Need help with your law firm billing? Here are our top picks for resources that can help you get your billing right.
Billing is an element of law practice management that should be taken seriously by all lawyers. Failing to bill and invoice properly can cause significant damage to your client relationships and your reputation.
We’ve gathered our top article picks to help you improve your law firm’s billing practices so you always get paid and keep your clients happy. Take a look!
1. Nine Rules for Billing Ethically and Getting Paid on Time
Nothing frustrates lawyers more than performing work for a client and realizing that client does not intend to pay them. In most cases, the key to getting clients to pay their bills is to take steps at the start of the attorney-client relationship. This article explains how an attorney can avoid billing issues, while staying on firm ethical grounds at the same time.
2. How to Choose Billing and Accounting Software for Your Law Firm
Using a billing software in your law practice can save you valuable time so you can complete more client work. However, keep in mind that there are unique requirements that must be met in order for attorneys to fulfill their professional and ethical responsibilities to their clients. When selecting billing and accounting software for your firm, you must carefully review your options. This article explains why you should select legal specific billing and accounting software programs in order to meet your client’s needs.
3. Shop Talk: Clients Who Don’t Pay Piss Me Off
Law Firm Suites’ founder and corporate attorney, Stephen Furnari, questions why lawyers do not pursue collections more aggressively and discusses how modifying billing practices can eliminate many sources of collection problems.
4. 15 Proven Ways to Get Clients to Pay Their Bills on Time
It’s not easy to get a client to pay their bills and the time you spend pursuing them is time you could be putting toward other client matters. However, that doesn’t mean you should give up. This article offers some quick tactics for getting your clients to pay so they will stop wasting your time.
5. 10 Billing Mistakes
If you want to make sure a client pays their legal fees without complaint, then you have to make sure your billing practices are beyond reproach. This article lists the billing mistakes that account for about 90% of all complaints by clients so you can develop a foolproof billing system.
6. A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to (Not Getting Paid in) Saudi Arabia
Jason Huf, a transactional attorney with a specialty in Middle East law and client in Law Firm Suites’ NYC shared office space, has experienced too many clients who do not pay their legal bills and finds that many mechanisms for collection under Saudi law are ineffective. In this article he offers his secrets to structuring billing arrangements that even the stingiest clients will pay.
7. How Legal Billing Practices Can Differentiate Your Firm
Getting your billing right will set your apart as a reliable, trustworthy firm. This article outlines the results you’ll get if you don’t take your billing methods seriously.