The Abacus brand name has become one of the most recognized in the legal practice management software market. Abacus was founded in 1983 at the very beginning of the PC revolution by Judd Kessler who developed our first product, FastPlan, practice management software for Certified Financial Planners.  It was very well received and we sold millions of dollars of FastPlan the first few years. 

In 1987 Judd met Brian Hays who had developed a legal calendaring system for lawyers and attorneys.  It handled the new fast track court rules exceptionally well.  Brian joined Abacus as our VP and chief software engineer and we began marketing FastTracker Plus.  It is the original software to combine calendar, client, conflicts, and case management together with court rules in one program. We changed the product name to Abacus Law in 1990 as we continued to enhance it.

Judd Kessler, president of Abacus, is both a Certified Financial Planner and an attorney, graduating Summa Cum Laude from law school.  He is an active member of the State Bar of California, and was also the chair of the Law Practice Management and Technology Section.

The Abacus Law Philosophy

When we started AbacusLaw in 1983 at the beginning of the PC revolution, everything we did was groundbreaking, exciting and fun.

But today, sadly, technology seems to have run rampant. The overuse of technology has made things too complicated, to impersonal, and too bad. Instead of real people, you're usually forced to deal with voicemail, faxes, and the anonymous Internet. Instead of one reliable vendor, you're forced to deal with numerous incompetent finger-pointers, each blaming the other's technology for your inoperative system.

Fed up? So were we. So we fought back. We follow three simple rules, which may account in part for why we've grown so much (to over 100,001 users) since we started.

First, we answer the phone. Instead of voicemail we have real live people who answer the phone within three rings and help you immediately. Sure we do e-mail, faxes and the Internet too. But our customers send us love letters because they like talking with our staff. We have the most professional, helpful and friendly people you can find, with an average tenure of over 8 years.

Second, we don't make it complicated. We take the time to build software that is well-tested, rock-solid and is proven to make work easier, or we don't release it. As one of the few remaining independent software companies with no debt, venture money or outside shareholders we don't have to release new versions just to make the numbers look good.

Third, we enjoy dealing with lawyers. Our customers are the most competent, successful, and smartest in the world. When you enjoy the people you deal with, it shows.