LAW FIRMS
How a Law Firm Partner Can Fix Billing and Matter Follow-up
A client phones the partner at night asking where his matter stands. The junior who handled the last hearing is in another court, the file note is a line in a diary, and the partner answers from memory.
We work on how the firm runs, not on law or strategy of any case. That means matter intake, billing and follow-up of bills, hearing calendars, how work is split between partners, associates and clerks, and what the partner should see each week. Professional conduct and Bar Council rules stay with you.
Discuss your priorities ↗COMMON CHALLENGES
The pressures
we often see.
- 01Fees are agreed verbally or in loose engagement letters, so billing stages are argued later and some work is simply never billed.
- 02Hearing dates, filing deadlines and client updates sit in individual diaries, so a clerk's absence can leave a date unchecked.
- 03Partners do drafting that associates could do, because reviewing a junior's draft takes longer than writing it themselves.
- 04Bills go out months after the work, and a client who has lost interest in the matter is slow to pay.
- 05Matters that look small at intake grow into long ones, with no checkpoint to revisit the fee.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01A matter intake form that records the client, forum, scope, fee basis and billing stages before work starts
- 02A written engagement letter template with fee stages, expenses and what triggers a revised estimate
- 03A billing-and-realisation sheet comparing work done against bills raised and bills collected per matter
- 04A common hearing and deadline calendar owned by one person, with a daily check each morning
- 05Associate and clerk workload by matter, so partners know who is overloaded before a date is missed
- 06A weekly matter review: oldest pending bills, matters with no update to the client, upcoming hearings
- 07Drafting standards and review checklists that cut partner rework
- 08Who may speak to which client, and which updates must go in writing
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- Take your last twenty closed matters and mark which ones were billed fully, partly or not at all. The unbilled ones tell you where intake and stage billing are failing.
- Hypothetical example: a matter ran for twelve hearings but only three were billed under the original estimate. Set a rule that a revised estimate goes out after every fourth hearing.
- Pick one person to own the hearing calendar. Every morning they read tomorrow's dates aloud to the partner or associate on each matter. No new tool is needed.
A PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
We begin by understanding how your business runs today, find the gaps, and agree the scope in writing. Recommendations are shaped around your team, your resources and your goals.
- A one-page matter intake and engagement checklist
- A weekly partner dashboard: hearings next week, bills unpaid by age, matters without a client update
- A role chart for partners, associates, clerks and the accounts person with review and sign-off rules
- A short client update routine with a standard note after each hearing
Not the right fit when: We cannot advise on legal strategy, ethics or conduct complaints, which need a senior advocate or the Bar Council. If partners are in a dispute about the firm itself, get a lawyer for that first.
Explore a business audit ↗LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
