PCLaw /PCLaw Pro Version 9

Transcription

1 LexisNexis Practice Management PCLaw /PCLaw Pro Version 9 Best Practices at Getting

2 Agenda Accurate and timely bills; Prebill Summary Report (as a checklist) Mass billing v. individualized billing; Skipped Matter List Suggested Billing Reports Transferring Trust Trust to General Transfer (before billing); Trust to General Transfer (at billing); Trust Bank Journal to Review; All trust transfers on one check (pros and cons) Tips/Tricks to Receiving Payments Payments by matter Payments by client Payments by Major Client Payments of one single invoice only Cash/Check Credit Card Processing in PCLaw Setup and management PCLaw /PCLawPro

3 BILLING TIPS PCLaw /PCLawPro

4 BILLING TIPS FOR ACCURACY Set up and enforce a cut off date for time; Suggest that each timekeeper track his/her 7 hour day (at least); Make pre-bills easy to read and understand, but full of good, logical data; Enforce (as best you can) a pre-bill return date; Use Prebill summary to ensure that all prebills are returned; Consider moving to the Bill Flow Manager firm wide to save the environment.

5 REPORTS - BILLING Billing Skipped Matter List After Pre-bills have been run, en masse, run this report to determine which matters were skipped and why (i.e. Insufficient Charges; Already Billed in Frequency). Reports Clients Fees Listing After the monthly billing, run this report to determine which matters still have unbilled time. Review to determine if these matters should have been billed, or were correctly skipped. Reports Journal Billing (Fees) This report shows all invoices created during a given date range or by Introducing, Responsible, Assigned, or Working attorney, including fee allocations, disbursements, taxes, retainers applied, payments and aged invoice balances. Reports Productivity Fee Allocation Summary Lists the fees billed, collected and written off by the responsible lawyer. Run this report to analyze not only timekeeper productivity, but also oversight of matters by responsible lawyer. You can see billing, collections and fee write offs by lawyer for the time period requested. Reports Productivity Productivity by Client This is a nice report to run at years end. It will show a listing of clients sorted by Billed Fees; Paid Fees; Unbilled Fees; Billed Disbursements; Unbilled Disbursements; Total Fees; Total Disbursements; Total A/R; Total Trust; OR Total Paid. The report can help you determine who your good clients are vs. the duds!

6 TRUST PCLaw /PCLawPro

7 Trust Account Transfers First and foremost manage trust fastidiously; Reconcile trust without fail; 2 ways to transfer trust Trust to General Transfer; Using the Auto Fill Button Transfers at Billing; Transfer in compliance with your State/Provincial bar association rules.

8 REPORTS - TRUST Reports Journals Trust Bank This report is your Bank Journal for the Trust account. If you are not using the Deposit Slip module you can use this report to show all receipts on a deposit for a given date range. This report shows the user who input the entry. Reports Journals Trust Bank Matter-to-Matter Transfer This report details trust monies moved between matters. Reports Client Trust Listing This report lists the balance of trust money by matter in the Trust account. This report should be printed monthly and filed with the Bank Reconciliation. The total value of this report SHOULD equal the balance in your Trust Account see $ on the toolbar.

9 RECEIVING PAYMENT PCLaw /PCLawPro

10 Receive Payments vs. General Retainer Firm Receipts non matter related receipts (reimbursements, rent from sub-tenants, equity buy in s, etc.); General Retainer LIMITED USE! Use only for UP FRONT fees earned (and if the state/province bar permits); Receive Payment MOST COMMON. Must designate an invoice or invoices being paid. Overpayments will go in as General Retainer/Credit.

11 REPORTS RECEIPTS Reports Journal General Bank This report is your Bank Journal for the General account. If you are not using the Deposit Slip module you can use this report to show all receipts on a deposit for a given date range. To run, input the date range and select Include Receipts only. Reports Clients Summary This report can be ran to determine what matters have a GENERAL RETAINER. To run, go to the OTHER tab and select Include Only Matters With Retainer Balances. Reports Accounts Receivable Payment Allocation Listing This report shows the allocation of all MONIES APPLIED to invoices; including the split for fees vs. disbursements and allocation by Attorney. This report will also show a summary of monies received by Introducing Attorney and Type of Law. Reports Productivity Collection Summary This report shows a summary by timekeeper, by date of all MONIES RECEIVED which are matter related, including General Retainers. This report also shows by timekeeper, by date the total amounts billed and the outstanding A/R balance for each month.

12 CREDIT CARD PROCESSING PCLaw /PCLawPro

13 PCLaw Credit Card Processing LexisNexis preferred vendor only: P.P.I. (Payment Processing, Inc Credit Card Security (requires strict compliance); P.P.I. can interface with all Banks. There is NO NEED to purchase/lease a terminal; Update actual bank, PCLaw General Bank and charges the card in one transaction!

14 Thank you for attending! Steven J. Best, Esq. Certified Independent Consultant for LexisNexis Practice Management Best Law Firm Solutions, Inc North Point Parkway Suite 94 Alpharetta, Georgia Tel Web: Time Matters Total Practice Advantage PCLaw/PCLawPro HotDocs/HotDocsPro