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LabCon 2024: The Power of Community and Collaboration for Law Firm Owners

Every year, a group of forward-thinking law firm owners come together for something a little different: LabCon, our annual “unconference” for members in our Lawyerist Lab Community. It’s more than just another business event—it’s a time for small firm lawyers to step away from their day-to-day responsibilities and fully immerse themselves in working on their businesses, alongside a community of like-minded peers.

For many of the attendees—whom we affectionately call “Labsters”—LabCon is the most anticipated event on their calendar. Why? Because it’s not just about learning; it’s about doing. They come ready to tackle the challenges that have been hanging over their heads and leave with actual results, plans, and momentum.

LabCon is built around our Healthy Firm Model, which emphasizes the six key areas crucial to running a thriving practice: Healthy Strategy, Healthy Teams, Healthy Clients, Healthy Systems/Tech, Healthy Profits, and Healthy Owners. This year, Labsters took full advantage of the opportunity to elevate their businesses in ways that are both meaningful and sustainable.

Kicking Off with Connection and Wins

LabCon started with an interactive session highlighting recent business wins for attendees and helping them identify the goals they wanted to achieve next. These conversations weren’t just feel-good moments—they fueled the next two days of hard work and set the stage for a weekend of focused work.

At LabCon, we create an environment where people stop the chaos of their day-to-day life and get intentional about their next steps. That energy is contagious! We love seeing lawyers realize they achieved the thing they once didn’t think was possible.

The Innovation Challenge: Fun with Purpose

Of course, what’s a gathering of brilliant minds without a little friendly competition? Our Labsters kicked off the evening with an Innovation Challenge to get their creative juices flowing. After a night of fun and collaboration, teams walked away with some silly, but solid ideas, they could apply to their own practices—and with even tighter bonds as a community.

Digging into the Work that Matters

The heart of LabCon is the work and Labsters rolled up their sleeves to tackle some of the most pressing aspects of their firms.

  • Succession and Emergency Plans: Labsters created their succession and emergency plans, critical yet often-overlooked parts of a firm’s long-term strategy.
  • Hiring and Delegation: Attendees honed their hiring processes and worked through best practices for delegating tasks—some even crafted job descriptions on the spot and mapped out their next hire. Delegation was a huge theme this year. Many Labsters explored how to better leverage virtual assistants (VAs) to free up their time and focus on higher-level work.
  • Marketing Mastery: In true LabCon fashion, marketing wasn’t just discussed—it was created. Many participants wrote new website copy and recorded videos to use for future campaigns. A few even launched entire content plans that will guide their firms’ messaging for months to come.
  • Systematizing for Growth: The Ops Manual Sprint was a game-changer. Attendees documented processes that had been lingering on to-do lists for far too long.
  • Reimagining Business Models: For those looking to move away from the billable hour, LabCon was pivotal. Labsters dug into their numbers, re-evaluated how they could collect more revenue, and explored alternative pricing models that could create more stability and profitability in their firms.

Labster Rikin Mozaria shared, “LabCon changed the way I look at my firm and gave me more clarity on what I need to do to get it from where it is to where I want it to be.”

Wellness: Because a Healthy Owner Makes a Healthy Firm

LabCon isn’t just about business, it’s about nurturing the whole person. Throughout the event, we carved out time for wellness. Labsters joined in on river walks, morning exercises, and quiet moments of meditation, allowing them to recharge and refocus. Creativity flourished during fun activities that gave them a chance to relax and express their artistic side.

And, of course, the food. You could barely turn around without being met with a snack or meal—including a self-serve ice cream machine that quickly became the weekend’s MVP.

Why You Should Be at the Next LabCon

LabCon is more than just a conference; it’s a transformative experience that redefines what it means to lead and grow a small law firm. Labster Kim Memmesheimer put it best: “Being with lots of other really innovative people, who are speedboats against the big barges of big law, was invaluable.”

When you join us at LabCon, you’re not just attending another event. You’re stepping into a room full of people who are ready to support your growth, challenge your ideas, and work alongside you to create a firm that doesn’t just survive but thrives.

Interested in joining us for Virtual LabCon? Sign up for a Lab discovery call using the form below. We’d love to talk to you about how we can help you guide your firm.

Avoid Lockup with Professional Invoices Through TimeSolv

Getting paid as attorneys means that we keep track of the work we do, that we send appropriate invoices in a timely manner, and that we promptly follow up on overdue invoices. It’s as simple as that.

Fortunately, today’s web-based software makes those tasks faster and simpler than ever. Using TimeSolv, you can quickly record billable events, add them to a professional-looking invoice, arrange billing and payment details, and send the client a bill with easy ePayment options.

Quickly Record Billable Events

While hourly-billing attorneys see the direct relationship of “time = money,” flat fee and contingency firms also benefit from at least occasional time tracking to know whether flat fees are correctly priced and how effectively firm processes work.

TimeSolv has the time tracking features all firms need:

  • Track Time Anywhere: In this era of an increasingly mobile workforce, having the right tools at your fingertips makes doing the right thing in the moment a no-brainer. Getting paid for your work starts with capturing all the work you do. With TimeSolv, you can record time from any device, at any time of day, from wherever you are, even without an internet connection.
  • Speedy, Consistent Entries: Much of the work we do daily follows similar patterns: meetings, court appearances, phone calls, researching, reviewing, and writing. TimeSolv offers Custom Abbreviations to speed up “repetitive” entries and ensure that all users describe events consistently. For example, rather have phone conversations described variously as “called X,” “phoned Y,” or “talked to Z,” set a custom abbreviation of “tfcw” that expands to “telephone call with.” You save a few seconds, and firm users create uniform time entries.
  • Account for Task Switching: For most attorneys, it’s a rare day when they can work uninterrupted. More often, you’re switching between emails, phone calls, meetings, etc. TimeSolv lets you track several tasks simultaneously by running multiple timers. When you start a new timer, any then-running timer pauses itself. Restart the paused timer later or turn it into a time entry.

Create Professional Invoices

Saying that an invoice looks professional means that it contains a few key traits:

  • it’s visually appealing;
  • it’s easy to understand; and
  • its payment instructions are clear.

TimeSolv makes creating professional invoices meeting these criteria a simple, point and click task.

Let’s look at the TimeSolv’s features that help you make better bills quickly:

  • Billing Templates: As with custom abbreviations, consistency matters. But what one wants consistently on a bill may vary by practice area or client. TimeSolv’s flexible billing templates meet that need. Create individual bill and estimate templates catering to each client’s requirements.
  • Split Billing: If you have matters with multiple clients, for example a mediation where each party pays half of the invoice, split billing support is essential. With TimeSolv, you can not only divide an invoice between parties, but also customize how that invoice is divided. For the mediation example, the division need not be 50/50 or an even split between all payors. You control the split percentages.
  • Easy Billing and Payment Options: Several TimeSolv tools ensure that you promptly distribute invoices and that clients can receive and pay bills in a way that works for them.
    • Batch Invoices: TimeSolv helps you create and send invoices to similar types of clients with one click, such as where you offer services with the same line items, shaving hours off monthly billing tasks. Use tools like recurring invoices and TimeSolvPay for billing saved credit card and/or bank account information for ongoing retainer fees.
    • Scheduled Invoices: Create date/time reminders of when invoices need to be delivered. Billing and invoicing on a schedule, or via recurring invoices, means bills go out timely, improving the likelihood of timely payments.
    • Electronic Billing: Skip overhead fees and wasted time from paper billing and use TimeSolv to bill electronically. Help your business master critical codes, including ABA task codes, UTBMS, LEDES 1998b, LEDES 1998BI, Chubbs, and Litigation Advisor.
    • Accept Electronic Payments: Clients can pay online through the client portal via credit cards and ACH. Schedule recurring invoices to bill clients on retainer automatically to their credit cards or bank account, lowering your accounts receivable.
    • Easier Mailing When Necessary: Some clients may hesitate to switch to electronic invoicing and billing. Meet their needs with TimeSolv, which gives you the ability to have TimeSolv physically mail invoices for you, making it easier to streamline your billing process.

Get Started Sending Great Invoicing

TimeSolv has the tools you need to easily and timely create, send, and collect on your firm’s invoices. Visit TimeSolv’s website to learn how it helps you bill faster with confidence.

 

Get Off My Cloud: Just How Secure is Apple’s Private Cloud Compute? 

This week, Apple announced its plan to bring artificial intelligence capabilities to iPhones and other Apple devices. This means photos, text messages, Notes, and other content will be able to capitalize on certain AI functionality. Imagine removing the background of a photo on your phone with Apple Intelligence. Cool, right?

AI processing and Apple security, however, don’t inherently go together. The privacy we have come to expect from products like iMessage derives from Apple’s mentality of processing everything on the device, rather than in the Cloud, or elsewhere. This limits potential points of weakness and allows Apple to say that even they don’t have access to a user’s iPhone and iMessage content. 

Yet even the iPhone 16, with Apple’s most advanced proprietary processors, doesn’t have the capacity to manage the large artificial intelligence tasks we’ve come to expect from generative AI. Apple must, inevitably, process this information elsewhere. If you want to remove the background from a photo on your phone, the photo must leave your device.

Leaving your device means going out into the scary world of the internet at-large. And it means storing your data on a server somewhere—even if it’s just temporary. Do you trust this server? Does Apple trust this server? Does the company who owns the server even trust the server?

Ideally, we wouldn’t have to answer these questions. In fact, Apple has taken pains to avoid these issues with its AI products so far. OCR and subject recognition in your photos still happen on your device. As does predictive text in iMessage. Alas, this is not possible with the new expectations of the capabilities of AI.

In response to this, Apple has brought its particular brand of security into off-device processing with its Private Cloud Compute (PCC) product. With PCC, Apple will process as much of the data as possible on-device and will send the remaining data to its specific servers. These servers have hardened security that is intended to be able to be guaranteed and independently verified. Interested readers can dig further into specifics in the Apple security blog article, Private Cloud Compute: A new frontier for AI privacy in the cloud.

For our purposes, Apple’s PCC means that third parties (including Apple itself) don’t have administrative, emergency, or backdoor access to the data that is processed on Apple’s servers. This cuts off one of the largest points of exploitation that exist on any computer. It also makes Apple Intelligence different from the vast majority of products on the market. 

Additionally, Apple has multiple levels of deleting (and verifying the deletion of) data that was processed on its servers. So, not only is it not training its AI models on your information, it isn’t even keeping logs of your prompts for debugging purposes.  

As with all artificial intelligence products out there, users will want to be wary of hallucinations, bad source data, and copyright issues that transcend AI models. And as always, we suggest that users should read the terms of service, and only give access to data they have vetted. But at first glance, it appears that Apple Intelligence has avoided some of the major pitfalls of other AI products on the market.  

Master Your Billing with Rocket Matter and QuickBooks 

We know that law school doesn’t teach attorneys how to run a business. Even so, law firms face greater financial complexity than other professions because we hold money as custodians on behalf of other people in special accounts specifically created for that purpose. Managing trust accounts (also known as IOLTA accounts), their recordkeeping, and reporting, or failing to do so, are among the most common ways lawyers face disciplinary action. 

Fortunately, we’ve come a long way from the days of ledger books and even spreadsheets. In the same way that Microsoft Word is the sine qua non of business writing, and Adobe Photoshop fulfills the same role for digital artists, QuickBooks plays that part for business accounting, especially small business accounting. And just as Word and Photoshop offer growing web-based versions, so too does QuickBooks with QuickBooks Online. 

Rocket Matter, an innovative, feature-rich law practice management system (LPMS), and one of the earliest online LPMS tools, offers a robust integration with QuickBooks Online. The combination of these best-of-breed products ensures easy, stress-free, and precise trust account management. 

Easy to Activate 

It takes only a few clicks to connect Rocket Matter with QuickBooks: 

  1. Click on the Accounting module on the left navigation panel in Rocket Matter; 
  1. Select QuickBooks, then toggle the integration on; 
  1. Sign in to QuickBooks when prompted; and 
  1. Select your company from within QuickBooks. 

That’s it. With those four simple steps, you’ve connected the two programs. 

On the QuickBooks Online side, there are some additional configuration steps. Of course, Rocket Matter is here to help. Their experts have prepared a help article and PDF guide to ensure you get the best interoperability available, maximizing the strengths of each program. 

Easy to Use 

Once connected and configured, Rocket Matter and QuickBooks work together to support your practice, making routine tasks simpler while providing a complete view of your financial picture. 

Think of the financial activities you perform in Rocket Matter. A list likely includes: 

  • Creating invoices and recording their payment; 
  • Altering invoices, including discounts and write-offs; 
  • Tracking matter “hard costs,” like filing fees; and 
  • Monitoring client trust accounts. 

Rocket Matter’s QuickBooks integration helps with all of these.  

Conveniences of the integration include: 

  • The ability to sync entire deposit slips between Rocket Matter and QuickBooks, rather than having to touch individual transactions, improving accuracy and speed for batch deposits; 
  • Simplifying reconciliation to eliminate the need for manual adjustments; 
  • The capability to customize your firm’s invoice payment syncing between Rocket Matter and QuickBooks; and 
  • Greater visibility into transaction details with comprehensive syncing logs. 

Easy to Appreciate 

A strong accounting system makes the day-to-day tasks of tracking bills, expenses, and payments as simple and straightforward as possible. It puts the right tools and information where you want it in the form you need it. Rocket Matter’s integration with QuickBooks passes these tests with flying colors. 

The combined power of Rocket Matter’s industry-leading LPMS and QuickBooks’ financial tools are supported and complemented by Rocket Matter’s relentless focus on helping attorneys. Rocket Matter works with you on the customization of general ledger accounts and services, so you can focus on practicing law while their experienced personnel handle the financial setup. And, of course, it’s all backed by the Rocket Matter team, with customer support available 24/7. 

The Rocket Matter-QuickBooks integration is a game-changer for streamlining financial management and ensuring accuracy. Learn more about it by visiting Rocket Matter’s website. 

Effortless, Specialized Trust Accounting with CosmoLex

Most attorneys worry about properly handling client money. Not only is mishandling of trust account funds among the leading sources of bar disciplinary action, but the concern is most acute among solo and small firm attorneys. Often, smaller firms lack the accounting staffing, structure, and software of larger competitors, and  are often less able to withstand a financial accident.

The best way for a small firm to overcome these hurdles is to embrace a user-friendly, integrated solution where matter information and accounting data coexist in a single software product.

CosmoLex Helps You Follow the Rules

Attorneys often joke that they attended law school instead of business school because they hate math. Unfortunately, every business involves math, and the joke may have the last laugh. Law firms confront two types of accounting: general business accounting and client trust accounting (also called IOLTA). And the rules and regulations for the two are completely different. Many accountants and bookkeepers themselves don’t know the IOLTA-specific concepts and compliance requirements.

Good trust accounting software prevents you from making errors. In the same way that law practice management software (LPMS) understands the concept of a “matter” (i.e., contacts plus appointments plus documents, time entries, expenses, notes, etc.) in a way that Outlook and Gmail do not, legal-specific accounting tools understand IOLTA requirements in a way that general business accounting packages do not.

Those respective understandings reinforce one another in CosmoLex, which combines matter management and accounting in one product. A single source of truth makes it easier to avoid trust accounting pitfalls like comingled funds, IOLTA overdrafts, duplicate check numbers, and other common errors.

CosmoLex Helps Make Trust Accounting Painlessly Paperless

Manual accounting is both time consuming and error prone. No matter whether you’re using a siloed piece of software, a series of Excel spreadsheets, or even paper ledger books, CosmoLex represents a tremendous step forward for accuracy, efficiency, and security.

A matter could have many moving parts involving a trust account. A single activity could impact client billing, trust, and operating accounts. For example, the firm invoices the client (client billing), then disburses trust funds to pay the invoice (trust account), and transfers those earned funds for its use (operating account). Recording this series of events correctly in multiple disconnected paper or electronic systems not only consumes time better spent elsewhere, but it also risks bookkeeping inaccuracies that become harder to find and correct the longer they linger.

With CosmoLex, you can:

  • Effortlessly manage single client ledgers or multiple trust accounts with separate ledgers for trust and operating accounts;
  • Apply trust funds to individual or bulk invoices with ease, including automatic transfers from trust to general accounts, and generate disbursement checks directly from the system; and
  • Efficiently manage and disburse third-party lien claims, import electronic bank statements, and auto-reconcile your books to save time and reduce errors.

CosmoLex’s integrated solution ties together matter activity and time tracking, invoicing, and accounts receivable. All pertinent data is always at your fingertips. This linkage reduces the risk of mistakes and omissions. It also saves time that might otherwise be spent tracking down and fixing discrepancies between an LPMS and a synced accounting program, to say nothing of spreadsheet files or ledger books.

CosmoLex Helps Reconcile You to Good Trust Accounting

Your jurisdiction’s governing body likely has rules regarding trust account reporting requirements. The more manual, disjointed, and infrequent your trust account bookkeeping and oversight, the more time consuming and painful any required reporting will be.

In many jurisdictions, your bookkeeping ledgers and bank statements must match to the penny on a daily basis. As attorneys, we have a fiduciary responsibility to handle client funds responsibly, and that includes the ability to comply timely with IOLTA tracking and reporting regulations.

CosmoLex performs three-way reconciliation reporting with just one click and provides a full set of trust record-keeping and financial reports to ensure compliance and transparency.

By using CosmoLex, a purpose-built, integrated solution, you stay continually informed on the status of your IOLTA account, eliminating the uncertainty, stress, and lost time that could otherwise result from weeks or months of lax trust account reconciliations.

Get Started with CosmoLex and Make Good Bookkeeping Easier

CosmoLex’s LPMS solution with integrated accounting offers three core, interconnected features to keep you compliant:

  • Built-in safeguards to prevent errors and missteps within the firm;
  • Automated bank account reconciliation to ensure that the firm and the bank match; and
  • Comprehensive reporting to know the health of the business and meet compliance needs.

Trust accounting with CosmoLex is seamlessly integrated into the legal software, operating alongside law practice management, billing, and general accounting functions.

CosmoLex ensures that your law firm’s trust bookkeeping is managed automatically, in real-time, and in the background. With CosmoLex, trust accounting becomes a streamlined, reliable process, allowing your firm to focus more on legal practice and less on financial administration. Learn about CosmoLex’s trust accounting tools, and its other powerful LPMS features, by visiting their website.

Get Started with ZillaMetrics Chat: Website Chat for Law Firm Intake

Prompt communication is a hallmark of a good law practice. Often clients aren’t able to judge the quality of your lawyering or possess a great sense of precisely where their outcome ranks on a scale from okay to exceptional. But they know if you’re available when they need you and how long you took to respond. This fact is truest when they’re first looking for an attorney’s help.

Web technologies, remote virtual assistance, and even AI have altered how clients find and interact with law firms, and when they expect to be able to do so. From the law firm’s perspective, this variability adds cost and stress, trying to attract prospective clients when they’re searching for an attorney, providing useful information at the right time.

Reaching Prospects When and Where They’re Ready

ZillaMetrics aims to eliminate the common pitfalls of law firm marketing, producing high-quality leads within a reasonable budget. They give customers a clear picture of what ZillaMetrics is doing on their behalf. All without requiring a contract.

While ZillaMetrics can assist with many parts of legal marketing, including SEO, Google Ads, and website design, their Intake Chat tool is a gamechanger. It offers firms a simple and affordable way to engage potential clients when that prospect reaches out. And, as a chatbot, it’s fully customizable and available 24/7 at a reasonable price.

ZillaMetrics’ Intake Chat Boosts Engagement without Breaking the Bank

ZillaMetrics gives firms of all sizes the ability to engage prospective clients with an affordable, customizable chat experience with risk-free trial and no hidden fees.

Unlimited Chats for One Low Price

Traditional chatbot tools can become costly quickly. Vendors often charge $20-$35 per chat, irrespective of lead quality. ZillaMetrics discards this outmoded model. They charge a flat $29/month no matter how many chat interactions your website generates. ZillaMetrics also allows you to create and maintain an unlimited number of chatbots, meaning you could customize chatbots, presenting one on a webpage about personal injury and different one on a page about medical malpractice. All for one charge of $29/month.

Based on the traditional chat pricing model, if you received only two leads per month, you’d still be money ahead with ZillaMetrics compared to the competition.

Chat Experiences Worth Talking About

Law firms create ZillaMetrics’ chatbots within a simple drag-and-drop interface; no programming or coding experience required. ZillaMetrics promises that you’ll be able to “get started in minutes” and, once built, chatbots “launch in seconds.”

Create different chatbots for different webpages, targeting different lead types. Beyond designing the flow of questions, firms can customize individual chatbots’ video chat bubbles and video introductions, among other options.

Intake Chat features include:

  • Automated booking with Google Calendar and Microsoft 365;
  • Payment support through Stripe;
  • Custom branding to match the law firms website;
  • Embedded images and videos;
  • Support for file and picture upload (e.g., accident photos or traffic tickets);
  • Customizable promptings to transition from the chatbot to a phone call or text message conversation; and
  • Integration for reviews and feedback with Google and Facebook.

Additionally, ZillaMetrics’ chatbots support mobile websites via a Mobile Toolkit to help firms boost lead conversions among smartphone-centric visitors.

Risk-Free Trial

In addition to a simple flat rate, ZillaMetrics dispenses with other stereotypical digital marketing costs. They charge no setup fee, require no contract, and offer a 100% money-back guarantee.

ZillaMetrics and CallRail Offer Unparalleled Intake Insights

ZillaMetrics helps firms know the source of those potential clients, which informs future marketing engagement. To do so, ZillaMetrics partnered with CallRail, creating the first direct integration between CallRail and a chat product.

According to ZillaMetrics CEO Matt Burke, “Not a single chat provider on the market has the ability to track the marketing source of each chat lead—it’s a big blackhole.” Finding the existing market wanting, ZillaMetrics built their own solution: “We needed a website chat that automatically tracked the source of every lead, giving our clients the ability to understand where their best leads were coming from—nothing was out there, so we built it ourselves.”

Connecting ZillaMetrics’ Intake Chat with CallRail gives you visibility into the source of every chat lead, whether it comes from Google Ads, Google Business, SEO, or any other marketing source.

Besides CallRail, ZillaMetrics integrates with other industry-leading legal software products, including Clio, Lawmatics, and MyCase, as well as the workflow tool Zapier.

Get Started with Timely, Trackable, and Engaging Client Outreach

With their flat-fee, risk-free, feature-rich offering, ZillaMetrics leads the way in helping law firms deploy an affordable and customizable chatbot solution. Visit ZillaMetrics website to learn about adding Intake Chat to your website.

Save Time, Boost Efficiency with Virtual Case Managers Powered by Get Staffed Up

In the decade or so since virtual legal help came to the forefront, we’ve witnessed tremendous improvements in what we can expect from remote assistance. Virtual Case Managers Powered by Get Staffed Up raises the bar even higher.

A Virtual Case Manager (VCM) alleviates many administrative burdens that all too often saddle a personal injury (PI) attorney.

The Many Benefits of a VCM Powered by Get Staffed Up

An Employee that’s Effective

At Lawyerist, we encourage our Labsters (members of our Lawyerist Lab coaching community) to make efficient and productive use of their time. Personal Injury attorneys should dedicate as many working hours to case work and business development as possible. Even within those areas, many tasks don’t need attorney-level training. Scheduling components and follow up on medical record requests are examples of PI case work that a qualified, administrative professional can easily handle.

That’s where Virtual Case Managers Powered by Get Staffed Up is can happily assist. Delegating time-consuming administrative tasks to a VCM frees up PI attorneys who can then concentrate their energies on client interactions and case strategy work. A VCM helps you focus on meaningful work that advances your clients’ goals, delivering better outcomes, and in turn, increased referrals. Not to mention the cost savings a remote VCM from Latin America or South Africa affords your firms.

An Employee that’s Affordable

If you already contract virtual assistants then you know the many benefits. But what about those who still believe in supporting high cost, need-to-be-at-a-desk right down the hall, staff? Virtual Case Managers Powered by Get Staffed Up will help change that old school mindset. Relief from costly recruiting and time-sucking HR nightmares is now a click away.

An Employee Ready on Day One

VCMs undergo rigorous training developed by a prominent personal injury attorney. Rest easy knowing medical records and confidential client information will be held in the strictest of confidence as VCMs adhere to stringent data protection protocols. They can hit the ground running on their first day, handling tasks like case management work, communicating with clients, and preparing documents with expertise and professionalism.

How a Virtual Case Manager Works

The VCM provides comprehensive administrative support tailored to the PI practice area and your firm specifically. VCMs are college educated and dedicate 40 hours a week to your firm’s research, collection, and organization tasks. Examples of suitable assignments include:

  • Setting up appointments with clients and conduct the meeting
  • Collecting documents, medical records, and other evidence, building the client’s case
  • Making a first review of legal documents, such as pleadings, motions, and discovery responses
  • Organizing and updating case management systems and documents
  • Generating all manner of case reports

Learn More About Adding a VCM to Your Toolkit

By leveraging Virtual Case Managers Powered by Get Staffed Up, your personal injury firm alleviates the burden of time-consuming administrative work, streamlines your practice, and focuses on what you do best—advocating for your clients. Learn more at https://getstaffedup.com/lawyerist-product-spotlight-vcm/, or give them a call at 1-866-565-5744.

 

Clio Releases Law Firm Accounting Software for Small Firms

Traditionally, one of clearest divisions in web-based law practice management systems was between products that supported billing and trust accounting, and those that offered billing, trust accounting, and general ledger accounting. Products that included general ledger accounting didn’t require synchronization with a business accounting package, such as QuickBooks or Xero, because those features were already incorporated into the law practice management system (“LPMS”).

Impetus for this Product

Most LPMS tools do not offer “full accounting,” providing only billing and trust accounting. Until July, Clio, one of the earliest, best-known, and most successful LPMS products stood in this category. Subscribers to Clio Manage track billable events, send invoices, receive electronic payments, and track trust account activities. But seeing a complete picture of the firm’s financial health required integration with either QuickBooks or Xero. But now that has changed.

This month Clio released Clio Accounting, an add-on product for Clio Manage subscribers that allows firms to see their entire financial picture natively within the Clio system-no need for an integration or sync with a third-party accounting tool.

What Does This Change for Clio Users?

Clio users can expect three things from Clio Accounting: convenience, familiarity, and reliability.

Convenience

With accounting functionality built directly into Clio, users have one source for their entire financial workflow. By connecting their Accounting product to the existing Manage system, Clio eliminates the need for duplicative entry of client contact information, matter information, invoices, payments, and trust accounting activity. All firm finances live in one place, making it easier than ever to see a clear, timely picture of how well the firm’s business is doing.

Switching between the Manage and Accounting modules is as simple as switching between Manage and Grow. Just click the dropdown and select the tool you want to use.

Familiarity

Built-in accounting adds the consistency of not learning multiple program interfaces. Using the same layout lowers the learning curve for users.

Accounting mirrors Clio Manage’s design language of tabs down the lefthand side, representing core functions like Accounts Receivable, Banking, Hard Costs, Operating Expenses, and Reports. Like Manage, Clio Accounting’s home screen is a dashboard view, highlighting key metrics like bank balances, accounts receivable, and current profit and loss numbers.

Plus, Clio approaches accounting with their customary user-first mindset. Getting started with Clio Accounting requires just a reconciliation report from your existing accounting tool, opening balance figures for each account, and the most recent bank statements. Any operating or trust accounts you’ve created in Manage map over automatically.

Reliability

One of Clio’s hallmarks is its ability to serve as the hub of your practice, being the central connection between the programs and services you use . They partner with great companies and build on sound technologies.

For Accounting, Clio relies on Plaid to connect to your bank accounts. Plaid, a leader in banking data and security, supports over 12,000 financial institutions. The partnership with Clio means that Accounting has compatibility and dependability on day one.

Additionally, knowing your business means knowing your numbers. For attorneys, there are no numbers where reliability and precision matter more than trust accounting. “As law firms navigate the complexities of trust accounting and compliance, the need for a specialized solution has never been greater,” states Hemant Kashyap, Chief Product Officer at Clio. “With Clio prioritizing trust accounting compliance, legal professionals can manage their finances with ease and confidence, while remaining focused on the practice of law.”

More to Come for Clio Accounting

As released this month, Clio Accounting is a strong step forward towards Clio users having a “single source of truth” for client, matter, and financial information. Still, Clio Accounting is also essentially a “version 1” product. If you are a power user of your current accounting solution, you will notice gaps.

Cash Basis Only

This first iteration of Clio Account supports only cash basis accounting. Those using accrual accounting should wait.

Permission

Unlike Clio Manage, Accounting does not yet support fine-grain permissions and access controls. If you give a user access to Clio Accounting, they can see everything in the system.

Reports

With the initial release, Clio Accounting supports only six core financial reports: profit and loss statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, reconciliation, general ledger, and trial balance. Clio understands users want additional report types and customizations. More are on the roadmap, including three-way reconciliation for operating and trust accounts, according to Ryan Ward, group product manager for Clio Accounting.

Starting with Hourly and Flat Fee Practices

Accounting’s financial reporting and recording support only hourly or flat fee arrangements. Contingency-based practice areas, like personal injury, and those using deferred revenue and escrow accounts, like real estate, should wait.

What Does This Mean for Lawyers?

Debbie Foster, CEO of Affinity Consulting, commented that Clio Accounting is a major step forward for small firms: “We worked closely with Clio throughout the development and beta testing of Clio Accounting. We believe the approachable user interface and tight integration with Clio Manage provide solos and small firms an excellent opportunity to improve their accounting system.”

Clio’s accounting package targets firms with between one and four attorneys . Current Clio users, especially those frustrated with sync-based connections and those relying on Excel or paper spreadsheets, should consider Clio Accounting. Its focused approach to simplifying accounting for law firms may appeal to those intimidated by traditional accounting software.

According to Affinity Consulting cofounder Steve Best, “While it doesn’t break new ground with its initial feature-set, being an integral part of the popular Clio family makes it groundbreaking. Clio Accounting’s easy synchronization with financial institutions, glanceable dashboard overview, and connection to Manage should put it on the “must consider” list for current Clio firms.”

How to Get Clio Accounting

Clio Accounting is available to U.S. subscribers on the EasyStart, Essentials, Advanced, and Complete tiers. Those on yearly renewal subscriptions pay $29/user per month. Monthly subscribers pay $39/user per month.

Clio Accounting provides one free user license per subscription. Clio envisions the free license as what each firm would give to their outside accountant. Effectively, this means each firm gets one “free seat” of Clio Accounting if it pays for at least one user.

Learn more about Clio Accounting by visiting Clio’s website.

 

From Burnout to Brilliance: How a Week Off Transformed Our Team’s Energy and Focus

I Did It!

Three weeks ago, I shared with you my struggle to fully disconnect from work, even during family vacations. As one of our leaders, I always felt the need to “check in” each day to ensure everything was running smoothly. But this time, I did it—I truly unplugged!

I spent ten days touring London and the Scottish countryside, and even visited a relative in Paris. I was completely present with my family, soaking in every moment without a single thought about work (ok, some thoughts about work occasionally entered my mind—but not as many as I expected, and I did a great job staying out of my inbox and off my computer). This experience was not only refreshing but also reinforced the importance of taking a genuine break.

Why was this time different? It’s because our leadership team decided to shut our entire company down during the first week of July to give everyone on the team a truly unplugged break. You can read more about that decision in my article on Turning Off the Power.

The Week Without Catastrophe

Guess what? The company didn’t fall apart during our week away! Despite some people’s fears of returning to a smoldering ruin, our diligent preparation and fantastic team ensured that everything ran smoothly. Our clients were informed well in advance, and nothing exploded, imploded, or mysteriously vanished. Turns out, the world can survive without us for a week. Kudos to the team for proving that with great preparation and communication, a business can thrive even when everyone is blissfully unplugged.

The Real Benefits: Enhanced Productivity

“I’m ready and excited to be back at work tomorrow! I’ve got a new attitude and a bunch of ideas that I can’t wait to implement—this is going to be a great quarter!”

That was the text I got on Sunday night at the end of our break. Yes! Those are the kinds of messages that every leader longs to read.

Contrary to the assumption that shutting down for a week would kill productivity, the benefits were real and remarkable. Our team returned refreshed, reenergized, and ready to work with a new vigor. The break provided everyone, me included, with the mental space to relax and recharge. When we came back, there was an unmistakable buzz of excitement and enthusiasm. Projects that had been dragging suddenly picked up momentum and creative solutions to lingering problems began to flow. The energy was palpable, proving that a well-timed break can actually boost productivity and bring out the best in everyone.

Living Our Core Values

The companywide shutdown allowed us to put our core values into action. One team member shared with me, “One of the hardest things about a vacation is making sure I am leaving enough information for others to fill my shoes while I am gone, and wondering what I have missed that is going to cause an issue for someone else. It is just difficult to turn off the worry—even though the team is perfectly capable of handling the work while I am out. Our companywide shutdown allowed me to really set that worry aside, which was amazing as I did not feel the need to check my messages once!”

Another team member, while on vacation visiting a friend, was told, “There’s something different about you. You’re glowing. Your posture is up, you’re exuding confidence, and your skin has cleared up. You seem incredibly relaxed. What’s changed since I last saw you?” The response was heartwarming: “Well, not much. I did start a new job recently, and I’m finally in a healthy work environment. It’s been such a breath of fresh air!”

Living core values is essential for any company, and we emphasize this in our work with law firms every day. Values are more than just cute slogans on a website—they are the foundation of a healthy, thriving business. The amazing stories our team members shared about their reactions to the break highlight how deeply our values are embedded in our culture. When a company truly embodies its core values, it creates a strong, cohesive culture where employees feel supported, valued, and motivated.

By consistently living our values, we not only enhance our internal environment but also set a powerful example for the firms we consult, demonstrating that prioritizing values can lead to tangible, long-term success.

In my earlier article, I shared these simple steps law firms can take to embrace paid-time off and ensure team members have unplugged time away. If you’re scratching your head thinking this will never work at your firm, let’s talk! It’s possible—not just here with our team—we’ve helped other law firms make this dream a reality.

And after a great week away, I’m proud to realize that our team is stronger and ready to embrace what’s next.

 

If Your People Can’t Unplug, Turn Off the Power

“I know we’re on vacation, but let me just take a few minutes to check in.”

It’s a phrase I’ve said too many times to my family on what is supposed to be our vacation. Unfortunately, today’s technology and 24-7 business cycle often mean that vacations aren’t time away from business. There is no respite. Knowledge workers find it difficult to detach from work. Many times, these employees take a vacation with the best intentions, but feel the gentle tug of work calling at them. They find themselves simply working from another location instead of truly taking time away from their day-to-day job.

Yet, the benefits of taking time away from work are compelling.

Understanding the Need to Unplug

Recent studies have supported findings that being able to psychologically detach from work is “linked to lower levels of burnout, fatigue, and physical discomfort, and higher levels of vigor, sleep quality, and overall well-being.”

In another study conducted by the University of California, Irvine, researchers found those who take time away from their technology are likely better at being creative and problem solving.

I know from personal experience that I often have amazing ideas about our business a few days into my vacations. I love coming back from a week away feeling excited and ready to tackle the next problem or capitalize on a new opportunity.

Today’s Vacations are Falling Short

For years, we’ve encouraged our team to take advantage of time away. We have systems and processes in place to help team members think through tasks and responsibilities to ensure everything is covered while they are gone. We document the basics of everyone’s jobs in our operations manual so that we can jump in and cover things as needed. During their time off, if we see them jump into a team chat or respond to an email, we’ll gently remind them that they are expected to “unplug” and that we have things covered. We also remind the rest of the team to be respectful of someone’s vacation and avoid reaching out unless it really is an emergency.

But, as a leader of the business, it can still be a challenge. So, I find myself “just checking in” for a few minutes here and there just to make sure everything is ok. I realized that I’m not modeling good behavior for the rest of my team. Instead of leading the way, I’m part of the problem. My behavior hurts both me and the team. This conundrum was top of mind when I revisited our paid time off policy late last year.

Mandating the Entire Team Take a Week Off

I knew that I wanted to create an easy path for the entire company (including me!) to take time away from work and really have a break from work. Our answer was to simply declare 15 days when the entire company would be shut down for business. Yes, most of those days are the Federal holidays when many businesses in America close shop, but we added four additional days during the July 4th holiday. The result is an entire week when the company is closed (when July 4th falls on a weekend, we will close the first week of July).

That’s right—we’re shutting down for a week!

Addressing Concerns: Why This is Our Right Choice

I’ll be honest: Not everyone was excited when they first heard the news. Those that spoke up didn’t like the idea of being “forced” to take vacation during that holiday week and suggested that costs may be more during an already busy travel time. We reminded them that they don’t have to travel that week and that our very generous flexible paid time off (PTO) policy encourages them to take ample vacation. In fact, they certainly can (and should) take other weeks off as well. So maybe those folks can just enjoy a week unplugged at home.

In the end, we valued everyone knowing they could have a week without any expectations of work because we closed the entire business and decided to go forward with our plan.

As we are getting closer to the first shut down, most people seem to be excited and are discussing how they plan to spend the week away from work.

How We Plan to Ensure a Smooth Transition

Of course, we aren’t just going to close shop and hope for the best. We have been discussing the shut down for six months to ensure we didn’t schedule any important client work during the week of July 4th or during the beginning of the following week. We have also discussed our plans with our clients. We know most (if not all) of our clients share our values and have been understanding and even inspired by our move.

It’s easy to tell ourselves that something like this will upset clients, but that is our own story and our own fears and excuses talking. We are choosing not to make these assumptions about our clients. Of course, if anyone is concerned, we will address it with them directly and create a plan.

Returning with Renewed Energy

I’m excited to report that my family is planning our first family trip to London, Edinburgh, and Paris. We are in the throes of looking at a ghost tour and a Jack the Ripper tour (I have a 13-year-old) and planning day trips to castles and museums. The other night, my husband noted that one of the hotels didn’t have free Wi-Fi and I simply shrugged and said “Okay. I won’t need it!”

While this is more of a “trip” than a vacation where I’m sitting at the beach for a week (I love those, too), I am confident I’m going to return with a renewed spirit and focus ready to work. I’m excited to hear how my team will return as well.

One thing I’m pretty sure about—no one will be too angry for being forced to take some time away. They might even surprise themselves! I’ll make sure to write a follow up story with our findings.

Steps Your Firm Can Take to Create Unplugged Time Off

Even if you’re not ready to close for a week, I encourage every firm leader to consider these steps to ensure your team can take a much needed break away from work this summer:

  1. Check in with each team member to confirm they have PTO scheduled—just having you ask them reinforces the idea that this is not just allowed but expected!
  2. Create a checklist team members should follow before taking PTO that includes who will cover their tasks. This allows them to step away more easily knowing work and tasks are covered. You’ll also know who to go to if something does come up while they are away.
  3. Have everyone on the team create a 1–2-page document of things someone should know about their job. This is a great reference for when team members are out unexpectedly.
  4. Tell your team you expect them to take unplugged time away and not check-in; remind everyone else on the team they must honor everyone’s PTO (including yours!).
  5. Create client-facing communications reminding your clients of your firm’s values and how you treat paid time off for your team. Request that clients honor your policies and connect with a designated person when their contact is away (like this article—see what I did there!).

With a little preparation, you can set your team and yourself up for time away this summer and throughout the year.

Here’s to some great respites from work leading to renewed energy, focus, and health benefits!

Bon Voyage!!

 

Coaching for Growth: Lawyerist’s Innovative Approach to Employee Development

In 2024, Affinity and Lawyerist restructured our employee-first approach. In a concerted effort to improve at the individual level, Robin Carberry, Paco Roman, and Natasha Evans joined the team as professional development coaches for all employees. “This program was introduced to help folks enjoy a meaningful place to work. To help them find more joy in what they do and remove blocks in the way of that,” said Robin.

Coaches Provide Crucial Guidance Throughout the Company

Affinity and Lawyerist offer a coach for every employee. In biweekly one-on-one sessions, coaches work through the goals and issues of each team, focusing on the perspective of each member. Coaches function as members of their team to ensure they can understand problems unique to that domain. Coaches contribute to meetings and conversations, allowing them to provide better insights and advice later.

What are you trying to achieve? How could your team help you? Coaching questions are naturally aimed at the individual, giving them a platform to freely share their thoughts about their team’s progress. In turn, coaches advise them on their next steps, guiding the whole team in a more productive direction.

Practicing What We Preach

The vision for internally directed coaching wasn’t clear at the start. It began as a plan to replace managers, who were also subject matter experts, throughout the company. Robin led the first experiment, coaching Affinity’s practice management team. During that process, she discovered that while a coach cannot fully support a team through their technical challenges, she still saw potential. The direction of the experiment changed, and coaches were added to every team as additional members, transforming the program into its current form.

Our internal coaching initiative reflects Lawyerist’s mission to guide healthier small firms. Lawyerist Lab, a coaching service for legal professionals, enlists a team of experts who can help law firms develop a solid foundation for growth.

While Robin understands the purposes and benefits of each coaching program, internal and external, she sees an important distinction. The difference lies in the clientele. While in a coaching session, Robin focuses on asking the right questions to build self-awareness and understanding. “It’s about partnering with somebody to bring out the answers that they already have inside themselves,” she said. Lab coaches do a lot of mentoring too. “But they’re also teaching people. They’re also giving them information. They’re providing them with resources.”

Overcoming Bias with Hands-On Experience

Many people are reluctant to be coached, many times due to misunderstanding of what coaching offers. People have preconceptions of coaching from sports and therapy contexts, but the reality of business coaching is much different.

Robin’s strategy for hesitant clients is simple: build a strong relationship with trust. In her sessions, she has an unwavering commitment to privacy. “It takes time to build a relationship with people. And confidentiality is a hugely important part of that relationship. The conversation that happens in our coaching container is not shared with anybody outside that container,” said Robin.

If you want to give coaching a try and start building a healthier, client-centered, tech savvy law firm, apply to Lawyerist Lab. On top of Lawyerist’s team of expert business coaches, you will get access to resources tailored to small law firms and a like-minded Lab community.

Less Effort, More Clients with Law Ruler

Clients have more ways to find and communicate with attorneys than ever before. For attorneys, this represents an opportunity and a challenge. As an opportunity, it’s easier to directly target potential clients when they need your help. Compare the potential “right time, right place” effectiveness of a Google Local Services Ad versus an old-school yellow pages or billboard advertisement. As for challenges, attorneys face increased inquiries (which is wonderful!) that they need to manage and work to turn potential clients into paying clients.

The most effective way to track and manage referrals is with tools purpose-built for the task. This type of program is called client relationship management software (“CRM”). A CRM helps you plan, control, review, and report on the entire client intake process, from initial marketing to signed engagement agreement.

A CRM Built for Law Firms

Think about the steps you take from receiving a lead to signing a client. You’ll see several types of interaction. Some may require a personal touch, while others could be systematized and automated, freeing time for other work. Law Ruler is a CRM designed for these types of workflows and how law firms engage prospects.

Capturing and Engaging Leads

While word of mouth remains a powerful recruitment vehicle, digital tools help keep you in mind when a would-be client is ready to engage.

Suppose you are an estate planning attorney and you conduct an educational presentation for seniors in your area, you might collect attendee names and email addresses. What now?

Traditionally, you may set that list aside or keep a record to see if the event generates business. More sophisticated firms may send a follow-up email or letter with a brochure. Law Ruler lets you do much more.

Law Ruler lets you take that list of names and email addresses and start them on a series of informational emails you design—a “drip campaign” in marketing terms. You could design a series of automated emails that Law Ruler sends out, one a week, on the “core” estate documents—will, trust, power of attorney, and healthcare directive. These four emails build on or reemphasize your points. A fifth email is a summary reminder of your services and link to schedule a consultation.

You provide valuable, expert information to the prospect, stay front-of-mind with the attendee, and make it easy to take the next step.

Law Ruler’s drip campaign tools support multiple approaches, including texting with pictures and videos and pre-recorded voice calls. Law Ruler’s platform integrates texting, so messages originate from a central firm number and are stored and visible to other Law Ruler users in the firm.

Tracking and Reporting on Outreach

Marketing emails and text campaigns only work if they’re read by the recipient and that recipient becomes a client. Naturally, Law Ruler provides robust analytics in a dashboard view to see relevant information. Instantly know key metrics like:

  • click-through rates (e.g., what percent of email or text recipients click on a link in a message);
  • conversation rates (e.g., what percent of prospects become clients); and
  • average time to conversion (e.g., how long does it take a prospect to become a client).

Law Ruler lets you schedule these as recurring reports, as well as design custom reports in a “code free” interface.

Managing Lead Qualification

Once your outreach spurs a potential client to act, Law Ruler helps you evaluate and qualify the lead to see if the prospect’s needs match your expertise. With Law Ruler, your intake coordinator could:

  • use Law Ruler’s form builder, featuring on-the-fly, adaptive questionnaires to collect matter facts;
  • feed form-collected data into custom fields in Law Ruler, simplifying staff work to review and filter prospects, while avoiding the error-prone process of retyping previously entered details; and
  • ease key steps of the onboarding process via automated documents, such as engagement agreements, generated with form-collected data, and send for digital signature via email or text message.

Powerful CRM, Made Even Greater with AI

Law Ruler includes the talents of ChatGPT to speed up everyday marketing and client communication. ChatGPT and Law Ruler’s AI Email Assistant streamline routine marketing communication tasks, alleviating burdens while producing better, repeatable results in less time.

Law Ruler users can take advantage of ChatGPT integration to:

  • generate potential social media posts that match custom SEO guidelines;
  • produce first drafts of client communications, like welcome letters, questionnaire instructions, and meeting, deadline, and appointment reminder; and
  • even create initial drafts of actual legal documents for attorneys and staff to review, edit, and revise.

Additionally, Law Ruler users benefit from using ChatGPT within a product purpose-built for law firm customers. Law Ruler designed its ChatGPT integration with security top of mind. When using ChatGPT inside Law Ruler, ChatGPT has no access to client data and is prevented from saving and “learning from” any information you enter as a prompt. This structure lets firms use AI and still maintain compliance, preserve privilege, and fulfill ethical obligations to clients.

Systematize Great Marketing and Powerful Lead Management with Ease

Visit Law Ruler’s website to learn more about how their legal-specific CRM helps law firms save time by eliminating manual processes and streamlining their client intake process. If you’d like a hands-on walk-through of Law Ruler, including its phenomenal AI features, click here to schedule a demo.

Avoiding Trust Account Errors with CosmoLex

Mishandling client money is among the top client complaints about attorneys. When we think of mishandling, we often think first of misappropriation—taking client funds to spend on oneself. But such actions, however sensational, represent a distinct minority of trust account problems. More commonly, problems with law firm trust accounts, also known as IOLTA (“interest on lawyer trust accounts”), arise from errors of expediency and neglect rather than nefarious intent. Still, such errors may prove a serious threat to your firm, your reputation, and even your law license.

Fortunately, legal technology has advanced well beyond ledger books. Today, approachable, feature-rich, web-centric programs make managing law firm trust accounting simpler. CosmoLex, a leader in online law practice management software, includes robust tools that help attorneys address potential trust accounting pitfalls. Furthermore, since these capabilities are built into CosmoLex, you have access to all matter facts and finances in a single, integrated experience.

Guard Against Trust Account Mishaps

Prevent Commingled Funds

Ethical rules require law firms to separate trust account money from operating account money. Money you receive but have not earned, for example, a retainer from Client 1 or a settlement check for Client 2, must go into the trust account. You can move that money from the trust account to your operating account as you earn it, such as working hours on the matter (Client 1) or paying yourself the 30% contingency fee (Client 2). You must also document such movement appropriately.

Each client’s money in trust must be separately accounted for. Using the example above, Client 1’s retainer and Client 2’s settlement amount are not a single pool of money, although they could reside in the same bank account. If your work for Client 1 exhausts the retainer, you cannot continue to withdraw money from the trust account even if there is money in the account from the settlement check. The settlement check money belongs to Client 2. If you continued paying yourself, you’d overdraft Client 1 and misappropriate money owned by Client 2.

Proper trust accounting necessitates coordinating client, matter, and money data. CosmoLex holds all three and automates individual client ledger management to prevent commingling and overdrafting.

Ensure Proper Payments and Timely Disbursements

Building on our example above, when Client 1 signs an engagement agreement and pays your retainer, that payment must be paid into and reside in your trust account until you earn it. Assuming they’re like most Americans, Client 1 may want to pay with plastic.

Your credit card infrastructure must understand the unique complications of trust accounts. CosmoLex’s credit card processing handles tricky situations like chargebacks and disputes, and allocates money, fees, and service charges appropriately for an IOLTA setting.

Similarly, you must timely disburse funds. For some situations, the desire for timeliness is obvious—Client 2 would like his settlement money. In other cases, the need for timeliness is less stark, but no less true. With Client 1, you should move money from the trust account to the operating account as you earn it.

In both cases, you must document the transactions. CosmoLex makes it easy to record disbursements as they are made. Documentation’s value for Client 2 is obvious. But it’s also important for Client 1 because:

  • you have an obligation to separate the firm’s money from client money;
  • regular, timely transfer of earned money to the operating account smooths firm cash flow; and
  • transferring earned money from Client 1’s trust to the operating account promptly informs you when you have exhausted the retainer. It’s then time to send a replenishment request or begin billing Client 1.

Examples of other CosmoLex features that streamline trust account management include:

  • Automatic trust-to-operating account transfers;
  • Tracking and disbursement of third-party lien claims; and
  • Importing of electronic bank statements.

Many of the activities described above affect both the trust account and operating, or general business, account. One of CosmoLex’s great advantages is the ability to present a holistic picture of your billing system (e.g., invoices sent to clients), your trust account (e.g., money you hold on behalf of a client), and your operating account (e.g., your general business ledger). Your view of the business benefits from a compressive portrait possible only with an integrated solution.

Integrated Data Produces Powerful Reports

CosmoLex’s reporting tools make both the tracking of and reporting on trust account activity easy and intuitive. Additionally, CosmoLex provides simplified reporting for recordkeeping and auditing. With CosmoLex, you can run bank reconciliations, including the critically important three-way reconciliation, in just a few clicks, and archive financial data reports for safe-keeping and later review.

Complete trust financial reports include:

  • Account balance reports
  • Ledger activity summary reports; and
  • Ledger transaction reports.

CosmoLex’s effortless trust reconciliations and audit-ready tools ease mandatory trust accounting obligations. Having these trust reports on hand ensures attorneys are prepared in case of an audit.

Avoid Errors and Alleviate Trust Account Burdens with CosmoLex

With comprehensive trust accounting baked into its law practice management software, CosmoLex provides a complete picture of your firm’s matters and activities, helping to:

  • Preventing common trust account errors;
  • Simplify precise online payments;
  • Facilitate prompt distributions;
  • Properly record transactions; and
  • Effortlessly produce the reports you and your accountant require.

To learn more about using CosmoLex’s legal-specific accounting tools to stay ethically compliant with client money, visit their website.

Efficiency, Security Made Easy with ShareFile for Legal

ShareFile is well known for secure document sharing and external collaboration capabilities. It provides an easy and secure way to send and receive client or third-party files. Built on that strong foundation, the newest ShareFile for legal innovations give law firms the power to create unparalleled document and client-centric efficiencies.

ShareFile for legal builds on the core features you’re familiar with, adding capabilities that expedite client onboarding, ease document workflows, and better protect business and client information without the need of complex, IT-managed security protocols.

Many legal professionals (75%) spend more than 20 hours a week on non-client-facing work. Reclaim some of those hours with the powerful features of ShareFile for legal.

Share Files Securely

When we think of exchanging documents over email, we often think of file size, but not always file security. ShareFile for legal handles both easily. There is no file size limit like email has for attachments. The Outlook or Gmail plugin makes attaching documents and entire folders to an email easier and more secure. The attached documents are uploaded to and are secure in ShareFile, and you can send links to only download the file. You can monitor the downloads, password protect them, and limit the number of times and how long the download links work. Receiving files works similarly. Provide the client with a secure link and they can upload documents via a web portal. ShareFile notifies you of newly received documents.

  • Projects: When you and the client collaborate on files, ShareFile for legal offers a centralized client management space for each case or matter that helps simplify, organize, and secure common document workflows. This helps give more visibility and control on who has access to what and when they last accessed files, all in one spot.
  • Document Requests Lists: For a list of documents you collect frequently (e.g., the same five documents for each deed you prepare), ShareFile for legal includes digital document collection to create and send requests to clients, explicitly listing each document and the date you want to receive it by. A blanket “upload everything here” link often works, but for specific or discrete items, document requests tell the client what you need. You can review what the client uploaded, comment, and even reject a given document, state why, and request the correct files (e.g., if the client uploaded two years of tax returns but not the most recent two years).

Keep Track of Tasks

Even when you tell clients exactly which documents you need from them to proceed, you or someone at the firm often has to follow up repeatedly. You may be able to bill for the time, but it’s neither effective nor rewarding. ShareFile for legal provides two helpful tools.

  • Task Tracking: You can configure ShareFile for legal to track matter-related tasks. Statuses include “yet to start,” “in progress,” “overdue,” and “completed.” You can create tasks for individual documents (as in estate plan drafting), or entire classes of documents (as in discovery or due diligence work).
  • Keep the Client Informed: As part of task tracking, you can easily share task access with clients. When granted access, which is discretionary, clients can receive prompt status updates that detail all work for their matters.
A screenshot of the ShareFile web portal showing a breach of contract matter with tasks in different stages of completion

Security First

Although document scanning and safety have improved in recent years, they can still be a vector for malware and infection. This fact is even more pronounced among lawyers, where 2023 statistics reveal that 69% of attorneys rely on email, often unencrypted, for client communication and document exchange. ShareFile for legal proactively scans document contents and provides suggested actions or automated actions for mitigating threats.

ShareFile’s security capabilities include alerting you to unusual sign-in and authentication attempts and monitoring file uploads for malware.

Works within Your Tech Stack

ShareFile knows that firms rely on multiple programs to perform different functions. That’s why ShareFile for legal integrates with key tools like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce, and more to reduce tech complexity and help your firm boost efficiency.

Digital documents workflows can help improve your firm’s speed, accuracy, and security. ShareFile for legal makes transmitting and collaborating on documents easy and secure. Whether your clients upload dozens of discovery documents, a discrete list of enumerated files, or a collaboration space for ongoing engagement between the client and the firm, ShareFile has you covered. Learn more about ShareFile for legal by visiting their website.

Measure Your Time, Don’t Just Track it with TimeSolv

A product that makes time tracking simple benefits attorneys irrespective of practice area or fee structure. For attorneys who bill by the hour, easily entering, editing, and reviewing times holds obvious advantages.

But what about flat fee and contingency firms? While those practices need not always record time (unlike hourly attorneys, time is not directly the product you’re moving), it’s still worth doing. Why? Recording time reveals profitability. Hourly billers get a sense of profitability with every pre-bill, discount, or write-down they give a client.

Flat fee and contingency firms lack that regular “check-in.” By recording time and knowing, for example, that a $10,000 flat fee estate plan takes $5,000 to prepare (i.e., comparing the fee charged against staff salaries and other expenses), the firm gains a profit margin “snapshot.”

TimeSolv, a web-based law practice management system (LPMS) with deep roots in the business of law understands the importance of time tracking. TimeSolv understands that making time entry simple and quick ranks of first importance.

TimeSolv Delivers Comprehensive Time Tracking Tools

Track Multiple Events

With TimeSolv, users can have multiple timers available simultaneously. Starting one timer automatically pauses the currently-running timer. For example, if an attorney is drafting a document, and a client calls on an unrelated matter, clicking to start a new timer for the phone call automatically pauses the document-drafting timer. When the call ends, the attorney can stop the phone call timer and enter it. Or perhaps the attorney expects to look something up and make a return call to the client later that day, they can pause the phone call timer and resume the document drafting timer.

Track Time Anywhere

This feature is key. A great solution works on the web, laptops, tablets, and especially smartphones. TimeSolv meets this need. It even works offline; no internet connection necessary! And, of course, TimeSolv includes powerful sync capabilities. If you make a time entry in the desktop app, it syncs with the TimeSolv servers so that entry saves to the cloud and is visible to others. If you’re away from the internet when you make a time entry, TimeSolv automatically syncs the next time you launch the desktop app when connected to the internet.

Draw Meaningful Conclusions

There’s no value in entering a bunch of information if you can’t use that data to make decisions. TimeSolv excels here too. Users and firm administrators see metrics on time entry and time entry behavior (e.g., contemporaneousness) for each timekeeper.

Speed Up Time Entries with Abbreviations

When creating time entries, speed and consistency rank among the top requests. TimeSolv addresses both concerns by supporting custom abbreviations for text fields, including time entries. Rather than sending a client a bill where some phone calls read “call with client,” a few read “phone call with client,” and still others “called to [or from] client,” create a simple TFWC abbreviation. When a user types “TFWC,” TimeSolv expand that shortcut to “telephone call with client.” The same activity reads consistently on bills, across all users and clients. Plus, it saves a bit of time too.

Manage Matter Budgets

While many LPMS vendors offer matter budgets, these are often overall dollar amounts for the matter. TimeSolv provides a more effective, timely, and granular version of budgeting. With TimeSolv, you can set limits on the hours billed on tasks. Such finely tuned control and tracking of expended effort means that no bill or overage surprises you or the client. If someone views a matter with overbudget tasks, TimeSolv displays a prominent banner alerting the viewer that “Plan Task Assignment fees and hours budget exceeded.” By using matter plans to set task budgets, both you and the client can keep a close eye on the meter.

Start Tracking Time for Productivity and Profitability

If you bill hourly and hate tracking time, you’re probably working for free, at least part of the time. If your work is flat fee or contingency, knowing your “cost of goods sold” requires knowing how much you expend in providing a service. TimeSolv gives you the tools to painlessly record and review time entries. Learn more about this feature and everything TimeSolv offers by visiting their website.

 

Best Law Firm Websites 2024 Winners

Every year, the Lawyerist team sets out to find examples of the best law firm websites from our vast community. Once again, this year saw submissions from all over the world, spanning countless practice areas. And, once again, the submissions are becoming increasingly difficult to separate in terms of quality. Obviously, the website, as a marketing tool, isn’t just for Personal Injury attorneys anymore. 

If this year is indicative of anything, though, it’s that we are seeing a crowding market. Things like clear branding, high quality technical SEO, and thoughtful CTAs are table stakes now. Firms must do more than just present an aesthetically pleasing, functional website to grab a potential client’s attention. As such, it was difficult to find ten sites that stood out above the rest. There was so much quality in this year’s cohort, we had trouble deeming certain ones “exceptional” above the others.  

Below are the top eight websites of 2024—and one honorable mention.  

Obviously, our choices are subjective. However, we try to introduce as much objectivity into the process as possible. First, we run each site through a performance and accessibility grader that rates each site from A to F. Then, we rate the highest performing sites based on branding, marketing, accessibility, and technical SEO. This year, we invited judges from the Lawyerist and Affinity Consulting teams and averaged these opinions to come up with the results below. 

Output Law 

Designer: Caleb Ellis 

What Makes Them Special 

It is obvious that Output Law caters to creatives, the design is sleek, sophisticated, and modern. The “Let’s work together,” section pulls back the curtain on hiring a lawyer a bit. 

JVAM Law 

Designer: Firesign 

What Makes Them Special 

JVAM combines the accessible with the aesthetically pleasing. They provide a site that pops off the page while still allowing users to navigate with just the keyboard or a screen reader. 

Filippatos PLLC 

Designer: Postali 

What Makes Them Special 

This site provides multiple ways to travel the same CTA path—contact the firm. Visitors can use the chatbot to get more information or make a call to the firm directly from the website. As a bonus, it’s mobile-first, not just mobile friendly. 

Sobirovs Law Firm 

Designer: GNGF 

What Makes Them Special 

Sobirovs Law Firm makes it easy to see what working with them will be like with loads of educational content. They go the extra mile, however, by making a Fee Calculator front and center for potential clients. 

The Fine Law Firm 

Designer: iLawyerMarketing 

What Makes Them Special 

This site is branded. A visitor knows exactly where the firm is located without reading a word. By the time a visitor gets to the “8 Reasons to Choose Our Firm,” they’re as comfortable as their favorite pair of denim jeans. 

Ruane Attorneys 

Designer: BluShark Digital 

What Makes Them Special 

The Ruane site is a top-quality DUI and Criminal Defense site. What sets it apart, however, is its creative lead magnets. It requires some digging, but users can generate living wills, lease agreements, and even powers of attorney on their own time. 

Nichols Liu 

Designer: Sujai Chandrasekaran 

What Makes Them Special 

Beyond being easy to navigate, and client-centric, the Nichols Liu site uses imagery to its full effect. They obviously help navigate difficult regulatory waters worldwide. You can read more to learn specifics, but you get the idea from first glance. 

Clancy and Associates 

Designer: Katie Clancy and Ruben Digital

What Makes Them Special 

Clancy & Associates is a niche firm—and they know it. It’s obvious that they have experience guiding families with unique and special needs. Their branding says, “we care, and we can help.” 

Honorable Mention – Connecticut Trial Firm 

Designer: Hennessey Digital 

What Makes Them Special 

A few years ago, Connecticut Trial Firm would not have been too big for this contest. But they are now. However, they are still a great example of Personal Injury marketing that shows how they got to where they are. 

Learn More about Law Firm Websites 

If you want to learn more about what makes a law firm website great, check out our Law Firm Website Design Guide. You’ll learn why user experience is important, and how a website fits into a law firm’s overall marketing strategy. 

 

Dan Wade Brings Strategic Communication Expertise to Lawyerist

Lawyerist is excited to welcome Dan Wade, Marketing Lead, to the team. Dan is an expert at strategic communications and brings seven years of marketing experience with him. He will spearhead efforts to increase brand awareness for Lawyerist and Affinity Consulting, ensuring the right message reaches the right audience.

Dan resides in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he lives with his wife, daughter, and two cats (Avery and “the boy”). He’s a sports fan to his core and is even a community owner of Minnesota Aurora FC, a local soccer club.

“We are excited and lucky to have Dan join the team,” said Lawyerist CEO Stephanie Everett. “In addition to being a great marketing mind, he has a journalism and sports data background, and loves craft beer—all the makings of an interesting team member!”

Dan Brings Small Market Experience

Dan knows how important marketing is for business growth. In multiple stints at startups, he led efforts to build marketing teams and strategies. As he joins a larger team, Dan expects those experiences to help him tackle new challenges.

“At its heart, marketing is prioritization,” said Wade. “The thing marketers need, above all else, is empathy. It allows you to really understand your customer’s problem at a deep level. And I think my background at startups gives me some affinity with Lawyerist’s audience.”

Dan’s Plan for Directed Messaging

As a part of both Lawyerist and Affinity, Dan will focus on finding and reaching key audiences for each brand. He recognizes how difficult it can be to reach lawyers given their busy schedules. To that end, Dan hopes to add urgency to communications, so that business investment and enhancement stay at the top of their minds.

Sometimes process optimizations can be forgotten, neglected, or pushed down the road, but it’s important for law firms to be conscious of ways to improve. Dan emphasized the importance of creating actionable messages for potential clients. “Once you get people to understand that the future can be better than the present, everything gets easier. Marketing, sales, and implementation work together to create a vision you and the client share,” Wade said. Adding, “Everyone is excited for the future and how it will change their business.”

Welcome to the team, Dan! If you want to work with Dan and the rest of our amazing folks, check out current openings with Lawyerist or Affinity.

Seize Your Day with Rocket Matter’s Office Management Tools

One of the strongest cases for law practice management software (LPMS) is that it understands how legal professionals work. Practice management software excels where Outlook or the Google Suite fails because an LPMS works within the concept of a “matter,” something unique to the legal market. An LPMS combines a host of otherwise disparate data—emails, notes, documents, phone messages, calendar appointments, and more—under the umbrella of one collective (e.g., Smith v. Jones or the Thomas estate plan).

If an LPMS stopped there, it would nonetheless be a boon to legal professionals. But great, innovative practice management software like Rocket Matter reaches beyond the mere recreation of a casefile folder. Rocket Matter includes comprehensive LPMS features and supercharges those features with robust project management and reporting, available to Rocket Matter Pro and Premier customers.

Manage Matters Visually with Kanban Boards

For example, in a family law practice, one might have the following stages (i.e., columns) arrayed left to right across the screen:

  • Prepare Initial Filings
  • Temporary Relief
  • Discovery
  • Mediation
  • Pre-Trial Discovery
  • Trial
  • Closing
A family law focused Kanban board on Rocket Matter

As you work each family law matter, you move the card from left to right across the Kanban board columns as the matter progresses toward a conclusion. Experienced family law practitioners may notice a couple of things immediately: (1) these seven stages are excessive for some cases (e.g., an amicable “no kids, no property” dissolution) and insufficient for others, and (2) matters may “bounce” back and forth between stages—it’s not a linear path forward. Rocket Matter’s Kanban boards address both concerns.

You can customize the respective stages for each matter type. A family law attorney likely has several matter types, such as divorce, dissolution, custody, post-decree, and more. Each matter type possesses its own unique set of statuses, all customizable by the firm to meet how they work. Additionally, the Kanban view accommodates a matter card moving from any one status, which Rocket Matter calls “swimlanes,” to any other status. You could move a matter’s card directly from discovery to trial or flip back and forth between discovery and mediation a dozen times, if necessary. Rocket Matter built its Kanban boards with the flexibility to manage matters how you work.

In addition to managing your matter workflow visually, Rocket Matter’s Kanban view also lets you:

  • filter the displayed matters by primary the attorney;
  • view the total days a Matter has been in its current status;
  • filter the board to see matters by client;
  • filter the board by matter health (has “sat” in a status too long, based on timeframes you set); and
  • jump directly to a matter’s dashboard by clicking its card.

These boards, part of Rocket Matter’s robust legal project management platform, offer a visual snapshot of case statuses, promoting efficiency and collaboration with their easy-to-use, customizable layout.

Project Management and Powerful Reporting

Kanban boards are but one part of Rocket Matter’s strong toolbox of legal project management capabilities. Other project management-specific features available to Pro and Premier customers rely on the matter status to:

  • make calendar calculations unique to each status;
  • add custom tasks that appear when a matter reaches a status; and
  • display specific custom data based on the matter status.

These and other powerful automation capabilities rest on understanding and using matter templates.

Rocket Matter pairs advanced reporting and business intelligence along with these status-based workflows. As a Premier customer, dive even deeper into your matter and project management data with Rocket Matter’s Business Intelligence Module (BIM). With the BIM, your firm can review all types of data across matters, activities, contacts, and billing information. Using simple “drag and drop” steps, you can easily create reports that offer remarkable insights into your firm, its processes, case handling, and financials. Read this earlier article on Lawyerist to understand more about the BIM and how it can help you see more clearly.

Get Started with Kanban, Project Management, and Advanced Reporting

Rocket Matter offers an unrivaled combination of robust LPMS functions, project management tools, featuring user-friendly Kanban boards, and highly capable business intelligence reporting to draw meaningful, actionable conclusions to boost your business. If you want to build a better practice by elevating your firm’s productivity and strategic insight, visit Rocket Matter’s website to learn more about their comprehensive solution.

Measure What Matters with Lawmatics’ Custom Dashboards

Your legal practice produces abundant data from many sources. What happens when you have to search two or three places within a program or website to find what you seek? Or worse, when you must combine and massage information from various locations to see a complete picture of your business? Frankly, you’re less likely to retrieve and act on that information. Instead of illuminating and helpful, the experience becomes frustrating and time-consuming. And you can’t make informed decisions on data, even if you have it, because it’s not presented conveniently or timely.

Previously, a law firm needed a database or tech guru to sort through its data to craft meaningful, visual reports. Hiring such a person, or tasking the techiest staffer with that responsibility, leads to inefficiently cobbling together disparate data, eating time and money that could have been better spent serving clients.

Lawmatics knows this pain and created its Custom Dashboards feature to address the problem. With Custom Dashboards, you now have a way to see meaningful data, make an informed decision, and act promptly.

Custom Dashboards are the Place for Your Data

Custom Dashboards allow Lawmatics users (on the Team tier and above) to consolidate their firm’s metrics. Furthermore, customization tools let you pick the information that matters to your firm and display it in relevant ways.

Custom Dashboards serve as your firm’s new homepage, putting key data at your fingertips. System administrators, and authorized users, can view, create, and edit as many dashboards as they’d like. There’s no limit!

Building a dashboard is an easy and flexible “point and click” process. Lawmatics knows that each firm, and practice areas within a firm, rely on various data points to gauge business health. They haven’t tried to guess what yours are. Instead, they’ve taken a toolbox approach, allowing you to display what you want, how you want it.

Here’s a sample Custom Dashboard with data panels displaying values in several formats and a header dividing “top-level” numbers from marketing-specific numbers.

Users can easily drag Panels and Groups to relocate and resize them. Simply click, hold, and drag to move. Resize a panel by clicking on the panel’s corner, holding down the mouse button, and dragging to expand or contract the panel.

Building Dashboards Customized to Your Firm

Custom Dashboards can provide firm leadership with views on how areas of the business are operating, such as marketing, client intake, and billing. Depending on who creates a dashboard, that user may want to review marketing success, such as referrals and return on investment, team performance, or countless other metrics.

Examples of business metrics you could track on a dashboard include:

  • E-signature completion statistics
  • Upcoming tasks
  • Staff performance and productivity
  • Upcoming appointments
  • Progress towards established goals

Dashboards’ options and flexibility give you a holistic and clarifying view of what’s happening at your firm. All dashboards are visible firmwide to users with permission to create and edit dashboards.

A user builds a dashboard with four types of panels:

  • Text: This panel is the easiest to understand. It’s a simple note area. Use it for teamwide memos, inspirational quotes, or other messages.
  • Data: This panel displays information from myriad data sources. It could pull records from standard metrics (e.g., appointments, esigning activity, invoices, tasks, or time entries) or from a Lawmatics custom report.
    • Standard metrics behave similarly to Lawmatics’ existing analytics page, and offer basic calculations like new leads, conversion rate, cost per lead, and cost per client.
    • A custom report data panel can draw from either a custom report you create specifically for the dashboard or from custom reports your firm previously created; ones they already know and use.
    • Dashboards visualize data panels as number values (e.g., the total number of matches from a given custom report), pie charts, bar charts, and gauges. The choice of presentation rests with the dashboard’s creator.
  • Headers: This panel type divides a dashboard into sections with helpful labels for collections of text and data panels
  • Groups: Use this panel type to cluster several data panels together. Combine as many data panels as you like. Move them around as a unit for the perfect dashboard layout!

Get Started with Custom Dashboards for Your Firm

Custom Dashboards help keep everyone in the firm on the same path toward the same goal. How might you use Custom Dashboards?

  • A marketing specialist follows how many new leads the firm has and their potential value.
  • An intake specialist tracks new cases opened by practice area and engagement agreements returned.
  • An attorney keeps track of upcoming matter appointments and tasks.
  • A bookkeeper follows paid and outstanding invoice amounts for the month.

Whatever your practice area, you have numbers that mean success to you. Lawmatics’ Custom Dashboards make it easy to create and review the data that powers profitable results. Visit Lawmatics’ website to learn more about making the most of this new feature.

 

Lawyerist Lab Unleashes the Power of AI with Lasso the Lab Coach

Lawyerist Lab was recently upgraded with the addition of a Tology-powered chatbot: Lasso the Lab Coach. It’s vital to keep up with the times, and that means embracing the power of AI and leveraging it for clients. “Lawyers don’t have time to become experts in AI. Our job is to experiment with tools so that we can teach our community,” said Stephanie Everett, Lawyerist CEO and Lab Coach.

Convenient Business Coaching Powered by AI

Lawyerist Lab is a business coaching program designed for small law firm owners looking to grow and scale. It features a team of expert business and legal technology coaches and numerous courses built with small firms in mind.

Lasso blends seamlessly into Lawyerist Lab, acting as a virtual coach for members of the community (also known as Labsters). Built directly into the Lab coaching portal, Lasso pulls from Lawyerist’s extensive content library to simplify and expand the learning experience. And with unlimited availability, it can address critical issues at any hour of the day.

Of course, Lasso wasn’t built to replace Lab coaches. The AI tool will supplement small law firm owner’s learning and improve the quality of coaching sessions. Stephanie envisions Lasso helping coaches and Labsters to “get to a more thoughtful discussion.” In the past, answers that were available, but not readily found, in Lab materials, took valuable time away during coaching sessions. With Lasso’s ability to quickly find and summarize information, coaches can focus on the unique issues each Labster faces.

A Glance at Lasso’s Capabilities

Lasso provides a convenient interface for Labsters to ask any question that comes to mind. In just a few moments, the chatbot provides a thoughtful answer, which spares no detail. Discussions are stored in Lasso’s window for future access, and they can easily be copied into a user’s personal notes. If the results of a query are insufficient, Lasso offers a follow-up button to continue any conversation. This allows Lasso to build on a previous answer without repeating information.

Shows a screenshot of Lasso the Lab Coach in action returning a list of suggested software products from a Labster's question about trust accounting help.

The Dos and Don’ts of Lasso the Lab Coach

AI can be a little scary. It seems like each new breakthrough comes with another discussion about data privacy and security. As a result, many people have reservations about using AI technology, especially with sensitive data. To better understand how Lasso should be used, here are some dos and don’ts for the tool.

  • Do: craft business strategies that align with company values. Lasso was created to work alongside Lawyerist Lab, which means helping law firms develop and grow according to their visions.
  • Don’t: share client data or request legal guidance. Lawyerist saves prompts to improve Lasso, so don’t share private data! Coaches will monitor questions to stay in the loop on common interests or concerns for Labsters.
  • Do: find software tools for success. Lasso has access to hundreds of resources and articles covering the latest and greatest in legal technology. Labsters can use Lasso to find multiple options for their technical challenges.
  • Don’t: use Lasso for IT support. While Lasso is an amazing piece of technology, it can’t save Labsters from their other software challenges. Lasso’s sole focus is helping law firms build solid foundations for business operations.

Leveling Up Law Firms with Lawyerist Lab

Lasso is just one small part of Lawyerist Lab. Access to coaches, materials, and the Lab community are invaluable resources for any small law firm. No matter what stage your small law firm is in, Lawyerist Lab can help it succeed. Apply to Lab today to start your journey to a healthier small law firm.

CosmoLex Trust Accounting is Anything but Basic

Do you know the largest source of client complaints about lawyers? Communication—unreturned calls, unanswered emails, etc. The second largest source of complaints? Money. More specifically, how attorneys handle their clients’ funds.

Law Firm Accounting Complexities

Accounting plays an essential role in any business. No matter the industry, a business tracks profit and loss, tax events, and other financial measurements. Law firms do all of that while also precisely accounting for receipts and disbursements on a per-matter basis.

In some respects, trust accounting—tracking the funds we receive from or on behalf of clients, but haven’t earned for ourselves yet—is easier than standard business accounting:

  • We don’t have to monitor profit or loss;
  • We don’t record depreciation of physical assets or amortization of intangible assets; and
  • We don’t worry about interest earned or tax events.

If law firms only had to worry about their trust account (also called an IOLTA, IOLA, or escrow account, depending on your jurisdiction), they might have it easier than a generic business or non-profit. Unfortunately, a lawyer’s trust account burdens exist in addition to general business accounting requirements.

Software Simplifies the Situation

Fortunately, the additional needs of trust accounting match what computers are good at:

  • Tacking client funds on a per-matter basis;
  • Matching each receipt or disbursement to supporting documents; and
  • Painlessly reconciling numbers between the firm’s electronic ledger, the bank’s reported amounts, and the trust balances for each matter.

General purpose accounting can do some, but not all, of this. Maybe it could hold “audit-important” documentation and reconcile between itself and the bank, but it lacks the core tools lawyers need. In the same way firms benefit from law practice management software to keep matters organized, firms need accounting software that understands trust accounts, matters, and their unique roles in legal.

The right legal-specific accounting software alleviates much of the stress.

CosmoLex Offers the Right Trust Accounting Tools

CosmoLex’s robust, approachable trust accounting makes it easy to record and report your trust account activity properly.

Leverage Tools to Do it Right the First Time

The money-centric client and disciplinary complaints mentioned above don’t stem from attorney malfeasance. Most disciplinary complaints result not from deliberate misappropriation but from negligence. A solution, like CosmoLex, that encourages (and can compel) good recordkeeping, promotes compliance and prevents problems.

If your firm relies on a “general purpose” accounting program and a separate matter management program for case information and billing, that split introduces unnecessary complications. Using separate programs creates a gap for human error to seep in. If you maintain both an electronic and paper calendar, and they disagree, you lose time determining which is correct. Similarly, no one should play a “financial telephone” game, relaying numbers between products and hoping no errors arise.

CosmoLex provides practice management and full, general ledger accounting in one place. Manage case details, bill clients, and track and reconcile business and trust accounts in one web-based, mobile-friendly product.

Beneath that single-source umbrella, CosmoLex:

  • Collects all necessary transaction reference information in an audit-ready fashion;
  • Separates trust account money and transaction activity by matter and client, preventing commingling of different clients’ funds;
  • Supports computer-printed checks to prevent duplicative check numbers or writing checks from the wrong account;
  • Guards against overdrawing not only the overall trust account, but also overdrawing any individual matter’s trust balance;
  • Allows you to “close the books” on a matter or time period to prevent further edits or alterations; and
  • Connects to your bank or financial institution to directly import transaction data for you to review and confirm.

Quickly Run Reports to Verify Accuracy and Completeness

Meaningful, actionable reports begin with good data. Quality reports depend upon quality bookkeeping. CosmoLex produces reports that keep you informed and compliant with jurisdictional obligations. Core, insightful reports include:

  • Trust Ledger Balance Report: This report, known to Canadian practitioners as a Trust Listing, shows trust balances for each client by matter, the last date of any activity, and whether the matter is open or closed.
  • Client Trust Ledger: This report is a mini bank statement for each matter. It shows credits and debits for the matter, complete with a running balance. If you have a single matter’s funds in multiple trust accounts, it also accommodates that variation.
A picture of a client trust account ledger showing transactions and a final zero balance
  • Reconciliation Report: This report compares the bank’s ending balance to your recorded ending balance. It also reveals uncleared transactions, such as uncashed checks.
  • 3-Way Reconciliation Report: This report builds upon the reconciliation report, showing the bank’s numbers, your trust account’s overall numbers, and client ledger numbers. 3-way reconciliation reports ensure that bank totals match trust account totals and that both totals agree with what matter-level ledgers report. Auditors love this report.

Best Practices Produce the Best Results

The fundamentals drive stress-free trust accounting.

  • Run the reports monthly and act on issues. Closed matters shouldn’t have trust balances. Investigate dormant accounts and uncashed checks. Relocate unassigned funds to their proper matter.
  • Know your audit requirements.
  • Keep records, including copies of deposit slips, canceled checks, and statements, for the relevant time period.

Make accounting more effortless by doing the right thing promptly with easy access to relevant, verified financial information. CosmoLex helps your firm’s trust accounting keep the proper records, meet jurisdictional and audit requirements, and generally run smoothly. Learn more and schedule a demo at CosmoLex’s website.