Streamline Your Billing Process with Our Law Firm Invoice Template for Teams

Law firm invoice template for teams

I think I think I think that my word can be taken on that point all of this block feeling [Music] so what is the flow of Law Firm billing uh everything starts with the attorney the attorney has to secure the client um the attorneys are either on panels or they are doing their own networking and negotiating and they're bringing clients into the law firm um that attorney sends them a engagement letter once they agree on uh work the engagement letter describes the type of relationship the attorney um and the client uh can expect from the attorney uh it also includes the scope of work that they'll be doing and what type of fee agreements that they are agreeing to uh so this is where uh the attorney also tells what his hourly rate is um and after the engagement letter is signed uh and of course a conflict check is done uh the client then sends their billing engagement letter uh or billing guidelines to the attorney um and that is where the client uh and and specifically in this area when it comes to Insurance clients because if it's just an everyday client uh you know you or I we're going to have our invoices either email to us uh depending on we got in contact with the attorney or they may send it to our home um but law firms who do business with insurance carriers they have specific guidelines as to how they want their billing uh electronic or paper and what type of cost they'll pay for say for instance it cost in uh the law firm 20 cents to do copies well the clients's billing guidelines may say well nope I'm not going to pay 20 cents her copy I'm only going to pay s cents or I'm not going to pay for postage or I won't pay for law clerks um or sometimes there may be a timekeeper limit uh say for instance if it's a small claim um the claims rep they already know that it should only take one partner one associate one pargal to get it done then those are the only people who can uh build on uh that matter so those things have to be kept in mind and uh non-billable tasks say for instance a pargal is trying to do some research on a Facebook page to prepare for a trial or um uh I don't know calling the clerk's office to arrange a date uh there's some tasks that insurance carriers just will not pay for and they listed there in the client billing guidelines so that uh the attorney and the firm will know up front hey don't charge us for this we're not going to pay it so those are very important for the attorneys and uh legal assistance and uh accy to become familiar with so that uh the client is charged for things that they will only pay for and the attorney fares uh better when it comes to recouping their their money uh so after that uh the client is then added to the CMS software U by a file clerk there and then after that those who uh uh perform Legal Services on the matter um they can then add their time and the accounts payable department can then add their expenses and some of the expenses that um you may may see or a client may see on their invoice say for instance if an attorney has to go out and hire an expert then of course that expert is going to charge for their time uh that invoice would then in turn be build to the client so those type of expenses and those internal copies and Postage and SOS Secretary of State uh expenses those will be charged on to the client um and then once accounting closes out the month um and law firms are very similar to other companies where they build a month behind so all of the work that they uh performed in May that's going to be built in June everything that they buil uh did in June will be built in July and so forth so it's a month behind and after the invoice is created it is then sent to the client and whatever method they preferred um now this is the natural flow of how it's supposed to go now this is in theory and if it worked that great then you know there would be less stress talked about as a law firm biller but we know things happen um we may not get the client billing guidelines when we should or uh perhaps time is already uh started because they already know for sure that they're is no conflict so that time has to be moved to the correct file once it's open or uh perhaps all of the charges are not entered or I mean there's just so many things that can happen um within the uh flow of this that prevents it from being as smooth as these six steps uh show you uh which is why legal billing experts have to be so detail oriented and extensive in their research um because within this flow anything can happen happen so some of the CMS programs that um create these templates for the law firms are listed here the client management system is used to enter time uh the attorney's fees it's used to capture the expenses that um have been charged to the client um many times they have timer in the software so the attorneys can accurately uh enter their information uh and all of these are set up to produce a lease document since that document is required in order for invoice submission uh the law firms want to be compliant and these softwares want to help law firms be compliant uh these are some very popular softwares um and what I have noticed in my uh legal Consulting experience is that some of the programs don't have experts out there and what I would like to help to do is help individuals who want career changes let me help you become an expert in some of these programs if this is your style of work um you know some some people may not like uh dealing with numbers or dealing with the demands of attorneys or Corporate America um but for some people is right up their alley and if you are that person or if you know of that person who likes uh tedious work who likes uh to invest uh in and support um then send them this way some of the ebilling programs that the law firms use uh counsel link legal tracker bottom line legal exchange these are all and this is why I was mentioning earlier having some type of tech savvy uh ability um to just resolve ER eras or being familiar with software is very helpful because you will deal with quite a bit of software uh when it comes to Law Firm billing and ebilling uh and there are many more here and sometimes programs are created just for a specific client so if your attorney get a a new client then um you know that client may come with their own uh requirements and programs or they may use some of the commonly uh used programs here uh my sources that I use are listed leads.org practice Panther is an accounting software but their website is also full of information U they help me with some of the definitions just to make them a little bit clearer uh on it it is a ebuilding software as well as an accounting software um in Google there were some free images and clip arts that I use in order to make this uh presentation a little bit more exciting uh and to get my point across in uh uh get the visuals out there for visuals like me who like to um you know see something different on a Sly show every once in a while all right so if you have question questions or want to learn more I would love to be that support for you uh please subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me for more content I enjoy all things legal billing I enjoy sharing my knowledge um like I said I want to uh create or help people create a new career if they want uh in the legal billing field I'm really um talented Ed at what I do um and I share freely so let me know I will be looking for you in the comments um I will also be looking for your email or other ways that uh we can connect to talk about everything Law Firm billing [Music]