Best Legal Billing Software
Featured Legal Billing Software At A Glance
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Learn More About Legal Billing Software
What is Legal Billing Software?
Legal billing software is integral to the legal industry. The legal profession is built on billable hours, so having an easy-to-use, comprehensive system to manage those hours is crucial. Legal billing software does not just handle tracking billable hours but often contains invoicing features and payment gateway functionality. If the software does not explicitly offer these features, then it will integrate with solutions in those categories that do.
Why use Legal Billing Software?
Legal billing software is necessary to run a well-functioning law firm today. The robust functionality of most solutions, combined with the ease with which these products integrate with solutions in the legal practice management software and legal case management software categories, make them a must have for a modern law firm.
Legal billing software is the single source of real-time truth for all things billable and payments related. The consolidation of billing data and documents is key to its usefulness. Legal billing software offers time-tracking capabilities so lawyers can track their time more effectively and efficiently.
Improve Efficiency — Legal billing software makes lawyers and law firms more efficient in their billing processes. As the single source of truth for work hours completed and client payment data, the software is capable of clearing up any ambiguities by referencing the data housed in the application. There are often disputes between law firms and clients regarding the amount of billable work completed. As legal fees are hourly, and typically run in the hundreds of dollars per hour, these disputes can be quite costly. Legal billing software keeps a secure record of all activities that are being billed so that both parties can reference it in case of a dispute. Legal billing software also processes payments, making it a true one-stop shop for billing-related functions. The removal of disparate systems in favor of just one makes the entire process easier for both clients and lawyers.
Easier Billing — Lawyers have a lot on their plate, so removing administrative headaches is a great way to alleviate extra tasks. By making legal billing and time tracking easier, and in some cases mostly automated, legal professionals can focus on value-adding tasks such as legal analysis.
Who uses Legal Billing Software?
Law firms and corporate legal departments are the main users of legal billing software. Within those groups, the attorneys themselves are responsible for actually inputting their billable hours. The administrative professionals then deal with the invoicing and payment aspect of the billing process.
Legal Billing Software Features
Legal billing software often includes, but is not limited to, the following features:
Time Tracking – A key feature of legal billing software is time tracking. Solutions in this category always include the ability to track attorneys’ hours in real time and automatically convert those hours to a client fee.
Billing Flexibility – Most legal billing software allows users to alter billing rates as they see fit. Users can switch between standard rates, special rates for individual clients, different rates for different attorneys, retainers, split fees, and contingency billing.
Invoicing – Keeping track of billable hours is important for internal teams, but if the firm doesn’t get paid then all is for naught. To help law firms actually collect on the money they’re owed, legal billing software offers invoicing capabilities. Legal professionals can use these features to electronically create and submit invoices to their clients. The electronic transmission of legal invoices is a key feature that increases the ease and efficiency with which law firms can ensure their timely payment.
Permission Restrictions – There are varying levels of confidentiality within a law firm, so there should be varying levels of information accessibility. Certain legal billing solutions contain permission access controls, so administrators can determine who can look at what. This feature is important for maintaining ethical boundaries and bolstering information security.
Online Payments – Gone are the days of sending paper checks to pay the bills. Legal billing software has enabled electronic payment of fees by including online payment gateways. Clients can use these online payment gateways in order to pay their invoices quickly and easily.
Accounting – Certain legal billing software contains limited accounting features. Firms can use the billing information already in their system to ensure that all of their accounting information is accurate and even perform some basic accounting software functions directly within the application.
Secure Statements – Depending on the profile of the client, law firms may want to ensure the security of their statements and invoices. Because of this need, some legal billing software offers password protection and security measures for client statements.
Reporting – Some legal billing software offers detailed reporting functionality. Reports on everything from receipt allocation and timekeeper and client productivity to category profitability can be presented using legal billing solutions.
