Bill4Time Releases Legal Firm Manager with New IOLTA Features

November 18, 2015 By Bill4Time Staff Leave a Comment

Washington and Florida Bar Associations Offer Members Premier Time Billing Software

Bellevue—November 18, 2015—Bill4Time®, a leader in time billing practice management software for attorneys, announced today the release of Bill4Time Firm Manager with new IOLTA (Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts) features. A collaborative effort between the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) and Bill4Time, the new IOLTA features are based on and comply with general accounting principles and WSBA rules. Bill4Time Firm Manager with IOLTA significantly reduces the level of complexity for solo practitioners managing IOLTA, eliminates over drafting and provides a complete digital audit trail for client accounts.

IOLTA is a program in all 50 states to increase access for individuals and families unable to afford legal services. Client funds, held in a trust account for future legal use and that would normally not earn interest are set up as an IOLTA account. The interest earned is then pooled, together with state and federal appropriations, and private grants and donations, to fund civil legal aid to the poor and support improvements to the judicial system. IOLTA trust accounts are regulated by each state so it is important that every lawyer comply with the individual state rules. Bill4Time Firm Manager aids in compliance and simplifies the accounting process by providing an easy, accurate and transparent method to segregate and account for client funds in an interest bearing IOLTA trust account.

“Bill4Time IOLTA [Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts] is a key feature as it makes managing trust accounts simple by automatically tracking every transaction,” said Talis Abolins, a partner at the Advocates Law Group in Washington. “Plus, key to managing IOLTA accounts is to never go into the negative. Bill4Time prevents this, ensuring strict compliance and control.”

Bill4Time Firm Manager Features
Bill4Time Firm Manager is a cloud-based legal management software, eliminating the need for servers and IT staff to maintain software. Bill4Time provides on- and offline time tracking and billing, along with a convenient online payment portal. The software includes ABA Task codes, case/matters management, LEDES export, trust accounting and integrates with QuickBooks, Box and others to provide a complete end-to-end solution for attorneys. The new IOLTA trust accounting provides:

Credit/Deposit Clear Date & File Upload. Reconcile account statements in minutes by quickly adding a “clear date” next to each credit/debit. Scan and upload copies of checks and cancelled checks for future reference and validation.
Voided Checks and Notes. Quickly learn the status of every entry. Click “Void Check” and enter the date and explanation in one step so the check is clearly marked. Create automatic triggers to hold a credit or debit until a clear date has been entered and easily scan for any status update.
Detailed Reporting. Easily reconcile IOLTA accounts in one step, in one place with the Trust Reconciliation Report. Review audits with time entry and time stamp of each transaction. View payments, voided checks and checks that have yet to clear. Provide a complete digital audit trail to maintain client confidence and avoid any claims of financial impropriety.

“Trust accounts are to protect client funds; however, attorneys need to be aware of the liabilities and rules involved in managing these accounts,” said Jeremy Diviney, president of Bill4Time. “With Bill4Time, we help reduce the complexity of managing trust accounts by creating a streamlined and transparent process that is easy to use, instills confidence and trust, and mitigates exposure to false claims. Our end-to-end firm management software helps legal practitioners focus on the client, not back office administration.”

Both the Washington and Florida Bar Associations join the National Association of Legal Professionals (NALS) in announcing a relationship with Bill4Time to offer members lifetime discounts for Bill4Time Firm Manager. Bill4Time Firm Manager is a comprehensive, end-to-end legal practice management system offering enhanced security, ease of use, is platform agnostic so it is accessible anywhere, anytime on any device, including Apple® iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry smartphones and tablets.

For more information on Bill4Time Firm Manager with the new IOLTA features, please visit http://www.bill4time.com/legal-billing-software or view the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a51n2SkX2NU. To learn more about IOLTA programs by state, visit the ABA Directory of IOLTA Programs.

Contacts:
Chérie Wentz Blehm
cwblehm(at)bill4time.com
425.559.9790

Alex Trautt
atrautt(at)bill4time.com
425.559.9789

Just Released – New Monthly Productivity Report

November 17, 2015 By Kristin O'Neill 2 Comments

With the new Monthly Productivity report you will be able to show billable and non-billable hours. Plus the proportion of billable hours grouped and totaled by month and user.

When running this report you can choose your starting and ending month and year. You can also choose which user(s) or client(s) you want to report on or exclude these certain users or clients from showing on the report.

Once you click to run the report, you will see each month grouped separately and each user listed below with the total billable hours, non-billable hours and percentage of billable hours per month. You can then switch from Hours to Amounts to see the total billable amounts, non-billable amounts, and percentage of billable amounts in the time frame you chose.

This report is perfect for getting a glimpse of the hours or totals worked per user and what percentage of those hours are billable in the system on a monthly basis.

To learn more about Bill4Time and all the great features, visit our training center on YouTube. We offer quick tutorials to help you get the most out of Bill4Time. Take a look at: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bill4TimeTraining.

Tips & Tricks: New Finalize All/Unfinalize Feature

November 12, 2015 By Kristin O'Neill 1 Comment

Time is money, especially when it comes to the time it takes to invoice clients.

Now, the invoicing batch process has never been easier! When going through Invoicing, you have the ability to create your monthly batches in one clean sweep. This process gives a much easier way of connecting all invoices in a particular time period and having them organized in one place makes your invoice management less congested. This process couldn’t get any easier with the new Finalize and Unfinalize All functionality.

If you’ve gone through the process of editing and making the changes to your batch, but forgot to finalize your invoices, then this feature will be great for you. Once you are on the batch page you will be able to choose all or multiple invoices to finalize or unfinalize at once.

This functionality will give you back that much needed time to focus on what is important…your business!

Cyber Security for Law Firms: Prevention is the Best Medicine

November 9, 2015 By Bill4Time Staff Leave a Comment

You’ve heard the adage “An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.” This is true with cyber security.

Being proactive to prevent security breaches is less costly than repairing your system after an attack. The average cost of a cyber security breach for a small business is $500,000; however, the damage to a firm’s reputation is irreparable.

The ABA estimates that 80% of the top 100 law firms were breached last year. Of all targeted cyber attacks, 62% were toward small and medium-sized businesses.

Law enforcement has long been concerned that law firms are not proactive in protecting themselves against online intruders and are the weakest link when it comes to corporate security. Law firms are ripe for attack as they possess a rich source of corporate secrets, business strategies and of course, intellectual property. One concern is that hackers can gain entry to information regarding potential mergers and acquisitions, and profit from knowledge before the deals are announced.

It is therefore understandable that corporate clients are demanding that their law firms take additional steps to guard against online intrusions that could compromise sensitive information. Clients are pressuring law firms to prove that their computer systems are employing best-of-class technologies. Clients want assurance that that processes are in place to detect and deter attacks from hackers trying to uncover corporate secrets either to use themselves or to sell to others. Some institutions are demanding law firms complete lengthy questionnaires detailing their cyber security while others are performing on-site inspections.

Should a law firm be proactive against potential threats or wait until a breach is uncovered? Being proactive is the only viable option for law firms. Remember there is a good reason castles are built with walls and a moat along the perimeter as ?it is wiser and less costly to protect the kingdom from intruders than to rebuild once pillaged and burned.

Build Your Fortress. Bill4Time has partnered with Cyber Revolution to bring you the best cyber protection available. As a Bill4Time legal client, you can receive a $1500 cyber security assessment at NO CHARGE from Cyber Revolution, a world leader in IT security services. This assessment will identify vulnerabilities so your license, your reputation and your client’s data can remain safe and secure.

We encourage you to take advantage of this special offer and visit Cyber Revolution to learn more at: http://learn.cyber-revolution.com/bill4 time-free-cyber-security-review/.

New! Bill4Time Guided Tours

November 4, 2015 By Bill4Time Staff Leave a Comment

Bill4Time is pleased to share our latest customer tool, the Bill4Time Tour of Features. This new online guided tour is available to every Bill4Time client and offers an interactive adventure for each Bill4Time feature.

Maximize your Bill4Time investment by taking a quick tour of the features you use most. Get insight to streamline processes. Learn some quick tips. Train new employees easily and make the most of Bill4Time with our new guided tours!

New Navigation Links: Check out the new links at the top of your Bill4Time application. Whether you’re new to Bill4Time or you have a new employee that needs to be brought up to speed quickly, the new Guided Tours are your fast track to billing, invoicing and getting paid.

The tours are always there for when you need them. Each task takes a few minutes and during that time you will be inputting and saving actual data! We didn’t stop there. Next to the tours are instructional video links. These videos focus on individual tasks, and like the tours, are only a few minutes long.

Guided Tours include:

Navigation
Settings
Client Management
Project Management
Time entries
Expenses
Invoicing
Accounting

Support Videos include:

Getting Started
Clients
Projects
Time and Expenses
Scheduler
Invoicing & Accounting
User Management
QuickBooks Integration

When it comes time to train your team, make sure you have all the right permissions set so all new users get the most out of all the tours. By default, the system admin has all permissions available. For other users, double check the correct permissions are set. Click on this image –>

At Bill4Time, we offer the time billing features you need…and most of all, the features you use. Easy to use, dependable and designed with you in mind—that’s Bill4Time. If you haven’t tried us, register for a free 30-day trial and see for yourself.

New! Bill4Time Launches Enhanced Client Portal

November 3, 2015 By Bill4Time Staff Leave a Comment

Bill4Time is pleased to release an enhanced client portal. This new full-featured, self-service portal will be rolled out to all Bill4Time clients over the next few weeks.

The new Bill4Time client portal lets businesses provide convenient online payment options to clients. Now, businesses can provide even more options in addition to PayPal by connecting with Stripe. Stripe lets you accept Visa, MasterCard, and other major credits cards online and deposits funds directly into any bank account. With this enhanced portal, you can provide clients with the convenience of paying with any major credit card right from their laptop or mobile device!

If you aren’t leveraging the power of accepting online payments, you should! Did you know that businesses that offer payment options typically get paid up to 30% faster than businesses offering only traditional payment methods? So connect with Stripe today and get paid faster. It’s easy and takes just minutes. Plus, Bill4Time makes it easy to account for every payment a PayPal and Stripe credit card payments are automatically applied to the client’s ledger. With Bill4Time accounting, you always know your financial health.

Note: Businesses currently using PayPal as a payment option in the client portal will need to re-enter their credentials. This is required to connect your PayPal account with the new client portal and must be completed for PayPal to function.

The client portal also offers a variety of settings so businesses can automate processes. Businesses can choose to send automatic email notifications to clients that a new invoice is ready for review online. Businesses can choose to provide clients online access to account history, payments and invoice balances by simply clicking “Yes” or “No.” The portal can also be customized by uploading a logo to extend your company brand.

Plus, the portal offers advanced security features including optional authentication. This authentication feature requires clients to sign up or login to the portal. Clients and businesses can rest assured that their account information and online transaction is safe and secure from prying eyes. Of course, this feature is optional and can be turned off by the business so that the client can access the client portal without authentication, but this is not a best practice and Bill4Time does not recommend it.

To set up your client portal, go to Settings and click “Manage Client Portal.” From this page, you can upload your company logo, connect with Stripe (and reconnect with PayPal), and choose to use any of the automated client portal features.

To learn more about the new client portal or if you need assistance re-entering your PayPal credentials, contact Bill4Time Support at 877.245.5484 or email support@bill4time.com.