Billing Agreements

Below are Billing Agreement categories. These are applied in the Client Table, within the Billing tab.

Hourly

The hourly setting is the most common billing type. This selection will bill the client for hours worked and expenses incurred based on the fee schedule and expense schedule assigned.

Task

The Task setting works like the hourly billing agreement type; however, task billing will enable the ‘Require task codes on all time entries’ setting (found on the Int/Disc tab for the Matter) and will not allow that option to be unselected.

Flat Fee

Flat fee billing is used to bill a client a set amount for a bill or a series of bills. Flat Fee Billing functionality may be altered to the firm’s flat Billing style.

• Bill a single bill for a flat fee then never bill again. Set as follows:
  • Change Billing Frequency to: Cycle 0
  • Change Billing Agreement to: Leave as Flat Fee (or Hourly)

• Bill a single bill for a flat fee, then bill hourly for work outside that first bill. Set as follows:
  • Change Billing Frequency to: Monthly
  • Change Billing Agreement to: Hourly
  • This is the most commonly used scenario
• Bill the flat fee amount repeatedly each month. Set as follows:
  • Change Billing Frequency to: Monthly
  • Change Billing Agreement to: Leave as flat fee
  • Although this is an option, it is preferred to use the Retainer Billing agreement for billing a client the same flat fee repeatedly.

Retainer

In Juris, the term ‘retainer’ is not used for a prepayment for legal fees. The Retainer is considered earned when received based on 4 different retainer types, Total Bill, Fee Total, Minimum Bill and Minimum Fee as described below:

Total Bill:

Bills the retainer amount for the total bill regardless of fees and expenses incurred. Example, if the client has a retainer of $1,000.00

• If the firm records $750.00 of fees and expenses – the system will bill it out at $1,000.00.
• If the firm records $1,700.00 of fees and expenses – the system will bill it out at $1,000.00.

Fee Total:

Bills the retainer amount for the fees regardless of actual fees incurred – with expenses tracked separately. Example, if the client has a retainer of $1,000.00.

• If the firm records $750.00 of fees and $50.00 in expenses or – the system will bill it out at $1,000.00 + $50.00 or $1,050.00.
• If the firm records $1,700.00 of fees and $50.00 in expenses – the system will bill it out at $1,000.00 + $50.00 or $1,050.00.

Minimum Bill:

Bills EITHER the retainer amount OR the total fees and expenses incurred – whichever is larger. Example, if the client has a retainer of $1,000.00

• If the firm records $750.00 of fees and expenses incurred - the system will bill $1,000.00.
• if the firm records $1,700.00 of fees and expenses incurred – the system will bill it out at $1,700.00.

Minimum Fee:

Bills EITHER the retainer amount OR the total fees (+ expenses) incurred – whichever is larger. Example, if the client has a retainer of $1,000.00

• If the firm records $750.00 of fees/$50 in expenses incurred - the system will bill $1,000.00 + $50 or $1,050.00.
• If the firm records $1,700.00 of fees/$50 in expenses incurred – the system will bill it out at $1,700.00 + $50.00 or $1,750.00

Contingency

Matters set to a billing type of Contingency are treated the same as hourly matters. Hours worked and expenses incurred are based on the fee schedule and expense schedule assigned. However, in a contingency matters, generally matter is not billed until a settlement is reached, then at settlement time a bill is generated and the amount received by the firm is applied to the outstanding expenses incurred, then outstanding fees incurred until all funds are applied. The different categories allow a firm to track hourly work separately from Contingency items that may sit in work in process for months or even years before a settlement is reached.

PRO BONO

This billing type is used to designate pro-bono matters where hours worked are tracked and billed out at a zero dollar amount. Expenses that are tracked will be billed at full value – but may need to be marked off in cases where no expenses are reimbursed. For example, a bill with one fee item of 5 hours at a rate of 200 per hour with no variations between worked and billed would be processed as:

Hours Worked	Hours to Bill	Worked Rate	Worked Amount	Hours to Bill	Billed Rate	Billed Amount
5	5	$200.00	$0	5	$200.00	$0

 

Non-Billable

This billing type is processed in the exact same manner as an item tagged as Pro Bono. The different categories allow a firm to track Pro Bono work separately from Non Billable items that are not actual Pro Bono Work.

 

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