In this instructional video, the presenter addresses bookkeepers who support law‑firm clients, emphasizing the untapped value of offering legal billing services. He outlines the pain points—trust‑account errors, invoice sync failures, and retainer depletion—and proposes a comprehensive, automated workflow to eliminate them. Core components include using evergreen retainers, ensuring ABA Rule 1.15 compliance, and performing monthly three‑way reconciliations between the law‑firm’s legal‑tech platform, QuickBooks, and the trust account. The guide walks through specific software integrations (Clio, LeanLaw, QuickBooks, Confido Legal Payments), detailing how each tool automates time‑tracking, invoicing, payment collection (ACH, credit‑card, e‑checks), and reporting. He stresses reviewing retainer agreements for proper clauses, mapping accounts correctly, and leveraging transparent invoice templates to reduce client inquiries. The presenter also highlights practical steps for testing syncs, setting up product lines, monitoring open AR, and using smart reporting to flag issues early. Throughout, he encourages bookkeepers to position themselves as indispensable partners, offering automation, faster cash flow, and compliance assurance, and invites viewers to join the Law Lab for further support.
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Hey there, fellow bookkeepers. I am here to help you with your clients and help you with working with them on the billing side of things. Sometimes it's a part that's left untouched. And we took a poll one day to see how many people actually will do the billing with their clients. And a lot of people are like, nope, just do the accounting. I don't do the billing. So raise your hand if you've ever had an attorney client call you in a panic because their trust account was off, their invoices aren't syncing. Even if you don't do the billing, what if they call you and say they're not syncing or maybe that they've run out of funds with their retainers and how should I proceed? We've all been there. It's stressful. For one thing, and with compliance, it can be risky and it can eat up your time fixing the messes. So it's really a service you want to consider to add to your repertoire of services that you offer to your clients because it's, first of all, very fruitful once you nail down the processes. And if you had a bulletproof billing system that auto-replenished the retainers, what would that look like? What if something was put in place that was with Clio or LeanLaw that can flawlessly make sure that they get paid faster? Could you have options to explain to your client about different payment plans or payment processors that would help them get paid maybe 70% faster than they're getting paid now, getting paid by a written check or however they're doing their payments? So I'm going to give you the exact playbook that I use when working with our law firms. I'm going to talk about a little bit about evergreen retainers because they're amazing if your client's practice area allows for them. And then I'm also gonna talk a little bit about Confido legal payments because I think that's my favorite one. It's got so much versatility. It's so easy to work with. And then we'll talk a little bit about Clio and QuickBooks and the mastery between connecting them or LeanLaw and QuickBooks and how that's really gonna implement some forward-thinking technology. A lot of these software are really progressing and getting even more automated. And you want to really implement that for your clients. And they're gonna watch your value go up because you're gonna be that person that they go to and ask about software. So let's dive in and tackle this topic. So think about it. What's the pain we all face when it comes to billing? And with bookkeepers for attorneys, we know the stakes. We have that ABA Rule 1.15, which talks about retainers, right? It's the big elephant in the room that your clients will immediately come to you and be like, I don't want to use trust. I got to make sure my trust account is okay. It's really about that advanced payment of retainers that has to stay in trust until they've earned the funds. There can be no commingling. You have to have detailed ledgers, and you have to create monthly 3-way reconciliations for them with that if they've got that external software. One wrong connection, one wrong sync, one wrong account attached to the software, and it can become phantom revenue. Maybe they're downloading bank feeds and also creating invoices but not putting payments in, or whatever they've done to make a mess. That's how we can help them stay out of trouble and really helping your clients stay out of bar trouble. So you also want to help them with discussions around the types of billing that they're doing. Are they doing mostly hourly billing? That's much more time-consuming. Even though they're tracking their time, it's eye-opening to see how much time you're actually working on files and how much time is billable as opposed to non-billable. But a lot of firms could actually work towards using evergreen retainers where they just keep refilling the bucket of whatever the threshold is that they agree to with the client. Fixed fee billing where you charge a price depending on the type of practice area. You charge a certain price for items that sometimes in family law, like, this is the base for a divorce, or this is the base for a child custody case, and Obviously it can fluctuate depending on the complexity, but you want a good technology tool to be able to track evergreen retainers. You don't wanna be tracking that on a spreadsheet. You want it to be able to be refillable, automatic billing, all of those things. So if it's done, you're gonna have a steady cash flow. Your client will have a steady cash flow, and there'll be lots of clarity in the billing. And also in respect to that will cause fewer disputes, and you're gonna become their indispensable partner. No, we all wanna be that. How do we start? You wanna encourage your client to use some kind of software, especially if they have trust. It's a protection of the money that's held so sacredly. So look into Clio or LeanLaw, two simple powerhouses that work really well with QuickBooks, and have that accurate time tracking turned on. Even if they're doing fixed fee billing, they're probably gonna wanna have the timers on to track how much time is in each one, 'cause maybe they didn't pick the right pricing, and they're gonna need you there to help with that. So you're gonna be able to track time by the matter with no forgotten hours. And that's the key, cuz sometimes attorneys try to patchwork it and maybe use a free program over here to track the time, and it just doesn't work when you add all these manual processes. And sometimes that just— that lost time, if they're charging $450 an hour, that's lost time. It's gonna pay for that software. So why would you not want to have the software? You want transparent invoices with detailed breakdowns. Custom templates are included, so you're not having to reinvent the wheel every time you bill out. And then you will also find that with really transparent invoices, you're gonna reduce the questions from the clients. I like using the templates because you can templatize a lot of the verbiage that goes on the invoices, keep it streamlined throughout the firm. If you got a larger firm with lots of attorneys billing, it's the same messaging going out. And then that's gonna help reduce the questions from clients. Adding a tool like Confido Legal Payments, even if you're in Clio, you can add this. It's our go-to tool. Our go-to tool for getting paid without having to use checks. So you can get paid by ACH, credit card, you can do e-checks. Those things are all in place. You can do— pieces of billing can be done in segments. So if you sell a package and it's paid in phases, you can do that with that, with Confido. And what's great about it is you have that one login and you're really gonna be able to see in that login you know, all of the transactions and who paid what. And you can have a fixed place to get to so that the client can go on the website for the attorney and pay their bill, which is also another nice feature. A lot of these services come with texting, so you can text your bills to the clients. Depending on the practice area, like immigration law, you need that ability to text and get the invoices out to the clients. And the payments come in faster than checks and mailing. Nobody wants to do that anymore. And then you get some smart reporting with that too. Clio has some good trust reports. You're gonna be able to track that. LeanLaw has some great reporting too. You're gonna be able to spot issues really early on. I love LeanLaw for the fact that they give me that view of the sub-liability accounts so I can track each individual ledger. And automatically it locks you into a specific area where if you received a $10,000 retainer and you've been billing and then there's a little bit left over, it's not gonna let you overbill. It'll let you overbill, and you'll apply it, and then you have to ask the client for the difference. But it also will protect you from returning more than you had. You can't do that with those products in place. So that's important. And the next thing I want to talk a little bit about is really, you want to review the retainer agreements with the attorney. You want to make sure that if they're using Evergreen retainers, is the clause in there? So just ask to see a typical retainer agreement between the client and the law firm. So you want to understand, is there a minimum balance? Just don't be in the dark on this thing, especially if you're handling the billing. What is the scope? Remind them. How often do you have to remind them that there's a balance in trust if there's nothing happening in the case or matter? That's something you want to look up in the local bar rules for your state or jurisdiction. Some of them say that you have to really stay on top of notifying the client that they have funds with the attorney every 45 days, for example. So you need to know what your state rules are or wherever your attorney's practicing law, so you stay on top of staying compliant. And you wanna make sure that you're syncing properly. You wanna make sure that the software, if your client is using Clio or LeanLaw, you wanna make sure that in the settings that they're set up properly, that you've got them going to the correct accounts. You wanna test the sync, see how everything goes, make sure you've got the right products in setup. You can't even set up Clio without setting up the product line in QuickBooks ahead of time. With LeanLaw, you can set it up as you go. Mm-hmm. As you go, and they actually give you really good suggestions. So if you don't have the right account and you're not sure of what account, LeanLaw actually suggests the ones that they think you should add, which I think is great, especially if you're new to this. It's confusing how to map it out. And then just take a look at how the time entries are set up, how the bill generation is set up. You also want to look at Confido and how is that set up, and they've got a great team over there that will help you set that up. And help you connect. And then you can have the payment links and have that discussion with the client on how to make that work in their firm. And then obviously our monthly magic is really reconciling the operating account, but also reconciling the trust with the trust software, the legal tech software, and making sure that it all aligns. You get that three-way trust. You review the reports, flag anything that seems negative or funky when you're looking at the list. Something's not right, something seems off. Let the client know right away. Doing this monthly is important. Do a full setup in one client session, work with them, and boom, you're an instant hero. Because a lot of this is very confusing and it's almost like foreign language to the client. And then one of the things I love about Clio or LeanLaw and QuickBooks, it's a cloud powerhouse. It saves so many steps. There's a lot of things that you can help your client with. I've seen more clients use Clio and underutilize some of the features than I've ever seen in any other software. So you want to make sure that it's being used to its fullest extent. There's a lot of templates. There's a lot of automation pieces inside of Clio that I think sometimes clients just plug and play and they don't really take the time to learn it. And Confido will actually supercharge the payments and clients love the ease of being able to pay really quick. They get the message, they look at the invoice, they pay. You're the person that's the conduit in communication, so Really coach your clients to explain the retainers upfront. Sometimes that can happen where they don't quite explain it the right way, and then you're gonna get some friction with the client. Just don't wanna have that. You wanna avoid that. And then you want to make sure that you are mapping everything to the right accounts. Keeping an eye on who doesn't pay and keeping an eye on that open AR is important. If a client says they didn't get an invoice, you can see that, that it was sent, so you can clearly let them know that they did get it and they've opened opened it 15 times, for example. We see that in QuickBooks very easily under the audit log. And also on the invoice, if it's been sent. If your client's behind, catch up on the reconciliations for them. Hammer down ethics with them. Let them know this is so important to follow. And then really, you're the closer, right? You're the person that's the call-to-action person. So how we level up with working with our attorney and really taking away the billing headaches is important. I think getting them more automated is a big win, especially in 2026. So important. Your clients are get paid faster when you add them getting paid by using Confido and getting paid by automation tools instead of handwriting checks and putting them in snail mail. Make sure you help them set the software up. Take a look at that software integration so you can help them, 'cause a lot of times they don't set it up right, especially in Clio. I see that more than anything. And then if you're really stuck, you can always reach out to us, join the Law Lab. We can help you with that. I know it's confusing sometimes, but I think that the— if you just handle those things, I would love to hear from you. What is the biggest mess your attorney clients throw at you? Put that in a message below. I'd love to hear from you. I'll reply with some quick fixes for you if you want. So truly, if you like this video, like and subscribe to our channel. We'd really appreciate it. Thank you. And thank you so much for watching, and go make those attorneys love their books and love you. See you next time.
