December 02, 2019

 Vince Vetri

billing

It’s a new year, a new beginning. The time of year we stop and ask ourselves how we can be better than we were last year. It’s an opportunity to start fresh. This year can be the year that you change how your firm manages the billing process.

Every law firm struggles with billing issues. “I can tell you some horror stories,” says Cecy Graf, former Director of Financial Services at Perkins Coie, LLP. From unresponsive attorneys to inefficient processes to increasingly complicated client billing requirements, most firms face the same list of challenges. Now is the time to rethink old processes, discuss the future and change how your firm handles the billing process.

In an upcoming series of blog posts, we will tackle the issues that plague the billing process within the legal sector. Throughout the year, we will share thoughts and strategies from leading legal industry experts that will offer ideas for what law firm management can do right now to reshape the billing function and improve upon the ways of the past.

“It really helps to know what other law firms are doing.” says Cecy. “I’ve found that law firm management is more open to an idea if someone else has tried it first.”

We will examine what has and has not worked well. We’ll share success stories from innovators who are challenging the status quo, leveraging new tools and redesigning the billing process to reduce write-offs, increase realization and maximize profitability.

Long-term vision and great ideas are not enough. This series of blog posts will go beyond identifying commonly discussed solutions. We will discuss practical ways to alleviate pain points in the billing process and tactics for implementing these strategies now.

Future posts will examine:

• Billing is not just about billing – The bigger picture of what billing data is used for by both firms and clients
• Managing client billing guidelines – Problem-solving tips and best practices for managing the ever-growing demands from clients
• Why don’t lawyers want to do billing? – Problem-solving tips and best practices for educating lawyers and encouraging them to embrace the billing process
• A Lean billing process – Applying lean six sigma principles to improve legal billing
• Billing and LPM – Why these two things should be managed together and the potential role of Legal Project Managers in the billing process