Attorney billing software helps take the guesswork out of the accounting, billing, and time management procedures for law firms. Using this type of software, among other things, allows a law firm to record time, bill clients, and pay invoices quickly and easily. While some law firms opt to handle these processes in spreadsheets, or even by hand, there is a higher chance of making a mistake this way. Law offices expend and produce a substantial amount of data. For this reason, the ability to effectively manage the accounting, time spent, and case work is critical to running a successful law practice. Attorney billing software ensures that all areas of the business work together and are fully integrated.
Accounting
Maintaining the financial records may be the most significant task of a successful law firm. The accounting portion of attorney billing software tracks expenses, creates invoices, pays bills and manages receivables. Storing, sorting, collecting, retrieving and reporting on these transactions throughout the account’s lifecycle are essential. This software eliminates duplicate entries and reduces the potential for errors.
Time Management
Time management is essential to billing clients correctly. Some clients are billed by hour, while others are billed with flat rates. Attorneys are then paid for time spent on those cases. Attorney billing software will keep track of how clients should be billed as well as the amount of time spent by the attorney. When managing an attorney’s time, the billing software keeps track of work performed in increments so that the accounting system can bill the client accurately. This is why each area of the attorney billing software must work together seamlessly.
Case & Client Work
The case and client work is maintained in a separate module. In this way, the financial and time transactions can be applied to accounts. The basis for this module is keeping record of the client’s contact information. The contact information is important for recording interactions with the client and can help with retention efforts. The case and client work module helps keep track of which clients owe money. Specifically, this module provides details on whether a cost is for an expense like research or for going to court for a client.
The goal of using software designed for attorney billing is to maintain accurate records and to do so seamlessly. Attorneys juggle several cases at once in addition to many different clients each day, so accuracy is important. There is a higher possibility of making mistakes without the use of software. Additionally, it takes more time to manage the attorney’s tasks without using some sort of billing software for tracking.
