What Does a Legal Billing Specialist Do?
Ensuring that your law firm bills correctly and in a timely manner is crucial for financial success. This is where a legal billing specialist comes into play. But what exactly is a legal billing specialist, and what do they do?
To put it simply, a legal billing specialist is a critical position within law firms that handle billable work. They are responsible for billing firm clients in an accurate and timely manner, keeping a keen eye on all things billing-related. In larger legal firms, it’s not uncommon to have entire legal billing departments . It’s in these departments that legal billing specialists are found, along with legal billing supervisors, coordinators, and managers. As you might expect, titles at the top of this pyramid are typically reserved for highly experienced professionals who are expected to demonstrate strong leadership skills.
For those looking to enter the field, a strong understanding of legal terminology and law firm computer systems will be essential. Legal billing specialists typically work as part of a team alongside others in the billing department, but they often report to a billing supervisor or manager.
The Skills Necessary for a Legal Billing Specialist
A legal billing specialist must possess a diverse set of skills, ranging from acute attention to detail to a deep understanding of complex legal terminology. Here are some of the key abilities that these professionals should have:
Attention to Detail: Mistakes on invoices can lead to payment issues, disputes, and delays. A legal billing professional has to be able to spot the smallest of errors; otherwise, their work could put the firm in the difficult position of having to negotiate over billing mistakes.
Knowledge of Software Programs: While no two legal billing software programs are the same, a billing professional should be familiar with the most common such programs and how to use them effectively. They should also have experience with and a thorough understanding of other software programs and platforms relevant to their work or used by the law firm itself.
Understanding of Legal Terminology and Billing Practices: Legal terminology can be incredibly complex. Not only does a legal billing professional need to be familiar with legal terminology in order to accurately bill clients, they also need to be familiar with and stay up to date on legal billing guidelines and practices in order to be as efficient as possible.
Communication Skills: A legal billing specialist is frequently responsible for communicating with clients about their billing statements. They also have to communicate with attorneys, members of the billing department and other relevant staff members. They should be able to clearly convey information and answer questions from all parties.
Organizational Skills: From tracking billable hours to managing multiple invoices at one time, a legal billing specialist has to be able to organize their tasks effectively in order to provide the best service for every client. Failure to do so could lead to confusion, missed deadlines or mistakes.
Problem Solving Skills: Clients aren’t always going to agree with the charges they see on their bills. A legal billing specialist might have to deal with complaints over billing errors or misunderstandings over terminology. In addition, they may have to deal with clients who don’t want to pay the full amount of an invoice. They’ll need to be prepared to resolve all such problems that arise during the billing cycle.
Common Issues Legal Billing Specialists Encounter
The primary challenge faced by a legal billing specialist is often the intricate billing cycles. The legal industry has its own set of rules and regulations regarding billing, which the specialist must stay abreast of in order to bill ethically and correctly. Failure to master these cycles can lead to the underbilling of clients, which can cost organizations and firms money.
Specialists in legal billing tend to encounter hurdles when presenting bills to and getting payments from various insurance companies. Keeping strict organization is essential in this fast-paced job, and can mean the difference between a firm saving or losing significant amounts of money.
A legal billing specialist also has to be up to date in the latest technologies and software. Many law firms are switching to electronic billing in order to be able to better communicate with clients and other parties involved in a case. With these advances in technology, legal billing specialists need to keep up in order to help their place of work as well as their clients.
How Technology is Shaping the Field of Legal Billing
In an era when technology is reshaping every industry, the legal field is no different. Today, the modern legal billing specialist employs advanced legal billing software and automated billing programs to manage various aspects of the billing process—from generating invoices to tracking payments—to minimize the time required for billing tasks, while simplifying the billing process. Sophisticated programs can also integrate accounting systems, provide market rate comparison data, and deliver a wide array of reporting options.
The advantages of these technologies are obvious. They save time by eliminating the need for manual data entry, storing important info in one central location, and significantly minimizing the potential for costly errors. Many billing programs can even perform at a high level right from a mobile device, allowing legal billers to work anywhere, at any time.
But while the benefits of advanced technology are clear, there are still some drawbacks. First, only the latest billing software applications can produce the highly detailed reports that a legal billing specialist needs in order to do their job well—one of the reasons why automating the billing process is almost always a better option . In addition, while automated billing programs may be able to significantly reduce their contact with clients, which can be great for business, social interaction is innately rewarding for many legal billing specialists. Finally, not every client’s environment is conducive to a lot of technological interaction. Some clients have complex invoicing requirements that simply can’t be worked into an automated system, and require a more hands-on approach.
Ultimately, the latest developments in technology are shown to serve legal billing specialists well, allowing adroit professionals to handle maximum volumes of work at high levels of productivity. However, some of those same technologies represent significant risks to companies that have yet to implement them. For example, the use of advanced billing software without appropriate transition management can slow down work instead of enhancing it. This key example is another reason why understanding and leveraging all aspects of legal billing software and automation is so critical.
Efficient Legal Billing: How to Do It Right
Effective strategies and best practices for legal billing specialists include the ability to automate routine billing tasks, confirm billing compliance with state bar rules, allow for consolidated billing, and round up fractional fees. In addition, legal billing professionals must be able to handle payments. This includes invoicing clients on a timely basis, processing payments in a timely manner, and following up with clients who have yet to pay for services rendered.
In order to provide an efficient legal billing process, a specialist must be able to monitor billing patterns over time. Different clients may have different billing patterns than others, depending on how their case progresses. The legal billing specialist should work with the client to determine which billing methods are used for each matter or action.
An effective billing specialist should continually assess the need to collect payments from clients. In determining fee schedules, it is important to take the budget of a particular client into consideration, as financial constraints may limit the amount her or she can pay at a time. At the same time, a legal billing specialist should not allow clients to accumulate a large balance over time. As a rule of thumb, if a client has not paid for prior legal services, a billing specialist should never allow that client to accrue more than one month’s worth of legal fees.
In determining the appropriate fee schedule to charge clients for legal services, a billing specialist must communicate with the entire law firm about the best way to do so. The legal billing specialist should also determine the nature of the client’s needs and amounts charged by other attorneys in similar cases. The billing specialist should also be open to negotiating fees with the client in order to accommodate the client.
Sensitivity to client confidentiality is important to a legal billing and collection specialist. All financial information, including information on fees incurred for specific projects, should be kept confidential. The billing specialist should take extra care to protect this sensitive information, particularly when transmitting it to clients.
Legal Billing Specialist Career Opportunities
For those within the legal billing specialty, there are numerous options for career advancement. Some of the most common first steps upon achieving a solid level of experience are to become a senior legal billing specialist, a billing analyst, or a billing accountant. Where your own personal career may lead you will often depend on your company of employment and the internal organization they have in place for their billing specialists. For example, billing analysts often undergo additional training in order to analyze and pinpoint data discrepancies when they arise. Whether you plan to go in this direction, or one of the other mentioned career options, you may be expected to pursue a specific program or course to further develop your skills .
On the other hand, transitioning to a higher-level position within the legal industry may be possible and could lead to working as a legal billing manager, legal accounting manager, or a billing and collections manager. In these roles, you would be supervising a team of legal billing specialists and taking on an even more central role in legal billing for your firm. Continuing education will likely be mandatory, as these are high-level positions. Other positions that a successful billing specialist may be able to compete for include accounting manager, financial controller, revenue manager, or financial analyst. For billing specialists that do not wish to work their way up to management or other top-tier positions, it is also possible to find new positions as a legal department representative, in accounting, or as a project manager.