Tips To Minimize Law Firm Ebilling Write Downs

By Catherine Bell


Stepping out of an already established legal organization to start up your own organization creates room for growth. However, success is not achieved easily due to a set of challenges. Most legal firms face problems because most of their work is not paid. According to research forty percent of time spent in a legal office is not billed. For any lawyer, time not billed translates to reduced income. Here are few steps to reduce law firm ebilling write downs.

Time management can make a difference in the amount of money legal firms lose. Tracking time does not only account for billable hours only, but it also helps account for non-billable time. What most lawyers do not realize is non-billable hours can be utilized to develop realistic plans on how to focus on priorities. For instance, you may have agreed on a contingency fee for the first time. After the case, spend your free time to determine whether contingency fees are profitable than hourly rates.

Having a clear policy in the law company is important. Your clients must be aware of their duties and responsibilities. You should provide and define a rule that will help to solve issues like payment problems by the clients in the company. Clients need to know what to do at certain times and what not to.

Although written fee agreements are useful when working on a contingency fee, most states expect lawyers to provide written fee agreements irrespective of payment method agreed upon at the beginning. When writing fee agreements, it is important to consider a budget a client is likely to work with depending on the nature of the case, financial strength and time. This helps clear any doubts a client might have about fees.

Make sure that you provide an invoice that can be understood by your client. You should also know that clients have a clue about how much they should pay for you. If you provide an unrealistic invoice, your clients will automatically ask for water-downs. Complaints can also arise during payment if the invoice does not align well with the client requirements.

You should make sure clients sign the payment agreement. This is because clients might have a habit of bargaining the fee they should pay on the last day of payment. The amount they should pay and the day and time the payment should clearly be indicated.

While it is advisable to pen down e-bills to solve fee disputes, you should only agree to adjust fees to match the value of the case. However, you should not resort to habitual write-offs as this could diminish the value of your practice. Clients will take advantage of your habit to ask for more write-downs which affect the company billing efficiency.

The e-billing tool you choose to utilize in your firm will have an impact on billing efficiency. Always choose tools designed for attorneys. When it comes to billing compliance and accounting, lawyers need tools designed for their specific needs.




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