How Legl Works for Finance Teams at Law Firms

Law firms rely heavily on the accuracy, effectiveness and efficiency of their Finance teams. From providing regular detailed financial reports and insights to upper management, to actively managing billing/AP processes and supporting financial management processes and activities, the Finance team is at the core of a smoothly-running business.

Legl helps firms to leverage the latest technology (such as the use of digital wallets) to meet evolving client expectations around ease and convenience during their engagement with the law firm. We also harness key data about client payment times and finance to support with better forecasting, data insights and visibility across the business.

Find out more about where Legl can help the Finance team at your law firm across its various areas of focus.

Reconciliation

Finance teams at law firms can spend hours understanding which payments to the firm attach to which matters, not to mention dealing with the logistics and associated admin work required to move funds between client and office accounts. In addition, a lot of time can be wasted chasing down fee-earners for information about any payments received into the client account for reconciliation purposes.

How does Legl help with reconciliation?

• The platform provides a clear dashboard that updates payments data in real time for simple reconciliation.
• All information required to reconcile the payment is captured at the point of payment.
• Funds are directed straight into client or office accounts.
• There is no need for email outreach seeking information to reconcile payments.

Payments

Though digital payments are becoming far more prevalent in peoples’ day-to-day lives, it is still not unheard of for finance teams to have clients call in – or for the team to call clients directly – to take credit or debit card payments over the phone. This is high risk based on the potential for human error or the theft of personal information security.

In addition, admin hours are often wasted as cashiers have to chase clients (or vice versa) to take payments, and manual follow-up with clients is required in order to provide receipts for any transactions.

How does Legl help with payments processes?

• A firm-branded checkout is embedded on the law firm’s website.
• The payments checkout allows use of digital wallets like Apple Pay/Google Pay.
• The solution is browser-based and not a mobile app, enabling clients to pay at a time of their choosing on a device of their choosing.
• Payments are processed using SCA, and card details are encrypted for security purposes.
• A firm-branded email receipt is automatically sent to client.

Credit Control

The credit control aspect of a Finance team’s responsibilities include keeping on top of which payments are overdue, chasing clients for unpaid bills, and, often, manually creating reports for upper management from lists of bank account details on cash flow and bad debt. All of these require hours of admin work which can otherwise be handled in a more automated way.

How can Legl help with credit control?

• Simply send a unique payment request link with a pre-filled checkout for the client to request prompt payment.
• Dashboards with real-time data clearly showing payment status.
• Ability to attach digital payment methods into invoices, emails, signature blocks.
• Automated reports, including time-to-pay data.

Team Management

Undoubtedly as a firm grows, so does the Finance team. For managers, tracking activity with team members can require individual check-ins to understand progress against targets and the status of client payments.

A lot of admin time is also spent taking payments over the phone and managing queries from clients rather than doing the work that enables firm growth.

How can Legl help with team management?

• Review all team activity in a single dashboard.
• Segment data by specific team team members.
• Digital payments tools where the client can complete the whole process online.

Forecasting and Reporting

Perhaps nothing is more important to a Finance team than being able to report on cash flow and forecast what’s going to happen in the near to long term. It’s a matter of trying to understand any patterns with regard to seasonality, or even times of the month, to enable marketing and growth strategies. The Finance team must also report to upper management on all aspects of financials, including cash flow, bad debt, any challenged invoices, and more.

How can Legl help with forecasting and reporting?

• Refer to a day-to-day dashboard with all the payments received into the firm, including breakdown of specific accounts, and matter/client reference information.
• Gain access to real-time data across payment channels including website, invoices, payment requests, and phone payments.

Not using Legl yet? Schedule a personalised demo now to find out how our onboarding, payments and compliance solutions can transform your firm.