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Legal Time & Billing Software - a “Must Have” For Law Firms

Date Added: July 02, 2009 02:21:08 AM
Author: Davidjr
Category: Computers: Software
Legal Time & Billing Software - a "Must Have" For Law Firms Tracking billable hours, a variety of fee arrangements, restrictions posed by state ethics rules, and clients who dispute bills can mire your firm in billing issues and affect your bottom line. Fee Arrangements Vary Most law firms provide a wide range of legal services and offer any number of fee arrangements. Depending on the client matter and fee structure, billing options for an invoice may include one or more of the following fee types: • Hourly • Fixed • Retainer based hourly • Retainer fixed • Contingency State Ethics Rules Pose Billing Restrictions Retail businesses choose a standard mark-up, assess going market prices, and charge accordingly for their products and services. Law firms, on the other hand, face unique requirements. While they can set their own rates, state ethics rules regulate how hours are billed and how law firms do business. And, very often lawyers are required to continue representing clients even if the client's payments are delinquent. Lost Billable Hours Impact Profitability Time is a precious commodity, especially for law firms. Client work is billable the hours spent on bookkeeping are not. The choice is yours. You can focus on client matters and let a smart system handle time and billing, or lose billable hours as you cope with cumbersome, manual systems. How you track and account for billable hours directly impacts your firm's profitability. Preparation for Billing Disputes & Audits Ethics rules also mean that if a billing dispute arises, a law firm must be able to produce a detailed audit trail, showing who did what, when, and how and what the client was charged. Back-office and especially the billing department personnel know that any manual billing system is a nightmare in the event of a controversy or audit. Tech savvy law firms understand the challenges and use cutting edge tools to work proactively and prevent questionable billing practices and disputes. Legal Billing Software to the Rescue Legal time and billing software designed specifically for law firms can provide many advantages. Not only will you get a total financial view, you'll have the ability to: • Track all billable time. It's a simple money equation, if you loose track of billable time, you won’t send an invoice and you won’t get paid. • Automate invoice generation and payment receipts. • Monitor and manage inventory (unbilled legal services) • Keep an eye on clients who are not paying on time. • And best of all, produce detailed statements and records in case of an audit or billing dispute. With simple, affordable billing software, you'll avoid a host of problems. Even small law firms and solo practitioners can effortlessly manage their entire practice revenue, expenses, collections and operating accounts without resorting to costly accounting programs.