Invoicing Software for Law Firms

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (US) says: "Lawyers advise and represent clients on legal proceedings or transactions." This page is about invoicing clients for that work: hourly work, flat fees and costs you paid for a client. It doesn't cover trust or IOLTA accounts, fee agreements, contingency fees or e-billing formats; see the last section for trust accounts.

Set up each matter as a project in Billed. For time-based work, Billed's time tracking page says: "Create an hourly rate project, set its hourly rate, and Billed tracks the charge for each task as you log it. From the project dashboard you can invoice one task or several at once."

For a matter billed at a fixed fee, Billed's projects page says: "You can add as many tasks as you need in the flat rate project. Invoice your client for the project from the dashboard whenever you want."

Billed's time tracking page says: "Log time for each task as you work, and see how much time goes into each project." It also says: "Billed breaks your time down by day and by week, so a missing entry is easy to spot before you bill."

When a client asks for a record of the time behind an invoice, the same page says: "Create timesheets from the time you and your team have tracked to see how the team is spending its time, and export them when a client or your accountant needs a copy." For a firm with more than one lawyer or paralegal: "Invite teammates, accountants and contractors to your Billed account and grant them permissions, so the whole team tracks its time in one place."

Record a cost you paid for a client, such as a filing fee or a courier charge, as an expense for that client. Billed's help article on creating an invoice says: "If there are any unbilled expenses of a particular client, you can add these expenses to the client's next invoice. The expense will appear as a line item in the invoice." For a charge that isn't a recorded expense, the same article says to add a line item and "fill this section to charge against new items and services."

These are sample figures, before any tax. A lawyer bills a client at 250.00 an hour on an hourly rate project for the client's matter. In October the lawyer logs 2.0 hours drafting, 1.5 hours meeting the client and 0.5 hours reviewing documents: 4.0 hours, or 1,000.00 (500.00, 375.00 and 125.00).

The lawyer also paid a 350.00 filing fee for the client and recorded that fee as the client's expense. The October invoice lists the three tasks and the filing fee, 1,350.00 in all, with a due date. The client pays by check, and the lawyer records it as an offline payment and sends a payment receipt.

Billed's invoice software page says: "Connect your Stripe account and every invoice you send gets a pay button, so clients can pay by card." It also says: "Connect PayPal to add a PayPal option as well." For checks: "When a client pays by check or cash, record it as an offline payment so all your income is in one place." And after the payment: "After a client pays, you can send them a payment receipt."

For invoices that aren't paid yet, the same page says: "Set a due date on each invoice so your client knows when to pay." It also says: "Invoice reports show which invoices are paid, partially paid or past due, and you can see who owes you money and send them a payment reminder." and "Payment reminders can be customized."

This page doesn't cover trust or IOLTA accounts. The American Bar Association's Model Rule 1.15(c) says: "A lawyer shall deposit into a client trust account legal fees and expenses that have been paid in advance, to be withdrawn by the lawyer only as fees are earned or expenses incurred." That is the ABA's model rule. Check your state bar's trust account rules, or ask a lawyer who advises on legal ethics, before you decide how to bill or take an advance payment, including by card.