5 Reasons Lawyers and Attorneys Get Paid More Than you
Ever wonder how some of your friends and legal associates make considerably more money than you, or how they never seem to complain about cheap clients or getting paid on time? They must be doing something you’re not. Your average legal client may be somewhat easy to deal with. Sure, their case wasn’t simply open and closed, but they were easy to get in touch with, and didn’t cause too many issues, until of course it came time for payment. Everyone has those clients that you just can’t wait to finish with and never see again, and then they try to avoid paying their legal bills. We’ve all been there. Chasing these clients down can waste hours of your valuable time and energy, and often times you just don’t get paid.
We’ve made a list of 5 tips for lawyers and attorneys to help get you paid faster and in full:
- Interview potential clients before taking them on. If they seem as though they’ll be difficult to work with and will attempt to dodge your bills, consider not accepting their case. Sure, you’re losing a potential client, but you may be avoiding a huge headache later on.
- Be upfront about your hourly rate and the amount of time you expect to use on the case. This ensures that the client understands how much your services are likely to cost, and minimizes the chances of a billing discrepancy down the road.
- Keep track of the amount of time you’ve spent on a client, as well as what you did during that time. Consider investing in time tracking software rather than jotting down notes on a piece of paper. This increases accuracy and the appearance of professionalism.
- Promptly bill clients for the time used on a case, and indicate when payment is due. If you’re working on retainer, you should still keep the client updated about their costs and their remaining retainer balance. Consider investing in some invoicing software to handle this for you. Like time tracking software, this will look professional and save you time.
- Collect on your bills and invoices. If someone wants to pay in a few days or sets up a payment plan, make sure you follow up when necessary. If you’re planning on investing in invoicing software, look for one that can handle your billing as well. The more client and business management that you can handle through software, the more time you have for additional clients.
Hopefully, these tips will help you avoid those troublesome clients and get paid on time and in full, leaving you with more time to work with additional clients (or work on your golf game).
If you have any more tips, feel free to leave them in the comments.
