Twenty years ago when personal computers just added hard drives and the first laser printers appeared, Timeslips began selling for $99. Looking back two decades, it’s hard to recall lawyers’ options to capture the time they spent on client work and create bills.

PCs still were in their infancy, and most lawyers were resistant to using computers for word-processing, much less timekeeping and billing. Dedicated word processors like Wang, NBI and Syntrex had been enhanced to include billing functions. A basic personal computer cost at least $4,000 while a laser printer would set one back an additional $4,000. Dedicated word processors were in the $10,000-20,000 range. The leading MS-DOS-based billing programs started at $1,000. Even enlightened sole practitioners were looking at investments of tens of thousands of dollars — and that didn’t include training, customizing or maintenance costs.

By selling its first version for $99, Timeslips became the most widely used legal timekeeping and billing program. It’s more expensive today, but it remains one of the most cost-effective solutions to managing a law firm’s billing.

From the beginning, Timeslips had an elegant time and expense entry screen intended for the timekeeper to enter his or her own time. Most of its competitors still have entry screens that make time entry easy for support staff working from lawyers’ written time sheets. Over the years, there have been many enhancements such as adding billing arrangements, task based billing and more flexible bill formatting.

Timeslips 2005 (which would be version 13) focuses on streamlining the entire billing cycle — from initial entries through billing and end-of-cycle reporting. In addition to the standard time and expense entry screens, the last few versions of Timeslips have had a timesheet style entry screen. In its earlier form, it was ineffective for lawyers because, while it simplified time entry and showed daily entries in a list view, it did not easily allow switching from one entry to another or adding descriptions to specific entries. The enhancements to Version 2005 make the timesheet entry tool a viable option for lawyers who prefer to combine their activities on behalf of a client into single time entries for the day.

Expansion

Over the past few years, case management vendors have moved further into the billing arena while billing companies have added more practice management functions. It seems like this is the year all vendors are adding or enhancing links to Microsoft’s Outlook — and Timeslips is no exception. With Timeslips’ Outlook integration, client information from Timeslips can be synchronized with Outlook’s contact list. Buttons inside Timeslips now allow users to create tasks or calendar events from Timeslips. Better yet, while in Outlook, completed tasks or meetings can be turned into time slips.

The billing cycle is easier as well. Before printing bills, the clerk must know whether all the time and expense entries are in. And the new Missing Time Report shows who has not met minimum billable requirements for the selected time period.

Client information screens have been redesigned to associate a bill format (whether to show hours, rates, amounts, initials, etc.) with a specific layout (where on the bill the selected information should appear). Previously, firms with more than one bill layout had to prepare each batch separately.

Without question, my favorite new enhancement is the interactive bill preview. Over the years, I’ve worked with many firms whose lawyers prefer (or sometimes insist on) viewing “bills” rather than pre-billing worksheets when deciding what items to bill. While this allowed the attorney to see exactly what the client would see, it made billing clerks’ job more difficult since they couldn’t easily identify which slips needed editing or add missing slips.

A lawyer previewing a large group of bills and catching an error midway through the batch would have to exit the preview, go to either the time or expense entry, payment or client section of the program, make the change and then re-preview the bills. In Timeslips 2005, when previewing a bill to the screen display, specific items can be edited or expanded, the changes saved and return to the bill preview. This feature allows attorneys to view their bills on the screen and make minor changes without killing extra trees or wasting lots of time.

Billing also has been improved with the ability to reprint bills directly in Adobe .pdf format. This means if a client requests an additional copy of a previous bill, it can quickly be emailed in .pdf version. In fact, for firms using the much older versions of Timeslips, its e-mail capabilities have been gradually improving the past few years. Today, bills can be e-mailed directly. While I still worry my bills might be discarded as spam, many law firms are successfully e-billing clients.

Task-based codes

Insurance defense firms and those representing large national corporations are increasingly required to use the American Bar Association’s uniform task based billing codes and submit those bills electronically. The ABA codes are divided into the major phases of litigation such as discovery or trial (often called “L” codes). Within each phase, timekeepers must assign an activity code (“A” code) for the nature of the work being performed, such as legal research. Similarly, expenses are categorized by “E” codes. There are several different sets of task based codes — for litigation, corporate work and bankruptcy. While the codes themselves are uniform, there is nothing uniform about the actual format of submissions to insurance carriers. For firms representing multiple carriers, this can be a challenge. Timeslips offers add-on modules for specific formats and carriers that allow lawyers to export slip information and create the file that can be electronically submitted.

The actual bill layout and format options have been consolidated in Version 2005 into a new tool, the Bill Designer. Items can be dragged and dropped onto the layout and such items as dates, timekeepers’ initials, descriptions, hours and rates included or excluded. There’s more control over the format, such as fonts for different parts of the bill. For firms using different formats for different clients, the preview option will make it easier to see the resulting bill without leaving the designer tool.

In addition to the major enhancements to the bill design and preview screens, the reports also have been improved. The report selection screens have been consolidated to make options easier to locate. There also are several new reports in addition to the Missing Time Report. One highly requested new report is the BackDated Accounts Receivable Report. Where the older, still available, A/R report showed current clients’ balances, the backdated report shows clients’ balances at a given time, which is helpful if a client is disputing previous bills.

While the enhancements to the last few versions of Timeslips have been smaller and more incremental, the improvements to Version 2005 make it more enticing to upgrade.

Carol L. Schlein is president of Law Office Systems in Montclair, a training and consulting firm specializing in law firm automation. Copies of previous columns are on her company website, www.losinc.com. For information about her quarterly meetings for Time Matters users, check the website or e-mail info@losinc.com. Schlein formerly chaired the Computer and Technology Division of the ABA Law Practice Management Section.

Questions for Carol L. Schlein on law office technology may be faxed to New Jersey Lawyer at (732) 650-7010, e-mailed to news@njlnews.com or mailed to “Law Technology Questions,” New Jersey Lawyer, Edison Square, 2035 Lincoln Highway, Suite 3005, Edison, N.J. 08817.