How Law Firms can ensure Integrity in Billing Process
It is quite common for law firms to face a perception of inflated billing when dealing with clients regarding billing process. This understanding can happen for many reasons. When attorneys are under pressure to turn in their time sheets and expenses for creating invoices, they may not enter details in an easy-to-understand manner for clients. This pressure will unnecessarily raise objections in the bills themselves and ultimately delay the payments from clients. Sometimes a few wrong entries could happen. One main reason for wrong time entries is the reconstructive nature of the timekeeping process. That means when the billable time is not captured contemporaneously on a daily basis, the entry logs will be due, and the attorney has to reconstruct the time by analyzing calendars and going through all previous emails, call logs and other notes. The attorney may not remember each activity related to work and may try to fill the gaps by guessing or padding the time spent on a client case. Clients typically look for accurate entries of what they are being billed for. If the invoices generated are not clear & appropriate and do not conform to negotiated billing agreements, then it will lead to rejections and billing disputes.
One way how law firms can avoid issues in their attorney billing is by streamlining the process of billing practices using legal billing software and making it easier for attorneys to track and enter the time contemporaneously. Legal billing software allows convenience in time capturing through any computing device so that the attorneys need not worry about physically being there at the office to make the entries. As it encourages immediate recording of time, there will be less scope for wrong entries in the billing process. An attorney billing software ensures law firms to have good standards of billing and timekeeping practices. It offers many key benefits and addresses the common concerns that impact the revenue generation to the law firms.
Reduces pressure on bills
By capturing time contemporaneously using a billing software, it reduces the need for attorneys to reconstruct the day’s activities spent on a client case. That implies there will be less billing errors such as double or over billing due to inaccurate recording of time entries. Also, it smoothens the billing process and reduces the last minute pressure on invoice creation.
Encourages ethical conduct
Having good billing practices encourages ethical conduct. Lawyers have one of the highest betting rates among other professionals. One of the concerns of clients is to avoid high legal charges. Attorneys have the professional responsibility to make the billing clear to the clients so that there will be fewer disputes over charges for their legal work. A cloud-based billing software provides transparency in billing and allows task based detailed explanation which can be shared with clients to let them know where their money is being spent. They can monitor time entries and check whether the attorney is entering time regularly in a systematic way. It gives clarification to the clients in a detailed manner on attorney time entries, fee arrangements, and the expenses they are making while working on the case.
Improves law firm revenues
When clients can see and track their attorney charges timely on the web, there will be less chance for suspicion of billing mistakes or fraud. Less room for error will build the trust that the attorneys are charging correctly for their service and more likely the client will not delay payments. Hence through the adoption of a good billing software, the law firms can maximize their billing and have profitable revenue generation.
TimeManager is a cloud based Time and billing software designed specifically for businesses to efficiently manage time tracking, invoicing & billing activities. TimesManager invoicing and billing software offers accessibility to time and expense tracking, split billing, CRM and document management. It enables a fast and easy billing process for lawyers, timekeepers, mediators, and professionals. To learn more about features, please visit our TimesManager website.