How Bill4Time’s Billing Flexibility Allowed Stone Levy to Launch Their Boutique Law Firm
“The fact that I can go into Bill4Time, click one button and be done with invoicing is extremely valuable.”
– Marc Levy, Co-Founder at Stone Levy
Location
Firm Size
Practice Area
Law Firm
2
Trademark Law & Intellectual Property
Denver, Colorado
Stone Levy
Stone Levy's decision to use Bill4Time as their all-in-one case management and accounting software allowed them to open their boutique law firm while avoiding the challenges faced with previous software used during their time in Big Law. A crucial factor in their decision was the ability to use Bill4Time’s flat-fee, task-based billing feature — eliminating the tenuous process of manual calculations, and instead billing and invoicing clients with only a few clicks. Ultimately, Bill4Time’s flexible billing and invoicing allowed Stone Levy to start and manage their small firm independently and maintain their focus on practicing law rather than back-office operations.
Marc Levy and Jessica Stone Levy were at a crossroads in their careers. The husband and wife team wanted to open a small, boutique trademark law firm together for years, but were hesitant due to the amount of time and effort managing a law firm would take from actually practicing law.
Stone Levy was looking for legal practice management software to help manage the day-to-day of operating a law firm while avoiding complicated software that required multiple staff to run efficiently, especially when it came to billing and accounting.
As Trademark lawyers, the duo needed time tracking and billing software that would specifically help them handle flat-fee, task-based billing — a process that required multiple hoops to jump through with previous software and had left them apprehensive about starting anew. Stone Levy quickly found their perfect solution in Bill4Time.
Getting up to Speed on Bill4Time Only Takes a Few Hours, Not Months
The user-friendly interface of Bill4Time was an immediate checked box for Stone Levy. They wanted software they could learn and implement immediately. Bill4Time’s smooth and easy setup allowed Stone Levy to launch their practice quickly, getting right to work serving clients rather than months of learning a new platform.
Marc found success early on when onboarding clients, “When we first started up and we started to get a flow of clients, we added them to the system as they came in. It was easy to do that, it's not a long process. We were able to keep it very simple.”
Bill4Time’s customer support and success teams also helped Stone Levy learn the Bill4Time software quickly, getting their firm up and running in just a few days. After the demo with Bill4Time, Stone Levy got to work implementing the software for their law firm.
“The simplicity and ease of use was a critical factor for us.”
Using Data-Driven Insights with Bill4Time’s Reporting Capabilities To Plan for Growth
One of the features Stone Levy was excited to use was the Bill4Time reporting capabilities. Running and generating reports quickly allowed Stone Levy to understand the business side of their law firm more easily, gaining insights on the firm’s financial health to make decisions confidently.
Starting a law firm is one thing, making business decisions that lead towards profitability is another. Having robust reporting features to help direct decisions for law firms is what can take a practice to the next level. Bill4Time’s built-in reporting capabilities helped identify trends and risks to ensure long-term growth, a priority for Stone Levy’s longevity.
Bill4Time’s informative reporting allowed Stone Levy to navigate the complexities of starting a small law firm over the first few months. These reports provided a look into Stone Levy’s financials and helped them see in real-time how the flat-fee, task-based billing positively impacted their firm.
Increasing Client Satisfaction and Transparency with Flat-Fee, Task-Specific Billing in Bill4Time
With software that doesn’t offer flat-fee, task-specific billing, the process can be a nightmare.
Marc explained the difficult and exhausting process he experienced before Bill4Time. “Being able to click a button in Bill4Time instead of asking, ‘What do I have to calculate as a decimal for hourly time to get to our flat fee?’ was crucial. That's what you have to do in most systems. And it's ridiculous. It's just silly. It just creates a lot of work for nothing, and the bill looks terrible.”
The term “fitting a square peg in a round hole” is applicable here, being forced to calculate billing increments to fit their needs was out of the question. Not only for their own sake, but for their clients' experience as well. Not wanting to leave a bad first impression for their new clients with convoluted invoices, Marc was now able to rely on the simplicity of Bill4Time’s flat-fee billing to create clean and user-friendly invoices during his billing process.
Regardless of the type of case they are working on, or the varying tasks involved, Stone Levy now has a streamlined and efficient process to bill their clients and get paid on time.
“Flat-fee, task-specific billing is something that we wanted to do in my big law firm experiences, and none of those big, sophisticated systems could do it. But Bill4Time has it built in, and it's easy for our two-person firm to use.”
Speeding Up Invoicing With One-ClickInvoice Generation
With the quick and easy invoicing process in Bill4Time, Stone Levy was able to stop dreading those end-of-month accounting steps and instead has turned it into a simple 15-minute task.
With the quick and easy invoicing process in Bill4Time, Stone Levy was able to stop dreading those end-of-month accounting steps and instead has turned it into a simple 15-minute task.
Invoicing was a major concern for Marc and Jessica before they started their law firm. Previous software made the invoicing process difficult and left clients with confusing invoices and less trust in the firm. With Bill4Time, the invoicing and online payment processing for Stone Levy is simple and easy to follow — increasing client trust and getting their firm paid faster.
Bill4Time’s ability to generate invoices with a click of a button makes it simple for their firm to get paid. Not only do they get invoices out to their clients faster, but Stone Levy is also able to offer more payment flexibility which results in faster payment times.
Stone Levy uses Bill4Time’s native online payments processor, Bill4Time Payments, to offer their clients multiple ways to pay including ACH, credit card, and eCheck. While their larger clients appreciate setting up direct billing, the smaller clients appreciate the one-click “Pay Now” button on the invoice emails Stone Levy sends out. The flat fees and industry-low transaction rates are what made Bill4Time Payments a game-changer for Stone Levy.
“The process of reviewing the pre-bill, finalizing the invoice, and pressing the email button really couldn't be much simpler.”
Stone Levy’s Practice Dreams Turned into Reality with Bill4Time
By implementing Bill4Time into their practice, Stone Levy not only removed headaches caused by previous software but also navigated their firm towards sustainable success.
Bill4Time’s flexible billing features allow for flat-fee, task-based billing, helping Stone Levy to easily run their own firm, manage billing and invoicing, and focus on practicing law.
The additional perk of Bill4Time’s user-friendly interface removed the complicated onboarding process and allowed them to focus on practicing law, instead of being caught up in administrative tasks. Through Bill4Time's software, Stone Levy turned their aspirations into reality, proving that a small, two-lawyer practice can thrive at a large level with the right resources at hand.
If you’d like to see how Bill4Time can help transform your law firm, or start your own practice, schedule a demo today.
About Stone Levy
Marc Levy and Jessica Stone Levy each have over 30 years of experience in law. Marc has specialized in intellectual property law with a specific focus on trademark and unfair competition disputes and litigation. Jessica has extensive experience in trademark law and has handled trademark prosecution and counseling for many clients ranging from large, well-established companies to small startups and individuals.
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