Time and Billing Settings

Table of Contents

1. Time Entry Settings
    a. General
    b. Activity Types
    c. Expenses Types

2. Invoice Settings
    a. General
    b. Invoice Types
    c. Invoice Reminders
    d. Invoice Field Visibility 
    e. Invoice Email Template

3. My Settings
    a. Time and Billing

Prerequisites

To access the Time & Billing settings, the user must have this feature enabled at the add-on cost of $29 a month per user. 

Time Entry Settings

To access your firm's Time Entry settings, start by clicking the settings gear icon near the top right of your page. You will see the two different options that apply to Time & Billing on the left sidebar: Invoices and Time Tracking / Expenses. 

Note: All of the settings found on both of those pages will apply firm-wide, as opposed to being for an individual user.

Let's start by walking through each setting found in the Time Tracking settings.

General

Duration Precision

Here you can select how precisely you would like to track your time entries. By default, the system will automatically track one decimal point. For example, if you log an activity session for one hour and 10 minutes, this would be logged as 1.2 hours.

If you would like to have more precision for your time entries, you can opt to track your time with two decimal points. In the example given above, the time would be logged as 1.17 hours.

Minimum Trust Balance Recipients

On each of your matters, you have the option to set a minimum required trust balance. The system will then send out an internal alert when that minimum balance is reached so that you know to request more funds for the matter's trust. 

Activity Types

When logging time in Lawmatics, each log will also need an accompanying activity type. To create your activity types in settings, click "New Activity Type" near the top right corner, shown in the image below.

You will be prompted to give your activity type a name, set a default rate (if you would like), select whether activity is charged as a flat fee, and assign a color.

You can come back to this page at any point to edit your existing activity types or add additional types as needed.

Expense Types

In addition to activity types for time entries, you will also create standard types for your firm's various expenses. These are tracked on a flat fee basis with a default cost set for each expense.

When logging an expense, you will select the type of expense. If that expense has a default cost, then that default will automatically populate. However, you can always override the default when logging an expense if needed.

Invoice Settings

General

Batch Send Invoices

By enabling the batch invoices toggle, you will be able to create and send invoices for multiple matters in one batch. 

If you have a client with multiple matters, this allows them to receive all of their invoices in one email, making it easy for them (and you) to manage all invoices. We’ve also given you the option to create a custom email template specifically for batched invoices, providing extra clarity to the billing process for your clients.

Invoice Email

This setting gives you the option to choose a default email address for sending your invoices. This is who the email will appear "from" when it is sent. If you do not choose a default, then the invoice email will come from whichever of your Lawmatics users is manually sending an invoice. With the default option turned on, you can either select a specific user email or enter a custom email.

Default Tax Adjustment

Use this setting to set a default percentage or flat amount for tax adjustments. While the default can be overridden when creating an invoice if necessary, setting a default will save you the time of entering a tax amount on each invoice if your firm does have a standard rate or amount. 

The adjustment can be applied to the invoice subtotal, expenses, or time entries, as shown in the example below. It can also be selected as a flat amount or as a percentage.

Invoice Types

Invoice Types & Payment Receipts

This setting is particularly important if you plan on sending invoices via automation or triggering an automation once an invoice is paid. Your invoice types allow you to set a default amount for different types of invoices. You can also select from these types in an automation to trigger an action based on the type of invoice.

Learn more about invoice automations here.

You can also create a custom payment receipt for each invoice type. If you do not create a receipt template, a default receipt email will be sent out. Once you have created and saved your receipt template, it will be sent automatically when someone makes a successful payment.

To set up a receipt template for a particular invoice type, simply click on the button outlined in red below. 

You can then create your template as shown below, merging any fields of your choice. Note that you can also choose to include a PDF attachment of the original invoice and/or an attachment of an official payment receipt.

Invoice Reminders

Invoice reminders automatically notify your matters when they have a payment coming due. Choose how long before the invoice due date you would like to send your reminder, create your custom reminder email template, and then you're all set. Learn all about that here.

Invoice Fields Visibility

This setting allows you to select which fields will all be visible to clients on your invoices for both time and expenses.

You may wish to keep all of the available options selected, or you can click the edit pencil to the right, shown below, to remove certain selections. In the example below, you will see that we have removed the Description and User fields from the Time Entries Columns.

Now, when invoices are sent for time entries the invoice will appear like the sample below. Notice how it contains all of the fields shown above except for the Description and User.

Invoice Email Template

When sending an invoice via Lawmatics, the invoice will always be sent as a PDF attachment to an email. This setting allows you to create a custom message that will be sent with your invoices.

Note that you can create a different email template for each of the invoice email and the online payment email, using the two tabs shown at the top of the image above. To have the Online Payment Email option available, you must have an LMPay account. Learn more about the LMPay application process here.

Once you type in your message, make sure you also click the "Save" button at the bottom of your page.

My Settings

Time and Billing

The third relevant settings page can be found under User Settings > My Settings > Time and Billing, found near the top left of the settings sidebar menu.

Note: this setting is individual for each user, so each of your users will have the option to set a different respective default time entry rate. When each user comes to their My Settings page, they can populate the default billing rate, or click "New Activity Type Default Rate" to add additional default rates for each activity type.

When adding a new rate, simply select which activity type the rate is for, enter the rate, select whether or not it is a flat fee, and then click "Save."

Once you have set a default rater for a particular activity type for your user, Lawmatics will use your user rate when logging an activity of that type, as opposed to the standard firm rate for that activity. Please, note that your Default Rate will not populate when another user creates a Time Entry selecting you as Staff. 

You also have the option to select a default billing user. If you are often logging time entries or expenses for yourself, then keep yourself selected as the default billing user. If it is more common for you to log entries on behalf of another staff member, feel free to select a different default user accordingly.

FAQs

Will all of my firm's users have access to the Time & Billing settings?

You can set custom user roles by going to Settings > User Management. Here you can manage your firm's various roles and choose whether or not to give them access to the Time & Billing settings. 

Are there settings to customize the invoice that is sent for time and/or expenses?

You can customize the columns that are visible on your invoices for both time and expenses as well as the email message sent with your invoice, but there are no further customizations available at this time.