Dan Bowman

Attracting and hiring young talent is a big, and necessary investment for a law firm. After going through the process of recruiting, screening, hiring, and training candidates, it’s important for law firms to do all they can to keep lawyers in the long term. If a young lawyer is brought in and leaves for better opportunities, law firms have to start from scratch and put the time and money into hiring another. In total, law firm hiring costs the industry around $1 billion a year.

Attracting and retaining lawyers and bringing in fresh grads is competitive. Law firms looking to get to the top of the pool of talent need to focus on flexibility, diversity, positive company culture, growth opportunities, mentorship, and technological innovation.

Hiring is Competitive for Law Firms

In 2021, lateral hiring moves among law firms grew to 41%, an uncommon and record high for the legal industry. While many experts found this trend unsustainable and anticipate it will cool down this year, there is still a great effort among law firms to raise salaries and adjust their hiring practices to align with the market.

This trend of salary increases leaves new lawyers and associates with a flood of options. Unprecedented salaries are now more common, so other factors like work-life balance and hybrid work are at the forefront. Flashy salaries may draw lawyers in, but it’s the quality that the employer brings to their life that makes them stay.

The Importance of Company Culture and Law Firm Hiring

Younger lawyers come out of law school with different priorities than they did years ago. These new lawyers are seeking out firms with opportunities for support and mentorship from experienced lawyers. They want to know they’re making a choice that has a positive impact on their legal career.

Law firms can attract these lawyers by nurturing a positive culture that’s as current on trends and innovations as possible. One of the most important aspects of this culture is the technology that supports time management and work-life balance.

Ongoing Support and Mentorship

As mentioned, young lawyers are looking for law firms that will serve their future. Law firms can be competitive environments in a dog-eat-dog industry, but these new lawyers aren’t looking for that kind of grind. They don’t want to be the hotshot – they want opportunities to learn and grow in their careers.

Firms that want to attract these lawyers should offer opportunities for growth and demonstrate an investment in their recruits. This may include career planning guidance, CLE training, professional development, and coaching services. These programs not only help young lawyers grow but show them that the firm is invested in them.

Better Work-Life Balance

Like all young professionals entering the workforce, young lawyers put more emphasis on flexibility and work-life balance than the hustle culture. They don’t want to be the “first in, last out” type or married to the job. They want to have a healthy personal life with time for family, travel, or hobbies.

No matter what, personal and professional lives can overlap and impact each other, but law firms can try to give associates time and space to manage their personal lives. In doing so, firms gain more productive and efficient lawyers who are loyal and satisfied with their jobs.

Law firms should also keep in mind that young lawyers are more open to remote and hybrid work environments. These options allow lawyers to balance their time better, skip the long commute and traffic, and be more productive overall.

The Need for Cutting-Edge Technology

Legal technology is an excellent way for law firms to attract law students or young lawyers. The legal industry is largely traditional, but it’s slowly shifting to adopt more innovation that improves processes or helps young lawyers maintain the flexibility they crave.

For example, young lawyers looking for remote or hybrid work can make the most of their work time with features like mobile apps, document management, and cloud-based access and storage. They can work from anywhere – field, home, or office – and have the same access to the information and documentation they need.

Young lawyers are digital natives and can adapt to new technology solutions quickly. They know that they can gain more flexibility and fewer long hours with tools for automation, time tracking, and remote communication. Firms that remain traditional are less likely to attract this top talent.

Leaving a Positive Impact In and Out of Your Law Firm

Younger lawyers have many different priorities than their predecessors, including a desire to make a difference in the world. This generation lived through a lot of historical events, suffered strife, and wants to create a positive impact with their law practice – even more than fame, status, or salary.

Law firms can attract this kind of talent with programs like impactful pro bono work and a commitment to justice, not just attracting the biggest and most expensive clients. They give back to the community and show their investment in others, whether through donations, volunteer programs, scholarships, or pro bono work.

Supporting Alternative Career Paths

Attractive law firms offer different paths and opportunities to make partner. Young lawyers can rest assured that they won’t have to put their lives on hold, such as waiting to get married and start a family, just to get their promotion. Firms can give associates the flexibility and freedom to choose when they want to take the next steps in their careers.

Alternatively, not every young lawyer wants to be on track to partner. If young lawyers aren’t seeking a partnership or leadership position, law firms can offer alternative career paths through professional coaching and training programs.

For example, young lawyers may wish to take their legal expertise and combine it with business areas to assist in running a firm, such as business management, legal technology, or human resources. This allows lawyers to find the best combination of skills and responsibilities for their needs.

Lawyers should also have the freedom to explore different practice areas and widen their skill set before investing a lot of time and energy into a practice area that doesn’t satisfy them.

Adopt Modern Processes to Enhance Your Law Firm’s Hiring

Attracting and retaining young lawyers and law students is difficult in a competitive market, but law firms can create an environment of support, continued learning, and technological innovation that keeps lawyers loyal and satisfied.

It seems that every day another cyber attack is making headlines in the news. With an ever-growing amount of business happening online, malicious actors will continue to find ways to steal sensitive information like names, addresses, and bank account numbers. In 2020 alone, the US Federal Trade Commission received 1.4 million reports of identity theft, double that of 2019. 

It’s a troubling statistic and one that cannot be ignored here at Bill4Time. With the recent launch of Bill4Time Payments, we have taken every step necessary to ensure that our customers, as well as their clients, are fully protected from cyber threats while using the payments processor. 

We’re built by lawyers and tailored specifically for the legal industry, unlike the mainstream providers, we intimately understand the rules and regulations that as an attorney you need to follow to remain compliant.  

As you may have seen on our website, Bill4Time Payments is 100% compliant with IOLTA, the ABA, and lawyers’ online payment rules in all 50 states — but what does that even mean? We’d like to tell you a bit more about our security posture, as well as the rigorous security steps we take each and every day so that you can be confident in your choice to use Bill4Time Payments for all your billing needs.   

It starts with your Bill4Time Payments application    

The Bill4Time Payments application is a 3-step process that is designed to ensure everyone who is enrolling in our program is a legitimate person with a legitimate business. The Bill4Time Compliance Team is hard at work managing the following steps:  

• Step 1 – The first step to opening a Bill4Time Payments account is to provide the necessary business information. Our compliance team runs through a series of checks to ensure that the applying business is in financial good standing and a legitimate entity.  

• Step 2 – This step is crucial, it’s where the compliance team double checks that the person applying is in fact related to the business in question, and that they are not on any form of sanctions list with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). 

• Step 3 – It’s not exactly rocket science, in order to get paid you need a real bank account. The final step is to check in on the bank account provided and ensure that it is, in fact, related to the business and in good standing. 

All three steps are interconnected, and if a single piece of information does not align, the application may be delayed and/or denied. From the time the application is sent into Bill4Time to the time it gets approved is between 7-10 business days. If you would like to ensure a smooth application process, make sure you provide each and every piece of information as requested —  you wouldn’t submit a selfie to the bank when they ask for legal identification… right?  

What’s a compliance team? 

Glad you asked! These eagle-eyed employees are some of the most hard-working and dedicated team members at Bill4Time. They’re our first line of defense, and they can spot a fake ID better than a bouncer in a college bar. While this may be true (we’ll hold a competition later) our compliance team is heavily trained in fraud prevention and payments security. Collectively, our compliance team has over 20 years of experience working for the U.S. banking system at nationally trusted institutions like Wells Fargo, Capital One Bank, Discover Global Network, and regional institutions like SunTrust Bank as well as other local credit unions.

Risk and Compliance trends change and our team is committed to staying current on their knowledge. We make sure that our team is engaged in continued education and has the certifications needed to be the best in the industry. This involves maintaining memberships with organizations like the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) and the highly reputable Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) 

If for any reason you receive a message from a compliance member at Bill4Time, they’re simply there to verify information to ensure your security and that of other Bill4Time customers. 

Using Bill4Time Payments 

Once you’ve been granted access to Bill4Time Payments you can begin using it right away. Here are a few reasons you can trust the system right out of the gate. 

• Tokenization – The moment a credit card number is entered, it’s tokenized. This means that it’s given a series of characters and it no longer resembles a credit card number, thus it can’t be read or stolen. Additionally, these payment details are never sent to or stored on our servers.
• Personal Identifiable Information – This information is encrypted by default using an SHA-256 SSL certificate, ensuring your data is always protected while using the platform. 
• Cloud-Based Hosting – Bill4Time Payments is hosted on Amazon’s AWS platform, which is built to meet the requirements of the worlds most security-sensitive organizations.
• PCI Compliance – Bill4Time is PCI level 1 compliant, the highest level possible. The PCI standard was set by the major credit card brands, and in order to achieve this qualification, an organization must be audited yearly.  
• Trust Accounting Compliance – Earned and unearned fees are always completely separated at all times (even during the online transmission process), fees are never taken from trust funds, nor is third party or chargeback access ever allowed.

As a lawyer you have plenty to worry about, the last thing on your mind should be stressing about the security of your client’s payments. You can place your trust in the Bill4Time engineers and compliance team to keep your data out of the wrong hands. If you would like to learn more about Bill4Time Payments, or even have specific security questions before getting started, you can schedule a demo below.

Get paid faster with Bill4Time Payments and enjoy the convenience of an all-in-one solution. 

Over the past year, we’ve watched our customers and their firms adapt to the many challenges that COVID-19 has presented. As we enter into a potentially brighter future, we at Bill4Time are honored to continue building new features to help our customers in the new normal and next normal. 

Today we are beyond excited to introduce Bill4Time Payments! Whether a firm is staying remote, returning to the office, or operating in a hybrid capacity, getting paid is paramount. The reliance on clumsy paper checks and outdated billing habits are major challenges for law firms as they try to grow.

Bill4Time Payments allows you to streamline your payments process, collect more on the dollar, and gain financial clarity right within Bill4Time, all with 100% ABA and IOLTA compliance. To celebrate the launch of this game-changing feature, we’re offering a $150 cashback bonus when you sign up now. The cashback bonus will be transferred to your connected operating account after you accumulate $150 in transaction fees for payments received using the new Bill4Time Payments, so there is no risk to give it a try. Here’s how the new Bill4Time Payments works, and why you should enable your free payments account today. 

Get Paid Faster, Collect More, Delight Your Clients

With Bill4Time Payments, you can let clients pay you the way they pay for everything these days — virtually. Your clients prefer a digital payment option, in fact, 78% of them want to pay you online! If you’re still waiting on paper checks, you’re missing out on the speed and financial freedom you get when collecting fees instantly online.   

Get started on your clients’ case quickly by accepting fees instantly, upfront. Providing a “Pay Now” button on your invoices allows your client to pay up to 70% faster than the industry average of 94 days. Providing multiple options such as credit card or eCheck gives your client the freedom of using their preferred payment method.

Needing an attorney comes with its own load of stresses, paying them should be the easiest part of all. The fewer administrative tasks you give your clients, the happier they will be. Clients can save their payment information right within Bill4Time Payments, giving you the flexibility to request instant payment from their account, whenever necessary. No more repetitive forms to fill out and keep tabs on. Even better, giving clients an online payment option results in faster payments, which means you and your team can spend less time tracking collection efforts and following up on overdue invoices. 

Streamline Payments and Get Financial Clarity 

Humans make mistakes, don’t let them make one with your money. Reduce the risk of human error from cash or check deposit data entry, and reduce or eliminate the time spent doing manual payments data entry altogether. Allow Bill4Time Payments to speed up and handle the bookkeeping for you.  

With Bill4Time Payments, you can easily access a clean set of payments data which you can use to stay informed about your firm’s financial health. Receive live insights and track every step of the payments process from the initial invoice to final payment receipt. Does your mailbox send you those analytics?  

Save with Industry-Low Pricing

Every penny counts when it comes to collecting your invoices and with Bill4Time Payments you’ll save tons each month. We offer the industry’s lowest pricing on compliant payments with zero monthly membership fees, only a 1% eCheck transaction fee, and transparent 2.8% pricing on all credit cards regardless of card type. 

Think you know what you’re paying to another processor? You may be surprised as many processors have additional fees or bracketed rates for different card types. If you would like to see if Bill4Time Payments will provide savings to your firm, we are happy to provide a rate comparison free of charge. The majority of the time we find that our rates beat other processors and our customers are often surprised to learn what they are really paying to process payments. 

Enjoy the Convenience of a Compliant, All-In-One Solution 

If you’ve already placed your trust in Bill4Time, why hand your payments data over to a third party? We take data security seriously, that’s why Bill4Time uses 256-Bit encryption and has around-the-clock security monitoring.   

When choosing a payment processor, it’s important to keep compliance in mind. Using a payments processor designed specifically for the legal professional is the best way to ensure both Trust and PCI compliance. Bill4Time Payments is 100% compliant with IOLTA, the ABA, and lawyers’ online payment rules in all 50 states. Operating account payments are available now and trust account payments will be available in June!

Trust account funds are always protected from third-party access and trust and operating funds are never commingled. All processing fees are taken out of your default operating account even for trust payments. Should your client ever initiate a dispute on a transaction, all chargeback access is also directed to the operating account even for trust payments, ensuring that you are always 100% compliant with the ABA Rules of Professional Conduct and the trust payment rules promulgated by all 50 state bar associations. Our team also provides chargeback assistance at no additional cost so you will always feel supported by the Bill4Time team you trust.  

Activate your account today 

Ready to start accepting payments online using Bill4Time Payments?  If you’re already enjoying the benefits of Bill4Time and would like to activate Bill4Time Payments, you may begin your application. Sign up now and a $150 cashback bonus will be transferred to your connected operating account after you accumulate $150 in transaction fees for payments received using the new Bill4Time Payments. If you’re not currently a Bill4Time customer, sign up below to schedule a free customized demo.

Like most organizations across the world, our entire business infrastructure was upended overnight in March of 2020. With teams spread out across the country, we sent everyone home in the name of safety and equipped them to work from home within 48 hours. While 2020 was full of many challenges for our organization, we learned a lot about our team and how we work well together. 

Though there was a steep learning curve for all teams at Paradigm, which Bill4Time is a part of, we’ve since come to embrace our remote environment. In fact, it’s worked out so well that Paradigm has just been officially designated as a Great Place to Work! This recognition is important to us as it comes directly from our colleagues, with 94% of them stating that we are indeed, a great place to work! 

So here we are, after an entire year of constantly testing, learning, and growing as an organization, we’ve come to the conclusion that Paradigm will remain a remote-hybrid company, indefinitely. 

To read more about the factors that went into this decision, and tips on how we’ve been able to make remote work happen effectively, visit the Paradigm blog.

Tracking time in 2020 wasn’t easy. The days felt longer, then they felt shorter, the minutes would blur together in a seemingly random pattern. Harnessing that time though, however upside down and backwards it may have seemed, was how we all got through this year. Keeping tabs on personal tasks and progress provided a sense of normalcy, and allowed the mind to focus on a goal rather than drift endlessly.

The Bill4Time team can’t thank you, our customers, enough for the continued support of our legal practice management software throughout the year. We fully understand just how crazy it was, which makes our appreciation even greater for the trust you’ve instilled in us to help your businesses continue to run efficiently. As we look forward to what 2021 has to offer, we wanted to take one final moment to look back at a few of the items that made 2020 particularly memorable around here. 

Thanks for your time,

The Bill4Time Team 

We Added an Integration with NetDocuments  

After quickly adjusting to a remote working environment — we continued pushing forward with our efforts to provide the best time tracking and billing software on the market. In July we announced our new integration, allowing Bill4Time users to interact directly with documents stored within NetDocuments. The ability to link Clients and Matters to NetDocuments workspaces with just one click saves our customers valuable time when searching for relevant materials. This integration allows for flexibility, letting users configure the tool to work how they work! 

We Overhauled our Knowledge Base 

The Bill4time Customer Success team was with our customers every step of the way during 2020. Because we knew you were working atypical hours due to the pandemic – we audited, updated, organized and created new material for our self-help Knowledge Base so you could obtain assistance day or night. We had discussions with you to understand both your needs and your user’s needs during this challenging year – including opportunities for product improvements and new features you need most.

We Won a Few Awards

Thanks to our loyal customers, we were honored with a few awards in 2020, including a number 3 ranking in Capterra’s Professional Services Automation Software category. We are humbled by your trust in our legal practice management software, and we will continue to strive for excellence in serving you in the future.

We Look Towards the Future 

Just last week, a rebrand of our parent company was announced. Bill4Time is now part of Paradigm, formerly ASG LegalTech. This change comes at the perfect time, a new year means shifting possibilities, and we couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the Paradigm team. If you want to stay in the loop on what Paradigm is up to, you can follow their activity on LinkedIn. 

2021 is full of possibilities, and we’ve got some great product updates coming your way over the next few months that are sure to make your firm even more efficient in the new year. Stay tuned by following us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn — you won’t want to miss these announcements.