This article will show you how to set allocation settings across your firm, users, and matters.
For more about where these values are found, check out our articles on the Compensation report and Distributions.
Table of Contents:
Once a payment is recorded against an invoice in LeanLaw, the revenue associated with that payment is seamlessly reflected across key areas. This includes the payment's Allocation Details, any distributions to which the payment is applied, and critical reports such as the Compensation Report, ensuring transparency and accurate tracking of financial data.
By default, all revenue generated from collected services is allocated entirely to the attorney who performed the service. However, you can customize allocation percentages to address specific needs, such as:
Firm Share: Covering the firm’s operational overhead.
Responsible: Compensating the lead attorney for their added responsibilities.
Originating: Recognizing contributions like securing new clients or signing bonuses.
This flexible setup ensures a fair distribution of revenue aligned with your firm’s goals and roles.
Configuring Firm-Wide Allocation
Firm-wide allocation settings determine how payments are distributed across the entire firm. However, these settings can be customized and overridden by specific configurations set at the user or matter level.
1. Go to Settings ⚙️
In the top right of your screen, click the gear icon to open your firm’s Settings page.
2. Click Compensation Tracking
From the settings menu on the left side, click Compensation Tracking to open your firm’s Compensation Tracking page.
3. Enter Allocation Values
On the Reports Settings page, input the desired percentages for Originating Attorney Share, Responsible Attorney Share, and either the Firm Share or Working Attorney Share, depending on which one you are not setting as the calculated value. If needed, use the green circle icon next to Calculated Value to swap the calculated options seamlessly.
4. Save Changes
When you’re finished, click the green Save Settings button on the bottom of your screen to save your changes.
What is Calculated Value? 📊
In LeanLaw, the Calculated Value serves as a safeguard to maintain balanced allocation percentages when they exceed the limits defined in your Report Settings. For instance, this can occur when:
A matter has multiple originators
Allocation percentages are manually adjusted to exceed firm-wide allocation totals
In these scenarios, LeanLaw ensures accurate revenue distribution by deducting from one of your allocation values to compensate for the overage. The Calculated Value designates the specific allocation value, from which these adjustments will automatically be made, ensuring smooth and precise reporting.
Configuring User-Specific Allocation
User-specific allocation values can be configured to complement or replace firm-wide allocation settings. These user-specific configurations take precedence over firm-wide settings but are superseded by matter-specific allocation settings.
1. Go to Settings ⚙️
In the top right of your screen, click the gear icon to open your firm’s Settings page.
2. Click Compensation Tracking
From the settings menu on the left side, click Compensation Tracking to open your firm’s Compensation Tracking page.
3. Click Show Users Allocation
To the right of Revenue Allocation for Users, click the button that says Show Users Allocation to expand the user-specific allocation table.
4. Set Allocation Values
In the User Allocation table, set any unique allocation settings you wish for your users. The table below offers more definition of the effects of user-specific allocation values:
Allocation(click to change allocation type) | Self: all revenue from this user's work will be assigned to the user, after other allocations.
Responsible: all revenue from the user's work will be assigned to the Responsible user on the matter.
Expenses: all revenue from this user's work will be considered an expense for revenue. |
Working | Allows you to override the firm-wide Working Attorney value for just this user, allocating this percentage of revenue from the user's work to the user's Share. This only applies while Working Attorney is not the Calculated Value. |
Origination | Allows you to override the firm-wide Origination value for just this user. Origination is allocated from all payments where a user has been marked as an originator for the matter. |
Configuring Matter-Specific Allocation
You can also set allocation values specific to individual matters. These matter-specific settings will take precedence over both firm-wide and user-specific allocation values, but only when processing payments tied to the edited matter.
1. Go to Matters
From the main navigation bar at the top of your screen, click Matters to open the Matters page.
2. Open the Matter
From the Matters page, click the matter for which you wish to configure matter-specific allocation values.
3. Open the Matter's Billing & Rates Tab
Within the matter, click the Billing & Rates tab to open the matter's Billing & Rates settings.
4. Set the Matter's Allocation Values
Within the matter's Billing & Rates settings, you can configure the matter's allocation in a number of ways:
Set a new user as Responsible by clicking the 3 dots next to a user's name. This will cause the new user to receive Responsible allocation for the matter if any has been set in your Reports Settings.
Set one or more users as originators by checking the originating checkbox or entering a matter-specific origination value to the right of their name.
Customize a user's Working percentage to alter the percentage of their work that is allocated to them as revenue. Note: This option will only appear, and will only have effect, while Working is not your firm's calculated value.
⚠️ Warning: be mindful to never configure your allocation in a way that could cause more than 100% of a payment to be allocated, such as by setting many originators on a single matter or by setting a user's Working allocation to 90% when you already have 20% origination. We recommend that the largest value you wish to see in allocation, between Firm Share and Working, be left as your Calculated value.
Compensation vs Revenue/Collected
The compensation settings that you configure with the help of this article are intended to be used with the tools in our product that help controllers manage their payroll and apply to many areas of the product, such as:
The Distributions tools
The Compensation report
The "Allocation Detail," which is visible when clicking the triple dot menu next to an invoice
Compensation settings do not impact metrics labeled as "revenue" or "collected" in areas such as the WIP, Billed, or Collected reports, including the Collected by Responsible report. These reports are designed to track cash inflow and are not intended for use in determining compensation.