Billing
Complete legal billing — invoices, payments, trust accounting, rate management, and billing rules in one hub.
Overview
The Billing module is the financial command centre for the firm. It is not a single function but a full-featured billing hub with seven integrated views: a financial dashboard, invoice management, payment processing, trust accounting, billing reports, rate management, and billing rules. The dashboard aggregates the firm's live financial position — outstanding receivables, monthly revenue against the prior period, trust balance, and payment performance metrics — all in a single view updated in real time.
Each view within the Billing module serves a distinct function. Attorneys work primarily in Invoices and Payments. Accounts staff manage Trust Accounting. Firm management reviews Reports. Partners set rates and rules. The result is a billing system where everyone works in the same data without stepping on each other's workflows.
Billing Hub Tabs
Dashboard
The financial summary view. Shows total outstanding AR, monthly revenue vs prior month (with percentage change), current trust balance, average days to payment, and payment conversion rate. The Recent Activity feed shows every billing event in chronological order: invoices sent, payments received, trust deposits, trust withdrawals, time entries, and expense records.
Invoices
Create, send, and manage all client invoices. Generate invoices from time entries and expenses on a matter, apply discounts and adjustments, set payment terms (7, 14, 30, or custom days), and track invoice status from draft through to paid. Includes bulk invoicing for period-end billing runs.
Payments
Record and track all payments against invoices. Supports bank transfer, credit card (via Stripe), cheque, direct debit, and cash. Payment allocation across multiple invoices from a single payment. Bad debt and write-off management.
Trust Accounting
Fully compliant trust/client funds accounting. Deposit and withdraw trust funds, maintain per-matter trust ledgers, perform trust-to-fee transfers, and generate trust reconciliation statements. Trust balance is shown separately from operating revenue throughout the billing module.
Reports
Financial reporting within the billing context: aged debtors, WIP (work in progress) value, collections by period, billing by attorney, billing by matter type. Complements the dedicated Reports module with billing-specific views.
Rate Management
Set and manage billing rates: standard rates by staff member, matter-specific rate overrides, practice area rate schedules, and blended rates. Supports hourly, fixed, capped, and contingency fee arrangements.
Billing Rules
Automated billing rules that apply when creating invoices: minimum time entry increments (e.g., 6-minute minimum), automatic time rounding, disbursement markup rules, GST/VAT application by jurisdiction, and automatic write-off rules for small balances.
Dashboard Financial Metrics
The billing dashboard shows four key summary metrics at all times:
Creating and Sending an Invoice
Open Billing → Invoices → New Invoice
Click Create Invoice from the Billing dashboard or navigate to the Invoices tab. Select the client and matter.
Add time entries and disbursements
The invoice builder loads all unbilled time entries and disbursements on the matter. Review each item, edit descriptions if needed, and check or uncheck items to include or exclude from this invoice.
Apply adjustments and set terms
Apply a discount or courtesy reduction if appropriate. Set the payment terms (7, 14, 30 days, or custom). Add any additional fixed fee items or general disbursements not tied to a time entry.
Preview and send
Preview the invoice as the client will see it. Review that the fee total, disbursements, and tax are correct. Click Send — the client receives the invoice by email and it appears in their client portal.
Record payment when received
When payment arrives, open the invoice and click Record Payment. Enter the amount, payment method, and date. The invoice status updates to Paid and the amount is removed from the outstanding AR total.
Trust Accounting
Trust accounting is subject to strict regulatory requirements in most jurisdictions. The Trust tab maintains full separation between client funds and firm operating funds:
Billing discipline
- • Set billing rates before a matter opens, not after the first invoice is due. A rate not set defaults to zero, and correcting prior time entries after the fact is messy and risks disputes.
- • Bill regularly — monthly at minimum, fortnightly for high-volume matters. Long gaps between billing create large invoices that clients dispute and take longer to pay. The Days to Payment metric degrades with infrequent billing cycles.
- • Never commingle trust funds. Every deposit to trust must be linked to a specific client and matter. Aggregate trust accounts with no matter attribution are non-compliant in most jurisdictions.
- • Review Aged Debtors weekly. Invoices unpaid beyond 60 days are collection risk. The older a debt, the harder it is to collect. Use the Billing Reports view to generate an aged debtors report and follow up any invoice over 30 days old.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I invoice in a currency other than my firm's base currency?
Yes. Each invoice can be set to a specific currency at creation time. For international clients, select the invoice currency from the currency dropdown when creating the invoice. The billing dashboard shows all outstanding amounts in your firm's base currency using the exchange rate at the time of invoice creation.
How does trust accounting work with retainers?
When a client pays a retainer, record it as a Trust Deposit linked to their matter. As work is performed and invoiced, the invoice is marked as Paid via a Trust-to-Fee Transfer — this moves the relevant amount from the trust account to the firm's operating account and closes the invoice. The retainer balance decreases with each transfer.
Can I set different billing rates for different matters?
Yes. Go to Billing → Rate Management. You can set a default rate for each staff member, and then create matter-specific rate overrides that apply only to a nominated matter. The matter-specific rate takes precedence over the staff default rate when time is logged on that matter.
What happens when a client disputes an invoice?
Open the disputed invoice and click Dispute. Add notes describing the client's objection. You can then adjust the invoice (issue a credit note reducing the amount), write off part of the balance, or maintain the invoice at face value. All changes are recorded in the invoice's audit trail.