Lawyer Invoice Template

Each time entry should let the client see what the work was without having to call you.

• Date. The day the work was done.
• Timekeeper. The person who did the work. The sample uses initials in the table and names each timekeeper, with their role and hourly rate, in the billing notes. When more than one person bills time, the client can see who did what, at what rate.
• Description. Say what was done, in words the client understands. "Draft letter to the landlord's counsel" tells them more than "Research" or "Attention to file". Think about who else may see the invoice, such as an insurer or an auditor, when you decide how much detail to give.
• Hours and rate. Record hours in the increment your fee agreement sets. The sample's billing notes say time is recorded in tenths of an hour, so 1.2 hours is 72 minutes. Bill each timekeeper at the rate your agreement gives for them.

Use one invoice per matter, as the template does, so the client can match each bill to the right matter and budget.

Costs advanced are expenses you paid on the client's behalf, such as court filing fees, courier charges, records fees or transcripts. List each one with the date, the vendor and a description, at what you paid. The sample has a same-day courier delivery at 45.00 and two certified copies at 12.00 each. Keep the receipts, and say in your fee agreement which costs the client pays.

On this template, costs advanced are added after the subtotal and the sales tax line, so they aren't taxed with your fees. The billing notes say they are "billed at cost, without markup, and are not part of the subtotal."

The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct are a model for the ethics rules that jurisdictions adopt. They aren't law in themselves; the rules that bind you are the ones in force where you're licensed. Two parts of the model rule on fees (ABA Model Rule 1.5) bear on how you bill:

• The basis of the fee. Rule 1.5(b) says "The scope of the representation and the basis or rate of the fee and expenses for which the client will be responsible shall be communicated to the client, preferably in writing". The rule makes an exception for a regularly represented client billed on the same basis or rate, and says changes in the basis or rate must also be communicated.
• Contingent fees. Under Rule 1.5(c), a contingent fee agreement must be in a writing signed by the client and state how the fee is determined and which expenses are deducted from the recovery. At the end of the matter, the lawyer gives the client a written statement of the outcome and, if there is a recovery, the remittance to the client and how it was worked out.

California is one example of a statute that covers bills. Under California Business and Professions Code section 6148:

• A fee contract must be in writing where it's reasonably foreseeable that the total expense to the client, including attorney fees, will exceed $1,000. Contingency fee contracts fall under section 6147 instead.
• "All bills rendered by an attorney to a client shall clearly state the basis thereof." The fee portion must include "the amount, rate, basis for calculation, or other method of determination" of the fees, and the cost portion must "clearly identify the costs and expenses incurred and the amount of the costs and expenses."
• The client may ask for a bill, and the attorney must provide one within the time the section sets.
• The section lists cases where it doesn't apply, including where the client is a corporation.

Outside California, check the rules of professional conduct, any statutes and your bar's guidance where you're licensed. This page explains a template; it isn't legal advice.

If a client asks you to submit bills through an e-billing system, they may want LEDES files rather than a document. LEDES formats are open standards for the electronic exchange of billing information between corporations and law firms, maintained by the LEDES Oversight Committee. This template is a printable invoice, not a LEDES file, and it has no task or activity codes. If a client's billing guidelines ask for LEDES files or codes, produce them through the client's system or your billing software.

In the Excel file, each line amount is hours × rate, qty × fee or qty × cost. The section subtotals, the Subtotal, the sales tax line, the costs advanced line, the total and the amount due are formulas. The sales tax rate sits in its own cell next to its line. Type over the sample lines with your own. Time entries have two blank rows at the end, and flat-fee items and costs advanced have one each.

• No sales tax or no retainer to apply: leave the tax rate at 0%, and set "Less: retainer applied" to 0.00. The retainer amount is typed, not calculated. Don't delete either row, because the totals refer to them.
• More entries than fit: insert a row above the last blank row in that section and copy the amount formula into it. The section subtotal and the Subtotal, or for costs the "Costs advanced, at cost" line, should grow to include the new row. Check that they did.
• Retainer held until the end: if your agreement applies the retainer to the final invoice, set the line to 0.00 and say in a billing note that it is still held.
• Part of a retainer applied: type the amount you're applying, and say in the billing notes how much remains.

In the Word file, the amounts are typed, not calculated, so retype the line amounts and totals whenever you change a figure. The PDF is a blank form to fill in by hand, with a blank for the sales tax rate.

Billed tracks time for you and your team, gives daily and weekly breakdowns, exports timesheets and creates invoices for the time tracked (time tracking). You can set up hourly-rate projects that charge tasks at the rates you set, or flat-rate projects that you can invoice at any stage (projects). Billed also shows which invoices are partly paid and sends payment reminders (features).