How to Find the Best Legal Time Tracking Software in 2025

January 29, 2025 By Allison Lemasters Leave a Comment

How do you keep track of your billable hours? Many lawyers have switched from paper to software, and some have even found time tracking software specifically tailored to the practice of law.

Legal time tracking software is becoming all but essential for today’s attorneys. This is especially true when it comes to billing practices, where many lawyers mistakenly leave money on the table. Even back in 2019, the American Bar Association was citing timekeeping and invoicing as the top two reasons lawyers lose money, and these tasks aren’t getting any easier. How lawyers track their time is often a difference maker for running quick, accurate billing processes that clients can trust.

For any attorney, time tracking software plays a critical role in their success — and choosing the right software matters. But what is the best time keeping app for lawyers to use, and why does it matter which software you pick? And why not just stick with a desk timer? A lawyer’s job is already complicated; won’t software just make it more complicated?

Time tracking software today is not just a digital version of what lawyers did in the past; it’s a virtual assistant that supports the entire billing process, all the way to accepting the client’s last payment. Below, you’ll find more information about what this software does and what features make up the best legal time tracking software for lawyers.

How Do Attorneys Keep Track of Billable Hours Using Software?

Attorneys using time-tracking software start and stop digital timers for each billable task, with the software automatically recording the time and linking it to the appropriate client or matter. You can also present hourly rates for tasks, allowing the software to categorize billable hours by attorney, case, or other criteria. Switching between tasks is easy as well, as you can pause and resume timers throughout the day, reflecting the realities of a lawyer’s multitasking workflow.

Software like Bill4Time greatly simplifies the repetitive, rote steps of the billing process, particularly when creating invoices. For example, the software automatically translates minutes into decimal increments — like making 9 minutes a 0.2 of an hour — so you don’t have to convert the time to decimals manually.

It also lets you use shortcuts like auto-text, where you set up shortcuts for commonly used phrases. For instance, you could set up ‘disc’ to expand it into ‘Drafted and reviewed discovery responses,’ making it easier to record detailed descriptions without retyping the same phrases repeatedly. Auto-text also encourages continuity in phrasing across your firm’s invoices, making billing descriptions uniform and professional.

What To Look for in Time Tracking Software for Law Firms

Time tracking software should be more than a glorified stopwatch. At its best, this software acts as a support system for your entire billing process. And the most important features for doing that come back to three concepts: security, flexibility, and organization. The best software for time tracking, then, will embody all three of these qualities.

Here are a few common features of high-quality time tracking software that adhere to these qualities:

Encrypted data storage for confidentiality and compliance with legal standards
The ability to assign different hourly rates based on the user, client, or matter
Easy ways to manually edit your past recorded entries
Options to pause and resume timers for accurate tracking during interruptions
Built-in tools to generate customizable reports, offering insights into time allocation
Design fit specifically for use in law firms — for example, LEDES or UTBMS formatting
Separate tracking for billable and non-billable tasks to give insights into firm operations
Seamless integration into your billing system for easy invoicing and accepting payment

How Should Lawyers Keep Track of Their Hours Out of the Office?

The best way for lawyers to track their hours out of the office is by using legal time tracking software with a corresponding mobile app. A mobile app ensures that everything you log while on the go syncs with your primary system, so you can pick up right where you left off when you return to your desktop or laptop. This approach eliminates the hassle of manually transferring notes or reconstructing your workday later.

A good mobile app lets you start, stop, and pause timers for specific tasks directly from your phone. For example, if you’re attending an off-site client meeting, you can start a timer as soon as you walk in and stop it when the meeting concludes. Once you’re back at your desk, that entry will already appear in your time log, along with any notes or details you added at the time.

Offline functionality is another feature to consider. In some situations, like visiting a client in a remote area or working in a courtroom with poor cell service, you may not have internet access. A mobile app that works offline lets you log your time and then sync your entries when you reconnect.

Having mobile access to your time records is also wonderful for fostering healthy timekeeping habits. Poor timekeeping habits, such as waiting until the end of the day/week to record billable hours all at once, can cost you as much as 50% of your billable time through guesstimating and forgetting individual tasks you worked on. When you can enter your time right away on a mobile device, you’re more likely to capture all of your billable time accurately.

What Is the Best Invoicing Software for Law Firms Specifically?

While there are a lot of options for time tracking software, most of them don’t cater to the complex nature of billing for a law firm. Legal-specific software must not only account for varying rates but comply with strict ethics and formatting processes. Ideally, the software should also be connected to a firm’s billing and invoicing system, minimizing the steps needed to go from a timesheet to a finished invoice.

Eliminating manual data entry is one of the most important parts of using time tracking software. Rather than transferring data from software to software (or worse, paper to software), it’s best to have an all-in-one, enclosed system for billing. Not only does this save time, it makes for a more secure and accurate billing process.

In addition to the things above, other key features that make for the best software include:

Invoice templates: Pre-set designs make creating invoices faster, so you don’t have to start from scratch every time. You can even customize them to fit your firm’s brand.
Client communication portals: These give clients a place to log in, check their bills, and send payments without needing to go back and forth over email or the phone.
Native e-payment processor: Clients can pay you right through the system, whether they prefer a credit card or an ACH transfer. No extra tools needed.
Batch invoicing capabilities: If you’re billing multiple clients at once, this feature helps you send out all the invoices in one go instead of doing them one by one.
Automatic payment reminders: These alerts nudge clients to pay overdue invoices, so you don’t have to spend extra time chasing payments.

How Much Does Legal Time Tracking Software Cost?

Prices for legal time tracking software generally range from $30 to hundreds of dollars per month / per user, depending on the provider. Each software has its own set of features and benefits, so you’ll need to do some comparing and contrasting to find what’s best for you. Keep in mind that price is not necessarily an indicator of function or quality; the best software is not necessarily the most expensive one, and vice versa. That said, you should avoid any free or freemium options — the best legal time tracking software will not be free.

Most legal time tracking software providers will have a tiered subscription plan, with each higher tier providing access to more and more features of the software. For example, Bill4Time offers four tiers of pricing plans depending on user needs.

To illustrate, a solo attorney might prefer a plan that covers basics like tracking hours and creating invoices, while a midsize firm might need additional features like customizable fields or advanced reporting. Larger firms might prioritize options for batch invoicing or compliance-friendly billing formats like LEDES. The best plan will always depend on the size of your practice and the specific tools you rely on daily.

What Is the Best Free Legal Time Tracking Software?

Unfortunately, a free time tracking app for lawyers is almost certainly not going to be worth your time or effort to use. Attorney time tracking requires high-functioning software that’s secure, well-designed, and tailored specifically to the needs of the legal industry. And no software is going to provide any of these traits for free, much less all three of them. They certainly won’t provide much in the way of customer support (if at all), which is more or less critical to ensure you make the most of using the software.

Even if free software does offer some use for attorneys, it’s most likely going to be a “freemium” version of the provider’s software, which is typically designed to frustrate you into paying for the software. The freemium version will limit your usage — either by blocking essential features, limiting data storage, or removing security measures that are required to maintain compliance. Many free options will ultimately require pairing with other software to make them work at all, which defeats the purpose of not paying for software in the first place.

You should expect to pay for legal time tracking software. But you should also expect to make that money back, and much more, in the time and effort you save for your billing process. Paying for this software is not an expense, but an investment — one that’s well worth making if you want to run a successful, efficient, ethical practice.

Practice More And Manage Less With Bill4Time

An efficient, streamlined process for billing can make all the difference in running a successful practice — and with the right software, that’s more than achievable.

Bill4Time not only offers the best in time tracking but also a complete practice management solution. Keeping your billing and case management in one system means your time entries and case details are always connected, making it much easier to create accurate invoices. There’s no need to transfer data between programs, which reduces the chances of mistakes and saves time. And thanks to Bill4Time’s native payment processor, collecting payments can be just as easy and secure, for both you and your clients.

Ready to spend less time billing and more time practicing law? Check out Bill4Time today with a free trial, or click the button below to schedule a free demo. Once you see how Bill4Time works, you’re going to want it in your firm — and we’ll be there to help every step of the way!

Get a Custom Bill4Time Demo

Local SEO for Lawyers: How To Generate 2X More Leads

January 8, 2025 By Nina Lee Leave a Comment

Your prospective client needs a lawyer. They enter the keywords “lawyers near me” in Google and your law firm appears. As they scan through the search results, they see your law firm, again and again. Most of the information they see demonstrates your ability to get things done for your clients. Slowly they begin to realize the truth. You’re something special.

Imagine that you could achieve these results in your law firm. What would this do for your career, reputation, or firm?

Local Search Can Solve Lead and Profitability Problems for Lawyers

The majority of small to medium-sized law firms struggle with at least one of the following problems:

Firms aren’t receiving quality or quantity of leads they need
Lawyers are struggling to close the leads they have
Law firm margins are too small due to mistakes like discounts, write-downs, and write-offs
Firms are undercut by low cost providers and industry disruptors like LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer, or AI chatbots.
Their advertising costs are too high
They’re attracting poor quality clients, which hurts realization and retention rates in the long term

Local search can help lawyers address these problems. Using local search, law firms can:

Increase the number of traffic-producing keywords that drive clients to their site
Make credibility, authority, and prestige markers (e.g., awards, specialization, wins) more visible in Google
Increase the number of leads generated so they can raise their prices comfortably
Make competitors irrelevant or zone them out of Google’s search results
Decrease advertising costs by getting others to rave about your firm
Attract clients who will fight for your attention, spend more with your firm and pay higher fees

It’s simple, but it’s also incredibly effective.

How Lawyers Can Increase Traffic, Leads, and Revenue via Local SEO

There are several low cost and no cost tactics lawyers can use to boost search results. Before we take a look at these tactics, let’s cover some general principles regarding marketing. These aren’t absolute rules. They’re simply important details to keep in mind.

Paid advertising produces results faster. Using services like Facebook or Google Ads means you’re able to generate traffic, leads, and revenue immediately. The nature of paid advertising and marketing means these paid services lack longevity. Results go away as soon as you stop paying.
Free advertising takes time. Free tactics like search engine optimization, review management, influencer marketing, etc. all require time to generate results organically. If results are rushed, they’re typically pretty lackluster. As a general rule, free advertising tactics perform well over the long term. It takes time to set up but lasts for a long time.
Combine free and paid advertising tactics for the best results. Combining free and paid advertising tactics produce exponential growth (think 2 + 2 = 42). Both of these tactics play off each other, boosting your firm’s reputed and presumed credibility.
Paid advertising can be free. Structure your offers the right way, and your paid advertising can be free. This can be accomplished in several ways, i.e., using paid ads to send prospective clients to a paid consultation page to gauge their interest.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the local search tactics you can use to generate 2x more leads.

Optimize Your Google Business Profile: Regularly update your Google Business profile with new photos, posts, and answers to FAQs to improve your local search ranking.
Build Hyperlocal Landing Pages: Create pages optimized for specific neighborhoods or areas you serve to attract nearby clients.
Use Local Keywords on Your Website: Incorporate location-specific phrases like “Divorce Lawyer in [City]” across your website, especially in headers, meta descriptions, and service pages.
Leverage Google Maps for Visibility: Embed Google Maps on your contact page and optimize your location data to appear in map-related searches.
Get Featured in Local Publications: Work with local news outlets or magazines to publish stories or legal insights that link back to your website.
Present at Community or Professional Events: Speak at industry conferences, local business meetups, or community workshops attended by your ideal clients.
Invest in Localized Google Ads Campaigns: Target your city or neighborhood with ads tailored to specific legal needs, like “Estate Planning Lawyer in [City].”
Become a Legal Expert on Podcasts or Radio Shows: Regularly contribute to local radio programs or podcasts that align with your practice areas to expand your audience.

Just one of these tactics can double your lead generation campaigns. Overlap these strategies, and the positive results grow exponentially. These local SEO strategies can be used to dominate Google’s local search results, many of these strategies, yes, even paid advertising, can be low/no cost tactics when they’re used effectively.

Here’s the most significant reason your law firm should invest in local SEO: Most law firms aren’t using it well. If most firms are doing the same things poorly, no wonder it isn’t working all that well. But it can.

Lawyers Near Me = Your Firm, Everywhere

At least, that’s how it should be. When your prospective clients enter location-specific keywords in Google, they should see your firm everywhere. As they scan through Google’s search results, your firm and your accomplishments should appear consistently.

How to Create a Transparent Legal Billing Process

January 8, 2025 By Taylor Dahlem Leave a Comment

Are there hidden red flags in your firm’s billing practices? Transparency in billing is a key factor in client satisfaction and retention.

For some clients, the legal billing process can be challenging to navigate making it crucial for firms to have transparent, easy-to-digest terms.

Find out more about red-flag billing practices to avoid and how you can maintain compliance with law firm invoicing software.

What Is Upbilling?

Upbilling is the practice of rounding up billable time. Most lawyers bill in six-minute increments, but with upbilling, lawyers are rounding their billable time up to the next half hour or hour, leading to excess revenue and unjust billing practices for the client.

Another issue related to upbilling, as revealed by the report, is that lawyers were billing for a single six-minute increment of time, despite listing tasks that would typically take a fraction of that time.

What Is the Difference Between Upbilling and Block Billing?

Though equally problematic, upbilling and block billing are different practices. The former involves rounding time increments up for billable hours, while the latter includes a range of tasks in one block of time.

With block billing, lawyers list separate tasks under one time entry for a bill, rather than itemizing their tasks and time increments.

This doesn’t necessarily mean lawyers are billing for hours they didn’t spend working for the client, but it does make it difficult for clients to determine how that time was spent.

Issues with Block Billing

Clients often complain about block billing because it creates challenges for them in understanding how to budget and may lead to suspicion surrounding your timekeeping practices.

Common Legal Billing Red Flags to Avoid

Some lawyers struggle with accurate timekeeping and end up underbilling for their time, missing out on valuable revenue for the hours they spend working on a case. Still, clients are quick to suspect that lawyers are “padding the bill,” leading to client disputes.

There are several legal billing red flags that you should avoid to maintain client trust, especially when it comes to the billing process:

Block billing with large chunks of time and vague tasks
Repetitive tasks, such as emails or phone calls, that are billed at the same amount, as the time typically varies
Double charges for work performed by paralegals or other staff members, which is then reviewed by a lawyer
High minimum billing times, such as half-hour increments for short tasks like client calls
Repeated entries that have the same amount of time
Billable hours that don’t align with the client experience, such as a bill for an hour client meeting that only took 15 minutes
Billing for excessive office overhead

Research is another area where some lawyers may pad a bill. While some cases will involve extensive research on specific legal issues, lawyers should not need to conduct basic research for straightforward cases in their practice areas. That’s what the client is paying for – legal expertise, education, and experience.

Legal time tracking software like Bill4Time helps your firm avoid these pitfalls with accurate, convenient, and compliant timekeeping and billing practices. With custom invoices, you’ll have a detailed list of the tasks performed for a client and spot-on billable time with efficient timekeeping practices.

Adopt Transparent Legal Billing Practices

Whether law firms are deliberately padding bills or extremely inefficient, bills with red flags and errors breed suspicion and doubt in clients.

It’s essential for your law firm to maintain trust and compliance with accurate timekeeping, itemized invoices, and streamlined processes. Law firm billing software is the best way to optimize these processes and ensure that clients are paying fairly for your time spent on their cases.

How to Manage Recurring Expenses for Law Firms

January 7, 2025 By Dan Bowman Leave a Comment

Efficiently managing recurring expenses is essential for the financial success of any law firm. From rent and utilities to software subscriptions and salaries, these expenses can significantly impact the firm’s bottom line.

In this blog, we will explore strategies to identify, evaluate, and reduce recurring expenses, leverage technology for streamlined management, establish budgets and controls, and ensure compliance.

By implementing these tips and strategies, you can optimize your firm’s financial practices and focus on growth and success in the competitive legal industry.

What Types of Expenses Do Law Firms Have?

Typical law firm expenses can vary by the size of the firm and the practice areas, but they generally include:

Office space, rent, and utilities
Staff salaries and benefits
Office supplies and technology expenses
Third-party professional services, such as accountants or marketing agencies
Business travel and expenses
Professional memberships
Insurance
Continuing education

Recurring vs. Non-Recurring Expenses

Law firm expenses, like other business expenses, can be recurring and non-recurring. Recurring expenses are the repeating costs that arise from routine business practices, often on a predictable schedule. Recurring expenses include office supplies, a mortgage or lease on office space, staff compensation, marketing expenses, office maintenance, subscriptions for legal technology, and utility bills.

Non-recurring expenses are costs that aren’t part of the schedule or everyday business activities. They may be one-off or exceptional costs, such as investment in computers and other technology devices, real estate purchases, severance pay, or repair costs following an accident or natural disaster.

Common Challenges Law Firms Have with Tracking Recurring Expenses

There are many challenges that law firms may face when tracking recurring expenses, including:

Manual Methods

Many law firms still rely on manual methods to track expenses like spreadsheets or paper ledgers. This is not only time-consuming, but it creates opportunities for errors that can have financial repercussions.

Subscriptions

Law firms usually have subscriptions for professional services, legal publications, research databases, professional organizations, and legal software. When all of these subscriptions are on different cycles with different due dates, it can complicate expense management.

Client Expenses

Law firms may incur costs on behalf of clients called hard costs. These costs typically include travel expenses or court filing fees. Tracking these expenses can be challenging to differentiate because some hard costs are absorbed by the firm or billed to the client.

Varying Payment Methods

All the recurring costs for a law firm may have different payment methods, including ACH transfers, checks, credit cards, and other electronic payment platforms. Keeping track of all of these payment methods can be difficult alongside other expenses.

Importance of a Defined Law Firm Budget

Your firm’s budget assists in managing your cash flow by allowing you to predict your income and expenses, which helps you identify any surpluses or shortfalls in your cash flow. This allows you to plan accordingly and take advantage of investment opportunities.

Moreover, a defined law firm budget serves as a framework to assess your financial status and the impact of significant changes, investments, or expansions. By comparing your actual financial state to your budget, you can make more informed business decisions.

Tips to Track and Manage Legal Recurring Expenses

Ready to take control of your legal recurring expenses? Here’s how:

Use Legal Technology

Expense tracking software makes it easy for firms to track expenses in real time, store invoices and receipts, and generate expense reports. Solutions, like Bill4Time, can streamline your expense tracking to reduce errors, save time, and provide a comprehensive view of your firm’s financial standing.

Implement a Centralized System

Legal technology provides a centralized system for a single source of truth for your expense tracking. Even though your bills will be to different providers with different cycles and due dates, you can manage it all in one place.

Categorize Your Expenses

With both recurring and non-recurring expenses, you need to stay organized to stay on top of your obligations and evaluate your spending patterns. Categorizing expenses ensure nothing falls through the cracks and is allocated properly.

Use Reports

With comprehensive reporting, you can analyze your firm’s financial performance and identify trends to achieve success. You can view expenses on their own or include them in your full financial picture to make informed business decisions.

Embrace Law Firm Billing Software

Managing recurring expenses can be challenging when different payment allocations come into play. With tools like law firm billing software, your firm can manage expenses, stay on top of your cash flow, and prepare for the ebbs and flows of your business.

Law Firm Invoice Templates (with Examples)

January 2, 2025 By Dan Bowman Leave a Comment

When you became a lawyer, you probably didn’t realize how much time you’d spend on billing and other administrative work. While billing can be time-consuming, it’s your processes that determine how much of your non-billable time is allocated toward it.

Depending on the type of law you practice and the cases you take on, invoices are one piece of the billing pie that can eat up precious time.

With varying line items, discounts, or billing terms — having invoice templates for your most common cases can greatly reduce the time spent creating different versions of an invoice for clients.

A proper invoice process can save you time and even get you paid faster. Continue reading to learn the importance of a professional law firm invoice template, examples, and how to automate the process.

The Importance of a Professional Law Firm Invoice

As with any other correspondence from your law firm, your invoice speaks to how you conduct business and your professionalism.

If your law firm’s invoice often brings about questions or confusion for clients, it may appear as if your law firm doesn’t value transparency and can even delay payment.

Messy invoices can confuse clients and create issues with accounting and reporting. Without the right billing and invoicing process, your firm can face possible legal action against your firm due to incorrect billing. There are also important ethical considerations that you should keep in mind when evaluating your law firm’s billing process.

Not only is a clear, organized invoice essential to upholding client trust and maintaining the professional reputation of your firm — it can greatly impact your cash flow and billing cycle.

person using tablet with bill4time invoice templates

What Should Be Included in a Law Firm Invoice?

While each invoice can vary based on your law firm’s area of practice and casework, here are a few basic details that should always be included in a law firm invoice:

Law firm contact information: Firm name, mailing, physical address, email address, and phone number. You can also include your firm’s logo.
Client information: It’s best practice to discuss with the client how the invoice should be addressed. For example, if it’s a business, they may have a specific billing contact.
The date: This should be the date you send the invoice.
A complete list of services: Provided a completed itemized list of your services. They should be detailed in the same manner you discussed with the client during onboarding to limit confusion. This could include uniform task-based billing codes for litigation, introduced by the American Bar Association (ABA).
The billable rate for each service: The amount you charge for each itemized service provided.
Total of services: The sum of all charges for the services provided.
Any related tax: Percentage of applicable taxes.
Discounts: If applicable, include any concessions discussed with the client.
Billing policy: Outline the payment terms — this should include the due date and late payment policies.
Forms of payment: List all acceptable forms of payment methods.

Use Legal Billing Software to Streamline Your Law Firm Invoice Process

Traditional invoicing practices rely on manual processes that can leave law firms open to human error, hinder productivity, and even cost you money. Legal billing software is a simple way for law firms to standardize their billing and invoice process without a heavy lift.

Finding a solution that does it all is even better, Bill4Time automates all processes of a law firm’s billing cycle. Time tracking, custom invoice templates, built-in payment processing, and custom payment links with Link2Pay, are just a few features that cut time spent on administrative tasks while reducing the billing cycle and getting firms paid faster.

A common scenario: You’re jumping between client cases and forget how much time you spent on a specific client. Bill4Time has multiple timers that can capture your activity simultaneously as you work freely.

This provides a seamless way to increase the accuracy of your billable time and the services you provide clients. Then, when it’s time to create an invoice, you can pull from your saved invoice templates within Bill4Time and create an itemized bill from your activity.

Examples of Law Firm Invoice Templates

Classic Activity Invoice Example

classic activity law firm invoice templates

Classic Invoice Example

Official Invoice Example

Professional Invoice Example

Standard Invoice Template Example

Get Paid Faster with Automated Law Firm Invoice Templates

Manual billing and invoicing practices are a thing of the past. Rid your law firm of an inefficient billing process that fosters human error, increases the risk of revenue leakage, and decreases client satisfaction.

Combined with these tips and standardized billing and invoice processes with the use of legal billing software, your law firm will be on its way to a stress-free billing process that gets you paid faster.

To see all of the features listed in action, you can schedule a demo with Bill4Time to see how it can save your firm time and money through automated processes.

7 Tips to Clean Up Your Law Firm Collections

December 18, 2024 By Nina Lee Leave a Comment

Like any business, law firms provide services with the expectation of being paid at the time the work is finished. Unfortunately, the average law firm only collects about 85% of invoiced amounts, which can add up to tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

Collecting debts can be challenging, but it’s part of running a successful law firm. Instead of leaving billable hours on the table, learn how to set up a collections process for legal debts to keep your cash flow moving.

How Do Law Firm Collections Typically Work?

Law firm collections is a means of requesting clients pay for their outstanding invoice balance. Typically, this is done with a lawyer debt collection letter, also known as a demand letter of payment or a letter of demand.

A good law firm collections process can resolve client debts by encouraging your client to pay or opening the line of communication to find a resolution that works for your client and your firm. Then, if you have to take further legal action, the debt collection letter supports your case.

Why Do Law Firms Struggle with the Collections Process?

One of the mistakes law firms often make is considering the collection process only after the client receives the invoice. Instead, the relationship with the client — and the expectation to be compensated — should begin from the first interaction.

Clear, unambiguous language that establishes the fee agreement, what clients are getting for their money, and when they’re expected to pay sets the stage for fewer collections and more invoices paid on time. Also known as a legal billing policy.

In addition, detailed invoices that are easy for the client to understand also reduce collections. Some law firms send bills with just an amount due and vague descriptions of what a client is paying for, which can lead to disputes that delay payment.

7 Tips to Improve the Billing and Collection Process at Your Law Firm

Here’s how you can improve the collections process at your law firm:

1. Assess Your Firm’s Current Billing and Collections Process

Having the right systems in place is the first step to ensuring that clients have timely, clear, and accurate bills to pay your firm.

Assess your current billing and collection processes. Do you have a standardized process? Is there a fee agreement that’s clear to clients and well-defined guidelines for your billing policies? Do clients understand what they’re paying for, when they’re expected to pay, and what they’re getting in return?

If you haven’t already, be sure to create a legal billing policy that answers these questions and any other necessary billing items. You include invoicing timeframe, accept payment methods, late fee policies, and more.

2. Identify Areas for Improvement

Once you have an outline for your current billing and collections process, you can identify areas where you can improve.

For example, if you’re allowing each attorney at your firm to track hours in their own way, review bills individually, and send them out using mail or email as they choose, this could create opportunities for delays and errors that only make the collections process harder.

3. Create a Standardized Internal Collections Process

Start with a standardized internal collections process that includes time-tracking policies, standard invoicing policies, and a process for how hours are tracked and invoiced.

Up to 30% of billable time is lost because of poor timekeeping. With legal time tracking software like Bill4Time, you can quickly and accurately track your billable hours without sticky notes, notepads, or spreadsheets. Capture your time in real-time with detailed time blocks that illustrate what your client is paying for.

Bill4Time also standardizes the invoicing process with custom invoice templates that allow you to convert your billable hours to detailed, branded invoices you can send with just a few clicks.

4. Communicate Your Firm’s Billing Terms to Clients

Having a clear communication plan for your billing expectations should be part of the initial client intake process. With this plan, you should provide the scope of your work, billing timeline, payment options, fee arrangements, and the billing point of contact.

Draft this plan into a legal billing policy document, which you can store in Bill4Time so it’s accessible across your firm and easy to provide to clients.

5. Accept Multiple Payment Methods

One of the best ways to get clients to pay on time is by making it convenient for them to do so. Clients have come to expect the convenience of paying invoices online, even for their legal services, which you can offer with Bill4Time Payments.

The secure online payment portal processes transactions within Bill4Time, without third-party services or integration. You can reduce missed payments with customizable payment plans, such as weekly or monthly installments, with an eCheck, credit card, or debit card.

Bill4Time Payments has industry-low transaction fees and 100% compliance with IOLTA, ABA, and state bar guidelines, so you can offer convenience for your clients without it costing extra.

6. Send Reminders

As we mentioned before, simply sending an invoice isn’t enough. Proper follow-up will keep your firm and the client accountable for ensuring payments are completed on time. By setting up automated payment reminders, you can ensure that your clients know when they’re expected to pay. No more calling or emailing clients to remind them of their upcoming invoices or missed payments.

7. Track and Measure Your Collection Policy

Bill4Time has built-in expense reporting to track your invoice payment windows and keep tabs on client payment status. You can use these reports to track and measure your collection policy, identify areas for improvement, and get a look into your firm’s financial health.

Transform Your Law Firm’s Collections Process with Bill4Time

With Bill4Time, you can simplify every step of the billing and collections journey, from accurate time tracking to customizable invoices and convenient payment options for your clients. Instead of chasing payments, let Bill4Time handle the heavy lifting so you can focus on your clients.

Ready to take the stress out of collections and improve your cash flow? Schedule a demo today and see how Bill4Time can empower your firm to get paid faster and with less hassle.

Get a Custom Bill4Time Demo