Solo and small firm lawyers can now more easily track and act on key financial performance data, as well as more effectively manage many aspects of their firms with enhancements to Thomson Reuters Firm Central, a cloud-based practice management solution.
The new features improve the ability to track performance, bring in new clients, handle invoices, get paid, and manage trusts and retainers.
Reporting Enhancements
Firm Central’s new financial reporting features include a performance dashboard that provides at-a-glance views of key metrics, as well as enhanced time and billing reports. Users can quickly identify top clients and practice areas by revenue, check the status of bills and collections, view the financial performance of the entire firm, and much more. Users can easily customize formats for displaying data in the reports, as well as delivery options such as PDF, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and XML. In addition, Advanced Excel formulas and functions are a simple click away.
Firm Central’s enhancements help small firms and solo practitioners more effectively serve clients while spending less time on financial management and other back-office tasks,” said Brian Knudsen, vice president, Small Law Segment, Thomson Reuters. “New reporting features provide detailed, actionable information to identify trends, manage costs, more efficiently allocate resources and better plan cases. The user-friendly interface allows users to easily analyze large amounts of key data without having to rely on administrative support staff. Firm Central is now an even more effective resource to help firms be more competitive and achieve greater success.
Other new enhancements that also help Firm Central users manage their firm’s matters and finances include the following:
Credit card processing allows clients to pay online directly without contacting the firm, helping firms to get paid faster.
Customizable invoices give more control over the look and feel of invoices. Users can easily add details, and an updated layout makes it easier for clients to see how much they owe, to encourage prompt payment.
Trust & Retainer Accounts functions now support multiple accounts per matter, prepayment and escrow accounts, and fund transfers among a matter’s accounts. Users can easily view account balances to see if an invoice can be immediately settled.
Quick-View details provide more-effective client and matter management, including a new client billing feature that displays the client’s balance across matters. A new Matter Time & Expenses feature provides a single customizable view of all time and expenses for a specific matter, regardless of who recorded them or when.
FindLaw Prospect Manager integration improves lead management, including tracking and conversion of client leads.
Calendar enhancements provide more-efficient managing of deadlines and appointments with views of deadlines entered using Deadline Assistant, customizable events, color coding and expanded agenda data ranges for at-a-glance views of events and upcoming deadlines for individual matters.
Firm Central is a cloud-based practice management solution for solo and small law firms, providing desktop compatibility with Outlook and Windows 10 and access to a user’s essential practice functions in one convenient dashboard.
Firm Central combines firm management tools, such as scheduling and time & billing, with practice resources, such as legal research, rules-based calendaring and automated document drafting, to provide the most comprehensive legal practice management software in the small law firm market. It also allows firms to easily store, organize and share information in one integrated, secure platform. Firm Central’s fully integrated time and billing feature enables users to enter and track time within the Firm Central dashboard and integrates with QuickBooks Online for seamless accounting and bookkeeping.