ESILAW / Unity Accounting Alternative
ESILAW (now Unity Accounting by Dye & Durham) is strong at trust accounting and legal billing. But it's accounting software — not practice management. It doesn't read your documents, extract your deadlines, transcribe your meetings, or let you ask questions about your files.
Atticus does all of that — plus trust accounting and billing. One platform, $149 CAD/month.
No credit card required · $149 CAD/mo · Canadian infrastructure
ESILAW/Unity is excellent at what it does: trust accounting, billing, and financial reporting. But running a law practice requires more than accounting. You also need to manage client files, track deadlines, organize documents, check conflicts, and communicate with clients.
ESILAW doesn't do any of that. Most Ontario firms that use ESILAW end up cobbling together separate tools: a shared drive for documents, Outlook for client communication, spreadsheets for deadlines. Atticus replaces that entire stack — with AI woven throughout.
What you get with each platform
| Feature | ESILAW / Unity | Atticus |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Legal accounting software | AI-native practice management + accounting |
| Deployment | Desktop (Windows) or cloud version | Cloud-only — any browser, anywhere |
| Data residency | Canada | Canada |
| Trust accounting (By-Law 9) | ✓ Core strength | ✓ Yes — receipts, disbursements, per-client balances |
| AI document processing | ✗ No | ✓ Auto-extracts deadlines, parties, amounts |
| Audio transcription | ✗ No | ✓ MP3/MP4/M4A → transcript + entities |
| AI chat over your files | ✗ No | ✓ Ask plain-English questions about any file |
| Automatic deadline extraction | ✗ Manual entry | ✓ From every uploaded document |
| Morning briefing email | ✗ No | ✓ Daily 9am: deadlines, invoices, trust |
| Matter & client management | Basic | ✓ Full clients, matters, documents, timeline |
| Client portal | ✗ No | ✓ Per-matter shareable link with document upload |
| Conflict of interest check | ✗ No | ✓ AI-powered, severity-rated |
| AI document drafting | ✗ No | ✓ 13 document types, grounded in your files |
| Pricing | Varies — contact Dye & Durham | $149 CAD/month all-inclusive |
| Free trial | Demo | ✓ 14 days, no credit card |
The primary reason Ontario firms use ESILAW is trust accounting compliance. Atticus covers this fully: trust receipts and disbursements per client, real-time balances, negative balance alerts in your morning briefing, and CSV export for monthly reconciliation — compliant with LSO By-Law 9.
14-day free trial. No credit card. Trust accounting, AI document processing, deadline tracking, and your AI assistant — all in one platform.
Start Free Trial$149 CAD/month · Canadian infrastructure · Cancel anytime