All of your time and expenses are entered and you are ready to create some invoices - here is a step by step guide on how to get the job done. (note: click on any of the images to enlarge)

You will start by navigating to your “BILLING” tab from the top of your LeanLaw screen:

This area contains the sub-folders that were designated when you chose your billing workflow Ready To Bill, Draft and Approve as well as the QuickBooks tab where you can find invoices that are ready to submit or have already been submitted. Also in this area you will find tabs to see trust and accounts receivable balances.

This folder contains everything from the time entry and expense folders, grouped by client and matter to prepare for billing. You can choose a single client, single matter (Pro version only) or bulk entries to prepare your draft invoice. There are filters on the left for sorting by client, timekeeper and date range as well as additional “checkboxes” include/exclude billable or non-billable hours, fixed fees or expenses.

Draft invoices (or pre-bills) are a first step in preparing an invoice. As you “create” the drafts, they will move into the “Draft” folder. This area can be used to electronically review what will appear on the final invoice. You can edit from the draft, “save” sections for later and add additional entries, if needed. You will also see at the top of the draft other client information such as prior accounts receivable balances and amounts held in trust. Those balances are for internal information and do not appear on the actual invoice in that manner. Once the draft has been edited and approved, it will move into the “Approved” folder. If your workflow does not use the “Approve” step, it can be submitted directly to QuickBooks. You are able to skip the approve step and “approve and submit” directly from the draft document, even if you have the approved folder set up in your workflow.

You are also able to “undo” a draft and send all of the entries and expenses back to the “Ready To Bill” folder.

If you use the “Approved” step, invoices that have gone through the draft process and have been approved, will now be in the approved folder, ready to be submitted to Quickbooks. You can send individually or in bulk.

You also have the option to undo and “send back to draft” if you have found that a mistake had been made or if you decide to hold off billing for a particular client or matter.

This tab will contain the list of invoices that have been processed and are ready to deliver to the client or have already been delivered. This is also the area where you can look up prior invoices that are either paid or unpaid. You also have the option to “undo” and send an invoice back to the draft folder.

From this area you can record payments, apply trust payments (if applicable), email or print. You can also sort the invoices by delivery method for bulk delivery. And as with the other other screens, you are able to filter and sort by various conditions by using the filters on the left. To access all of these options you click on the triple dots on the far right of the invoice line.

Clicking on the triple dots at the end of the invoice will open the window for the options to email, view the invoice, send it back to draft or record a payment. If trust funds are available there will be a “pay from trust” option.

BEHIND THE SCENES - QUICKBOOKS: When an invoice is created in LeanLaw and submitted to QuickBooks, LeanLaw will automatically record the transaction into the proper accounts (Revenue and Accounts Receivable) in QuickBooks.