Legal Services
Sector characteristics
- A mixture of project-oriented work and ad-hoc work (often on retainer basis)
- Complex fees differing from Client to Client
- A need to record and print textual notes made by each lawyer
- Need to record time to nearest 6 minute increments or less
- Need to retain work-in-progress, often for years, before invoicing
- Need to monitor utilization and fees earned by lawyer
- Need for careful review of invoices before sending to client
- Need for ‘draft’ invoice capability so that revenue is not recorded until payment is assured
- Need to capture third-party expenses for rebilling (sometimes third-party specialist legal advice)
- Need to capture phone and copying expenses
- Need to utilize high security for confidential client data
Sector challenges
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Potentially uneven staff utilization
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Insufficient documentation to justify fees
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Non-payment by client or customer fee refusal
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Lengthy cases with intermittent activity
systems@work Benefits
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Can handle complex fee structures
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Can combine (or separate) expense billing from time-based invoices
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Can handle expense data import from external systems (copier, etc.)
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Can retain work-in-progress indefinitely
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Can hold invoices in draft form indefinitely
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Enables complex modifications to invoices with full audit capability
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Enables the capture of text during timesheet entry. Text is available to print on reports and invoices
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Can capture time in the units needed (six minute or even one minute increments)
