The Best Legal Accounting Software 2023 Review

These are all critical functions for the administration of your law firm. However, your law firm also needs to have a general ledger package in order to maintain an accurate and complete set of books. If you are a Xero user, you will also find a number of application integrations to help you manage your law firm’s accounting. In particular, most of these applications will help you manage your time tracking. IOLTA reconciliations will still need to be managed, and this is something your accountant or bookkeeper can help you do. Modernizing your accounting processes is an important step to meeting today’s client expectations and future-proofing your business as things change.

There are a ton of legal accounting software offerings available, but not all of them are created equal. During representation, clients access a secure client portal where they can message their attorney, send and view important documents, and access their billing reports. CosmoLex also enables clients with the option to pay invoices via credit card or online, improving law firm accessibility and boosting client convenience. Law firms can create professional-looking invoices and email them to clients in one click, helping clients get their bills paid by their due date.

Connect to apps that simplify your legal work

ProLaw also offers ProLaw Workspace, an optional web interface to the ProLaw system. In addition, your firm may need to supplement PCLaw with a dedicated Document Management System to securely manage firm documents and email. Bookkeepers track your finances so you can view at a glance how much money is entering and leaving your business. And because they’re tax compliant, you can feel confident they’ll keep your books organized and prepared for tax filing.

Legal accounting software with billing features (such as the ability to create or track invoices) or that connects with your practice management software helps simplify your workflows. Take Xero and Clio Manage, the integration lets your firm automatically connect your client invoices and expenses from your practice management software to your accounting software—streamlining the process. This is a modern cloud-based platform that offers integrations with hundreds of applications including Clio. Hubdoc is an encrypted document management portal where you can easily send and store all of your financial documents.

Document management

With legal accounting software, records and transactions can be automatically applied to specific client accounts, making it easier to find the information you need quickly. Standalone legal accounting software is ideal for small firms or practices that have other software in place that can’t handle the firm’s accounting needs. For example, if you have a case management system in place that doesn’t offer accounting functionality and you don’t want to replace https://dodbuzz.com/running-law-firm-bookkeeping/ the existing system, standalone legal accounting software can integrate with it. Fully integrated legal software suites will include accounting features along with other important features like practice management and time and billing. Accounting for law firms has unique requirements for trust accounting, billing, and more. While general accounting software may work, choosing accounting software that’s designed for law firms will be vastly more useful.

• For instance, QuickBooks, like other accounting software, requires firms to sync data with their timekeeping or expense-tracking software.
• In addition to sophisticated law practice management and document assembly/form assembly features, LEAP provides time tracking, billing, trust accounting and financial reporting capabilities.
• Legal accounting software with billing features (such as the ability to create or track invoices) or that connects with your practice management software helps simplify your workflows.
• Insights on running a successful law firm with case management, client intake, billing and payments, tech innovation, and more.
• QuickBooks for its well-rounded accounting solutions and robust set of features.
• With regularly updated filing fees and standard case expenses, you can quickly and accurately generate calculations without referencing external sources.

Legal Files is commonly used by corporate legal departments, law firms, university legal departments, insurance companies, and various levels of government. Clients will have the option to pay online which will be tracked and recorded on the dashboard. Clio is one of the most simple accounting software programs for lawyers by handling all your basic administrative tasks while on the go. There are QuickBooks resellers that are experienced with implementing it in the legal space. Some developers have custom add-ons for QuickBooks that are tailored to law firms to make up for functionality that might be lacking.

Premium coaching and support

Save time with built-in calculations, filing fees, and charges billed back to the clients. With regularly updated filing fees and standard case expenses, you can quickly and accurately generate calculations without referencing external sources. Installing PCLaw just takes minutes and all upgrades are managed within your maintenance plan.

AbacusNext offers software solutions for firms of all sizes, but it’s the best one on this list for large, complex firms that could benefit from its Private Cloud and integrated accounting features. TimeSolv is a full case management solution, with project management tools that let you set milestones and create a budget you can share with employees and clients. You can collect and store client payment information upfront, so payment is automatic and you don’t have to chase clients down over unpaid invoices. Even solo practitioners and small firms have to track and allocate hours to clients, account for retainers and manage a variety of rates and billing options. Yes, most versions of QuickBooks Online let you create unique user IDs and customize access levels for anyone on your team so they can work in your legal accounting software with their own login. This means the ability to accept credit card or echeck payments within your accounting software, either through its own payment portal or via a third-party integration like PayPal or Square.