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Legal Billing Software
If there is one indispensable element to your practice, it’s your legal billing system. But with so many technical advancements, it can be overwhelming to consider making a change. This guide is focused on solving pain points specific to firm size, client type, organizational structure, and billing requirements.
The LegalTech Publishing Buyer's Guides and the products and services listings below are supported by vendor sponsorships.
Legal Billing Software: Reviewed Products & Services
Filevine
Filevine is the leading cloud-based collaborative work solution for law firms. Powering everything from case management and document management to client communication and business analytics, Filevine’s custom and bespoke tools simplify and elevate practice management and growth.
Lawmatics
Lawmatics is the #1 automation platform for law firms, offering Legal client intake, CRM, marketing automation, billing, and much more, all in one easy-to-use software. With Lawmatics, law firms streamline their operations, impress clients, and win more business. To learn more, visit www.lawmatics.com.
LawPay
LawPay was developed specifically for the legal industry, providing attorneys and their accounts receivable/collections departments with a simple way to accept online credit card and eCheck payments from clients.
TimeSolv
At HALF THE COST of other solutions, TimeSolv provides the robust time, billing, and payment needs law firms demand, without the extra features you never use. Store payment information and run hundreds of payments in seconds on YOUR timeline, achieving ZERO AR!
Time, Billing & Payments Buyer's Guide
Download the Free Time, Billing & Payments Buyer's Guide Now
Legal Billing Software: Additional Products & Services
- App4Legal
- Avaza
- BigTime
- Bill4Time
- BQE CORE Suite
- Case Master Pro
- FreshBooks
- Lawcus
- LeanLaw
- MerusCase
- MyCase
- Smokeball
- Soluno
- Tabs3
- The Tussman Program
- Time59
- TimeFlow
- TimeNet Law
- uLaw Practice
ATL Non-Eventcast:
Jared interviews Scott Clasen of TimeSolv and Niki Black of MyCase about time capture, billing, and managing client payments for law firms.
Highlights
- Having a new hobby from the pandemic – 2:46
- Collecting payment information – 5:39
- There’s no technology excuse right now – 8:29
- New payment plans – 11:00
- Payment processing tools – 12:42
- The importance of e-payments – 16:30
- Understanding the processing fees – 17:56
Jared talks to Scott Clasen and Jordan Turk. Scott and Jordan answer the big question: “Should law firms start using e-payments?” They also discuss the alternative fee agreements and different payment funnels that attorneys and law firms can use as well as the new trends that people can expect in e-payments.
Highlights
- The two guests for today’s show. – 1:16
- Ice breaker: What’s the weather like in your area? – 3:17
- Why should law firms start using e-payments? – 9:06
- How is surfacing data related to bill payment? – 13:05
- Alternative fee agreements for law firms. – 18:03
- Financial services acting as a middle man between the client and the law firms: What does it mean and how does it work? – 25:03
- The new trends that people can expect in e-payments. – 27:24
- Do legal payment providers offer options if a consumer wants to pay using cryptocurrency? – 28:44
- Where to find the guest today. – 31:49
Jared talks with experts in the field about utilizing time, billing & payments software in the law firm environment. The guests are Matt Spiegel of Lawmatics, Scott Clasen of ProfitSolv, Tomas Suros of AbacusNext, and Sam Mallen of MyCase.
Highlights
- Who are the guests for today’s episode? – 1:23
- Ice breaker: What their favorite and not-so-favorite shows are. – 2:52
- What their thoughts are on law firms starting to build their own payment system? – 7:07
- How important it is to build a system to streamline billing for the law practice to use the software. – 15:26
- How to make time tracking easier. – 23:28
- How lawyers can construct what are effectively compelling invoices? – 31:05
- What their best tips are for getting paid more here in the last quarter of 2022 that the law firm could implement immediately? – 36:14
Jared welcomes Scott Clasen of ProfitSolv, who talks about the different ways law firms can do a better job at capturing and keeping track of time.
Highlights
- Who is the guest today? – 1:17
- Ways law firms can do a better job at capturing time. – 3:56
- Why is there a need to keep track of time? – 7:01
- Metrics to look at. – 9:22
- Tactics for law firms to collect more of their accounts receivables. – 12:05
- What’s an integrated payment for law firms? How can it help law firms collect money? – 14:30
- Favorite feature of time and billing software. – 20:29
Time, Billing and Payments FAQs
What is Time, Billing and Payments software?
Revenue flows into your firm in a funnel, and this funnel can get leaky at numerous junctures.
Maybe not all of the time is captured, maybe not all of the time is billed, or maybe not all of the billings are collected.
Time, Billing and Payments software is a solution designed to tighten up this funnel. This software will help you keep more of the cash that you’ve earned and grow your bottom line.
What are the benefits of Time, Billing and Payments software?
Provided you’re not practicing law as a hobby, your legal billing system is the most indispensable component of your practice.
The benefits are simple: easier and more comprehensive time capture and revenue collection for you, and an efficient portal and secure and convenient payment set-up for your clients.
Having an optimal Time, Billing and Payments system is one of the most impactful steps a lawyer can take to ensure they maintain a thriving practice.
What can the best Time, Billing and Payments software provide?
Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that firms that have online billing collect substantially more per lawyer than those that do not.
Setting up a robust ePayment platform is the single most effective step a typical law firm can take to grow its revenue.
This software can provide a seamless experience from time capture to collecting revenue, from both the lawyer and the client perspective.
Its features may include passive time tracking, in which all of your activity within a case management system is measured and comprehensive reports automatically appear at the end of each day.
This allows itemized invoicing and ensures none of your billable activity is simply forgotten.
The software also likely includes ePayments options for knocking down your dreaded Accounts Receivable, including one-touch authorization from the client side and automatic invoicing.
The Legal Tech-to-English Dictionary
Time, Billing and Payments Software
By Jared Correia
There’s a term for when attorneys use Latin and other arcane languages to describe legal processes to consumers: “legalese.”
But there’s no similar term for when vendors use technical and other arcane languages to describe their legal software operations to lawyers.
True, this dynamic may seem unfair. But now we have The Legal Tech-to-English Dictionary to help us cope.
Read on for the latest installment, where we translate time, billing, and payment software-related topics to plain English.
.1
1. Law firm billing nomenclature indicating a 6-minute increment = 1/10th of an hour. Because, weirdly, lawyers actually bill like this.
2. 6 minutes.
3. Something lawyers add to their invoices to confuse clients.
Husband: I just got this bill from the law firm. What does ‘.1’ mean?
Wife: 1/10th?
Husband: Oh, okay. So, 1/10th of an hour?
Wife: Right.
Husband: Okay. $75 for every 6 minutes equals . . .
Wife: $750 per hour?
Husband: &%^$$%@&*%$*&
Cf. Because this is how your clients see you.
Prebill
1. A process by which staff and attorneys review invoices prior to finalizing and sending same to clients.
2. The edited versions of an invoice used prior to the finalized version.
Lawyer 1: How’s the prebill coming along?
Legal Assistant 1: I haven’t gotten it from you in the mail yet.
Lawyer 1: . . .
Legal Assistant 1: Did you mail it yet?
Lawyer 1: . . .
Legal Assistant 1: It wouldn’t happen to still be on your desk right now, would it?
Lawyer 1: . . .
Lawyer 1: Um, sorry, my line is cutting out.
Cf. Time and billing softwares allow law firms to manage the prebill process electronically, via system features that can accommodate draft invoice edits, commenting tools, and restricted access criteria.
ePayments
1. Payment options available in an entirely electronic format, including credit and debit cards, ACH and eCheck.
2. You’re gonna make me say Dogecoin, too?
3. And, NFTs? Have you no soul?
Lawyer 1: We’ve got a client outside who wants to pay us by giving us a “non-fungible token.” Apparently, it’s an image of a piece of oatmeal that he colored bright orange and placed on the tip of a beautiful CGI-rendered unicorn horn.
Lawyer 2: . . .
Lawyer 1: I’ll just ask him for a check.
Alternative Fee Arrangement
1. Any law firm payment option that is not an hourly billing arrangement.
2. Yes, lawyers are this dedicated to the hourly billing model.
Lawyer 1: Can we talk about adding some alternative pricing models?
Lawyer 2: We could . . . charge for every 3 minutes we work, instead of every 6?
Lawyer 1: That’s not exactly what I had in mind.
Cf. Since literally everything other than hourly billing rates are viewed as “alternative” fee arrangements, those alternative options are endless, including flat fees, evergreen retainers (client reups retainer amount on monthly basis), risk collars (lawyer goes over a predicted fee amount, client gets a discounted rate; under, lawyer gets a success fee), subscription fees, and products.
Accounts Receivable
1. Uncollected billing, often reported on by the length of time the items have been in arrears, e.g., 30-, 60-, 90-days late.
Bookkeeper 1: Our accounts receivable report indicates that we have $225,000 that is more than 90 days overdue.
Lawyer 1: When was the last time we sent out invoices?
Bookkeeper 1: 6 months ago.
Lawyer 1: Well, shit.
Bookkeeper 1: I believe you’ve cracked the case, Mr. Holmes.
Cf. What happens when you collect your A/R.
Cf. ePayments – Collect automated payments by credit card, and you won’t have any A/R.
Jared Correia is the host of the Non-Eventcast.
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