In regards to legal billing, it’s common for law firms to face a misperception of inflated billing when dealing with clients. A misunderstanding that can be attributed to many factors. These include, times when attorneys are under such pressure to create invoices that they do not enter details in an easy-to-understand format. This creates a lack of understanding between the client that will inherently raise objections to the bills. Ultimately, this will delay payment. But, this isn’t the only misunderstanding to occur.
Sometimes, the attorney will actually make a mistake and log an incorrect entry. One reason this may happen, is the reconstructive nature of the timekeeping process. Meaning, when the billable time is not captured in the moment, entry logs will be due. Therefore, the attorney must reconstruct their time by analyzing calendars, and browsing through a backlog of emails and other notes. Consequently, the attorney may not accurately remember all of their work activity, and will naturally guestimate the time they spent on a client’s case. Thereby creating an inaccurate billing invoice that negatively effects at least one of the parties involved.
Typically, clients will want to easily understand all of the expenses associated with their case in a clear, lucid manner. This creates a demand for accurate, detailed entries of the attorney’s time. If the invoices are not readily readable, and do not conform to billing agreements, then rejections and disputes may occur.
One way law firms can avoid these issues in their billing, is to streamline the process with legal billing software. This makes it easier for attorneys to track their time as they go. Legal Billing software conveniently promotes time capturing by being accessible through any computing device, while encouraging immediate time and record keeping that eliminates guestimates, and promotes accurate data entries. Additionally, billing software (such as JDi Data’s TimeManager) has numerous other benefits for the work environment.
Reduce Pressure on Bills
Because attorneys will simultaneously log their time while working, billing software reduces the need to fictionally reconstruct the time spent on a client’s case. This implies there will be less billing errors like double, or over-billing due to a streamlined approach. Also, it smoothens the billing process and reduces the last-minute pressure of generating an invoice.
Encourage Ethical Conduct
One of the top client concerns is to avoid unnecessarily high legal charges. Attorneys have the professional responsibility for making their billing clear to all clients, to ensure fewer disputes, and provide ease of understanding of their legal work. A cloud-based billing software provides transparency in billing, and allows for a detailed explanation of all costs involved. This can be easily shared with clients so they know where their money is being spent. Granting the ability to monitor time entries, and check if the attorney is entering time in a systematic manner. It clarifies attorney time entries and expenses so the client can feel secure in the ethicality of their billing.
Improve Law Firm Revenue
When clients can easily track their billing on the web, they will be less suspicious of fraud. TimesManager creates less room for error, which will build the trust that attorneys are correctly charging for their services. Henceforth, through the adoption of a good billing software, law firms will maximize their billing and generate a profitable revenue.
