Whenever you record a payment against an invoice created in LeanLaw, your firm's allocation settings will be automatically applied to that payment, allowing you to see where the compensation for that payment is expected to go. One use for this compensation data is the creation of distributions.
A distribution is the revenue allocation of one or more payments. When you view a distribution, you can see the total amount of money each attorney is receiving from the distribution, and from which allocation values (Responsible, Origination, etc.) that total was calculated. When you're ready to finalize the distribution, you can also instantly create bills in QuickBooks equal to each attorney's total, assigned to each attorney's name, with the Distribution's name as the description.
How to assign payments to a distribution
LeanLaw’s distribution feature allows you to organize revenue allocation according to your firm's pay periods. Whether you pay out compensations yearly, monthly, or on any other basis, you can organize distributions the way that's best for you.
1. Select Billing
On the main navigation bar, click on Billing to open the Billing page.
2. Select Distribution
In the Billing page, click the tab labeled Distribution, located just below the main navigation bar. This will open the Distributions page.
3. Select Payments
On the left side of the Distribution page, click the Payments button to open the Payments page.
4. Check the box(es) next to your payment(s)
On the Payments page, click the checkbox next to any payments you wish to add to a distribution in order to select them for assignment.
5. Select Assign to Distribution
Once you have your payments selected, click the button at the top of the Distribution page labeled Assign to Distribution to open the Assign to Distribution window.
6. Create a distribution (if needed)
On the Assign to Distribution window, if you haven't yet created the distribution to which you wish to assign your payments, click the Create Distribution button to name and create a new distribution.
7. Select your distribution(s)
On the Assign to Distribution window, click the dropdown to select a single distribution to which you can assign your payment(s).
❓ Itemize Distribution Assignment: this switch can be used if you wish to allocate parts of your payments across multiple distributions.
8. Save
When you're finished, click the green Save button to save your changes.
You now have a distribution to which you can add more payments and use to calculate compensation.
How to disburse your distribution as bills in QuickBooks
Any distribution that doesn’t have a status of Distributed can be sent to QuickBooks to become bills in your attorneys’ names. This allows you to take compensation data from LeanLaw and transfer it to your payroll.
⚠️ Warning: once a distribution has been sent to QuickBooks, it will be permanently locked. You will be unable to add more payments, send it back to a Draft state, or use the Send to QuickBooks function on that distribution again.
1. Select Billing
On the main navigation bar, click on Billing to open the Billing page.
2. Select Distribution
On the Billing page, click the tab labeled Distribution, located just below the main navigation bar. This will open the Distributions page.
3. Select a distribution
On the Distributions page, select the distribution you wish to disburse. This will open that distribution’s Distribution Review page.
4. Select Send to QuickBooks
On the Distribution Review page, when you’re ready to send the distribution to QuickBooks, click the Send to QuickBooks button.
❓ Send to QuickBooks blocked by duplicate name? QuickBooks Online prevents any vendor, customer, or employee from sharing the same name. Send to QuickBooks attempts to create bills in your attorney's names as vendors. This means that if any customer or employee in your firm's QuickBooks is using one of your attorneys' display names, you'll have to change it for this feature to work.