The LeanLaw Blog
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- Law Firm Best Practices
Consolidation or Coherence: What All-In-One Legal Software Actually Trades Away
A mid-market firm evaluating a platform consolidation is buying fewer vendors. This is what that purchase gives up, when it is still the right call, and how coherence reaches the same goal.
September 16, 2026 - Billing
Does LeanLaw Process Payments Itself, or Do I Need to Keep Using LawPay?
LeanLaw includes its own built-in payment processing, so LawPay isn't required to accept client payments. Whether to switch anyway comes down to trust handling, reconciliation, and how attached you are to your current setup.
September 15, 2026 - Billing
How do write-downs, discounts, and credits work on an invoice?
A write-down, a discount, and a credit are three distinct accounting events on an invoice, and mixing them up is one of the quiet ways a firm's realization rate stops meaning anything specific.
September 15, 2026 - Trust Accounting
How does evergreen retainer replenishment work in LeanLaw?
What an evergreen retainer is, how the threshold-and-top-up pattern works in trust accounting, and what your firm — not any software — is responsible for under bar rules.
September 15, 2026 - Legal Practice Management
Case Management vs. Billing and Trust vs. Payment Processing
Legal software actually covers three separate jobs: managing the work, managing the money that work produces, and moving that money between accounts. Here's what each layer owns, and where LeanLaw fits.
September 15, 2026 - Billing
How Does Invoice Review and Approval Work Before a Bill Goes Out?
A pre-bill is a draft invoice a timekeeper or supervising attorney reviews and corrects before it becomes a client-facing bill. How long that review takes is one of the biggest levers on realization.
September 14, 2026 - Law Firm Best Practices
What's the difference between originating, responsible, and working attorney in LeanLaw?
Originating, responsible, and working attorney are three different roles on a matter, and LeanLaw records each separately — but how your firm weights them for compensation is your own policy decision.
September 14, 2026 - Billing
How much does LeanLaw cost?
LeanLaw's published per-user pricing for Core and Pro, what changes the number for your firm, and what the 7-day trial covers.
September 14, 2026 - Legal Practice Management
LeanLaw vs. Clio: Keep, Gain, Lose
What a firm loses, keeps, and gains switching from Clio to LeanLaw: case management stays behind, QuickBooks Online stays the book of record, and two-way sync and matter-level reporting come with the move.
September 14, 2026 - Legal Practice Management
Does Data Migration Cost Extra, and What Does the Fee Cover?
LeanLaw's published policy is that a one-time onboarding fee may apply depending on plan and firm size. Here's what actually drives that scope.
September 12, 2026 - Contingency
How Does LeanLaw Calculate and Let Me Adjust a Contingency Fee Percentage?
A contingency fee percentage comes from the engagement agreement. Here's how Settlement Wizard applies it and what happens when the number changes.
September 12, 2026 - Hourly
Can I Track Time on My Phone With LeanLaw?
LeanLaw's mobile time and expense tracking runs from any smartphone or tablet, works without a signal, and syncs when connectivity returns. Here's what that changes about your utilization number.
September 12, 2026 - Quickbooks
Who Actually Does the Work During Data Migration?
How migrating to LeanLaw actually splits between the firm and LeanLaw, why neither side can shortcut the verification step, and what to ask before assuming it's fully hands-off.
September 11, 2026 - Legal Practice Management
Can I Hide Billing Rates and Fees From Other Attorneys?
Whether to hide billing rates is a structural decision tied to how your firm pays and prices, not a simple on-or-off preference.
September 11, 2026 - Flat Fee
Can LeanLaw Automatically Bill a Recurring Flat-Fee Retainer Every Month?
Recurring flat-fee billing and evergreen trust replenishment both get called automatic, but they solve two different accounting problems.
September 11, 2026 - Flat Fee
Can a Matter Bill Both a Flat Fee and Hourly Time?
A matter can combine a flat fee for its core scope with hourly time for work outside it, and tracking internal hours against the fee is how a firm learns if it was priced right.
September 10, 2026 - Legal Practice Management
Does LeanLaw Integrate With Outlook and Microsoft 365?
What LeanLaw's Outlook and Microsoft 365 connection actually covers, why the scope is deliberately narrow, and what a firm should confirm before assuming it replaces how time gets captured today.
September 10, 2026 - Law Firm Best Practices
You Don't Have to Decide Everything at Once
A firm can fix its billing, trust, and reporting without replacing its practice management system on day one — as long as it's honest about what running both actually costs.
September 10, 2026 - Legal Practice Management
Can LeanLaw Track Matter Budgets and Produce a Full Billing History for Court Filings?
A court-filed billing history and a matter budget solve two different problems. Here's what each one actually has to contain.
September 9, 2026 - Billing
Does LeanLaw Have an Accounts Receivable Aging Report and Automatic Payment Reminders?
LeanLaw's accounts receivable aging report buckets outstanding invoices by how overdue they are, and reminders give a firm a cheap lever on billing velocity.
September 9, 2026 - Contingency
Where Does a Contingency Case's Margin Actually Go?
The fee on a settlement statement is the top line. Here is what a single contingent matter earns after advanced costs, lien work, and the carry before disbursement.
September 9, 2026 - Billing
How Do LeanLaw's Payment Links Work, and Do Payments Auto-Match to the Right Invoice?
The mechanism behind an invoice payment link, and why a payment sent without one still has to be matched by hand.
September 8, 2026 - Data
What Do LeanLaw's WIP, Realization, and Velocity Reports Show?
WIP, realization, and velocity measure three different points where worked time can fail to become cash. Here's what each one is actually tracking.
September 8, 2026 - Data
What Custom Fields Can I Add to Clients and Matters, and Can I Filter Reports by Them?
Custom fields on clients and matters are only useful once a report can group by them. Here's how the two connect, and where LeanLaw's Pro plan comes in.
September 8, 2026