Accounts and billing are important for any attorney just as much as the legal practice is. Unfortunately the complicated maze of record keeping can eat into his time. Time spent on accounting and billing is not billable time and hence not profitable. This procedure can be done manually, using a worksheet or by going in for a sophisticated, automated attorney billing software. The best billing software for lawyers reduces time and provides full functionality. With so many vendors offering law firm billing software , a lawyer can find it difficult to make a choice without knowing in depth the features of the legal billing and accounting software . A lawyer's choice becomes easier when he checks the software to see if it includes all the features required for accounting, billing and record keeping. Accounting and billing related to a lawyer's activities are quite different from other services and moreover, they are governed by State laws.
A lawyer's accounting and billing covers the following functions and a law firm billing software should desirably include all these. These are :
Billing
The legal time and billing software should have an easy provision to bill on an hourly basis for each client and if a lawyer is handling more than one case for one client, accounts and records should be kept separately. If a lawyer is working on a fixed fee basis as happens in mundane traffic violation matters, the attorney time billing software should have an easy method to generate bills and a list of expenses separately. Lawyers usually work on a retainer cum billing basis and would naturally expect the software to have a provision to bill when the retainer falls below a pre-determined figure. In cases where lawyers work on a contingency basis, the legal billing and accounting software should be able to maintain expense list and billable amount separately and then issue a bill only on successful completion of the case.
Matter Bases Records
An important and must-have feature of any legal billing and accounting software is that it should keep separate accounts and issue separate bills for billable hours and expenses in respect of each case, even when it relates to a single client. A helpful feature of the software is that it should be able to keep records of all pertinent documents and forms in a single folder that can be accessed individually at the click of a button at any time in the future.
Retainer and Trust Accounts
Any lawyer billing software must have a provision to maintain accounts in respect of retainers deposited in attorney trust accounts according to local State laws so that in case of any audit in future, there is no discrepancy or a query against the lawyer.
In addition to these basic requirements, the best billing software for lawyers usually has a provision to compile all documents, forms and papers related to a single case in a single folder, save them in Word or PDF format. Any lawyer billing software not having these features would be incomplete and only complicate tasks so look for these before deciding on one.
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