Billing Program for Atty's Office?

[GettoPhilosopher]

My office is currently using Timeslips. We want to migrate to a new system.

Specifically, I want a system where we can scan check images and receipts into the electronic billing files. It's a grossly inefficient procedure we have currently....having to log and copy and mark down payments in 5 different places. I want to streamline.

Any suggestions? We'd need to be able to bill our time and expenses, send out invoices, keep track of accounts receivables for the clients, and preferably store images of their payments (checks, cash or CC receipts, etc).

[socalblue]

How much $$ do you have to spend
What does the network/server infrastructure look like?
Accounting package?

As an FYI, scanning check images & the like is going to require a significant amount of disk space moving forward. Be prepared to spend $$ every year for additional storage capacity & ongoing management.

[GettoPhilosopher]

I'm replacing all the server/network infrastructure. Small office (3 attys, 1 paralegal, a lawclerk or two, and me, the legal assistant/office assistant/systems administrator/etc). Looking at something that'll run on a Win 2K3 or 2K8 Server.

I'm fine buying hard drives. Accounting is handled outside of this office, all I'm responsible for is making sure our work and expenses are billed to the client and we can keep track of their invoices/payments. Anyone know a Timeslips-like alternative that can handle this?

[blakdawg]

Drop me a PM if you want to talk about this more.

We have been using FreshBooks lately but we're not a billing-intensive firm - a lot of my work is flat-fee. They don't do scanning/image storage.

There are a lot of choices - to be honest, I haven't found one that I'm wild about. We are currently running Time Matters/Billing Matters which is super-overkill for what it sounds like you want. I have evaluated cloud-based systems like Rocketmatter, Clio, and Advologix PM - so far they haven't seemed like a good fit for us. Lexis has a new cloud-based system that I'm unfamiliar with.

I would think about just scanning the checks with a desktop scanner like a Fujitsu Scansnap S1500 or similar.

We aren't paperless but we do store all docs electronically (with paper storage for a few critical originals or certified copies), mostly by having our digital copier make scans. Our images are stored in a relatively simple directory tree on a Win Server 2003 volume - we have a LOT of documents/data stored and we're still < 300G for the whole collection. For a 5-person firm, I don't think your storage requirements will be a big deal.