TimeNet Law

Whether you want to use TimeNet Law with a team, or simply access it remotely from your laptop when not in the office, TimeNet Law offers a very simple and powerful cloud syncing mode that leverages the advantages of cloud software:

• Work in the office, from home, or while traveling
• Use multiple computers seamlessly
• Work with multiple people at the same time
• Keep data in sync and see changes as they happen

Cloud software also has some significant disadvantages. TimeNet Law eliminates all of them:

• You can only work when online
• If the server/company holding your data has issues, you can’t access your data
• Working in non-native (web, Electron, etc.) environments is slow and clunky
• As soon as you stop paying your “rent” for the software, your data becomes locked away from you

The TimeNet Law Solution

By providing you with a native application that lives on your Mac, your data is stored on your device and always accessible to you. Whether online or not, you can always access your data, and we can never lock you out of it — nor would we want to.

Using Dropbox or iCloud to sync your data, you have offsite cloud backup of your entire database, and all of your data is seamlessly synced across all devices in your firm and fully encrypted.

Learn more about data security here.

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How to Use Dropbox or iCloud

First, you’ll need to decide whether you want to use Dropbox or iCloud Drive. Both are free and provide plenty of space for TimeNet Law’s data.

Dropbox provides more robust undelete and recovery options, but iCloud Drive is built-in to your Mac. You can create a free Dropbox account here or learn more about iCloud Drive here.

Once you’ve chosen a syncing provider and set it up on your computer, you just need to tell TimeNet Law where to store your data.

1. Open TimeNet Law on your first computer (the one that shows all of your TimeNet Law data)
2. Select File > Configure Network from the menubar
3. Choose the Dropbox/iCloud option and click Next
4. By default, TimeNet Law offers to store your data in the root of your Dropbox folder. If using Dropbox, click Finish
5. If using iCloud Drive, or you want to store TimeNet Law’s data in a separate folder inside of the Dropbox folder, click Choose Another Location, select your iCloud Drive folder or any other folder in Dropbox or iCloud Drive, and click Finish

You’re All Set!

It’s as simple as that. Now, TimeNet Law will store your data in Dropbox or iCloud Drive. To access that data from other computers, simply open TimeNet Law and repeat the steps above to select the same “TimeNet Law Data” in Dropbox or iCloud Drive.

If the other computers aren’t signed into the same Dropbox or iCloud account, then you just need to share the “TimeNet Law Data” folder inside your Dropbox or iCloud Drive folder before they complete the steps above. Right-click the folder and select Share (use the second Share option with the Dropbox icon if using Dropbox) and enter the other user’s email address(es).

Now you can work from anywhere, with anyone, and rest easy knowing your data is securely stored with encryption on your computer, and backed up offsite.

What do you do if your client requests a LEDES file? What is a LEDES file? How do you make one? What do you do with it after you’ve made it?

Understanding LEDES

LEDES, sometimes called “E-Billing”, stands for Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard. It was designed as a standardized format for legal bills to be submitted to LEDES processors. In theory, it’s a way to streamline the billing process.

The file itself is a simple text file. It is formatted as a series of data fields separated by pipes (the “|” character) — such as “Description”, “Timekeeper ID”, “Time Spent”, etc.

What Are All These IDs?

The first thing you must do to get a LEDES file just right — and you must, or the LEDES processor will reject the file — is assign all of the required ID numbers. Your client, your timekeepers, the matter, and even your law firm itself all have to have unique ID numbers.

There’s nothing special about these numbers. They can be simply made up by you and assigned to each client, timekeeper, and your law firm. Usually, a client will already have their own ID, which they will provide to you to use for their LEDES invoices. You do not need to assign an ID to every client — only the clients that require LEDES invoicing.

Also note — when entering your Timekeeper IDs, you’ll need to assign each one of them a Position, such as Partner, Associate, or Legal Assistant. LEDES invoices require all Timekeepers to be classified by position.

UTBMS

No, I didn’t just sneeze. UTBMS stands for Uniform Task-Based Management System. And LEDES requires that all entries be in this format. What that means is that all tasks and expenses you bill to your client must be chosen from a pre-designed list of “coded” (numbered) options.

Your billing software should have an option to use UTBMS (often called Task Codes). Look for an option called LEDES or Task Code Billing in the Matter Settings. Once you’ve enabled this, entering tasks will require you to select from a list of categorized entries.

How Do I Make a LEDES File?

Your billing software should offer an option to create a LEDES file. Simply enter your time and build your invoice as you always would, and then when it comes time to create the invoice, look for an option to create a LEDES file. Sometimes it will say “1998B.”

A good billing system will also warn you if there are issues with the LEDES file — missing ID numbers, incompatible characters used, etc. Once the LEDES file has passed verification in your billing system, it will be generated as a simple text file in the LEDES format.

I Have a LEDES File. What Now?

Usually, your client will request that the LEDES file be submitted to a website that will process the LEDES file. They act as a kind of intermediary between you and the client. The LEDES processing service will verify that the invoice is correctly formatted and all required information is included, and then it will forward the invoice details to your client so that they can then pay their bill.

This Seems Like a Lot…

It’s a bit of a hassle at first — mainly getting familiar with the UTBMS and knowing which item to select for the task performed.

After a few minutes of initial setup, creating LEDES invoices will become very simple. Learning how to use the LEDES processor website might also take a few minutes. But once you configure your LEDES ID numbers in your billing software, start using the UTBMS list, and know where to upload the LEDES file, it should only take an extra minute or so for each invoice.

The Final Checklist

Before submitting your LEDES file, be sure you’ve completed all the required steps:

1. Create and enter a Law Firm ID in your billing software.
2. Create and enter IDs for each of your Timekeepers and assign them each a Position in your billing software.
3. Enter the Client ID into the Client Settings of your billing software (this ID is usually given to you by your client).
4. Enter the two Matter IDs in your billing software’s Matter Settings.
5. Make sure your matter entries are created from the UTBMS list.

Over time, your law practice may change. Clients and timekeepers come and go, and matters eventually get finished and (hopefully) paid. TimeNet Law makes it simple to keep things tidy, while still retaining all of your historical data.

Making Clients Inactive

If you’ve completed all work for a client, and they’ve settled their accounts with you, it’s no longer necessary to see their name in your system all the time. By making a client Inactive, they will be hidden from windows and reports, but you can still easily look at their data, or make them active again later.

1. Edit a client by right-clicking their name in the main window and selecting Edit Client, or hold Option on your keyboard and double-click the client.
2. Select Inactive from the Status popup under the Name field.

Once a client is inactive, it will be hidden from the main window and excluded from reports. You can include inactive clients in reports by checking the Include Inactive Clients checkbox.

Viewing and Re-Activating Inactive Clients

Once you’ve made clients Inactive, they no longer appear in the main window. To view them, select View > Show Inactive Clients from the menubar, or click the gearwheel button at the top of the client list and select Inactive Clients under the Show section of the popup menu.

When inactive clients are visible, you can repeat the steps above to edit the inactive client and change their Status to Active.

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Making Matters Inactive

Once you’ve completed a matter, you can make it inactive so it no longer appears in the matter list under that client. It will also be excluded from reports unless you check the Include Inactive Matters checkbox.

1. Open the matter you wish to make inactive.
2. Select Matter > Make Matter Inactive from the menubar.

Viewing and Re-Activating Inactive Matters

Once you’ve made matters Inactive, they no longer appear in the main window. To view them, select View > Show Inactive Matters from the menubar, or click the gearwheel button at the top of the client list and select Inactive Matters under the Show section of the popup menu.

When inactive natters are visible, you can open the inactive matter and select Matter > Make Matter Active to re-activate it.

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Making Timekeepers Inactive

If a timekeeper leaves your law firm, do not delete them from the Timekeepers list. You’ll want to keep them in the system for historical purposes. Instead, make them inactive.

1. Open the main Preferences and click the Timekeepers pane in the toolbar.
2. Double-click the timekeeper you wish to make inactive.
3. Select Inactive from the Status popup under the Position field.

Re-Activating Inactive Timekeepers

Inactive timekeepers will always appear in the Timekeeper list in the Preferences window. Double-click them and change their Status back to Active.

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By making clients, matters and timekeepers inactive in TimeNet Law, your software will remain uncluttered and be much easier to navigate. Hidden away but easy to access, your historical data will remain intact and your software will be more focused.

TimeNet Law has a lot of options and settings. You can learn about them using QuickHelp. It is available anywhere in the program, and can easily be turned on or off by clicking the blue circular ? icon in any window, or by selecting Help > Show/Hide QuickHelp Guide from the menubar.

When QuickHelp is on, a small floating window will appear and give you details about whatever button, text field, or control your mouse cursor is hovering over. It’s a great way to learn about new options quickly.

So, you just got yourself a fancy new computer and you want to move TimeNet Law from your previous workhorse to the new one. Good news! It’s very simple. Just follow the steps outlined below.

1. Open TimeNet Law on the old computer and select File > Backup Data from the menubar. When prompted, save it to a new folder on your desktop. Quit TimeNet Law on the old computer.
2. Copy this folder from your desktop onto the new computer using file sharing or AirDrop.
3. Download TimeNet Law on the new computer by visiting https://www.timenetlaw.com/download.html on the new computer.
4. Move TimeNet Law from the Downloads folder into your Applications folder on the new computer and open it.
5. Exit out of the Setup Assistant and select File > Restore Data from the menubar. When prompted, select the TimeNet Law Data folder you copied over in step 2.

That’s it! Now you should see all of your data in TimeNet Law on your new computer. Be sure to enter your license information into TimeNet Law on the new computer by selecting TimeNet Law > License from the menubar.

As a lawyer serving many different legal clients, it’s important to offer flexibility in how you bill all of them. We get asked a lot about how to charge different hourly rates for different clients. Luckily, TimeNet Law has you covered, no matter how you need to bill. Whether it’s a discounted rate, pro bono work, or an expedited case that requires special handling and extra work. Let’s go over the different ways to customize your rates.

Client-Specific Billing Rates

The first option is to simply set a custom rate for a client. This is a good option if you want to charge that client the same hourly rate regardless of who is performing the work:

Keep in mind that setting a client’s custom rate will override all other timekeeper rate settings. New entries will default to the Client Rate, but can be changed manually.

Timekeeper-Specific Billing Rates

Often, you’ll want to offer different hourly rates for every timekeeper in your office. TimeNet Law lets you assign hourly billing rates to each timekeeper, and timekeepers can have as many as they need:

1. Go to Preferences > Timekeepers, and then double-click a timekeeper to edit their rates.
2. From here, you can select one of their rates and click Set Selected Rate as Default to set this rate as the default for all clients and matters. Only do this if you want to use the selected rate for every client and matter.

But what if you want to charge different rates for different clients? No problem. After you’ve created billing rates for your timekeepers, you can assign those rates to specific clients or matters as well:

1. Edit a client, or open a specific matter and click the Matter Settings button in the toolbar, then click Timekeeper Settings.
2. From here, you can choose a default billing rate for each timekeeper individually. After that, any new entry for that timekeeper will default to the chosen rate, either for that specific matter, or for any matter under the entire client.

Now you can offer flexible billing rates for all of your clients, and all types of work. Just set up and assign your billing rates once, and TimeNet Law handles everything for you.

Contingency Billing

You can also offer your clients contingency billing. Simply set a matter to use Contingency Billing under Matter Settings, and TimeNet Law will take care of the rest.

1. Open a matter and click the Matter Settings button in the toolbar.
2. Click the Billing tab and enable the Contingency Fee Billing option.
3. Enter the percentage of the earnings/recovery you will charge your client, and then enter the recovery amount. If you do not know the recovery amount yet, you can come back here and add it when the case is finished.
4. If you want to charge normally (full price) for specific entries, such as expenses, you can set that as well.
5. Choose whether to calculate your fee based off of the full recovery amount, or the recovery amount less the entries you already charged the client for.

Split Billing

Sometimes you may wish to split a client’s bill between two or more parties. TimeNet Law makes this easy.

1. Open a matter and click the Matter Settings button in the toolbar.
2. Click the Parties tab and add each party that will be responsible for paying the invoice.
3. Set each party’s percentage responsible.

Now when you create invoices from this matter, TimeNet Law will automatically create multiple invoices addressed to each party, showing their individual balance due. Payments can be applied and assigned to each party (using the From field in Payment Center).

TimeNet Law also handles evergreen retainers, automatic payments, late fees, automated invoice emailing, automated payment reminders, and much more.