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.
