LawRD issues reports on demand on 6 entities: Clients, Matters, Rainmakers, Managers, Lawyers and overall firm performance.

For that purpose it is necessary that time spent and expenses on matters are inserted in LawRD. Thus, such data must be input in a quick, simple and swift way.

These were the guidelines presiding the development of LawRD’s user interface, and so making it user friendly for lawyers.

There are 3 ways to input time spent and are found in the Timesheet tab:

• The Timesheet matrix: by clicking on the cell found on the junction of the client/matter line with the date column,  users insert  the time spent that day and on that matter:
  
  In case the matter is not yet available, it can be added using the -Add Matter- field.

• The quick insert box. This box enables an easy way to insert time spent  when the matrix is busy with lots of lines. LawRD, by default, shows the present date as the one in which the matter is being input with the time spent:
  

• The Timer:
  

Expenses are inputted in the My Expenses tab, and once data is written just click on Create Expense for it to be included in its due matter:

LawRD will display a list of expenses already inserted and their status (approved or not approved):

With this entry the Quick Guide is updated once the matters feature had a big improvement, as referred in New Features- Summer 2009 Collection.

One of the new features matter type categorization aims at two goals: sorting matters by type and allowing Flat Fee billing.

One acesses to the matter’s  type configuration by clicking Configuration when the Matters tab is selected:

Within the Types of Matters option an array of types is defined to which a matter can be assigned to, when it is added later. Such types have to be sorted before adding a new matter:

Types of Matters can also be used to set the flat fee value which is a new way of defining fees. For instance, if the firm has a standard pricing or has a specific one for a client, these are to be inserted in the Amount field and it should mention wether or not in that amount are included expenses, checking the Expenses Included box.

The second big update deals with billing methods. Now it is possilbe to:

• Bill matters by the hourly rates of each intervening lawyer or by the value specified to that particular matter. Billing by the standard pricing of the firm or by a client’s specific amount, still remains. It is also possible to bill a success-fee which will be settled when a new matter is added, being it adjusted by the time of issuing the billing sheet:
  
• Flat-fee. This option has a pre-defined by the lawyer database with services which relates to a payment plan, as said before:
  
  Configuring payment plans happens in the Configuration menu, when the Matters tab is selected and whithin Payment Plans a calendar for issuing the billing sheets is set:
  
  With this billing method, the matter’s manager is able to check its profitability and keeping up with issuing of billing sheets. In the following example, an installment is overdue and this matter’s networth is negative - the light green column on the chart on the left - the total time spent times the hourly rate of the employee assigned to the matter is superior to the amount already billed:
  
• Contingency fee. A percentage of the recovery amount can now be charged (it can be adjusted when issuing the billing sheet):
  
  Profitability check keeps on being available to the matter’s manager and the contingency is a quick glance away:
  

Finally, there is a new help  Wizard when adding new matters.  These can be added by the following modes: Quick Add and Advanced.

In Quick Add mode the new matter is billed by the hour (be it the standard firm pricing or a specific one for that client) wherein the employee assigned is its manager.

The Advanced mode enables all the possible options for a matter (team assignement and other contacts related to the matter) and is also the way to change or complete the settings of a matter added in Quick Mode:

A handy feature is the name suggestion that can be selected when the client´s name is being inserted in (it works on both modes):