Easy TimeBill: Legal Billing Software

Practice Management Features

• Built-in productivity features, such as legal calendaring, tasks (To-do list), case notes and linkeddocs.
• Keep all matter related activities such as appointments, task lists, case notes, etc., well organized and synched with billing records.

Legal Billing Features

• Create an unlimited number of TimeKeepers (billable persons) with up to eight rate levels for each TimeKeeper.
• Create matters and set billing types (hourly, flat fee, recurring, etc.) and optional minimum retainer requirement amount. Even for fixed or contingency fee matters, you can track time spent so you can analyze a matter's profitability.
• TimeKeepers billing rate can also be locally set for special matters instead of using global legal billing rate, which is very important when you offer discounts for a matter, or a previous years' legal billing rates are continued for older matters.
• Record billable time and expenses for matters. Create time entries individually or as a weekly timesheet. Software supports UTBMS standardized billing codes.
• Use an intuitive time clock system that permits work on multiple matters with individually controlled start/stop time clocks.
• Option to automatically compute and apply finance charges based on past-due amounts. Many law firms desire to apply finance charges but manual calculations are next to impossible. Easy TimeBill's finance charge utility makes it automatic and easy, enhancing your profitability.
• Customize and edit all invoices and letters with a built in editor. Change header/footer; insert logo, text, labels or special messages.
• Generate Invoices with an optional cover letter. Send invoices via email or save as Word/PDF document. Display past due and retainer balances on cover letters.
• Matter's unbilled and unpaid balances are automatically updated as time/expense cards are billed.
• Disbursements from operating accounts can be posted directly to a matter as Expense Card for later inclusion in invoices.

Receive Payments/Generate Notices

• Receive client advances (retainers) in either operating or trust bank accounts.
• Receive invoice payments with new client funds or apply retainers if available. If trust retainers are used, debit trust account automatically, prepare a check into trust bank, a deposit into operating bank and mark invoice paid, all in 1-click.
• Batch generate batch past due invoice reminder notices (e.g. 30, 60, 90 days) and send via email.
• Batch generate bulk retainer replenishment letters as retainer balances fall below minimum required for each matter and send by email.
• A matter's unpaid and retainer balances are updated automatically, as invoices are paid from new funds and/or retainer funds.

Banking Features

• Record income or expenses that are not matter-linked (e.g. rent payments) in separate categories. Matter linked expenses can be posted directly as Expense Cards for later inclusion in invoices.
• Refund excess client payments using credit memo and issue refund checks.
• Print checks and deposit slips.
• Perform monthly bank reconciliations. Keep each month's reconciled statement separate from other months.

Built In Conflict Checking System

• Software helps you comply with professional liability insurance requirements. Maintaining a conflict of interest system, which can adequately detect, identify and address any potential conflict, is a critical part of law office operation.
• Before adding a new client, simply run a conflict search against other clients and their related contacts.

Management Reports

• Comprehensive set of legal reports with numerous selection criteria and sorting options, separated into Accounting, Admin, Banking, Billing categories.
• Save all reports in PDF/Word/Excel formats.

Security Features

• User ID/Password based login system for ALL users.
• Assign per user login account permissions to limit access for certain activities, such as, invoice generation, check printing. etc.
• Special "Billing Lite" user account with "time entry only" permission. The user can enter time and expense cards without any ability to view matter balances or any other information.

Productivity Features

• Networked so multiple users can work simultaneously.
• Inactivate closed matters/bank accounts to prevent future inadvertent use.
• One-click database backup and restore options.
• Built in sample database for initial practice/learning.

Enterprise Version

• Suitable for multi-user licensees with expertise in managing a SQL Server.
• Industry standard SQL Server (or SQL Express) database back end.
• Enhanced level of data security; only users with access to database password can create data backup.
• SQL Server back end delivers a significant software speed advantage.

If your firm has purchased or plans to purchase three or more licenses and has the know-how to manage an SQL server, consider the Enterprise Version. Contact us for Enterprise Version pricing.

Practice Management Tools

Easy TimeBill is much more than legal billing software. The program also has many built-in productivity features, such as legal calendaring, tasks (To-do list), case notes and linkeddocs.

Automatic time tracking and billing is an administrative timesaver. However, keeping all matter related activities such as appointments, task lists, case notes, etc., well organized and synched with billing records is equally important. Preventing missed appointments or deadlines and ready access to ALL matter related activities and information can not only improve your firm's productivity and efficiency, but also help your firm provide superior client service and minimize professional liability risks.

• Calendaring - Track important appointments and reminders for each matter. View and print appointments based on Day view, Week view, Month view or Year view. You can view appointments for a specific matter or across all matters. A billing status flag for each appointment will help you tag billable meetings and pinpoint hours not yet billed.
• Tasks (To-Do Lists) - Track important tasks, their due dates and progress status along with each matter. You can view task lists for a specific matter or across all matters.
• Case Notes - A very simple yet powerful utility to capture loose notes pertinent to each matter.
• LinkedDocs - It is likely that each of your matters has multiple associated documents that are stored on your computer or firm network in multiple directories. The LinkedDocs feature allows you to maintain a list of documents related to each matter for easy identification and viewing. All you need to do is add document links and provide supporting information related to that document.

Trust Account Integration

If your firm handles client trust funds, you can add the optional Easy Trust module to Easy TimeBill. Seamless integration of Easy Trust module allows you to manage all aspects of your time tracking, billing and trust accounting in one easy to use program. There is no need for a separate installation.

Read: Why Law Firm Trust Account and Billing Systems Must Work in Tandem.

With integrated trust accounting option, you can

• Track all funds in and out of client trust accounts.
• Keep 360 degree view of client activities, be it billing, payments or client trust ledgers.
• Disburse funds, including check printing, from trust account to third parties or yourself.
• Prevent common trust accounting mistakes (e.g. ledger overdraft).
• Perform bank reconciliation and generate three-way reconciliation reports with this module.

The annual number of disciplinary actions and disbarments that arise out of client trust fund mismanagement is alarming. Most disciplinary actions are the result of careless mistakes brought from bad bookkeeping practices. Don't let it happen to you.

E-Billing

At times, law firm's client(s) may require invoices to be submitted in an electronic format ("e-bill") rather than on paper copy. This requirement is widely prevalent with large insurance firms who must maintain uniformity and audit controls in the type of bills they receive from their vendors (you).

Your client might instruct you to provide e-bill in a specific format such that their reader software can understand. Simply providing them a PDF or Word copy of your invoice from Easy TimeBill will not be sufficient as e-bills are an electronic file generated in a pre-defined format.

While there are many different electronic bill formats in the market, industry-standard format is LEDES98B.

Easy TimeBill has an optional add-on E-Bill module that supports generation of LEDES98B format invoice. We will add more formats as it becomes necessary.

To add E-Bill module to your Easy TimeBill license or to see a live demo on how E-Billing works, please call us at 800-905-7638.