If you have been on the fence about whether to get QuickBooks — or whether to upgrade your old copy — now is the time. Amazon has QuickBooks Pro 2012 for $94 off the regular price.
Sam Glover has been writing about law practice technology, management, marketing, and other stuff on Lawyerist since 2007. He consults on appeals and motion practice in his solo practice. When he isn't blogging or lawyering, Sam drinks espresso and plays with fountain pens.
![Nominate the Best Law Firm Websites (2013 Edition) [UPDATED]](http://lawyerist.com/lawyerist/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-popular-posts/timthumb.php?src=http://lawyerist.com/lawyerist/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/best-law-firm-websites-nominations-2013.jpg&h=90&w=90)
Read the comments below or add one of your own.
Link is broken. Leo and I are considering Quickbooks.
Fixed.
What are you using for bookkeeping now? If you aren’t using a total package practice management sofware, QuickBooks is pretty much the way to go.
Wait, you aren’t keeping paper ledgers, are you? That would be kind of awesomely retro.
Yup. Paper ledgers.
Bookkeeping/accounting is one of those things where software is a need, in my opinion. While it is definitely valuable to know how to keep paper ledgers (or to do double-entry accounting without specialized software in general), accounting software has too many advantages to be merely nice to have. Get QuickBooks.
Sam: How did you learn Quickbooks. I bought a book and its a steep curve, for me.
Also, I bought QB Premiere 2011. I read that it would let me set different rates for different clients, or even for different cases for the same client. Would getting a later version of QB Pro take away that capability (if you know).
I’m thinking of paying a local accountant to help me get set up and teach me the basics. Probably the way to go, non?
With the help of a patient accountant and a copy of Bookkeeping for Dummies.
I highly recommend having an accountant set up your books, at least at the start.
I found two helpful files on working with quickbooks, especially on the trust account side. To be fair, my wife’s an accountant. So she helped with quite a bit too. These documents guided us both in our understanding of accounting for lawyers though:
From the Minnesota State Bar: http://www.practicelaw.org/ricofiles/pdf/trustacctsqb2010.pdf
From the Sleeter Group: http://www.sleeter.com/supplemental/kb/LawFirms.pdf