Streamline Invoicing and Get Paid Faster
Most law firm owners know the struggle of having to chase down outstanding payments, reconcile billed hours, and manage their books. And considering that traditional billing has typically been a manual process, these activities can be time consuming and frustrating.
Fortunately, lawyers today are spoiled for choice when it comes to online billing software options. These digital tools make it easy to automate invoices, send payment reminders, generate reports, and keep your finances in check.
Here are some of the best lawyer billing software tools law firms are using today to take control of their books and get paid faster.
How Can Billing Software Benefit Your Law Firm?
As a lawyer, it can be easy to fall back on traditional billing methods. After all, these processes are reliable and familiar. However, these methods also consume more time and are prone to human error. You know what they say – “Time is money!”
Billing software, on the other hand, allows you to streamline your billing operations and improve productivity in your practice. It’s also less prone to manual errors, ultimately saving you from headaches and lost revenue.
Here are some of the benefits of integrating billing software into your practice:
- Improved Efficiency: Online billing software makes it easy to automate time-consuming tasks like generating invoices, tracking billable hours, and managing expenses. This reduces manual effort and saves you time.
- Fewer Manual Errors: Billing software uses automated calculations and reports to effectively generate accurate invoices and insights into your law firm’s finances.
- Straightforward Organization: Billing software centralizes all your billing-related information and documents in one accessible platform, making it easy for you to retrieve client billing history and financial records.
- Faster Invoicing: Save time compared to creating manual invoices from scratch by using pre-built invoice templates, automated invoicing features, and recurring follow-up emails.
- Simplified Payment Processing: Allow clients to pay via multiple payment options or via an integrated payment gateways directly within the billing software. This makes it easy for clients to pay via their preferred method, reducing delays.
- Built-In Compliance: Stay compliant with legal and regulatory requirements by automatically applying tax rates and generating audit-ready reports. Billing software helps minimize compliance risks for your firm.
- Cost Savings: Reduce your overhead costs associated with manual billing processes by automating repetitive tasks, optimizing resource allocation, and improving overall operational efficiency.
Top Billing Software Options for Lawyers
If you’ve been looking for a better way to bill clients and get paid faster, it might be time to consider online billing software. With so many options on the market, though, it can be difficult to choose the best solution for your business.
Here are the all-around best lawyer billing software options that today’s lawyers love:
TimeSolv
TimeSolv is a comprehensive legal billing software designed specifically for legal professionals to streamline their billing processes, manage time tracking, and handle invoicing efficiently.
TimeSolv offers a range of features and functionalities tailored to the unique needs of legal practices, and is especially suited to small law firm businesses.
Some key features of TimeSolv include:
- Billable time tracking
- Expense management
- Document management
- Invoicing templates
- Flexible billing options
- Online payment processing
- Centralized client portal
- Reporting and analytics
- Robust integrations
- Mobile app/accessibility
Rocket Matter
Rocket matter is a cloud-based case management and billing software designed specifically for law firms. It boasts a wide range of features, allowing you to streamline your operations, improve productivity, and enhance client service.
Suited to law firms of all sizes, rocket matter can help you increase efficiency and grow your law firm by being able to accommodate more clients. Some of rocket matter’s best features include:
- Time tracking
- Expense tracking
- Customizable invoice templates
- Flexible billing options
- Online payment processing
- Matter management
- Document management
- Calendar and task management
- Client communication portal
- Reporting and analytics
- Robust integrations
C^RET
C^RET (formerly known as AbacusNext) is a legal practice management and billing software best suited to law firms with complex needs. With a focus on security and reliability, C^RET offers a suite of integrated software tools designed to streamline your workflows and improve business efficiency.
We love C^RET due to its wide range of features, such as:
- Practice management tools
- Time tracking
- Billing and invoicing
- Document management
- Centralized client communication
- Customizable billing templates
- Automated invoicing
- Online payment processing
- Document indexing, version control, and collaboration
- Data security and compliance best practices
- Full-stack accounting software
- Financial reporting
- Cloud hosting
Filevine
Founded in 2012, FileVine has gained popularity for its user-friendly interface and robust features, tailored to the needs of legal professionals. It is a state of the art lawyer billing software tool that helps legal professionals streamline their operations and get paid faster.
Filevine is also a case management platform, helping law firms reduce redundant tasks, draft, send, and organize documents, and maintain client communication.
Here are a few more of the amazing features Filevine has to offer:
- Case management
- Document management
- Task automation
- Client communication through a client portal
- Integration capabilities
- Reporting and analytics
- Customization options
- Time tracking and billing
- Calendar and scheduling
- Email integration
- Mobile access
- Collaboration tools
- Client intake and onboarding
- File sharing and collaboration
- Compliance management
MyCase
MyCase is another popular billing software solution suited to all types of law firms, but especially those that use QuickBooks for invoicing. It helps law firms “say Goodbye” to wasted time and manual invoices, and “Hello” to automated invoice creation, billing, and time-tracking.
Using MyCase for your law firm billing is easy. Simply choose one of their customizable invoice templates, plug in the details, and click “send”. Or, you can duplicate past invoices to create an invoice for a new client or schedule recurring invoices for the same client.
MyCase also offers an expansive suite of case and practice management tools. Some of their best features include:
- Time tracking
- Expense tracking
- Customizable invoice templates
- Online payment processing
- Client intake forms
- Legal Client Relationship Management (CRM)
- Calendaring
- Workflow automation
- Case analytics
- Client portal access
- Trust accounting
- Financial reporting
- Integration capabilities
Clio
Clio is another popular lawyer billing platform that’s great for growing firms, as they present a range of helpful, scalable solutions.
Clio simplifies everything from billing and invoicing to client communications and document management. You can even use their CRM tools to convert new leads into clients, manage your calendar, send reminders, share documents, and so much more.
Here are just a few of the many features Clio billing software has to offer:
- Time tracking and billing
- Online payments
- Customizable invoices
- Expense tracking
- Trust accounting
- Automated bill reminders
- Client portal access
- Reporting and analytics
- Integration with accounting software
- Split billing
- Case management
- Document management and sharing
- Budget tracking
- Flat fee billing
- Retainer management
Invoiced
Invoiced is a lesser known (but highly reviewed) billing software tool. While it is not specifically tailored for the legal industry, it offers a range of features that can help law firms streamline their online billing.
Such features include, but are not limited to:
- Customizable invoices
- Automated recurring billing
- Online payments
- Payment reminders
- Accounting integration (e.g. QuickBooks, Xero)
- Accessible client portal
- Financial reporting and analytics
- Customizable payment plans
- Late fee management
PracticePanther
PracticePanther is an all-in-one legal case management solution that offers everything from billing to trust accounting to legal CRM. Its use of automation allows you to streamline repetitive tasks, improve efficiency, and increase cash flow.
Specifically, PracticePanther’s legal billing tools empower law firms to save time with automated time tracking, payment tracking, expense reporting, year-end reporting, and more.
Law firms love PracticePanther due to its many case management and billing capabilities:
- Time tracking and billing
- Customizable invoices
- Online payments
- Expense tracking
- Trust accounting
- Recurring billing
- Payment reminders
- Client portal access
- Reporting and analytics
- Integration with accounting software
- Flat fee billing
- Split billing arrangements
- Retainer management
- Expense reimbursement tracking
- Billing automation and scheduling
- Late fee management
- Billing templates customization
What to Look for in a Lawyer Billing Solution
If you’re trying to choose the right billing solution for your practice, there are a few factors to consider. Ultimately, what you choose should be based on the specific needs, scale, and structure of your business.
Here are a few things to look for when choosing a billing solution:
- Scalability: Is the platform able to grow with your business as you expand your client base? Choose a billing software that can adapt to the changing needs of your firm.
- Time Tracking: Does your firm need to track billable hours and reimbursable expenses? Find a tool that allows for time tracking in real-time and includes detailed expense reporting.
- Remote Access: Do you need to access billing information and perform billing tasks on the go? Find a cloud-based billing software that offers remote accessibility and/or a mobile app.
- Integrated Payment Processing: Do you want clients to have the option to pay with credit card, ACH, PayPal, etc.? Find a software that offers multiple payment options and seamlessly integrates with popular payment gateways like QuickBooks or Stripe.
- Client Portal Access: Do you want to allow clients to review their documents, update payment information, etc. directly in the platform? Find a billing solution that has a centralized client portal.
- Automated Late Payment Reminders: Want to reduce the burden of chasing overdue payments? Look for a platform that allows you to set automated reminders for clients with outstanding balances.
- Integrations: Need a platform that integrates with your other legal tools? You might need to shop around to find a solution that integrates with your website, CRM, invoice platform, or other tools of choice.
Billing Software Reviews from Real Lawyers
Any platform can claim to be the “best” billing solution, but the proof is in the pudding. That’s why we asked real lawyers in our network which platforms they prefer, and why. Here’s what they had to say.
“We swear by FileVine!”
“At Omega Law Group we use FileVine. We swear by it as it is customizable, and you can tailor fit it to your needs. There are also a lot of third-party integrations that are available. It does take some effort to customize it to exactly what you need but once you do that I don’t think there is a better software out there.” – Robin Saghian, Omega Law Group
“We love Invoiced!”
“At New Frontier Immigration Law, we use Invoiced. This platform allows us to seamlessly track and process over 1,000 payment plans per month, see revenue projections with a click of a button, and also provide our clients with access to their invoices 24/7. It integrates with LawPay and allows for ACH. We love it.” – Hillary Walsh, New Frontier Immigration Law
“Clio is the best”
“Between my experience as a former partner at a Biglaw firm and now running my own firm, I have used multiple billing software solutions. I have found Clio to be the best. It has an easy and intuitive user interface, it’s customizable, it provides a variety of options to communicate with clients who are being billed, it allows for the ability to edit the invoices in a variety of ways, and their customer service call line is knowledgeable, helpful, and available whenever you need assistance.” – Zack Domb, Domb Rauchwerger
Scale Your Law Firm, Increase Revenue
Legal billing software allows you to save time and increase efficiency by streamlining your billing processes. But it doesn’t actually bring your clients in the door. With legal marketing, you can create a pipeline of new leads that keeps your business thriving and profitable!
At Hennessey Digital, we offer professional legal marketing services to help law firms generate more engagement, traffic, and leads. With SEO, Google Ads, social media, and more, we can help drive more revenue for your business.
Contact us to learn more about our law firm marketing services.