Tag Archives: legal billing software

Legal Time and Billing Solutions You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet!

Where did the time go? Is it really 2012?!

It was just four years ago–2008–that Easy Soft launched Easy TimeBill, a platform which has since revolutionized legal time and billing procedures for thousands of small and mid-sized law firms.

Since then, our legal billing software has rapidly grown and evolved. Today, Easy TimeBill is a distinguished product of choice. Its ease, elegance, and simplicity dovetail nicely with a deep, intuitive understanding of what you need, down to the integration of everything from automated billing to payment reminders to everyone’s favorite: legal trust accounting. On its fourth anniversary, our proud young software is widely employed–and celebrated!–across the nation.

And it’s not just a matter of tooting our horn (although we are very proud!). To our fans and users and prospects, let it be said. You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Still to come: a full suite of practice management tools, including an integrated calendar, to-do lists, and even appointment makers.

You see, our philosophy is very simple. We’re intent on giving you features that make sound sense. Email functionality? That’s just silly. Most of you are on Outlook, and the ones who aren’t are likely on Google Apps. So we won’t bother with that.

But wouldn’t it be nice to tick off your tasks, view your week at a glance, and allow your clients to fill your appointment book–all from a program that you hand out in for most of the workday? We thought so. So we’ll be rolling that out, among other things, in 2012.

Hold applause, please. Your patronage suits us fine. To learn more about our legal time and billing software and its integration into trust accounting and other delights of law firm administration, give us a call # (732)-398-1001.

Posted by Rick Kabra on December 23, 2011 in Legal Software | Leave a comment
Technorati Tagged : , , ,

Cash Flow (Part 1 of 4)

If cash flow isn’t the key to business success, lack of cash flow is the reason that many businesses fail. These businesses neglect to set aside enough cash for the capital infusions they need. Or, they neglect to set aside the reserves needed to pay their overhead, and keep things running smoothly until the next round of receivables is deposited.

In law firms, this problem can be particularly poignant. The emphasis in a law firm isn’t typically on cash: it’s on billing. Yet, as we like to say here at Easy Soft: money is money. Cash flow encompasses both billables (retainers, hourly fees) and non-billables (fixed overhead, expenses) – and it’s impossible to track or quantify without the proper legal billing software and other systems in place.

Moreover, if you’re a solo practitioner or managing partner of your law firm, and don’t have the proper attorney billing software in place to a) collect adequate retainers, b) invoice clients in a timely way, c) track your expenses, d) collect your expenses, e) accept payments, f) charge interest for late payments, and g) conduct other activities related to maintaining an adequate cash reserve, then not only does your cash flow suffer: so do you.

We’re guessing, but we bet you’re experiencing a low-level worry that gnaws – however subtly – in your mind.

If you can take that worry out of the picture, why wouldn’t you?

You’d spend the time gaining more clients and enhancing your profitability.

You can streamline your operations, ramp up your collection process, and enhance your profitability.

In this series of posts, we will focus on the critical tracking, billing, and collection issues which affect law firm success rates.

If you want to get a jump on this information, call Easy Soft at 800-905-7638, and talk to a representative about your law firm cash flow management today.

Posted by Rick Kabra on November 14, 2011 in Legal Software | Leave a comment
Technorati Tagged : , , ,

Easy Accounting for Hourly Billers

If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you know how strongly we feel that a law firm using generic, non- legal billing and accounting software is a law firm missing out on an opportunity to be efficient, streamlined, and state bar compliant.

Easy Soft’s legal billing and trust accounting software solves the problem. Easy TimeBill and Easy Trust are popular law-specific programs that meet legal billing and compliance requirements. And they do so no matter what your fee arrangements look like: whether they’re based on hourly, fixed or contingency fees.

Today, we’re going to focus on hourly billers. Family or divorce lawyers, wills, trusts and estates lawyers, general civil and commercial litigators, elder lawyers and commercial bankruptcy attorneys are examples of legal practices that typically employ an hourly fee structure. If your practice falls into one of these areas, then chances are, you receive client advances in the form of retainers, then track your daily billable time across multiple matters. Very likely, you track your expenses as incurred, and generate periodic (say, monthly) bills, and either pay them out of your clients’ retainer balances, or from new money received from your clients. You’ll probably need to juggle funds between your trust accounts and your operating accounts.

Easy TimeBill can handle all of this. You set billing rates for all timekeepers (changeable between matters), track your time and expenses per entry, and generate invoices accordingly. At the beginning of an engagement, you deposit retainers in your operating or trust accounts, then move funds between accounts according to how they are earned. You can generate detailed administrative reports, prepare payment reminders—and even initiate low retainer balance letters and collection efforts: all from the same legal billing program.

For operating accounts, we do recommend using a standard accounting program such as QuickBooks—preferred by CPAs. QuickBooks data entry becomes minimal with need to only enter data on hourly legal fees received (either from new funds or trust funds) and quarterly/yearly account receivables.

As for trust accounting, what Easy TimeBill doesn’t handle, the Easy Trust module will. Our trust accounting software allows you to receive retainers, track trust funds for individual matters, and even print disbursement checks across the proper number of accounts. You can generate required reports, reconcile bank account statements—even perform three-way reconciliations among your trust and operating accounts.

Life becomes easier. That’s why we call it Easy Soft.

To learn more about our billing and trust accounting software for attorneys, call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638.

Posted by Rick Kabra on October 11, 2011 in Attorney Trust Accounting, Legal Billing | Leave a comment
Technorati Tagged : , , , , , , , , , ,

Lawyers Will be Lawyers

We know. You went to school for years, and boast a doctorate behind your name. You contextualize eloquently, and your logic is more or less unflawed.

But when it comes down to it, how is the law really different from other professional practices?

Well, let’s see. You advise clients. So do doctors and accountants.

Second, you collect a retainer, and bill your client according to a pre-arranged plan. Consultants do this, too, as do many technologists.

Third, your brain is your biggest tool—followed closely by your legal software. We can’t list all the professions that can say this.

Fourth, you deal with forms and other paperwork on your clients’ behalf. Yeah…you have our sympathy there (as do CPAs).

But wait. Let’s look closer at the second factor. A legal retainer is different from other professions, in the sense that the money doesn’t belong to you—unless you earn the money.

Until then, you’re just a bailee.

If you’re still using generic software to track your invoicing and payments, then you’re not leveraging technology to your advantage. And you’re probably running the risk of violating a principle that your state bar takes veeeery seriously.

Here at Easy Soft, our legal billing software -Easy TimeBill-is married to our trust accounting software -Easy Trust. What’s a huge effort to some attorneys becomes effortless to our clients.

To be clear: attorney billing software without escrow account software is like watching half a movie. It’s like using a spreadsheet program that doesn’t scale. At all. You’re only looking at one portion of your accounting—and neglecting what’s ethically crucial.

In comes Easy Soft. You collect your retainer, earn it, transfer it from one account (trust or escrow) to the other (operating). Easy TimeBill and Easy Trust track everything—and make sure you’re on the up and up. It reconciles your accounts, too.

Easy? You bet. Is there any alternative? We don’t think so. Click here for more information.

Posted by Rick Kabra on October 5, 2011 in Legal Software | Leave a comment
Technorati Tagged : , , , , , , , , , ,

Pop Quiz: How Well Do You Understand Trust Accounting?

The bar exam and your professional responsibility class are ancient history. You’re not an ethics lawyer, and you don’t file legal malpractice suits. All the more reason we want to spring this pop quiz on you!

Q1: Which of these funds do not belong in your clients’ trust accounts?

1. Earned fees

2. Personal funds

3. Real estate escrow funds, such as a down payment on a house

4. Your firm’s operating funds

5. Personal injury settlements

6. Collections

7. Retainers and advances

8. Other settlements and judgments

A1: Numbers 1, 2, 4, and perhaps 7—depending on whether the retainers and advances have been earned.

Q2: How do you make sure this actually happens, so that you keep your nose clean at all times?

A2: Get an all-in solution like Easy Soft’s Easy TimeBill and Easy Trust. Our trust accounting software gets you in compliance and prepared ­for a knock on the door from random bar auditors—at all times.

Basically, here’s how it works.

•  You’re retained by a new client.

•  The client pays your retainer, which you deposit into your trust account. Our escrow accounting software takes note of this.

•  You track your hours and bill your client—both through our legal billing software.

•  You debit your trust account for the earned portion of the retainer. Then, you move this portion into your law firm’s operating account.

Here’s another question.

Q3: What are the five steps to keeping your trust accounting clean?

A3: Step one: keep all of your client’s funds in separate accounts. Step two: make sure your client ledger has a positive balance. Step three: make sure all money is in the proper (trust v. operating) account at all times. Step four: reconcile everything. Step five: keep paper records of your check stubs and expense receipts.

Don’t lose sleep over trust fund accounting . Follow the above rules, and you’ll always be prepared for an audit.

Easy? You bet. Click here for more information.

Posted by Rick Kabra on September 28, 2011 in Attorney Trust Accounting, Legal Billing | Leave a comment
Technorati Tagged : , , , , , , , , , ,

Slap a Finance Charge On It – Legal Time & Billing Software

Late payments from clients. No fun, right? No matter what kind of legal billing software you have, late payments require you to send (yet) another bill and nag your client—neither of these fun tasks. And statistics show: the longer it takes for a bill to get paid, the harder it is to collect.

The way we look at it, you might as well get something for your troubles. And if that something is a finance charge, then your client is put on notice—and realizes that there’s a cost factor attached to his or her delay. If push ever comes to shove, a finance charge also provides additional leverage for you. In short, finance charges are a winning scenario for attorneys all around.

Easy Soft’s Easy TimeBill program, our law office software now comes with a new feature: automatic assessments of finance charges on unpaid invoices (provided you wish to apply finance charges).

A little background here. We found out that our software clients-from solo practitioners to medium-sized law firms—were willing to assess finance charges for late payments. But they don’t.

9 times out of 10, you’re not refraining out of courtesy. You’re refraining because there’s no easy way to make the calculation—and compound it as time goes on. Add in partial payments—and the scenario gets even more math-heavy. (And we know from previous posts how much you love math!)

Nightmare no more! Easy TimeBill’s new finance charge feature allows you to set the interest rate (say 12%) and the grace period (say 30 days). You’re in complete control.

As you generate invoices, Easy TimeBill will look at unpaid invoices, apply the grace period, and assess any necessary finance charges.

To activate the feature, simply go to Tools. Then you select Billing Settings, then Finance Charge Settings. Then, you type in the desired interest rate, grace period, and charge type (simple or compound). Voila! Your global preferences are set, and your client now has a great reason to pay today .

Exceptions aren’t an issue: you simply uncheck the option for certain clients.

No one likes to be paid late. Time to fight back!

To learn more about our Attorney billing software, call us at 800-905-7638.

Posted by Rick Kabra on September 27, 2011 in Legal Billing | Leave a comment
Technorati Tagged : , , , , , , , , , ,