Case Study - Acer Prime Law

Background

Acer Prime Law is a specialist private client law firm practicing exclusively in the areas of estate planning, probate and estate administration, wills, court of protection, trust drafting and trust administration. In May 2024, the firm first expanded into probate with the launch of a dedicated department under the leadership of Vanessa St John. What began as a one-person operation quickly grew into a four-person team. Acer Prime Law now needed software to run their newly expanded department, manage their probate client matters and consolidate everything into one system to increase productivity and efficiency.

The Challenge

Before adopting LEAP Estates, the firm’s probate work was managed using a combination of manual processes and separate tools and various spreadsheets. This approach presented several challenges, particularly when managing HMRC forms, estate accounts, and correspondence across multiple cases and users.

“Everything was done manually… All the HMRC forms were done manually, everything was done independently and then just all logged together,” Vanessa explained.

With the probate team growing, the firm needed a solution that would centralise their workflow, reduce duplication, and support both compliance and efficiency.

Why LEAP Estates?

Vanessa and her team selected LEAP Estates for its comprehensive approach to matter management and legal automation.

“We just liked all the functionality behind it — the fact that it does all the IHT forms for you. And the support is very good.”

When the firm acquired a conveyancing business later in 2024, Vanessa ensured that the full LEAP system — including InfoTrack — was rolled out across both departments.

“We have everything in the same LEAP program. It’s just so much easier. You get all your management information. Everything’s all there.”

Key Features and Functional Benefits

• Automated IHT Forms and Estate Accounts

LEAP Estates simplifies estate administration with pre-populated IHT forms and automated estate accounts.

“The Estate App is really good... You can get an assets and liabilities printout really quickly, so if you’ve got a client in front of you, you just flick to that section. It generates all the estate accounts.”

• AI-Powered Legal Drafting with LawY

Vanessa and her team also make regular use of LawY — LEAP Estates’ integrated AI tool.

“LawY is excellent — really, really good. Everything’s in a logical order, so it’s much easier to use.”

• Remote Access for Distributed Teams

LEAP Estates supports full remote working — a critical capability for Vanessa’s probate team.

“The whole probate team works remotely, so we’re all in different parts of the country. It’s great — they can access it anywhere in the UK. The team at head office in Norwich can access it too. It stores all the letters; it stores everything in chronological order.”

• Time Savings and Productivity

The efficiencies gained from automation and centralisation have been significant.

“It saves time. It really saves time. It saves us from doing everything manually. We used to do all our own letters manually — it’s done away with all that. You can literally print and press. It pre-fills everything.”

Implementation and Support

LEAP Estates provided full in-house training to the team during onboarding.

“When we opened the probate department fully and took on more staff, the LEAP Jayva team came down from Manchester. They did two days’ training with us in-house and installed everything. They were really, really good.”

Vanessa described the ongoing support as “excellent”, adding:

“They’ve all been brilliant.”

Advice to Other Firms

For law firms handling private client matters, particularly probate and conveyancing, Vanessa offers clear guidance:

“Yes, I’d definitely recommend it. It’s very good for probate, really, really good. It’s slick.”

She also encourages firms to invest in adequate training time for new users:

“If you’re brand new to using it, spend time learning the system. There is so much it can do. It’s worth learning — it works really well.”

Conclusion

For Vanessa St John and the growing team at Acer Prime Law, LEAP Estates has proven to be a powerful all-in-one platform that supports the complexity of private client work while improving daily operations, saving time, and enabling remote collaboration.

It’s a system built for modern law firms—from single practitioners to multi-site practices—that want to deliver consistent, compliant, and efficient private client services.

• Interested in learning more? Get in touch with the LEAP Estates team today to book your free demonstration of the software.