Mary, the attorney, was at home, surrounded by her files.  It was late at night, her household was sleeping. It was that time of night when it was quiet enough to work, and not so late as to get cold and tired.

Mary picked up another file.

She read the cover, to remind herself of what they were doing. Paged to the back and systematically started scanning each of the pages in the file.

Every now and then she would inspect the client ledger on the file, in order to verify that the professional work done had been accurately converted to an accounting transaction and recorded on the client’s statement.

Every now and then a missing item would crop up. A “Fee receipt and perusal of something or another…” had been omitted, slipped through the cracks of outdated systems. Every item omitted impacted her cash flow, and the rework and checking was a waste of time. Capturing fees for work done on the go,  in real time would prevent omissions. Mary worked hard, but it seemed as if there just was never enough time to get everything done. As the sole owner of her firm, Mary did almost everything by herself. She had a receptionist who also did some typing, and the clerk who seemed to be more interest in taking selfies than actual legal work. Mary’s firm was small, but it was hers.

Time to make a new fee note.

Mary reached for her Fee Book.

The Fee Book was an old school black, hard cover counter book. Battered, it almost looked ancient. It was not old, merely well used, the pages covered in dates, fee notes and amounts. Some lines had been struck through where the entries had been carried over to the ledger.

The stories those pages could tell!

But Mary’s thoughts were not sentimental.

Mary was annoyed. She had to turn pages in the file to locate client statements and ledger reports, she had to write new fee notes by hand. And where billing was on tariff, she had to pick up the tariff sheets to get the correct tariff items. For commercial work she had to make special notes. Every activity should be noted to keep track of the value of the work done, but not billed as individual items.

This is not working for me, thought Mary.

Too many pages. Too many duplicate reports. Multiple reports, supplied by different people, always out of date by the time she got to read it.  Like so many other small law firms, cash flow management always required attention. The first step was converting professional activities into billable hours, and then making sure clients were invoiced regularly, with enough easy to read reports to follow up on outstanding accounts.

What if, Mary thought, there was a better way?

What would it be like, thought Mary, if there was a system, designed for lawyers, which allowed capturing all business and trust transactions on a single accounting ledger?

A system which supported the lawyer’s professional activities. All the transactions clear and integrated so that it was easy to see exactly what was going on. A system with a single central, cloud based Fee Book, so that all fees were immediately, directly written to a single sheet. A Fee Book where events could be captured as they happened, and not months later. A Fee Book that allowed for Memo Fees for the commercial files, and To Be Reviewed Fees for the work the attorney had to check.

A cloud based Fee Book that could be easily managed and imported into the accounting Ledgers without retyping.

With pro forma invoices for clients who insisted on changing the fee descriptions, and itemized invoices detailing all the work done. With recurring monthly statements and Accounts Receivable trackers for those clients who always paid late.

A system that does all the things expected of an accounting system, and a smart Trust to Business transfer feature to balance the Ledgers.

A system that supported law firm operations on a daily basis, reducing the time required to manage the business, allowing more professional time to write fees. A system accessible from anywhere, not just the office, with accurate, real-time reports.

And if the Fee Book is online, thought Mary, maybe her clerk would actual write fees on his cell phone too!

The good news is that such a system is available. A system which is

• Simple to use
• Professional
• Elegant
• Cloud based
• Intuitive
• Affordable accounting solution, designed for
• Lawyers

Dynamic
Lawyers Trust Account
Software