rests on that vendor's own pages as read on 16 October 2026, listed with their addresses at the end, and says not published where those pages are silent. A figure that only a third party reports is marked as the third party's. Every Henry cell states what Bracton has built today, or what is booked with its date. Read across, the four large vendors lead on certification and on funding, Harvey and Legora lead on mobile applications, Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis lead on research because each owns a law library, and Alesis keeps its processing in the United Kingdom and the European Union where Henry's model runs in the United States. Henry leads on a published price and a published contract, on work done inside the firm's own record without being asked, and on the telephone and the injury portals, which none of the five publishes.
| Factor | Henry | Harvey | Legora | CoCounsel Legal | Lexis+ with Protégé | Alesis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Published price a person a month excluding VAT, minimum seats and usage charges | Published in full. The assistant on its own is £115 a person a month on a standard seat and £295 on a heavy seat, or £185 and £365 on the platform with the assistant built in. Every person at the firm holds a seat, the minimum is three seats and the rate is the same for every size of firm. Each standard seat carries 5,000 pages read and 100,000 words drafted a month and each heavy seat 50,000 and 500,000, pooled across the firm, then £8 for each further 1,000 pages and £5 for each further 10,000 words, under a cap the firm sets. The overnight readings, the receptionist and the law checks are not counted. Launch prices. | Not published. Legal Futures reported on 14 July 2026 a cost of around £1,100 a lawyer a month, a third party's figure. Minimum seats and usage charges not published. | Not published. Spellbook, a rival vendor, puts Legora at $3,000 a seat a year with a ten seat minimum on a page updated 9 October 2026, a third party's estimate. Usage charges not published. | UK price not published. The US plans page shows CoCounsel Legal starting at $1,694.90 a month with no seat basis stated. Minimum seats and usage charges not published. | Not published. LexisNexis quotes customised pricing set by the organisation's size, capabilities and content. | Published. No subscription and no seat fee. The firm buys credit from £10 to £5,000 and use draws it down answer by answer, with 15 per cent off a top up of twice the firm's 30 day use and 25 per cent off four times. Free credit of £25 for the first person and £15 for each colleague, up to 20 colleagues. Features pause when credit runs out. |
| 2. Contract term, notice and exit | An initial term of twelve months, then continuing until either side gives three months' written notice. Seat types change on a month's notice. The price holds for the first twelve months unless the cost of the models, hosting or carriage rises by more than 15 per cent, when it rises on 90 days' notice and the firm can leave instead, and after the first twelve months a change of rate takes effect only at a renewal, on at least nine months' written notice, so the firm can give its own notice first. The firm exports its whole record at any time without charge, and at the end the record is returned or deleted on the firm's election. | Not published. | Not published. Spellbook, a rival vendor, describes an annual commitment of ten seats, a third party's statement. | Not published. | Not published. | No subscription and nothing recurs, with credit bought only when the firm chooses. Exit terms not published. |
| 3. Where it lives and what it connects to: practice management, document management, Microsoft 365, Word and Outlook | Inside the platform Henry reads and writes the firm's own record of matters, documents, diary, time and client money. Sold on its own, he connects through the host system's published interface: the Clio Manage connection is built and waits on its first live Clio account, and connections to other practice management systems are not yet built. In the firm's own Microsoft 365 an Outlook pane files an email to its matter, an Ask Henry pane sits in Word for Windows, Mac and the web (built, its first run in a live copy of Word still to come), a reader takes papers from the firm's SharePoint and OneDrive libraries, and Teams meeting transcripts are noted on the file. No connector to iManage or NetDocuments. | Beside the firm's systems. Word and Outlook add ins, Microsoft 365 Copilot, iManage, NetDocuments, SharePoint, OneDrive and Google Drive, Aderant iTimekeep for billing narratives, and MCP connectors. No UK practice management system named. | Beside the firm's systems. Word and Outlook add ins, iManage with its permissions and ethical walls carried over, documents imported from a document management system, repository or data room, and MCP connectors. No practice management system named. | Beside the firm's systems, on Westlaw and Practical Law. The UK page names iManage, SharePoint, NetDocuments and HighQ, the UK release of January 2026 names Microsoft 365, and drafting runs in Word. Outlook is named for CoCounsel Essentials, not on the CoCounsel Legal UK pages. No practice management system named. | Beside the firm's systems, on LexisNexis content. iManage, SharePoint, NetDocuments and other document management systems, and drafting in Microsoft 365 through Lexis Create+. Outlook and practice management systems not published. | Beside the firm's systems. The product page lists practice management integrations with Clio, LEAP, Proclaim, Actionstep, PracticeEvolve, Smokeball and Osprey Approach and an open API, without saying which are live. Word, Outlook, Microsoft 365 and document management not published. |
| 4. Answering from the firm's own files, each answer cited to the paper | Built. Henry answers from the papers on the file, naming the paper and the page, a follow up question reads as one conversation, and every answer is recorded on the file. Up to 300 papers against 20 questions are read into a table, one column to a question. | Vault holds thousands of documents for analysis, and Harvey links every answer to the exact sources used. | Tabular Review draws answers from thousands of documents imported from a document management system, repository or data room, each cited to its source. | Tabular Analysis answers up to 100 questions across up to 200 documents, footnoted to the source, and the litigation analyser links each finding to its document and page. | Up to 50 Vaults of 1,500 documents each, with summaries, timelines and drafts made from them. How an answer cites the uploaded document is not published. | Answers come from the matter's own papers with the page named, and documents are read page by page so that citations point to pages. |
| 5. Drafting in the firm's name from its own precedents, and how a draft is checked before a person sees it | Built. Henry drafts from the firm's own precedents and past advice, configured for that firm alone. Each draft is read again against the file and against the form the rules give that kind of paper before a person sees it, then waits for a qualified fee earner to approve it, and nothing leaves the firm in his name. The letter before claim, the chronology, the witness statement and the client care letter all begin this way. | Playbooks built and run in Word, a prompt library customised to the organisation, and the firm's precedents and templates drawn from SharePoint. Outlook replies are checked for tone and accuracy against the organisation's standards. A check of a draft against the matter before a person sees it is not published. | Playbooks in Word hold the firm's starting positions, non negotiables and fallbacks, and Fill template completes a document from a source such as a term sheet. The Agent delivers work for review and approval. Drafting from the firm's own precedents is not stated on the Word page. | Drafts in Word from the matter's source documents, redlines against the firm's standard and cites binding authority, with the firm's precedents shaping the draft. The UK blog of 6 October 2026 presents this generation as almost here. A check before a person sees the draft is not published. | Drafts from uploaded material or from the firm's knowledge base through iManage and SharePoint, with drafting in Word through Lexis Create+. A check before a person sees the draft is not published. | Every draft waits for a qualified person to review and sign it off, and Council lets the user have a simulated counterparty, ombudsman or tribunal judge challenge the reasoning first. Drafting from the firm's own precedents not published. |
| 6. Research and the law sources, and the price against the research vendors | Every Act Henry cites is checked at legislation.gov.uk and every case citation at Find Case Law, both free primary sources, and reading a judgment's text waits on the Find Case Law licence applied for on 11 October 2026. Beside each authority Henry opens the firm's own Westlaw or Lexis subscription, kept on that provider's terms and at its cost. He holds no licensed library, and beyond the file he answers from the model's general knowledge and says when he does. Henry is £115 a seat, and the one research vendor price published, CoCounsel Legal's US figure, starts at $1,694.90 a month. | The Assistant draws on LexisNexis, EUR-Lex, EDGAR, the web and Vault. No source of the law of England and Wales named. | Comprehensive US coverage, federal and all 50 states, with FromCounsel listed for the UK. No case law or legislation source for England and Wales named. | Westlaw UK and Practical Law UK, with Deep Research giving cited reports and each citation linked for checking. Leads Henry on research from an owned library. | LexisNexis case law, statutes and regulations, with citation validation of each authority's status and treatment. Leads Henry on research from an owned library. | UK case law, UK legislation, government guidance and ombudsman decisions, each cited, and it says when it finds no support for a point. The source of the case law not published. |
| 7. Work done without being asked, agents and workflows | Built. Every open file read overnight with the next step drafted, post, email and messages read as they arrive, enquiries read as they arrive and the telephone answered. Henry plans in several steps before he proposes, and nothing is sent, filed, diarised or billed without a person's press. | Pre built workflows and the firm's own, and agents that carry legal work end to end. Harvey II of 18 August 2026 describes an overnight review of a data room batch without saying whether a person started it. | The Agent is described as not waiting to be asked: it monitors email, documents and projects and acts when something needs attention, delivering work for review and approval. Monitors scan regulation continuously. This is the nearest of the five to Henry's unasked work. | Agentic reasoning plans and carries out each step of a request. Work without a request not published. | Proactive follow up questions and prompts, and workflow automation. Work without a request not published. | Not published. Alesis says it sends nothing itself. |
| 8. Mobile application | No native application. The platform installs on a phone's home screen as a web app with two notices, the day's dates and Henry's overnight readings. Harvey and Legora lead here. | Native apps on iOS and Android, with Vault search, past queries, photographed documents, transcribed calls and dictated questions. | Native apps on iOS and Android, with the Assistant, questions and summaries on documents, and history kept in step with the desktop. | Not published. | A mobile app for US Lexis+ AI customers from 20 November 2024. UK availability not published. | Not published. |
| 9. Where the data is held and what it trains | The firm's record is held in the United Kingdom, one database to a firm, backups included. Henry's questions, with the brief drawn from the file, are processed in the United States by the model provider under the UK Addendum and a transfer risk assessment, as the trust statement discloses, and the provider is named in the data processing agreement. Nothing the firm holds trains a model at Bracton or at the provider. | Hosted on Microsoft Azure with in region processing in the EU or Switzerland, the US or Australia. No UK region named. Inputs, outputs and documents do not train the underlying models. | No hosting region named, with technical workforces in the EU and the US. Data is not used to train or fine tune any model. | Hosted in the US by default, with region based hosting available in the UK, and model interactions processed in the US. Customer content is excluded from training. | Processed in the local region, Europe including the UK, with primary and backup locations in Europe on Azure and AWS Bedrock. Content never trains AI models. | Held in the UK and processed in the UK and the EU. Nothing uploaded, asked or drafted trains anything for anyone else. |
| 10. Certification held in the vendor's own name, and anything booked | Cyber Essentials in Bracton Ltd's own name, certificate ef2524f2 of 5 August 2026. Cyber Essentials Plus being arranged, with assessment sought before 5 November 2026. ISO 27001 with ISO 27017 and ISO 27018, and ISO 42001, in preparation under a plan of 14 October 2026, with no date set. Harvey, Legora and CoCounsel Legal hold ISO certificates Bracton does not, and lead here. | Annual SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 audits, and ISO 42001 listed. Cyber Essentials not published. | ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 certified. SOC 2 Type 2 appears in the page header and the text says Legora meets SOC 2 requirements. Cyber Essentials not published. | SOC 2 and ISO 42001 certified, on the UK product page. ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials not published on the pages read. | SOC 2 Type 2 audited. ISO 27001, ISO 42001 and Cyber Essentials not published. | SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 all under way and none held. Cyber Essentials not published. |
| 11. Support, training and onboarding | Under the service level statement in the agreement, a person who knows the product answers the telephone from 7am to 7pm on working days, with a message line out of hours, a severity one incident is acknowledged within an hour and worked until resolved, and an unresolved matter goes to a director the same working day. Support is unlimited for the first three months after go live. A migration is scoped, priced and timetabled before the firm commits, onboarding follows a ten stage checklist, and staff receive a handbook that walks every screen. | Harvey Academy offers on demand training, workflows and step by step guidance, and a Transformation Office of legal experts supports a firmwide rollout. Support hours not published. | Live in days with no large IT project, on the small and mid sized firms page, and Legal Engineers configure Intake to the firm's way of working. Support hours not published. | A UK training and support page is linked from the product page, and a sales representative replies within one business day. Support hours not published. | Live online training sessions at scheduled times. Support hours not published. | Free registration, a starting point guide, and a walkthrough of matters, sources and access for firmwide work. Support hours not published. |
| 12. Company stability and customers in England and Wales, with the evidence | Bracton Limited, self funded with grant applications in progress. In trial with Samuels Law, named with its consent, and two further SRA regulated firms in England and Wales, launching in the first quarter of 2027. | $550 million raised at a $15.5 billion valuation on 9 September 2026, with 80 per cent of the Am Law 100 named as users. In England and Wales, Slaughter and May adopted Harvey firmwide on 29 April 2026. | $550 million raised at a $5.55 billion valuation on 10 March 2026, and more than 1,800 law firms and in house teams claimed. In England and Wales, Edwin Coe firmwide (release of 11 September 2026), with Mishcon de Reya, Pinsent Masons, Trowers & Hamlins and gunnercooke named. | Part of Thomson Reuters. In England and Wales, Womble Bond Dickinson across seven UK offices and 650 timekeepers (6 May 2026). | Part of LexisNexis. In England and Wales, Irwin Mitchell from 2024, Eversheds Sutherland International named at the UK launch of 21 July 2025, and Hamers Solicitors, Ringrose Law and Woodfines among the firms shown. | Alesis.ai Limited of Chester, company 17475950. Funding not published. A case study from New South Law. Legal IT Insider reported 25 firms and 150 users on 28 September 2026, a third party's figure. |
| What Henry adds inside the record | ||||||
| 13. Every open file read overnight and the next step proposed for a person's press | Built. Each working night Henry opens every live file and writes what needs doing, each finding with its kind, its severity, the date it turns on, the paper it rests on and the act proposed, so by morning each fee earner has the files needing attention ranked by severity and date with the next step drafted, done at one press by the person in their own name. The person judges each finding right, wrong or not now, the reading's accuracy stands in Settings by month, a finding nobody answers reaches the supervisor and then the partners, the night's report goes to the practice manager by email at seven, and a complaint in a client's email, letter, message or call is recognised and routed to the complaints handler and the compliance officer with the acknowledgement drafted. | Not published. Harvey II describes one overnight review of a data room batch. | Not published as a nightly reading of every open matter. The Agent is described as monitoring email, documents and projects and acting when something needs attention. | Not published. | Not published. | Not published. |
| 14. The telephone answered and the new client taken through to a file | Built. The receptionist answers the firm's line, says that it is an automated assistant and that the call is recorded, asks the firm's questions, offers a time from the fee earner's diary, and takes the new client through to a file at one press, with the identity check and the portal requests sent on approval. | Not published. | Not published. Intake takes requests by email, Teams, Slack and MCP. | Not published. | Not published. | Not published. |
| 15. The injury portals and the court forms composed from the file | Built. Henry composes the Claims Portal claim and the Official Injury Claim form from the file, the fee earner sends it at one press, and the replies return to the file with the protocol's days diarised, live once the firm's own portal registration is entered. Court forms are filled from the record. | Not published. | Not published. | Not published. | Not published. | Not published. Alesis says it does not file or serve. |
The cells marked not published, and the sources
Cells not published or reported by a third party
Every vendor cell that says not published, and every cell that rests on a third party, is listed here so that a reader can test it. For Harvey, the cells marked not published, wholly or in part, are the price, the contract term, drafting, certification, support hours, the overnight reading, the telephone and the injury portals, and the price rests on a third party's report. For Legora, the cells marked not published, wholly or in part, are the price, the contract term, drafting, certification, support hours, the overnight reading, the telephone and the injury portals, and the price and the contract term rest on a third party's report. For CoCounsel Legal, the cells marked not published, wholly or in part, are the price, the contract term, drafting, work without a request, the mobile application, certification, support hours, the overnight reading, the telephone and the injury portals, and no cell rests on a third party. For Lexis+ with Protégé, the cells marked not published, wholly or in part, are the price, the contract term, the connections, the citation of answers, drafting, work without a request, the mobile application, certification, support hours, the overnight reading, the telephone and the injury portals, and no cell rests on a third party. For Alesis, the cells marked not published, wholly or in part, are the contract term, the connections, drafting, the research sources, work without a request, the mobile application, certification, support hours, company standing, the overnight reading, the telephone and the injury portals, and company standing rests on a third party's report. Every third party figure is named in its cell with its source and date, and none is presented as the vendor's own.
- Every vendor page below was read at source on 16 October 2026. A date given beside a page is the date the page itself carries.
- Harvey
- https://harvey.ai/security, read 16 October 2026, certifications, hosting regions, training.
- https://harvey.ai/pricing, read 16 October 2026, returned not found, no price published.
- https://harvey.ai/platform, read 16 October 2026, workflows, agents, Word, Outlook, mobile, document management, Harvey Academy.
- https://help.harvey.ai/articles/getting-started-with-harvey, read 16 October 2026, Assistant, Vault, sources, citations.
- https://help.harvey.ai/topics/integrations, read 16 October 2026, integrations.
- https://harvey.ai/blog/how-harvey-integrates-with-microsoft-365-applications, read 16 October 2026, dated 22 October 2025, Word, Outlook, SharePoint.
- https://harvey.ai/blog/harvey-outlook-add-in, read 16 October 2026, dated 6 August 2025.
- https://harvey.ai/platform/harvey-mobile, read 16 October 2026, iOS and Android apps.
- https://harvey.ai/blog/introducing-harvey-ii, read 16 October 2026, dated 18 August 2026.
- https://harvey.ai/blog/agentic-search-document-management-systems, read 16 October 2026, dated 30 September 2026.
- https://harvey.ai/blog/harvey-raises-dollar550m-at-a-dollar155b-valuation-to-help-legal-teams-own-their-intelligence, read 16 October 2026, dated 9 September 2026.
- https://harvey.ai/blog/slaughter-and-may-adopts-harvey-firmwide, read 16 October 2026, dated 29 April 2026.
- https://legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/city-firm-outlines-how-it-chose-ai-after-head-to-head-challenge, read 16 October 2026, dated 14 July 2026, third party, the price figure.
- Legora
- https://legora.com/security, read 16 October 2026, certifications, hosting, training.
- https://legora.com/solutions/small-mid-sized-firms, read 16 October 2026, no price, time to go live.
- https://legora.com/product/legal-research, read 16 October 2026, coverage and content partners.
- https://legora.com/product/agent, read 16 October 2026, the Agent.
- https://legora.com/product/word-add-in, read 16 October 2026, Playbooks, Fill template.
- https://legora.com/product/outlook-add-in, read 16 October 2026, Outlook.
- https://legora.com/product/tabular-review, read 16 October 2026, Tabular Review.
- https://legora.com/product/mobile-app, read 16 October 2026, iOS and Android apps.
- https://legora.com/product/aos, read 16 October 2026, connections.
- https://legora.com/product/intake, read 16 October 2026, Intake channels, Legal Engineers.
- https://legora.com/product/monitors, read 16 October 2026, Monitors.
- https://legora.com/integrations, read 16 October 2026, iManage and ethical walls.
- https://legora.com/newsroom/edwin-coe-rolls-out-legora-firm-wide-across-all-14-practice-groups, read 16 October 2026, dated 11 September 2026.
- https://legora.com/newsroom/legora-raises-550-million-series-d-to-fuel-us-growth, read 16 October 2026, dated 10 March 2026.
- https://spellbook.com/learn/legora-pricing, read 16 October 2026, updated 9 October 2026, third party and a rival vendor, the price estimate.
- Thomson Reuters CoCounsel Legal
- https://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.co.uk/en/products-services/cocounsel-legal-uk.html, read 16 October 2026, UK product page, certifications, integrations.
- https://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.co.uk/en/products-services/cocounsel-legal-uk/features.html, read 16 October 2026, UK features.
- https://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.co.uk/blog/2026/10/06/the-next-generation-of-cocounsel-legal/, read 16 October 2026, dated 6 October 2026.
- https://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.co.uk/en/products-services/cocounsel-essentials-uk.html, read 16 October 2026, Outlook, UK hosting.
- https://thomsonreuters.com/en/cocounsel, read 16 October 2026, hosting, processing, training.
- https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/en/c/compare-cocounsel-plans-for-your-legal-team, read 16 October 2026, US price.
- https://thomsonreuters.com/en/press-releases/2026/january/thomson-reuters-expands-cocounsel-legal-to-uk-continuing-its-transformation-of-legal-work-with-agentic-ai-innovation, read 16 October 2026, dated 26 January 2026.
- https://thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/innovation/from-access-to-habit-how-womble-bond-dickinson-made-ai-part-of-every-lawyers-day, read 16 October 2026, dated 6 May 2026.
- LexisNexis Lexis+ with Protégé
- https://lexisnexis.co.uk/products/lexis-plus-protege, read 16 October 2026, pricing, Vault, integrations, hosting.
- https://lexisnexis.co.uk/products/lexis-plus-ai, read 16 October 2026, hosting, pricing.
- https://lexisnexis.co.uk/solutions/legal-ai.html, read 16 October 2026, SOC 2, processing region, training, firms shown.
- https://lexisnexis.co.uk/solutions/protege, read 16 October 2026, agentic features, Word drafting.
- https://lexisnexis.co.uk/our-clients/irwin-mitchell-lexis-plus-protege.html, read 16 October 2026, Irwin Mitchell.
- https://lexisnexis.co.uk/product-adoption/lexis-plus-protege/public-session.html, read 16 October 2026, training sessions.
- https://lexisnexis.com/community/pressroom/b/news/posts/lexisnexis-launches-protege-a-personalised-ai-assistant-with-agentic-capabilities-to-help-uk-lawyers-to-complete-legal-tasks-more-easily-and-efficiently, read 16 October 2026, dated 21 July 2025.
- https://lexisnexis.com/community/pressroom/b/news/posts/lexisnexis-introduces-lexis-ai-mobile-app-an-industry-first-generative-ai-app-for-legal-professionals, read 16 October 2026, dated 20 November 2024.
- Alesis
- https://alesis.ai, read 16 October 2026, what it does, company particulars, case study.
- https://alesis.ai/pricing, read 16 October 2026, credit and top ups.
- https://alesis.ai/security, read 16 October 2026, certifications, data location, training.
- https://alesis.ai/product, read 16 October 2026, drafting, Council, research sources, integrations.
- https://legaltechnology.com/exclusive-alesis-a-sovereign-ai-assistant-for-uk-law-firms-goes-live, read 16 October 2026, dated 28 September 2026, third party, firms and users live.
- Henry's cells rest on Bracton Limited's own papers as they stand on 16 October 2026: the published prices and assistant pages at bractonlegal.co.uk, the trust statement, the subscription agreement and the service level statement a firm signs, the decision records of the build, and the Cyber Essentials certificate ef2524f2 of 5 August 2026.
Corrections
A vendor who finds an entry about its product out of date or wrong is asked to write to hello@bractonlegal.co.uk with the page that shows it, and the entry is corrected and the date of reading updated within five working days.