Law Firm Automation: 8 Key Areas for Efficiency and Growth
That’s why legal payment solutions, like LawPay, provide firms with a variety of flexible options to accept payments, including eCheck, credit card, and other digital payment methods. By implementing a few key strategies around invoicing, collections, and write-offs, legal professionals can dramatically improve their accounts receivable management. Managing payments, remembering to send reminders, and constantly following up with clients can add up to a significant amount of non-billable work. Instead, you can set up automated reminders as the next billing date approaches. The future of legal workflow automation lies in the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
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If possible, break down large tasks into summaries non-experts can digest. Scheduled payments can be an effective solution for clients who are habitually late payers. This strategy involves setting up recurring, automatic payments, either via ACH transfer from a bank account or with a credit card. Digital payments are also easy to schedule in advance, making it easy to set up future or recurring payments. virtual accountant Electronic invoices also help firms save costs, by eliminating time spent on preparing bills and reducing the use of paper and stamps. Therefore, it’s perfectly reasonable when a lawyer tailors billing arrangements to fit each client’s unique circumstances.
Send Electronic Invoices
- Automated systems pull data from time tracking and case management tools, ensuring billing reflects the hours worked and expenses incurred.
- Consider offering scheduled payment plans for clients with a history of late payments.
- You’ll simply need to adopt a few accounts receivable collections best practices, in return for an improved collection rate and stronger cash flow.
- What’s more, a timelier invoice is more likely to reach them when they appreciate you and the work you’re doing.
A robust billing system like TimeSolv provides real-time AR tracking, making it easy to stay on top of outstanding accounts and adjust collection efforts as needed. Moreover, strive to maintain this level of open communication throughout the case. Regularly update your client about their legal matter’s progress, any works in progress, and the corresponding fees for each law firm accounts receivable management milestone you’ve achieved. Law firms may find it useful to invest in setting up a secure client portal like TimeSolv’s in-app feature, where clients can easily access this information. If not addressed immediately, ARs can make your cash flow unstable and unpredictable, even affecting your ability to cover expenses.
A Better Way to Manage Your Law Firm’s Accounts Receivables
- Attorneys deserve to be paid on time for the valuable work they do—and when you’re running a busy practice, you don’t want to waste time chasing down clients for payment.
- Each of these actions build client confidence and improve your collection rate.
- The future of legal workflow automation lies in the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
- However, some law firms struggle to receive on-time payments and may not receive payments until well past the due date.
- These tools allow you to create detailed invoices in a flash, easily manage client accounts, and send automated payment reminders.
- So, offering different payment options for your clients is appropriate.
Since the heavy lifting is done in the backend, you can easily customize every invoice to a client’s needs in a fraction of the time. Solicitors are highly skilled professionals, so they shouldn’t waste their valuable time bookkeeping following up on outstanding bills. Unfortunately, too many firms struggle to optimise their accounts receivable processes, meaning valuable fee-earners spend too long chasing up overdue payments. Once this date has passed and the firm still hasn’t received what clients owe, they will then reach out to gently enquire/remind the client about their invoice.
Legal practices face diverse expenses, from personnel costs and office overhead to technology investments and marketing efforts. Proper management ensures that resources are deployed efficiently to maintain profitability. However, zero AR may be tricky to achieve when you’re already caught in the thick of managing high receivables. To lay a solid groundwork for key internal improvements, it’s essential to learn how you can effectively collect accounts receivable. The best time to pitch clients on scheduling payments is during intake. You can have them sign payment authorization forms and set up the payment plan from the get-go.
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