One Entry to Rule Them All: It’s Time to Ditch Your Old School Time and Billing System

Many law firms still operate with pen-and-paper time and billing systems, but that’s like a recipe for losing money.  Of course there’s no time like the present to change your ways and recapture more of the money you make.

There are two moves you can apply, in short order, to revise your time and billing practices, that will combine to change your (work) life: (1) Move to a single-entry system for billing; (2) Get a law practice management software system in place.  The first maneuver is something that lawyers are traditionally reticent to do, because it seems to place more work in their laps: rather than handwriting time capture notes and submitting them to a secretary, attorneys are instead inputting their own time capture data into a time capture software directly.  That process only happens once (not twice, like when you write down your time, and then have your secretary convert it to another system), and thereby reduces the likelihood for error and lost time.  Delegation is usually great, just not in this case — because it’s actually inefficient and redundant; and you’re definitely losing money, as captured time becomes lost time as it pushes down an unnecessarily long funnel.

Utilizing a modern cloud-based time and billing program is the next big step you can take.  That’s where you input your time, the one time you do it.  Time and billing systems have largely morphed from single-feature structures into case management systems, which include time and billing programs — but also much more: as relational databases that can track all of your case records and can effectively integrate with other relevant programs, like accounting softwares.  Choosing a modern case management system not only solves for the single entry time capture requirement, it also allows you to create billing workflows, review pre-bills and utilize batch billing — to send out all outstanding invoices at once.  It’s at once a time-saver and a moneymaker.

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If you need to revamp your billing system, we can help you to make the money you deserve.

The Wyoming State Bar offers free law practice management consulting services through Red Cave Law Firm Consulting.

To request a consult, visit the Wyoming State Bar’s law practice management page, and start running your law firm like a business.

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