The Importance of tracking time for law firms
There are few professions for which the common phrase "Time is of the essence" rings truer than that of the attorney. Time (and intelligence) is the main resource of an attorney. It is no wonder, then, that most lawyers get paid by billable hours and that the financial success of their practice depends on their capacities to streamline the way they bill their clients for providing their services. Having a case management tool like Maatdesk, which centralizes billing, calendaring, creating tasks and reports, among others, thus makes it easier for attorneys to build profitable and efficient practices.
As law firms grow, new clients are accepted and new attorneys are recruited. This can make keeping track of administrative paperwork and legal responsibilities very confusing. Time-consuming administrative tasks for which an attorney cannot bill a client can begin to compete for the attorney's attention and ultimately take it away from billable legal tasks. When this happens, many law firms have to hire legal assistants or paralegals to cover these administrative responsibilities, incurring further costs. This can prove to be one of the worst things that can happen to a law firm wanting to keep itself profitable and growing at the same time.
Success in legal procedure largely depends on being aware of deadlines and due dates. As all lawyers know, the law is full of time-dependent statutes and requirements, like the famous statute of limitations, a type of law that bars further litigation regarding an injury after a certain amount of time has passed. In this case, the possibility of litigation depends on whether the lawyer is aware that they are still within the time allowed to open a case. Similarly, lawyers in the middle of a court case have to file motions with the court to express their clients' decisions. Many of these motions are time-dependent, and failure to keep track of the time to file them can be catastrophic for their case.
Maatdesk allows attorneys to rest easy, knowing they won't miss due dates for billing, filing motions, or court appearances. Maatdesks's friendly interface allows you to integrate general, global deadlines and tasks with specific local tasks in one calendar. Maatdesk calendar has color-coded and staff member-specific calendar alerts to keep things organized. Your attorneys will have the option to set a statute of limitations date for their matters, which they can connect to a firm-wide global calendar.
Maatdesk offers practice-area flexibility. Regardless of your field, you can always count on Maatdesk to help your firm succeed.
Functions of a successful legal billing system
Maatdesk is one of the most accessible case management software programs on the market. It offers an easy-to-use billing interface that will provide you with detailed reports of your law firm's health. You will be able to see and manage both individual, client-based bills and more global, firm-wide bills. With Maatdesk's organizational billing features and calendaring notifications, you are guaranteed not to miss crucial information regarding client billing and firm payouts.
Maatdesk facilitates billing your client via the client portal. The client can keep track of every billable hour for which they will be responsible and see the appropriate description. They can then go into their client portal to see a list of the bills they have already paid, upcoming bills, and bills that may be overdue. Finally, they can use the portal to pay their bills, which is convenient for paying from the comfort of their home or workplace without having to visit their attorney.
Maatdesk's accessible and friendly interface also means that your attorneys and clients will have total financial transparency. Invoices will be detailed and precise. Both attorneys and clients will be able to see how billable hours and rates are distributed over the course of an open case.
Maintaining a healthy and transparent financial record of your activities for you and your clients is not just financially responsible and ethical but also what establishes your and your firm's reputation and relationship with the client. Having a defined reputation will open up the possibility of your firm acquiring new clients and business in the future.
Money is a sensitive matter, and nothing can hamper your business more than the public perception that your firm's financial practices are dubious simply because of financial errors and billing inconsistencies that a more efficient billing software program could have solved. With Maatdesk, you can ensure that you will miss no financial transaction, bill, invoice, dates, or appointments. In this way, Maatdesk is a case management software program that will keep you financially profitable and reputationally stable.
