Best Practices for Law Firm Billing & Collections
No lawyer enjoys dealing with the billing process, especially when it comes time to chasing after those clients who refuse to pay you. Unfortunately, in order to get the money you need, these tasks are often necessary.
Thankfully, there are things you can start implementing in your law firm today that will not only help you with your billing procedures, but these tips can end up saving you time, stress, and money in the long run.
Improve Your Billing and Collections
Although billing may seem like a reasonably straightforward process, there is plenty of room for wasted costs or delayed bills. Two things that can end up becoming a massive headache for a law firm and its legal team.
That is why, if you are looking for ways to improve your billing and collections operations, you should consider implementing the following ideas:
Set Expectations
The best thing you can do for yourself and your clients is to set clear expectations up-front about your firm’s billing process and policies, specifically what clients can expect to see on their invoice, when they will receive their bills, and how they will be able to pay them.
Track Your Time
For more accurate billing, it is better to track your time as you work, then try to go back at the end of the workday and try to record everything you did. This way, you can ensure nothing gets missed and that every time entry is accurate.
Bill Frequently
When you send out smaller bills consistently, you will be able to not only lower a client’s shock of a large unexpected bill, but you will also be more likely to get paid for the work you did.
Automate Processes
By automating your billing and collections, you will be able to get routine tasks done faster so that you can spend more time on critical issues, likely answering client questions or making sure client-specific needs are met.
How Can Outsourcing Your Billing and Collections Help Your Firm
Although many law firms are afraid to take the plunge into the world of legal outsourcing, especially with critical tasks such as billing and collections, it can be a significant cost-saving measure in the long run.
Instead of dedicating internal teams and resources to mundane routine tasks, like sending out bills or following up with clients, these tasks can be outsourced to skilled professionals who can ensure these jobs are not only done right but help save a law firm time, costs, and energy in the process.
Take, for instance, the following benefits that can result from outsourcing your billing tasks:
You Can Focus on Your Key Services
One of the significant benefits of outsourcing your billing and collections is the ability to keep your staff and legal teams focused on what matters most for your firm, such as making sure legal work is completed quickly and correctly, your clients get the attention they need, and you continue to grow your business.
In return, these outsourcing companies can help large and small firms maintain healthy and efficient accounts receivable, create proper billing processes and budgets, and learn how to communicate with clients to collect their outstanding fees as quickly as possible.
Save Time & Energy
The last thing law firms want to worry about is going after clients that have not paid their bills. This dreaded task can not only result in a lot of stress for the firm, but the constant follow-up can take hours – non-billable hours – preventing lawyers from getting their work done.
Thankfully, with an experienced legal outsourcing team, you will not have to deal with the pain of going after this money on your own or following up with clients on a regular basis. Instead, these companies will take care of it for you, and you can get back to improving your firm’s success.
Reduce Stress
Another great thing about hiring professionals to take on your billing is you work with experts that can help you:
- Create and implement clear procedures and policies for your billing and collections
- Lessen the amount of future past due accounts, and
- Ensure that billing does not strain your relationship with your clients.
Streamline Operations
When you work with billing experts, these professionals can help you streamline and optimize your law firm billing operations to ensure you can maximize your revenue and get timely client payments. In fact, when you work with a skilled Accounts Receivable management team, you can end up collecting more than 90% of your revenue before your clients’ terms are even due.
Contact Back Office Legal Today and Get the Help You Need
If you are thinking about outsourcing your law firm’s billing and collections, now is the perfect time to get your questions answered. Contact Back Office Legal today and find out how our back office outsourcing teams can help you.
