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Many legal billing platforms also include case management so that you can organize matter documents and information in one place along with client billing. PCLaw is a popular, long-standing practice management, billing and accounting solution for small and midsize law firms. It includes lightweight practice management (clients, cases and calendars), coupled with robust time tracking, billing and accounting (including robust financial reporting).
Trust accounting is more specific to the legal industry; therefore, generic accounting options don’t usually offer these features. Finally, there are also comprehensive solutions that incorporate both practice management and legal accounting features. The right legal accounting software helps you better manage and improve your law firm’s cash flow by providing a clear, real-time picture of the firm’s financial data. Law firm accounting software like MyCase, offers law practice management and accounting features in a single package, so all critical accounting information is current, compliant, and audit-ready.
Matter-Centric Billing
Although you could get by with using just a general ledger package software for your law firm, you will most likely want another software designed specifically for legal practices. An industry-specific software option will help you manage your firm more effectively and efficiently. This, in turn, will make you more profitable and free your time to do the work you love to do, rather than spend hours overseeing and managing your firm’s administrative functions. If you choose to use PCLaw for your law firm accounting software, you will want to partner with an accountant or bookkeeper who is well-versed in the system. PCLaw’s certified partner program can help with this, or you can choose to have a member of your team become a PCLaw Power User.
You can even automate everything with auto-billing and automated payment reminders. In this section, we’ll take a quick look at how the top 10 legal accounting software solutions compare against each other in terms of pricing. Different legal accounting software options have different features, but that doesn’t mean that you necessarily need every single feature available. Consider what functionality would be most useful, and make them deal-breakers when selecting an option. Additionally, if your legal accounting software is cloud-based, this information will be accessible from anywhere, at any time.
Uptime Practice:
QuickBooks is a great solution for attorneys and small law firms looking for only core accounting functions like accounts payable, accounts receivable, billing and time tracking, and reporting. However, QuickBooks is not a legal industry-specific solution, so larger firms with a large caseload could find it lacking in some areas. For example, you will have to use tags to keep payments or records for each client straight.
Accounting software helps optimize your billing processes, bookkeeping, and client communication in ways that make your firm more efficient and ensure more consistent payment overall. Law firms have always faced an uphill battle when it comes to managing their finances. Unsurprisingly, having to deal with a combination of all these factors can eat away at precious time that would better be spent on clients.
Legal Billing Software FAQs
And businesses of all shapes and sizes need to perform general bookkeeping functions and track their finances. Although it may seem like an unnecessary expense to some practitioners, this is not typically something your office can afford to go without. Clio Manage — Clio’s most popular solution — runs between $39 and $99 per user per month when paid annually, with most law firms choosing the $59 per user per month option. Other options include Clio Grow, which is priced at $49 per user per month when paid annually, and Clio Suite, which starts at $89 per user per month. Clio is a complete practice management software option for law firms of all sizes. It comes highly recommended by more than 50 bar associations across the U.S., and law societies around the world love it, too.
QuickBooks Online is an industry leader when it comes to the best accounting software for attorneys. It's relatively easy to use, offers plenty of features, and automates many accounting tasks. When you know exactly where your law firm’s money is, it’s easier to identify what parts of your firm are successful law firm bookkeeping and where you’re struggling, to make more informed and strategic business decisions. Suppose you choose accounting software that automatically syncs payroll functionality with time-tracking and expense apps. In that case, you can also generate pay runs with the click of a button, for better efficiency.
Accounting Software Integrations and Apps for Law Firms
This is not to say one method is better than the other; rather it makes defining and understanding the classes of law firm accounting software important. If all the other components of your law firm’s billing and financial reporting don’t fall into place, it can cause difficulties in ensuring that the right lawyer gets compensated fairly for their work. This can be tough with all the different components involved with how a lawyer or legal professional should be compensated, especially if you use the billable hour where time presents an extra layer of complexity. There's no surprise that Xero made it on our list of best legal accounting software. This popular solution has been around since the mid-2000s and boasts over 2 million users.
- Some accounting software can also be used to prepare taxes for your firm so you can review, approve, and even pay your taxes all in one place.
- Tabs3 is part of the Tabs3 / PracticeMaster suite of law firm software.
- QuickBooks Online is an industry leader when it comes to the best accounting software for attorneys.
- Managing client funds is obviously more nerve-racking than managing your own, as the money isn’t yours.
- This may influence which products we review and write about (and where those products appear on the site), but it in no way affects our recommendations or advice, which are grounded in thousands of hours of research.
We are able to help firms safely and securely migrate their existing data with turn-key service to ensure all data is transferred to CosmoLex successfully and without data loss. Legal accounting solutions will calculate billable hours and your preset hourly rate to create an invoice. Some solutions allow clients to set up an account through a portal to pay online by credit card or through an electronic bank account transfer. Of the dozens of options available, you want to choose the one that combines the powerful features you need, at a reasonable price — and that is easy for you and your staff to use. You also want to make sure the law firm accounting software you choose is one that integrates with the general ledger package your accountant or bookkeeper uses.
Zoho Books comes with all the features small law firms need from an accounting software, like creating recurring invoices, expense tracking, online payments, advanced reporting, timesheet, and more. However, with cloud-based law firm accounting software, it’s easy to quickly produce reports that give you the insights you need. You can use these reports to create budgets for your firm, track financial trends, and more. With the right information available when you need it, you can make data-driven business decisions to help your firm succeed. For trust accounts, PC Law and ESILaw offer streamlined accounting solutions to administer trust accounting payments.