Attorneys hate dealing with client disputes. They can come in many different forms, but one of the areas most commonly associated with clients’ disputes is billing.
It’s unfortunate but the truth is that attorneys carry a reputation of having incredibly poor billing practices. As a provider of next generation legal billing solutions, I can tell you that in an industry that isn’t always the quickest to adopt new technology, this reputation is well earned.
The legal industry has been riddled with poor billing practices for decades. For years, attorneys and firms have inefficiently billed clients with lump sum billing, unclear labeling, delayed billing, and even surprise fees. Predictably, these practices have lead to client disputes over and over again. When an entire industry makes the same mistakes time after time, it makes sense that legal clients would lose trust. Once trust has been lost it’s extremely hard to gain it back. So what exactly should your firm do if it is looking to avoid client disputes associated with fees?
Some firms have decided that fee disputes and the poor reputation that come along with it are simply just part of business. Now it’s hard to believe that your firm could completely eradicate fee disputes. Let’s be honest, some clients will always be difficult when it comes time to pay the bills. However, if your firm can use the right technology and clean up your billing practices, you’ll make it incredibly hard for clients to make a case that your firm is in error when it comes to billing them. Better yet, if your clients are being billed in a way that is clear and easy to understand, you might prevent the dispute from ever even happening.
Prevent Fee Disputes With CosmoLex
The best way your firm can prevent fee disputes is by employing legal billing technology like CosmoLex. CosmoLex allows your firm to create professional, clear invoices that ensure the client understands what they are being billed for. In addition to creating clear invoices, CosmoLex makes it easy for your firm to invoice clients on a regular basis as well as send timely reminders so that invoices aren’t delayed and forgotten about by clients.
Some firms may have thrown in the towel and decided that fee disputes are just part of doing business, but wouldn’t doing business be much easier if you weren’t at odds with your clients over financial matters? Employ the right technology and you can differentiate yourself from competing firms by preventing client disputes associated with how you bill your clients.
For even more information on preventing client disputes, view the recent CosmoLex webinar ‘Key Sources of Client Disputes & Prevention Measures’. Or see it in action by trying CosmoLex for free, and start preventing fee disputes at your firm today.
