Not only is it important to have law office accounting software, that software should be specific to the legal industry and customizable so that you can adapt it to your practice area needs. Customizable software ensures that as your law firm grows your software can adapt and expand with you. The best accounting software for small law firms will offer opportunities to customize your system and invoices for the needs of your law firm but also for the specific needs of your practice area. Before you sign up for any legal bookkeeping software, make sure that their support team offers customization options even if you’re not ready for an expansion or change right away. If you’re still handling your law firm’s accounting needs using paper systems or mismatched out-of-the-box non-legal attorney billing software, you could be putting your law firm at a productivity disadvantage. Using the best accounting software for lawyers will cut the time you spend on accounting tasks significantly and it will reduce the number of errors you and your staff make.

It comes with a good deal of features to help you manage matters, track time, pay vendors, accept online payments, and manage trust accounts. You can even track time on the go with its mobile timekeeping app, PCLaw Go. Clio is a cloud-based legal account software solution geared towards small to large law firms.

Which law firm accounting software is best for me? Key takeaways

Let’s take a closer look at why you should seek out an accounting software system specifically for the legal profession. Rocket Matter lets you set up automated billing, so invoices will be sent out on a chosen schedule based on your billable hours and expenses. The platform includes conflicts management and trust accounting for your law firm’s unique needs. Accurate data is an invaluable starting point for growing law firms or legal professionals looking to optimize their accounting processes.

• Responsible trust account reconciliation is part of keeping accurate financial records, even if the trust account has no balance.
• From there, you can create your invoices in as few as four clicks, meaning you will no longer have to “find time” to bill your clients.
• Make sure when looking at attorney accounting software to not only look at the list of features but to actually see and demo them in action.
• There are many reasons why your records may not match the bank’s, including processing errors, service fees charged, or posting errors.
• There are numerous articles available online detailing exactly how to use each of these products for your law firm’s accounting, including tips for managing IOLTA.
• The software will also make it easy to run bank reconciliations regularly and manage client investments.

It’s secure, reliable, and provides you with 24/7 support for any issues. LeanLaw has developed an automated and transparent tool to manage tracking, reporting and paying compensation to respective attorneys in the law firm. LeanLaw’s trust accounting engine tracks trust and operating accounts based on industry and state bar compliance standards. Plus you can dig down deeper with expense tracking and customized reports to show month-to-month comparisons so you can make better business decisions. You’ll have peace of mind knowing your financial information is backed-up and secure. The software offers advanced reporting, including origination reports for new-business incentives, allocation reports, matter budgets, and team and matter productivity.

Business Line of Credit: Compare the Best Options

With a better understanding of how much time your team spends on any task, you’ll know whether or not you’re charging clients enough. LeanLaw has four different tools to track time because time trackers have preferences. In regards to security, Clio’s cloud-based allows you to store sensitive information on your computer while being accessible to you anywhere. We provide different levels of support for customers who use different features and services from Wave.

• Many legal billing platforms also include case management so that you can organize matter documents and information in one place along with client billing.
• Hubdoc is an encrypted document management portal where you can easily send and store all of your financial documents.
• Consider what you need, and seek out accounting software that fits those needs.
• For example, the Clio Manage and Xero integration lets you apply a tax to an expense category in Clio, and that same tax amount will be applied to the client invoice in Xero.
• In most cases, this means cloud-based legal accounting software that integrates with your existing tech stack.
• Moreover, many online accounting tools have options to create useful online reports on taxes.

Whatever financial management software you choose, it’s important that the timekeeping and billing integrate into the business accounting. Manual reconciliation and data transfer are not solutions for modern accounting systems. They focus on providing law firms with the ability to create professional invoices quickly and easily. Clio lets you track and invoice for billable hours and expenses and get paid with a secure online payment link for credit card, debit or eCheck payments. You can set up invoices to discount for early payments or add interest for late payments automatically.

Compensation Reporting

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. Law Practice Management, Billing, and Accounting are three related, but discreet functions. And each can be managed with different software (or, all in one software suite). This is where the fuzzy terminology makes understanding what any given software package does confusing.

You can make the right buying decision only by knowing exactly what features you’re looking for. There are four subscription levels which means that you can start small and upgrade to a higher plan as your business grows. In addition, Clio integrates with a good deal of third-party apps, including QuickBooks Online and Xero.

LexisNexis and Uptime Legal – a Match Made in the Cloud

All solutions include features for both case management and invoicing and billing. Team members can track time and expenses on the go with a mobile app or online, and you can integrate a calendar to set court dates and stay ahead of deadlines with automated court rules. Dedicated legal billing software can alleviate a lot of headaches and allow you to capture more billable hours. Cloud-based solutions let you log hours and manage cases from anywhere, keeping up with the way you work.

We’ll be reviewing these in the near future, so look out for more information on those coming soon. While many law firms prefer using a legal-specific software, it isn’t necessary for every firm. Some law firms we work with at ProFix like legal accounting software because of the added features, such as client contact portals and matter management. Legal accounting software designed for your law firm will help you invoice clients easily and seamlessly.

Although it may seem like an unnecessary expense to some practitioners, this is not typically something your office can afford to go without. Many of the software options designed for law firms handle scheduling, time tracking and billing. These are all critical functions for the administration law firm bookkeeping of your law firm. However, your law firm also needs to have a general ledger package in order to maintain an accurate and complete set of books. Modernizing your accounting processes is an important step to meeting today’s client expectations and future-proofing your business as things change.

• Link your bank accounts for up-to-date transaction information with little or no manual data entry.
• The wrong software — or not using the right software correctly — can result in errors which may cost your business in the long run.
• Accounting software with a robust client relationship management system (CRM) saves time and streamlines your firm’s invoicing and billing workflows.
• Bill4Time’s starting price is focused on solo law practitioners with more options for those running a law firm with multiple partners.
• You can send invoices and accept payments using another AbacusNext product, APX PayNow, which lets clients pay through a link in an emailed invoice.