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Release Notes: July 2017

July 6, 2017 By Bill4Time Staff 2 Comments

The Bill4Time product team releases new and enhanced features, system improvements, and bug fixes several times per week. Organized by month, the Release Notes blog series will highlight all the changes we’ve implemented, so you can easily stay up-to-date on what’s new. If you have a question, feedback, or an idea – please leave a comment below!

Take a look at what we’ve released this July:

Updated 7/27/2017

Invoice Batch Description – We’ve resolved a bug where the Batch Description field was not automatically populating when the select-all clients box was checked off.

Receive Payment Defaults – We have resolved a bug where the Project was not automatically populating in the New Payment window when creating the payment from within the project. This form is now properly populating with the client and project when creating the payment entry from within those pages.

Conflict Checker – We have implemented an additional field search for the Conflict Checker feature. This search will now scan through project-level addresses for possible matches.

Payment Pop-up (FireFox only) – We have implemented changes to the format and size of the payment pop-up window for FireFox users (other browsers were not affected). This pop-up should now open fully, with the section for applied in full view towards the bottom.

Balance Adjustment Pop-up (Chrome only) – We have implemented changes to how the Balance Adjustment pop-up window opens for Chrome users (other browsers were not affected). This window has been restored and should now open as an actual pop-up, instead of a new full page tab.

Updated 7/25/2017

Batch Invoice Numbers – When creating or editing an invoice batch, the batch will no longer overwrite the current invoice number of each invoice within the batch – unless a Starting Number is set or updated.

Conflict Checker – We have implemented an additional field search for the Conflict Checker feature. This search will now scan through client-level addresses for possible matches.

Updated 7/20/2017

Trust Balance Summary – We have updated the formatting for negative trust balances. Although in a practical sense these trust balances do not normally become negative, we’ve updated the formatting to better reflect a debit v. credit trust balance to clarify the running totals and bring this formatting into alignment with the operating accounting summary pages.

Updated Mobile Apps – The Bill4Time team is thrilled to announce a major enhancements to our iOS and Android apps. The latest version of the app has taken mobile time-tracking to a new level by introducing some great new features as well as improving on the actions you take most when you do your everyday tracking. Full Post Here

Download:

Updated 7/18/2017

Project ID when using Invoice Summary – We have resolved an issue that prevented the Project ID line from appearing when using the Invoice Summary feature. Following this change, the Project ID will appear regardless of the template design or if the Invoice Summary feature is enabled.

Invoice Template Preview – Our developers have improved the functionality of the Invoice Template Preview tab. This tab will now more accurately reflect the options selected under the Content tab of the Invoice Template Editor, allowing for a better preview of your formatted billing template prior to saving.

Styling Fixes – We’ve implemented a few updates to the system that improve the organization and streamline the use of features for users with smaller monitors (the vast majority of users will not be affected). No major functionality changes, however you may see slightly different placement of buttons and other clickable items throughout the system.

Updated 7/13/2017 (posted 7/14)

Invoice Status Report Update – We’ve implemented a new checkbox option within the box for Filters that, when enabled, will cause the report to include a column for Project IDs.

Contacts New/Edit Screen – No functionality change, but we have adjusted the formatting of the Add New and Edit Contact pages to make these fields a bit easier to read and work through.

Project Invoice Presets – We have resolved a bug that was displaying the client’s email address on invoices when the Project-level Invoice Presets were to override this email address using the one entered at the Project-level. Invoices will now reflect the Project’s ‘Bill To’ email address whenever this override is enabled.

Updated 7/11/2017

Trust Report Update – We have updated the report to remove a redundant column listing the client’s name. The client’s name will still appear in the usual headings and totals, there’s no change to the main functionality of the report. We’ve also added the Account Number next to the Bank Name.

WIP Summary Report Update – Based on user feedback, we’ve updated this report to include a column for Billable Hours.

Activity Type Report Update – We have removed the distinction between Unassigned and Not Specified activity types in this report. Previously, these were grouped separately, and now will display together.

Updated 7/6/2017

^New! WIP Summary Report – We’ve just release a totally new report that allows you to quickly pull all of your Work-In-Progress (WIP). This report will now include all of your time entries that do not already appear on a finalized bill.

Support Site Overhaul – We have completely overhauled the Bill4Time Support website. The support page is now much easier to navigate and more accurately displays suggested answers to the most frequently asked questions. Along with this redesign, we’ve implemented more robust community features that allow our Support team to better track and respond to feature requests, questions, and comments.

Activity Type Report Update – We have updated this report to better categorize entries that do not have an assigned Activity Type. Previously, entries made via mobile app that did not have an Activity Type were categorized under ‘Null’ in this report. They will now appear under ‘Unassigned’ which is the grouping used for entries created via web that do not have an assigned Activity Type.

Inactivity Report – No functionality change with this report, but we have relocated it to under the gray Entry & User tab.

Invoice Email Report – No functionality change with this report, but we have relocated it to under the gray Accounting tab.

This post will be periodically updated throughout the month to reflect new releases.

Click here to view June’s Release Notes

Question or comment about a change we’ve made?
Please contact Bill4Time Support by Email or phone: 877-245-5484

Law firm billing: 7 Tips to Successful Invoicing

December 18, 2015 By Andrew McDermott Leave a Comment

There’s an easy way to trigger a malpractice lawsuit.

Just sue your clients for non-payment.

According to Attorney’s Preferred Insurance, suing for fees often triggers a bevy of counterclaims against your law firm. Clients feel justified in asserting legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, fraud, misrepresentation, and any other claims they think will stick at you.

Clients are angry when they receive attorney invoices

Not every invoice, just invoices they don’t expect. This is significant when you realize this tied directly to your client’s number one complaint.

Communication.

Research shows clients list “provides clear indication of likely costs/works to fixed fee” and “explains charging system clearly at outset” as two of the most important factors in the client relationship. This shows your client’s most important concerns revolve around money.

You’re concerned about money too, right?

You want to ensure that you’re paid for your hard work and the services you’ve provided to your clients. If you’ve done the work, you deserve to be paid. When clients don’t pay, it’s your right to do whatever it takes to ensure that you’re paid.

Successful legal billing begins with your invoice

If you’d like to ensure your invoices are paid promptly, completely, and consistently, it’s a good idea to focus your attention on the upfront work, the preventative maintenance that’s done before your invoice is sent out. Here are seven tips you can follow to ensure your invoices are paid on time.

Tip #1: Use arbitration clauses in your agreements

If you can, work to avoid lawsuits as it ties up your time and energy dealing with non-billable work. Litigation takes a significant amount of time, effort, and energy. They’re messy, public, and often unsuccessful. Arbitration is an excellent alternative because it’s confidential, closed to the public, and fast.

Tip #2: Identify and set billing guidelines upfront

Reach out to your decision-makers and accounting point-of-contact at the start of the relationship. Work to flush out the full list of billing dos and don’ts.

Work to establish guidelines on:

What’s required/permissible
What requires approval by the client
What’s forbidden/unacceptable
Stop words and hidden rules that immediately flag your invoices for review
Fee schedules and required retainers

Create a summarized set of billing guidelines. Then, once you’ve learned the rules, the billing guidelines your clients expect you to follow, obey them.

Tip #3: Bill clients regularly

According to attorney Andrew R. Jones, “attorneys who regularly bill their clients are in a better position as the issuing of invoices may create an “account stated” that entitles an attorney to fees.

For example, New York law is clear that an account stated is ‘an agreement between parties to an account-based upon prior transactions between them with respect to the correctness of the account items and balance due.'”

Tip #4: Create a written retainer agreement

This is obvious, but a written retainer agreement can help you avoid any ethics violations that compromise representation. This protects your clients from over-billing. It protects you from any accusations that your bill is too high or out of line.

Your retainer agreement should, at a minimum, include:

Specify the legal scope of the agreement, whether follow up will be necessary (appeals, enforcement, conflicts, etc.).
A conflict check to flush out any potential conflicts of interest. Your agreement should state that there are no conflicts or that you’ve made your clients aware of any potential conflicts and that they agree to waive any potential conflicts.
Fee schedule outlining your fees, expenses, and costs involved with representation.

Tip #5: Establish account stated

This is a callback to tip #3 as firms that bill their clients regularly (i.e., sending invoices out regularly), may create an “account stated” that shows you’re entitled to the fees you’re demanding.

For example, “Under California case law, an account stated is ‘an agreement, based on prior transactions between the parties, that the items of an account are true and that the balance struck is due and owing. Moreover, if a creditor provides a statement/invoice to a customer/debtor and no reply is made in a reasonable time, California law implies an agreement by the customer/debtor that the account is correct as rendered. ‘”

Here’s how that could work (depending on your jurisdiction).

You send out and receive payment for, periodic invoices
Any payment by your client establishes the implicit premise that a payment is due
Your client’s silence concerning a specific or recent invoice may be viewed as an implicit agreement

Of course, any client disputes may nullify the claim of “account stated.”

Tip #6: Choose the right clients

You’ll want to select the right clients ahead of time. It’s a good idea to focus your attention on clients who are both willing and able to pay for your services.

How do you do that?

You can run a credit check to assess your client’s trustworthiness. You can also follow step #3 by requesting and replenishing retainer fees ahead of time. Doing this reduces the odds of a billing dispute dramatically. It makes it easy for clients to trust that you’re looking out for them.

They’re more focused on the value you’re providing and less worried about you cheating them.

Tip #7: Optimize your timekeeping and time entries

Your firm makes money when you: (a.) Map/identify the obvious and hidden rules in your billing guidelines (b.) You verify that all time entries are real-time compliant and automatically recorded as-it-happens and (c.) every time entry, every line item, is specific, detailed, and precise outlining the who, what, and why of a particular task.

This creates structure.

Structure minimizes the invoice review process; collection realization rates go up. Your client is happy. Your staff is happy. Revenue skyrockets automatically, so your partners are happy.

Accuracy is the key to successful invoicing

Clients are angry when they receive attorney invoices they don’t expect. This is significant because it’s tied directly to your client’s number one complaint.

Communication.

When clients believe they’re treated fairly, they’re eager and willing to pay. When they’re ambushed by an unexpected invoice, billing disputes, and malpractice lawsuits are not far behind. What does this mean for you? Successful legal billing begins with your invoice.

If you’d like to ensure your invoices are paid promptly, completely, and consistently, focus on the upfront work and the preventative maintenance that’s done before your invoice is sent out. Create the right billing structure, and you’ll find your invoicing is an automatic success.

Legal billing 201: How to Get Paid Faster

September 30, 2015 By Bill4Time Staff Leave a Comment

You’ve probably received bad advice.

If you’re wondering how to get your clients to pay you faster, it may be best to avoid common wisdom. The usual advice offered by pundits may create a cash flow crunch for your firm. Follow their advice and your firm may experience a cash flow crunch that negatively impacts your realization rates, siphoning revenue out of your firm.

Revenue that’s rightfully yours.

Legal billing isn’t an administrative function

It’s a relationship function.

This is the core component the vast majority of pundits miss when they hand out advice that could ruin your law firm. Legal billing, whether successful or unsuccessful, is a relationship barometer. The outcome of your legal billing tells you a lot about the state of your attorney/client relationship. The formula is simple:

Successful client relationships = successful billing.

The success of this relationship, and legal billing, in turn, depends on the groundwork you establish in the attorney/client relationships on the front and back end.

But you can’t do that.

Not without a clear sense of the dos and don’ts you need to avoid.

Countering bad legal billing advice from pundits

If you’ve read several articles on this topic, you’ve seen the advice. Pundits seem to share the same tips and strategies, but they ignore the pitfalls that come with them.

Let’s take a brief look.

Offer discounts for early payment. This can backfire in a variety of ways — clients can accept the discount but pay later anyway. Discounts keep your realization rates permanently depressed. You agree to lose money on work you’ve already done, the time you’ve already invested, and can’t get back.
Offer net 30 terms. You know how this is likely to go; you offer clients net 30 terms, they decide to pay in 45 or 60 days. You offer net 15; they pay in 30. For many clients, net 30 is an invitation to consistently pay late or renegotiate the terms of their agreement whenever they decide it’s necessary. They know you won’t challenge them. You want their money.
Issue a late payment penalty. If legal billing is about the attorney/client relationship, what will happen if you issue a late fee legitimately? In most cases, this causes the relationship to deteriorate by a varying degree. If clients believe they’ve been good to you, your late fee may be viewed as an insult or provocation, increasing their resistance to paying.

The list of advice is long, but most of the standard tactics listed by pundits are terrible or require a certain degree of nuance to be effective. Most attorneys aren’t taught about the ins and outs of this, so they struggle to apply this effectively.

How to get clients to pay faster

As I shared in my previous post, there are several strategies you can use to get clients to pay you faster. The strategies are typically front or backend, and they depend on one step most law firms neglect. I’ll provide a brief recap here before discussing strategy and tactics.

First, remember that your clients should need you more than you need them. What’s the easiest way to achieve this relationship dynamic?

An abundance of opportunity.

Let’s do some role-playing. Imagine the partners in your firm are under a considerable amount of pressure. You need to land a large, high profile client in two days, but you only have one prospect. You feel the partners in your firm have to close that lead to avoid disaster.

How would you feel?

Anxious, stressed out – full of fear you won’t close.

Alright.

Same scenario. Your law firm is in demand; more clients are begging for your attention than you can handle. You need to make a sale in two days. You have 79 highly qualified leads. Twenty-five of these prospects are working on signing your agreement. Ten have signed your contract and have sent you a deposit.

Now how do you feel?

If you’re like most partners, you feel happy and excited, maybe a little overwhelmed at the demand for your firm?

See what I mean?

If you want your clients to pay you faster, you’ll need to achieve several things on the front end.

Build a law firm clients will fight to retain. Warren Buffet popularized the idea of an economic moat. An economic moat helps your business retain clients. In my previous post, I covered the five moats attorneys can use to protect their business from competitors.
Create a strong business development system. You’ll know you’ve succeeded when your ideal prospects are continually funneled to your firm and clamoring for your attention. Your business development system should help you attract and win clients who are willing and able to spend what you’re asking.
Develop a strong value proposition. A value proposition answers the question, “Why should I retain your firm?” with an actionable and persuasive response. Your value proposition is appealing; it’s something clients want. It’s exclusive, and clients can only get “it” from you. It’s clear, easy to understand. Finally, it’s credible, your clients believe in your value proposition.

Does this feel impossible?

The good news here is that it’s not. Developing one of these three strategies on the front end will lead to a dramatic increase in revenue. Develop all three areas, and you will propel your firm to the front of the line in the mind of your clients.

Here are several posts you can use if you’re not sure where to start.

Each of the three strategies I’ve mentioned above creates the “you need me more than I need you” dynamic I’ve mentioned above. This is crucial if you’d like your clients to pay your invoice faster and do so consistently. Alright, you’ve done the necessary work needed to prime your clients to pay you more quickly, what’s next?

Tactic #1: Build a client’s trust with transparent billing

One of the biggest concerns clients have in their relationship with you is runaway billing. When clients receive hourly billing, they often feel they’re writing a blank check. If you’d like to receive payment faster, work hard to establish openness and transparency in your relationship with clients, especially with billing.

When openness and transparency are lacking, billing disputes arise, payment speed declines, and collection realization rates fall. Here are some straightforward steps you can take to increase payment speed.

Make sure your pricing (and pricing model) is fair and communicated to clients.
Create a mechanism that allows you to adjust pricing
Evaluate your firm’s pricing. Is it competitive (up or down) with respect to competing firms? It should be.
Factor your client’s payment history into your pricing model (e.g., higher pricing for delinquents).
Follow your client’s billing guidelines, accounting for any hidden, implicit, or unrealistic expectations.
When you send clients an invoice, break every time entry and expense down in detail.
Communicate any significant variance preemptively (via email or phone). Communicate immediately and personally with clients whether the difference is positive or negative.
Provide supporting documents – payments, invoices, expenses, etc. via your billing management software.

Many pundits attempt to position late or nonpayment as a mechanical problem. Remember, poor payment hygiene is a relationship problem. Focus on the formula I mentioned earlier.

Successful client relationships = successful billing.

Here’s why this is important.

When clients come to believe that you’ll always be fair, that they don’t have to watch your every move, they relax. These wonderful, long term clients focus their attention on the work and paying your invoices. They know they can trust you, so they choose to spend their time elsewhere.

Open and transparent billing builds this trust.

Tactic #2: Create payment systems and procedures

Law firms that struggle with accounts receivables fail to perform in two key areas: (1.) They don’t have the processes they need to collect payments reliably from their clients and (2.) They aren’t able to find high-quality clients who are both willing and able to pay.

These struggling firms often don’t have the systems and procedures needed to stabilize collections. If they remember to bill their clients, they’ll send out an invoice.

Using systems and procedures is an easy way to speed up the payment process. Here’s a sample process to show you what I mean.

Compile invoices accurately, adhering to client billing guidelines.
Shepherd your client’s invoice through e-billing, looking for red flags or trouble spots.
Send invoice to your client, making sure to clarify due dates and methods of payment.
Send an email payment reminder to your client on the invoice due date.
Call your client once the invoice is one week late.
Call the client again, send out an email, and snail-mail reminder once the invoice is two weeks late.
Visit the client in person once the invoice is one month late [special cases only].
Place client account with a collections agency, suspend or terminate representation.

Your process may be different.

What’s crucial is that your process is documented, employees are trained in that process, and it’s practiced regularly.

Tactic #3: Use alternative fee arrangements

A Legal Trends report found 44 percent of law firms list client’s inability to pay all at once as the most common reason for nonpayment. Firms also state that 31 percent of clients pay late even when they have the funds.

How do you counteract this stinginess?

Provide clients with alternative fee arrangements (AFAs). In a previous article, I mentioned that 84 percent of proactive firms find their non-hourly projects to be at least as profitable as their hourly projects. Nontraditional AFAs can generate a significant amount of income.

Why are AFAs so profitable?

Let’s compare two clients, Richard and Geoffrey, who spend money on the same matter.

Richard pays a $17,000 retainer to get started with his firm. He feels a burning desire to get his money’s worth, but the pain of his initial purchase (e.g., the potential for loss) will decrease with time. He’s invested far more than his initial trust can support, so he’s far more likely to be aggressive and overbearing. Richard is less likely to continue with his firm unless they can help him with another matter.

On the other hand, Geoffrey requests an AFA and spends $2,450 per mo. He also feels the need to get his money’s worth every month. He’ll ask you for more help, which will develop his habit of relying on his attorney (you) to take care of things for him, increasing his loyalty over time. Why? In the course of one year, Geoffrey has spent $29,400.

This example illustrates why AFAs are so powerful. Here are several ways you can use AFAs to get paid faster.

Require clients to prepay (they will if you’ve done tip #1).
Use fixed fees to systematically increase your rates and pay in large blocks (i.e., 25% upfront).
Increase contingency fees via barter (i.e., get cash advance now).
Require prepay via holdbacks.
Use portfolio fixed fees to auto-bill clients for a portfolio of bundled services each month.
Create subscriptions for routine work at a predetermined price that’s both prepaid and paid monthly.

These AFAs can be used to attract more clients who are willing to pay much more than average if they’re provided with options that are flexible enough.

Tactic #4: Motivate clients to pay faster

With the right motivation, clients will pay your invoice as quickly as they can. One approach is the use of rewards; the right rewards can generate a significant amount of interest, value, and goodwill with clients. Here are a few examples of rewards you can use to motivate clients.

Create a membership system that rewards your best clients with access to exclusive benefits (e.g., select software, services, tools, or additional support)
Vanishing rewards to clients who pay their invoice by # date (i.e., a one-time reward that’s different each month)
Irresistible offers for clients who’ve made [#] payments early
Events, connections, and meet and greets with thought leaders, key influencers, or power brokers in your client’s industry (e.g., entrepreneur lunch with a key influencer, client workshop with a government regulator, etc.).
After service support (e.g., helping bankruptcy clients rebuild their credit within 90 days).

Here’s the secret to these rewards.

There needs to be strings attached. In order for clients to receive these extra rewards, they need to do something for you. It is very much a quid pro quo arrangement. Here are a few examples you can test in your firm.

Clients will receive X if they pay [5 days before their invoice due date]
Clients will receive Y if they’ve made [15 payments ahead of their invoice due date]
Clients who pay their invoice in full will receive Y
Clients who respond to our queries within X days consecutively will receive Y

Can you see what’s happening?

You’re priming and training clients to behave appropriately. Clients who bristle under these rewards and requirements will leave. The wonderful clients who stay will provide you with the assurance and comfort that comes with a roster of loyal and trustworthy clients.

Legal billing is oriented around the relationship

Legal billing, whether successful or unsuccessful, is a relationship barometer. The success or failure of your legal billing depends on the health of the attorney/client relationship. This is the core component the vast majority of pundits miss when they hand out advice that could ruin your law firm.

It’s all about the relationship formula.

Successful client relationships = successful billing.

The success of your relationships with clients determines the impact your legal billing will have on your revenues. Lay the right groundwork, nurture client relationships, and you’ll find your clients are eager and willing to pay your invoices faster than you expect.

How Law Firms Save Thousands of Dollars on Bookkeeping

April 19, 2012 By Bill4Time Staff Leave a Comment

Customer story from Keisha S. Gatison, from the Gatison Law Firm, North Haven, CT:

I am a solo-practitioner with a small practice in Connecticut. This state has enacted very specific rules with regard to trust accounting for attorneys. Prior to using Bill4Time, I hired a bookkeeper to maintain my accounting records and what is called a “Three-Point Reconciliation,” required by all attorneys in the state of Connecticut.

As a solo-practitioner, it is imperative that I monitor and mitigate the amount of costs spent on services. After careful contemplation, I signed up for a subscription with Bill4Time. It is, by far the best decision that I have ever made for my business. I have been enrolled for approximately one year and have saved thousands of dollars on book keeping. As well, I now have access to my files, notes and other pertinent information from any location. I was able to verify information, for example, while on vacation out of the country.

Bill4Time is reliable, efficient and essential for solo practitioners like me.

Join Keisha and Try Bill4Time…

The need for cloud based time billing is becoming more and more a necessity for small to medium sized firms. Bill4Time improves the way lawyers manage their firms by enabling them to enter time and expenses on the go using their mobile devises. Bill4Time clients earn more money because they track more time with accurate detail, and look professional and modern by sending invoices and getting paid electronically.

Bill4Time has all the basic features a general law practice requires, plus more sophisticated features for specialized firms including ABA Task Codes, LEDES invoice exports, conflict checker, Trust accounting, Trust reports and summaries on invoices.

Want more information? Watch our recorded webinar, How to Bill More Efficiently.

Bill4Time is Now a Premium Solutions Provider of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management

February 22, 2012 By Bill4Time Staff Leave a Comment

Bill4Time, the time tracking and invoicing software proven to help professionals run their businesses successfully, is now a Premium Solutions Provider of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section (LPM).

Since 1974, LPM has been the resource needed for lawyers to successfully manage their law practice. LPM supplies lawyers and legal professionals with information and resources in the core areas of marketing, management, technology and finance.

“ABA LPM Integrated Media Packages are designed to bring top legal vendors in the LPM space as a unique way to engage with members,” says Tom Mighell, Chair, ABA Law Practice Management Section. “These packages provide an incredible amount of value by combining print, digital, online, email, social media, and public relations marketing. This program brands companies as a partner to all 14,000 members of the ABA LPM section.”

Bill4Time is a complete web-based time billing software offering time and expense tracking, project and case management, invoicing and more. Developed with the guidance of law firms, Bill4Time’s web based time billing software serves solo, small and large law practices. Bill4Time has created simple to use, intuitive and user friendly software with strong focus on convenience. Bill4Time offers anytime, anywhere online account access and mobile apps so professionals can focus more on what they do best. Bill4Time has all the basic features a general law practice requires, plus more sophisticated features for specialized firms including ABA Task Codes, LEDES invoice exports, conflict checker, Trust accounting, Trust reports and summaries on invoices.

“At Bill4Time we commend the mission of the ABA’s LPM to help lawyers practice law effectively and successfully while maintaining the highest standards of the profession,” says Jeremy Diviney, Head of Operations. “Our goal is creating software that does the same which is why we find great value in being an ABA Premium Solutions Provider.”

About Bill4Time
Developed with the guidance of law firms, Bill4Time is a leading legal time billing software serving both small and large professional service firms. With offices in New York, NY; and Bellevue, WA, Bill4Time has created simple-to-use and intuitive software at a fraction of the cost of other billing systems. With strong focus on convenience, Bill4Time offers anytime, anywhere online account access, mobile apps and a desktop widget. Bill4Time’s goal is to streamline the time tracking and billing aspect of business so professionals can focus more on what they do best.

At Bill4Time, we pride ourselves on our close relationships with our customers, whose direct feedback helps to shape the direction of enhancements and features. We strive to provide quality software backed by knowledgeable and responsive customer support. For more information visit: http://www.Bill4Time.com.

How Small Law Firms Bill Without a Billing Department

December 6, 2011 By Bill4Time Staff Leave a Comment

Customer story from Cynthia Monaco, from the Law Offices of Cynthia Monaco, New York, NY:

The biggest headache for a small law practice is keeping up with billing without a billing department, Bill4Time solves this issue.

Before transitioning away from a large firm into my solo law practice, I asked other attorneys for advice on the challenges ahead. Most of them told me that their biggest headache was keeping up with billing without a billing department and a secretary to chase billables to be entered.

As a Harvard University and Harvard Law School graduate, I started my career as a clerk on the Second Circuit, then worked in the Clinton Administration as an appointee for Janet Reno. I then did short stint at Ropes and Gray then became a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn. Leaving government for a law firm in the midst of a large recession was eye opening. It taught me that the large law firm model isn’t well suited to the type of law I wanted to practice, representing individuals and smaller investment advisers in connection with SEC and criminal investigations.

As a prosecutor, I learned to work with limited resources in terms of manpower and support staff in putting together cases. I learned in private practice that my clients wanted to hire me and not my entire firm. Given the explosion of web based technologies, there was no reason why I couldn’t be equally effective in the private sector. Web-based time and billing software like Bill4Time made small firm management efficient in time consumption and cost.

So I left large firm life taking my loyal clients with me.

I acted carefully and read a number of reviews from the ABA and other legal sites before choosing Bill4Time. The iPhone application makes all the difference in saving me time and making sure I capture my hours. Yesterday I had a long day in court followed by a drink with colleagues. If I hadn’t logged my hours in via my iPhone during breaks in the proceedings, I would have missed much of the detail and the time worked. I now work with fewer clients but have seen receivables grow.

Small law firm life has taught me to share the efficiencies I practice with my clients and colleagues.

Join Cynthia and Try Bill4Time For Free…