Monthly Client Billing Checklist

Lock prior-month time in Clio, MyCase, Tabs3, or whatever PMS the firm runs. Email timekeepers a 24-hour cutoff so block-billed and forgotten entries get captured before pre-bills generate. Late entries added after lock cause re-bills and erode realization.

Match filing fees, expert invoices, transcript charges, courier costs, and PACER pulls against the matter ledger. Costs paid from operating need to flow to the client invoice; costs paid from trust need to be reflected on the client ledger. Unbilled costs older than 60 days are the most common write-off trigger.

Run the pre-bill batch in the PMS. Exclude matters on contingency without a fee event, matters under flat-fee arrangements that have already been billed, and closed matters. Export the pre-bill packet as a single PDF per responsible attorney for review.

Send each responsible attorney their matters' pre-bills with a 72-hour return deadline. Sending pre-bills directly to clients without attorney edits is a Rule 1.5 reasonableness problem and the fastest way to break a client relationship.

Rewrite vague entries ("work on case 0.4") into client-readable narratives describing the actual work product. Write down duplicate effort, learning-curve time on a junior associate, and any task that exceeds the agreed budget. Note the write-down reason in the PMS so realization reports stay accurate.

Matters held for partner review typically involve fee-budget overruns, contested scope, or a difficult client relationship. Get a documented decision on whether to bill in full, write down a percentage, or schedule a fee conversation with the client before sending the invoice.

Cross-check each pre-bill against the engagement letter. Hourly matters need rates matching the executed agreement; flat-fee matters should not have hourly entries leaking through; contingency matters should not bill fees prior to recovery. Mismatches against the engagement letter are bar-grievance territory.

Apply edits and write-downs in the PMS, then generate final PDFs. Verify invoice number sequencing, billing-entity address, and that the engagement-letter payment terms (Net 15 / Net 30) appear on the invoice footer.

Pull each client's IOLTA ledger balance and compare to the invoice. Sufficient balance covers the invoice plus a forward-looking buffer per the evergreen-retainer terms; insufficient balance triggers a replenishment request before the invoice is delivered, not after.

Email the client the replenishment amount, the IOLTA wire/ACH instructions, and the expected funds-clearance window (typically 5–10 banking days for checks, same-day for wires). Do not disburse from trust until the replenishment has cleared — Rule 1.15 prohibits a negative client trust balance.

Send via the channel recorded in the engagement letter — client portal, encrypted email, or paper. Confirm receipt for portal deliveries; bounced emails are the most common reason a client "never got the invoice." Log the delivery date in the PMS for the AR aging clock.

Per Rule 1.15, fees become firm property only when earned and invoiced. Transfer the invoiced amount per matter from IOLTA to operating as a separate transaction per client — no batched lump-sum transfers. Aggregate transfers across clients destroy the client-by-client audit trail the state bar expects.

Post the transfer to each client's trust ledger with invoice-number reference. The sum of all client ledger balances must equal the IOLTA bank balance — three-way reconciliation depends on this entry being clean.

Reconcile book balance, bank balance, and the sum of individual client ledgers. All three must match to the penny. Any discrepancy — even a few dollars — gets investigated and resolved this month, never carried forward. Most state bars treat unreconciled IOLTA accounts as a per-se Rule 1.15 violation.

Apply ACH, wire, check, and credit-card payments against the correct invoice in the PMS. Credit-card processors (LawPay, Clio Payments) post fees as a separate operating-account expense, not against trust. Misapplied payments are the leading cause of client billing disputes.

Pull the aging bucket report (Current / 30 / 60 / 90+). Flag any invoice over 30 days past due. Realization drops sharply after 60 days and is rarely recoverable past 120 — early follow-up is the entire game.

Polite first reminder from the billing clerk referencing the invoice number, original due date, and a link to the payment portal. Copy the responsible attorney so they can pre-empt the client conversation. Avoid threatening language — Rule 1.5 fee-dispute and Rule 7.x advertising rules both apply to collections communications.

Once an invoice crosses 60 days, the responsible attorney owns the collection conversation, not the billing clerk. Options: client fee conversation, payment plan, withdrawal under Rule 1.16(b)(5), or referral to fee-arbitration. Document the chosen path in the matter file.