When speaking to a lawyer friend about his work, he mentioned an interesting paradox that exists in his business, one that I have found when speaking with other lawyers. It seems that the lawyers at his firm dislike tracking their time. However, by tracking their time and billing a client, they generate the cash to pay the lawyers and keep the firm in business. It appears that for the lawyers at my friend’s firm, and many other lawyers, billing is a necessary evil. Lawyer billing software can help.

When drilling down on the reason lawyers don’t like to track time, one of the most common reasons given is that it is too hard to track time because lawyers have several clients they are working on during a day. This means they may be going back and forth into different client matters throughout the day and they don’t want to take the time to complete a cumbersome timesheet. Good lawyer billing software can help solve this by making time entry easy. The lawyer can launch a timesheet first thing in the morning and have the timesheet minimized on the desktop. Some software packages allow the lawyer to have the timesheet already set-up with the clients and matters and all they need to do is enter the amount of time they spend on each. This can be done as the lawyer changes from client to client or matter to matter throughout the day. Some lawyer billing software also offers a timer on the timesheet where the system tracks the time based on clicking a button on the screen to start and stop time. (One note on the timer is that while some find this a good tool, others dislike it as they may forget to start or stop the timer or they get involved in another issue while the timer is on. If a timer is in the lawyer billing software, make sure the time can be edited.)

After time entry is made easy for the lawyers and they are consistently entering time, the leaders managing the firm can start to see the power of lawyer billing software and can harness that power to really understand their business and drive profitability. First, in some lawyer billing software, the automation of time collection allows for that time to be reviewed prior to being approved. This review can be effective in managing work as it allows the manager of a client or matter to understand what everyone is working on. This review can help spot misplaced time or excess hours on a matter early, when something may be done about it. Once approved, the time can then be billed. With good lawyer billing software, the billing can be made to easily create an invoice, write off unbillable hours, or make other adjustments to the invoice that are needed. The billing should then flow into Accounts Receivable where the lawyer can track outstanding balances. This can be important when a new matter comes up and the lawyer needs to understand if the client owes any money, prior to accepting the work. If the client does owe money, they can use the new work as leverage to get paid for previous services.

In addition to capturing time, creating the billings, and tracking receivables, the lawyer billing software can be put to good use in analyzing the business. Some software packages have robust reporting that allows lawyers to see which clients and matters are profitable, how well the firm, or individual lawyers do on estimating work, what time is written off, how utilized are the attorneys, how much time charged to a client is actually realized, and much more. With this knowledge, leaders can manage their business. The key for the leaders is to understand the measures they need to successfully run their practice and then use the software’s reporting capabilities to manage those measures.

For lawyers who do not like tracking their time, the good news is that there is lawyer billing software that can make time entry easy and in the process give firms the ability to better manage their practice. The better news is that you can find packages that are reasonably priced and allow a quick return on investment.

Author Bio: Joe Young is President of Beyond Software, publisher of lawyer billing software for small firms. Beyond Software brings project functionality, such as employee time tracking and billing, to lawyers in an easy-to-use way that allows you to run your business more efficiently. For more information go to beyondsoftware.com.

Category: Business Management
Keywords: lawyer billing software