Did you know that firms using online payment solutions saw up to 6% year-over-year revenue growth in 2020 and collected nearly 40% more revenue per lawyer, according to the 2021 Legal Trends Report?
Offering the option to pay online makes it easy for your clients to pay—and that enables your firm to collect more revenue each month with less effort.
The best part is, securely automating billing and collections at your law firm is much simpler than you think—it’s all about choosing the right tools and having a proper system in place.
Join Joshua Lenon, Lawyer in Residence at Clio, to find out how you can leverage legal technology to maintain cash flow and improve revenue at your firm.
In this free webinar, you’ll learn:
- The benefits of offering online payment options and more ways to pay at your law firm
- How to comply with your ethical obligations and IOLTA trust accounting requirements
- Steps for creating an automated billing and payment process at your firm
7. Clio App Data
Aggregated and anonymized data from tens of thousands
of legal professionals in the United States.
Legal professional and
consumer surveys
We surveyed 1,056 legal professionals and
1,002 consumers in May and June 2021.
Longitudinal Study
This year’s report includes a multi-year study
of over 1,600 law firms grouped into three cohorts—
growing, stable, and shrinking.
Data Sources
8. 25%
of firms still mail bills and
29%
rely on clients to pay bills by check
9. Utilization rate
Number of billable
hours worked
Number of hours
in a day
30%
Realization rate
Number of billable
hours invoiced 84%
Number of billable
hours worked
Collection rate Number of hours
collected upon 89%
Number of billable
hours invoiced
÷ =
÷ =
÷ =
Law firm key performance indicators (KPIs)
10. 1.9 hours realized 6.1 hours missing
5.6 hours missing
2.4 hours utilized
Utilization rate
8 hour work day
1.6 hours collected
6.4 hours missing
How many hours were billable?
14. Rate of online payments adoption*
100%
75%
50%
0%
Jan 2017
Jan 2018
Jan 2019
Jan 2021
*Normalized based on total adoption among growing firms
Growing Shrinking
25%
Jan 2016
Jan 2020
15. 5% and 16%
more revenue every month.
Customers using online payments
collect between
16. Revenue advantages to using
technology solutions (per lawyer)*
2019
2020
$40,000
$30,000
$20,000
$10,000
Electronic
payments
Client
portals
Client intake
and CRM
Multiple
solutions*
$0
18. Based on online payment data we see that
when collecting fees via secure online credit
card payment platform, firms get paid
faster than by other means.
39%
21. 67%
Responds to first call/
email right away
64%
Offers free
initial consults
47%
Offers fixed fees
28%
Let’s clients pay
by credit card
27%
Exchanges texts
with clients
19%
Great-looking
website
What potential clients look for
22. 65%
of consumers prefer to pay using online
payments.
73%
of law firms allow clients to pay
invoices electronically.
23. of law firms report the most common reason
for clients not paying their bills is that they
lack the funds to pay a bill all at once.
44%
24. There is an appetite for payment
plans, that not all lawyers are
taking advantage of.
25. 72%
When it comes to payment plans,
53%
of law firms are equipped to offer
payment plans.
of consumers would prefer to pay their
legal fees via a payment plan, while
26. Factors influencing choice of lawyer
100%
50%
25%
0%
Responsiveness to questions
Price transparency
Free consultations
Payment plans availability
Positive online reviews
Personal recommendation
Searchable online
Provide remote options
Available outside business hours
Available via text or IM
Support online bookings
75%
Somewhat positive influence
Very positive influence
26% 26% 28% 30% 33% 34% 33% 34% 35% 33%
33%
60% 59% 56%
51% 49% 47% 47% 45% 44% 44%
39%
27. of consumers say a law
fi
rm's ability to o
ff
er
payment plans in
fl
uences
their hireabilty.
81%
28. of lawyers plan to
accept online payments
beyond the pandemic
96%
31. Keeping it Ethical
4 Issues to Keep in Mind:
1. Fees and Reasonableness
2. Proper Accounting Practices
3. Client Communications
4. Agency in Collections
32. 37
MRPC 1.5 Fees
(a) A lawyer shall not make an
agreement for, charge, or collect an
unreasonable fee or an
unreasonable amount for
expenses.
1. the time and labor required, the novelty and
difficulty of the questions involved, and the
skill requisite to perform the legal service
properly;
2. the likelihood, if apparent to the client, that
the acceptance of the particular employment
will preclude other employment by the
lawyer;
3. the fee customarily charged in the locality for
similar legal services;
4. the amount involved and the results obtained;
5. the time limitations imposed by the client or
by the circumstances;
6. the nature and length of the professional
relationship with the client;
7. the experience, reputation, and ability of the
lawyer or lawyers performing the services;
and
8. whether the fee is fixed or contingent.
33. A lawyer shall deposit into a client
trust account legal fees and
expenses that have been paid in
advance, to be withdrawn by the
lawyer only as fees are earned or
expenses incurred.
MRPC 1.15 (c)
38
34. 39
Client Communications
Disclosure Required
When a representation is based upon an hourly rate,
the minimum unit of time for which a client will be
billed should be apparent. See, Georgia Bar Formal
Advisory Op. 01-1
Get It in Writing
NYCRR §1215 Written Letter of Engagement
The letter of engagement shall address the following
matters:
1. Explanation of the scope of the legal services to be
provided;
2. Explanation of attorney's fees to be charged, expenses
and billing practices (emphasis added); and, where
applicable, shall provide that the client may have a
right to arbitrate fee disputes under Part 137 of the
Rules of the Chief Administrator.
35. Agency in
Collections
Using collection agencies creates greater ethical risks for law firms. Keeping collections in the
law firm avoids oversight and confidentiality concerns.
40
38. Automated Bill
Reminders
• Automatically reminds your
clients to pay their
outstanding balances based
on a customizable cadence
that’s right for your firm.
• Clio will keep track of your
client’s outstanding balances,
and remind the bill recipients
using your predefined
Bill Recipients
• Designate multiple
contacts as bill recipients
Bill Message Templates
• Get started quickly with
existing templates and quickly
personalize them to share
bills, trust requests or
outstanding balances with
your clients.
• Save time and share accurate
outstanding balance figures
with bill messages that
intuitively pre-populate unique
Bill Sharing Features
Set it up once and let your practice management take care of the rest.
39.
40.
41. Automated Bill
Reminders
• Automatically reminds your
clients to pay their
outstanding balances based
on a customizable cadence
that’s right for your firm.
• Clio will keep track of your
client’s outstanding balances,
and remind the bill recipients
using your predefined
Bill Recipients
• Designate multiple
contacts as bill recipients
Bill Message Templates
• Get started quickly with
existing templates and quickly
personalize them to share
bills, trust requests or
outstanding balances with
your clients.
Bill Sharing Features
Set it up once and let Clio take care of the rest.
42.
43. Automated Bill
Reminders
• Automatically reminds your
clients to pay their
outstanding balances based
on a customizable cadence
that’s right for your firm.
Bill Recipients
• Designate multiple
contacts as bill recipients
Bill Message Templates
• Get started quickly with
existing templates and quickly
personalize them to share
bills, trust requests or
outstanding balances with
your clients.
Bill Sharing Features
Set it up once and let Clio take care of the rest.
50. Clio Manage
Legal practice management software
Our most popular product—the industry’s leading solution
to help manage clients, organize cases, and automate
tedious tasks and month-end billing.
Clio Grow
Client intake and legal CRM software
Standardize the client intake process with online intake
forms, email automation, and e-signatures to build strong
relationships, and get powerful data insights to grow your firm.
The Clio Suite
Legal practice management, client intake and CRM software. Get
unmatched performance with Clio Suite, the industry’s
only end-to-end software solution for your firm. Visit clio.com/pricing to learn more.
Clio’s Offerings
51. Polls for Non-Clio and Clio Customers
Poll 1: For Non-Clio Customers
Would you like to learn more about Clio?
a. Yes, I would like to learn more about
Clio’s Suite of products
b. Clio Cloud Conference
c. No, I’m not interested
d. No, I’m already a Clio Customer
56
Poll 2: For Clio Customers
Would you like to learn more about:
a. Adding Clio Grow to
streamline client intake
b. Adding Clio Payments
c. Clio Cloud Conference
d. No, I’m not interested
or I already use Clio Grow
52. Upcoming Webinars
57
● Virtual Meetups: Innovate Legal Online's Building a Successful Law Firm Series
● [CLE-Eligible Webinar] Disaster and Succession Planning for Law Firms, March 8
● 2022 Clio Cloud Conference: October 10-11 | Hybrid.
● All Upcoming Webinars & Content:
Clio.com Resources Page