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
Potentially uneven staff utilization
Non-payment by client or customer fee refusal
Insufficient documentation to justify fees
Lengthy cases with intermittent activity
systems@work benefits
Can handle complex fee structures
Can handle expense data import from external systems (copier, etc.)
Can hold invoices in draft form indefinitely
Enables the capture of text during timesheet entry. Text is available to print on reports and invoices
Can combine (or separate) expense billing from time-based invoices
Can retain work-in-progress indefinitely
Enables complex modifications to invoices with full audit capability
Can capture time in the units needed (six minute or even one minute increments)
Customers
