Tredway Lumsdaine & Doyle LLP (TLD Law)

Secondly, the firm was targeting more work from general counsel at larger corporate clients who often require their legal advisors to have well-functioning e-billing systems in place. The firm knew that investing in a market-leading solution would position them ahead of the game, enabling them to successfully compete for those bigger clients.

The decision to choose eBillingHub was a straightforward one. “I liked the integration with ProLaw® which we have used for some time — that was a very important selling point,” says Aryn Caudillo, TLD Law’s billing and collections specialist. “Since both come from the Thomson Reuters family of innovative solutions for law firms, I had confidence that the solution would be well designed and that the two would interface easily.”

TLD Law has gone from issuing just one e-bill a month before implementing eBillingHub to around 15 per month within just four months of launching it at the firm — rapid growth that shows no signs of slowing down.

Simpler invoice process and sophisticated functionality

For TLD Law, having all invoices in one location is one of the biggest strengths of eBillingHub. It gives them a bird’s eye view of everything, rather than having to constantly go back and forth between different vendors. This clearly results in significant efficiency gains. “Previously I’d spend half my day just changing codes in different programs. Having a solution that allowed us to fix that in one place was a massive time saver,” Caudillo says.

Trackability is key, too. Having information readily available in real time on eBillingHub removed the need to individually check up on submissions, rejections, and payments, cutting out the manpower required with the previous labor-intensive approach. Caudillo says she finds the easy readability of eBillingHub a real advantage in helping her do her job well.

Problems can be dealt with immediately since rejections are automatically flagged rather than taking days, or even weeks, to come to light. Ultimately, that means clients receive better service and the firm gets paid faster. Appeals are less frequent too, as errors are easily spotted and fixed quickly.

eBillingHub also empowers TLD Law to make deadlines much sooner, avoiding the risk of clients docking fee percentages on invoices not submitted within certain dates.

The reporting capabilities are another major benefit. TLD Law is finding it is easier to understand the return they are likely to get on its investment. The benefits go far beyond the billings and collections department, helping lawyers manage their workloads more effectively because they can easily evaluate realization rates.

Future-proofing billing and collections

All this advanced functionality begs the question: what impact does this have on the billings and collections function? “eBillingHub has given us more versatility in our staffing,” Aryn Caudillo says. “I was concerned we might have to hire someone to deliver this project, but in fact investing in something that does everything we need means we’ve been able to implement it within our existing capacity.”

“In my role, what eBillingHub does is make you more efficient and helps you do your job even better. I know that some of my colleagues in other firms have worried that such a sophisticated platform might make their jobs irrelevant, but I’d argue it’s the opposite. You’re indispensable because although the system is incredibly streamlined, it still requires careful oversight and management to get the best out of it. You spend less time doing mundane tasks and more time being effective. I think it represents a bright future for professionals in this space.”

For TLD Law, it’s still early to talk about measuring return on investment (ROI), but at the most basic level, eBillingHub has actually worked out far cheaper than using the automatic postal mailing machine the firm was previously using. Aryn Caudillo says she can already see many very valuable benefits and it is clear that the firm as a whole is on track to see an impressive return.

Going forward, TLD Law plans to roll out more training across a broader cross section of the firm. They plan to promote its use of eBillingHub more widely to existing and prospective clients, using it as a sales tool to demonstrate the firm’s forward-thinking ethos and its commitment to excellent customer service.

TLD Law

TLD Law’s practice areas cover corporate, civil litigation, trusts and estates, family law, real estate, and employment. Established in 1961, it has offices in southern California and comprises 20 lawyers.

Business challenges

Established and traditional, yet always craving innovation, the firm needed an efficient billing solution to enable it to maximize resource productivity within a small billing and collections department. It also saw a sophisticated e-billing solution as a selling point to win new, bigger clients — a key strategic goal.

Why eBillingHub?

eBillingHub was chosen for the high degree of satisfaction with other Thomson Reuters products already being deployed. Its ability to seamlessly integrate with other existing software solutions made implementation hassle free.

Benefits

• Vastly increased efficiency; billing is no longer a burden
  
• 360-degree, real-time visibility with easy-to-use tracking and reporting functionality
• Accelerates cash flow and boosts profitability
• Minimizes errors and reduces write-downs
• Supports firms in offering better customer service (meeting tighter deadlines and providing digital solution for clients)