Why Not To Buy Legal Billing and Accounting Software If You Are An Attorney

And Stay Where You Are, Doing More Accounting than Legal Practice!

Strange as it may seem quite a few attorneys are averse to going in for computerization of any kind, even law firm billing software when it so obviously proves helpful and productive for them. Today we have some very professional Legal time and billing software incorporating almost everything the attorneys need to keep track of billable hours and back office accounting procedures. Consider what top of the line law firm billing software does for an attorney:

Saves him time by automating and computerization of the main matters regarding :

•  Billable hours in respect of each matter relating to each client or a number of matters relating to a single client, with separate track of hours to be billed and expenses incurred against each matter in hand.

•  Keeping track of matter based record keeping is important especially when there may be many cases connected with a single client as happens in the event the lawyer is dealing with a corporate client. Today's top Legal time and billing software automatically maintain matter based record keeping beautifully, freeing lawyers of cumber some tasks and accounting labor.

•  Keeping track of advances or retainer ships that have to be accounted for in a separate trust account. This can be crucial as such receivables are subject to audit and if there are flaws or queries a lawyer stands to lose a lot and be fined. Legal billing and accounting software literally saves his skin by providing perfect records of all past transactions.

•  Generation of reports of unpaid bills and works for which bills are to be issued. Simply set markers and the software does the rest for you at scheduled intervals.

•  Very user friendly interface and a short learning curve enable lawyers to become proficient with all its features.

So why not to buy legal billing and accounting software if you are an attorney?

Attorney Billing Software Reduce Stress and Increase Productivity

As the number of clients increase, the stress levels and time consumed in keeping track of billable hours and back office accounting increases in proportion and some lawyers might very well find themselves spending as much time on accounting and billing as they do on their cases. This situation causes stress; stress because they have to account rigorously in order to keep perfect accounts that stand up to any future audits and also stress because they worry that they are not being as productive as they would want. Attorney billing software helps lawyers drastically cut down on the time they spend on keeping track of billable hours and accounts, leaving more than enough time to either relax or take on more cases. Stress, as a result, vanishes.

The right legal billing and accounting software takes on complete responsibilities and carries out all functions in respect of billing and accounting, particularly from a lawyer's view point in conformity with federal and state laws. Comprehensively designed, structured and easy to use lawyer billing software covers all aspects of billing and keeping track of each client. This includes:

• Keeping track of billable hours for each client and maintaining a separate record for each case for each client and a separate record of the expenses incurred against each case.
• Where cases are handled on fixed fee basis the attorney billing software automatically issues a bill when notified of a completion, showing the fees amount and the expenses separately, posting these amounts to account heads by itself.
• In the same way, cases handled on contingency basis will be handled by the legal billing and accounting software accordingly, issuing a bill for the fees once the case is shown as complete and won.
• In cases of retainer plus hourly basis cases, lawyers can set the limit below which a billing alert will be issued by the lawyer billing software . Again, in this case, the advance, hours billed and expenses are accounted separately for each case, even though a lawyer may handle several cases on behalf of a single client.

A comprehensive and well designed legal billing and accounting software considers billing and matter based record keeping as integrated aspects of the software. With such software, it is easy for attorneys to maintain separate accounts for each case even though he may be handling several cases for one client on different billing basis. There is no confusion and distinct records are maintained according to each matter in hand.
Since a lawyer's accounts are subject to audit and query at any time, leading to severe penalties if there are discrepancies, the attorney billing software should as a matter of course include a provision for compiling complete records and accounts of a case under one single head that can be accessed at any later date. Useful features like outputting to Word, Excel or PDF files and portability to mobile phones improves functionality.
In the main, by reducing the work load on an attorney, the lawyer billing software frees attorneys of stress in this direction and helps them utilize the time freed up to concentrate on present cases or take on more cases and generate more revenue.

Comprehensive Attorney Billing Software

Lawyers and attorneys are busier than ever and to help them maintain records and account, they have access to attorney billing software . However, not all software includes the needed features. A law firm billing software needs to comprehensively cover all the specific requirements of record keeping, billing and accounting that are specific to legal practice in the United States , in consonance with its laws, further complicated by the fact that each state may need a lawyer to comply to local rules too.
Before choosing a lawyer billing software , attorneys need to check and consider whether that particular software offers them what they need. If one important part is left out, then the utility of the software reduces dramatically and may even be worthless as a lawyer will have to maintain the record manually. Billing and accounting are inter-related and if an important element is left out it does not serve the purpose at all. When considering a legal billing and accounting software , attorneys need to consider the features and scope for future upgradeability.
Minimally, a lawyer billing software should cover the basic requirements of billing and software. Lawyers follow different billing methods for each client and one particular client may be billed on an hourly basis in one particular matter while the same client may be paying him a fixed fee for another matter.
Consider the desirable features of a law office billing software:

• A facility to bill according to arrangements with clients either on an hourly basis, on a fixed fee basis, on a retainer plus hourly and on a contingency basis as may be previously agreed upon. The legal billing software keeps track of each individual case and related expense for each client. In case of retainer plus hourly billing basis, the software automatically creates an alert when funds fall below a defined level.
• A feature that keeps track of each individual case, billable hours and related expenses in respect of multiple cases for a single client on a matter based record keeping basis.

• An ability to keep track of all monies received towards billable hours and for expenses according to State defined code of ethics to answer all audit queries when raised.

• A feature that keeps perfect trust accounts in respect of retainers paid by clients to comply with existing federal and State laws, keeping lawyers safe from any charges of negligence in case of audits in future.

• A lawyer may need reports and statements at any time and the law firm billing software easily provides this. An attorney may wish to be alerted to the outstanding receivables and have weekly, fortnightly or monthly statements to ensure that cash flow is maintained through regular billing.

As a practice grows, an attorney needs a software that does virtually all the back office functions for him. Moreover, it should be easy to operate, be very user-friendly and provide a variety of statistics and reports when needed besides archiving old cases and making them available whenever needed in future. A legal billing software like this saves a lot of time for lawyers and lets them focus on their cases and clients.