With LeanLaw you can bill fixed or flat fees to your Clients just as quickly as a time entry. When running invoices each month and, making the necessary changes, some of these fees may need to be updated or removed. This article explains how to do that.
Editing an existing Fixed Fee
Step 1: Open specific Matter
The first order of business is to locate the Matter which the fee is associated with. This can be done on the Matters page, then scrolling/filtering/searching for the required Matter. Currently Fixed Fees can only be edited from within the Matter's Fixed Fee tab, so we'll need jump to that next.
ProTip: LeanLaw offers a search bar on most pages, allowing you to quickly locate specific items.
Step 2: Open Fixed Fees tab
Notice the navigation tabs at the top? Pop over to the "Fixed Fees" tab where we'll make adjustments to the Fixed Fee.
Step 3: Open and Edit the Fixed Fee
All of the fees (billed or not billed) are shown within this page. Go ahead and open the specific fee that we want to make changes to by clicking on it, or the triple dots at the end of the row. Doing so opens the Fixed Fee pane. Once open you're able to make all of the necessary changes, and save when done.
Notice "Delete" button at the bottom? This allows you to outright remove the fee, and not bill the Client for it. This is not automatically done when switching Billing Types, so make sure to remove any lingering fees.
Making changes to a Fixed Fee template
By default LeanLaw allows you to create templates for your frequently used fixed fees. This allows users to quickly add fees with consistent descriptions/LEDES codes/amounts, without needing to recreate them each time.
Note: Keep in mind that these are usable by anyone in the firm with the ability to add fees. Avoid saving case-specific information in these templates.
Billed vs Not Billed
When a fee is listed under "Billed" that means it has been included on an invoice.
To find out which invoice it is included on select the three dots next to the fee and select "Open Invoice". This will show you the Draft/Finalized invoice the fee is included on.
From there you can "Undo" the invoice using the button at the bottom, which will unlock the fee and allow you to remove it.
Delete to remove the fixed fee, so long as it has not been included on an invoice. If it has, you'll need to undo the invoice. Once removed, you'll then need to recreate the invoice, without the fee.
What’s next?
Creating invoices — Once all the time, expenses, and fees have been tracked they can be bundled into an invoice and sent out.
How to bill a contingency case — Track your time and expenses along the way, but only bill once the case settles.
Fixed Fee billing type vs other billing types — Different types of cases require different styles of billing.