Charging your clients for legal services offered may appear to be a routine practice for most attorneys. However, you should understand that delivering a bill that features vague descriptions or with minimal explanation is bound to upset your clients and most probably drive them away to another law firm. Again, you should not charge low fees in a bid to please the clients. For attorneys in solo practice, implementing a business process policy may sound too overwhelming. Whether you are into solo attorney practice or running a law firm, here are few tips to help you improve the efficiency of your attorney billing.
1. Have Time Keepers Bill for All Hours Worked
The best way to manage your time is learning how you are spending it. Understanding how time is being spent in the office will influence decision-making, regarding priorities. Additionally, this will help you ascertain when the business is in need of additional staff. It is also advisable to have all the employees in the firm account for their office time. This will help you see how much time the employees are wasting on activities that are not billable; hence, redirect them to focus their attention on billable work.
2. Come Up with Invoices That Are Simple And Clear
The problem with other billing processes is not the size of the bill, but rather what the bill communicates to the clients. If your invoice is not communicating clearly, regarding the work completed, the client will not be satisfied. Additionally, invoices that are not in line with the clients? expectations and contain complicated descriptions will not please as well. When this happens, clients will resent the bill and not be ready to pay the amount in question. To avoid this, you should come up with invoices that are clear, practical, and easy to understand.
3. Incorporate Legal Technology
Owing to technological advancement, there are various tools and systems that may be used by attorneys and law firms to enhance the efficiency of their billing process. Using such technology is advisable, but you should opt for the tools and systems that are specifically designed for use by attorneys and law firms. This is because lawyers have specific needs that generic technology may not be capable of processing.
Efficient billing in your law firm will boost client satisfaction and ensure the business is profitable for you. This will make it easier for you to manage and grow the business.
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