Friday, January 11, 2019

Ebilling For Law Firms Preparation Guidelines

By Catherine Ellis


Tracking and billing of time to clients is a crucial responsibility for legal firms. Associates, partners and other timekeepers normally bill their time according to their client directives and policies. If this process is not done, you cannot invoice your consultant and therefore you will not get paid. Thus, ebilling for law firms preparation is vital to success.

As the fees increase, most of the reviewers become keen on the costs. They, therefore, will examine the invoice you provide them keenly. It is your responsibility to draft a very detailed invoice. A well informed task description is a crucial component of an invoice. Your description needs to entail the required details for your consultant to comprehend it.

Ensure that you avoid block billing. This refers to the practice of listing a number of tasks in a block summary beneath a single time entry. Most of the consultant recognize this practice as a strategy that disguises inefficiency. In addition, most courts do not allow it as it hinders effective compensation of attorney fees after a judgment. A more efficient way will be to separately itemize every activity together with its corresponding time.

Recording of time should be done immediately. Doing this immediately after a given activity has been realized guarantees accuracy. It is unrealistic to enter each activity in an application you utilize whenever it is completed. It will be easy if you come up with a system that encourages immediate timekeeping. Additionally, you can use a time notebook to record each activity. You can later on transfer the details to the software at the end of the week or month.

An important step to take is to go through the noted time entries. The time-sheet you write will show the level of accuracy or sluggishness you put into doing work. As the reviewer is not in a position to confront you because of the errors that are done on the time entries, it can create a bad impression. As a responsible individual, you need to go through it so that you provide free of error details.

Ensure you use simple language. You should keep in mind that your consultants are not lawyers and therefore do not understand some of the terms. Avoid using complex terms when describing billable activities for them to understand. Your reviewer will, therefore, appreciate it and will not ask you many questions regarding the invoice.

You should communicate often with your clients. This prevents any billing issues that may arise later on. This ensures that they are happy at all times. You need to be clear from the start. Discuss the fee agreement before working on the case. In addition, establishing a reasonable fee prevents problems later on. Avoid any unexpected rate increase. You need to discuss rate increases, additional fees or other added expenses beforehand to avoid surprises.

It is very important that you send bills on a regular basis. Avoid pilling them up and form a timetable that you will follow each week or month. This allows a client to understand the kind of work done on a given case. It prevents them from being astonished once they get the bill.




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