What do law firm clients want when it comes to payments? Simplicity. Speed. Flexibility. But behind the scenes, delivering that smooth experience is harder than it looks – especially as security and regulatory risks are increasing. 

In the latest of our ‘Voice of the industry’ series about law firm payments, we spoke to Jason Parry, Head of Finance at Doyle Clayton.

Learn Jason’s thoughts on what it really takes to modernise payments in legal practice and where he sees legal finance evolving over the next few years. 

P.S. Want to learn more about the latest law firm best practices? Check out our recent report: 2025 Legal payment trends: how law firms are adapting to a digital-first future.

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Q: How large a role do payments play in the overall client experience?

A: Payments are a hygiene factor – when they work, no one notices. But when something goes wrong, it can seriously damage trust. For individual clients in particular, we’re seeing an expectation that the process be completely seamless. They want it to feel like any other online payment: quick, secure, and hassle-free.

However, there’s always a trade-off between ease and security. We’ve had situations where fraudsters intercepted invoices and changed payment links. So while we want to make payments smooth, we also need to protect our clients from increasingly sophisticated threats.
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Q: Over the past few years, how has the finance function’s role evolved at Doyle Clayton?

A: Technology has helped us break down some of the traditional silos that used to exist in legal finance. In the past, cashiers managed payments, secretaries handled admin, and fee-earners focused on the legal work – often with limited visibility across those roles. 

But with tools like Legl, we’ve been able to give secretaries and fee-earners direct access to real-time payment information, so they’re no longer reliant on back-and-forth emails to find out whether a client has paid. 

That’s had a huge impact on how the wider team works. It’s made us faster, more responsive, and more transparent. 
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Q: What changes have you made to improve your firm’s onboarding and payment workflows, and what impact has this had?

Onboarding and payments are becoming two sides of the same coin. You can’t take money on account until you’ve done the right AML and KYC checks – and that’s all part of onboarding. 

We put a lot of effort into getting that process right upfront. Not only does it help us be compliant, but it also creates a smooth experience for the client. 

By giving secretaries more responsibility over both onboarding and payments, we’re able to move faster and with more control. They’re closer to the client relationship. This means they can manage those processes with more sensitivity and personalisation than a third-party service ever could. 

The result is a joined-up experience that helps with both compliance and cash flow.

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Q: What advice would you give to other Heads of Finance looking to modernise payments and internal processes?

A: Start by understanding your culture. Not every firm is ready for change, especially if they take pride in being traditional – but if there’s an appetite to improve efficiency and empower staff, there’s a lot you can do. 

For us, the key was identifying where roles overlapped and then giving people the tools to take more ownership. That’s where we saw real momentum.

You don’t need to transform everything overnight. Start small by giving secretaries visibility over payment statuses. Let them manage onboarding. Gradually, those changes will reduce friction and free up the finance team to focus on more strategic work.

It’s about building trust across teams and making sure the systems you implement actually support the way people work.

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Q: What are the biggest compliance challenges you’re facing right now from a finance perspective?

A: The biggest challenge is managing risk in a commercially viable way. We handle a lot of individual matters – low value, high volume – so we need to strike a balance between thorough due diligence and operational efficiency. 

You can’t spend hours verifying a £500 payment. That’s where technology, like confirmation of payee, is making a real difference. It helps us quickly check if funds are coming from the right source without adding huge admin overhead.

We’re also seeing more scrutiny from the SRA following high-profile cases, and there’s always the concern of a knee-jerk regulatory response. So we’re constantly reviewing our internal processes, making sure they hold up under pressure. 

The goal is to stay compliant without compromising the client experience or slowing the business down.

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Q: How do you collaborate with other teams to manage payments and reduce risk?

A: It’s very hands-on. I work closely with our COLP and compliance team, and we’ve put a big focus on training secretaries to handle elements of AML and KYC more effectively. 

That’s partly because we found that outsourcing didn’t give us the control or sensitivity we needed – clients were getting bombarded with irrelevant or confusing questions, which created friction.

By keeping things in-house and upskilling the team, we can tailor the approach and ensure the client feels supported, not interrogated. Our size helps (we’re about 90 people) so lines of communication are short. 

But even in a bigger firm, empowering the people closest to the client relationship can make a big difference in managing payments and compliance more smoothly.

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Q: What trends do you think will shape the future of legal finance over the next five years?

A: I think we’ll see growing pressure to use technology to manage both risk and efficiency – especially around source of funds checks. Tools like confirmation of payee are a great start, but I’d love to see more innovation from banks and payment providers. 

Imagine a client account that could automatically run sanctions and source of funds checks before accepting a payment – that would be a game-changer.

Ultimately, we need tech that reflects the realities of how law firms operate – not just tools built for other sectors but repurposed for legal.

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Final thoughts

Thanks to Jason for such a thoughtful and practical conversation. The main takeaway is that legal finance is about so much more than just systems – it’s about your people, culture, and the way teams work together. 

It’s not always about radical change. Often, it’s the small, smart shifts that make the biggest difference.

Keen to learn more about the latest legal payments best practices?

Check out our recent report: 2025 Legal payment trends: how law firms are adapting to a digital-first future.

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