Case Study: Debt Litigation System — Modernising Legal Workflows

The Challenge

A medium-sized law firm was managing debt recovery cases using a collection of Excel spreadsheets. This approach created major risks and inefficiencies:

• Manual processes introduced data errors and security risks.
• Multi-user access limitations slowed work and led to data conflicts.
• Reports were time-consuming to produce and prone to mistakes.
• Legal document preparation took hours of staff time each day.
• Commercial off-the-shelf systems were expensive and still didn’t fully meet the firm’s compliance, ownership, and workflow needs.

A bespoke solution was required, but budget was a key factor.

Our Solution

Dark Arts worked closely with the firm to design and build a custom cloud-based debt litigation system. This is still in active use and under our support 12 years later. We delivered:

• A secure, cloud-hosted MVC5 application with a SQL Server backend and reporting.
• Full migration of legacy data, including cleaning and converting dirty Excel files to SQL Server.
• Workflow management guiding users through each legal step from instruction to debt recovery.
• Document automation generating complex legal documents in seconds (previously taking hours).
• Reporting to give partners, staff and clients live visibility into case status.
• Ownership, control and privacy with no ongoing licensing risks or cloud vendor lock-in.
• Bespoke solution delivered at around half the cost of the cheapest off-the-shelf product with a far better fit for the client’s needs.
• Ongoing hosting, maintenance, and enhancements, keeping the system modern and compliant.

The firm also gained self-service features allowing clients to securely view matter status and improving transparency and client service.

The Impact

• Time savings: Up to 3 hours saved per staff member, per day.
• Document automation: Large legal documents generated in under a second.
• Improved accuracy: Reduced errors and risks vs. manual Excel workflows.
• Cost savings: Bespoke system delivered at half the cost of packaged software with full ownership and control.
• Business value: A system still in active use and supported 12 years later, delivering ongoing return on investment.

By moving from fragile spreadsheets to a purpose-built cloud system, the firm dramatically improved efficiency, accuracy, service, and compliance, while saving money and avoiding lock-in to expensive software.