Case Study:
West Coast Law Firm
Eliminating Billing Confusion & Manual Trust Management
The Problem
A mid-sized West Coast litigation firm with 25 attorneys was struggling with a fragmented billing process. The firm billed every two weeks, and raised ad-hoc trust requests in between those runs whenever a matter's work in progress climbed sharply—getting out ahead of a trust balance that would not cover the bill about to be issued. Every one of those touchpoints was another chance to confuse the client.
Clients received multiple separate communications—one for fees and expenses, another for trust replenishment—often creating confusion when one statement showed nothing due while the other requested payment. Trust replenishment calculations were managed manually in Excel spreadsheets, consuming significant administrative time and introducing errors.
Collections added more manual work. Payment links from the firm's chosen payment system expired, so chasing past-due balances often meant tracking down clients whose link had lapsed before they paid, and reissuing it. The disconnected process led to delayed payments, frustrated clients, and an unsustainable administrative workload.
The XTND Solution:
- Consolidated billing statements combining fees, expenses, and trust replenishment into a single communication
- Automated trust replenishment calculations replacing manual Excel spreadsheets
- Unified client-facing invoices eliminating conflicting payment notices
- Real-time trust balance monitoring with automated replenishment triggers
- Deep integration with Clio Payments for seamless payment processing and reconciliation
- Streamlined workflows reducing administrative overhead across practice areas
The Result
By consolidating the fee & expense bill with the trust replenishment request into a single, clear client communication, the firm eliminated the confusion caused by multiple contradictory notices. Clients now receive one statement that clearly outlines what is owed and what trust funding is needed.
Automated trust replenishment calculations replaced hours of manual Excel work, providing accurate figures out of the box. The streamlined process reduced administrative burden, accelerated collections, and significantly improved the client experience.
Key Results
Reduction in billing cycle time
Admin time per month, down from 20+
None of It Was the Actual Work
The spreadsheets, the manual calculations, the tracking of multiple emails, never being certain whether someone had moved a client's trust threshold — all of it got in the way of the one thing the team was trying to do: get a clean bill and trust request out the door.
Before
- Trust replenishment worked out by hand, in Excel, every cycle
- 20+ hours a month of administrative work to get bills out
- Separate emails for fees, expenses and trust — tracked per client, per cycle
- No way to know whether someone had changed a client's trust threshold
- Payment links expiring before the client paid, so past-due chasing meant reissuing them
With XTND
- Trust figures calculated automatically — nobody has to think about the math
- 8 hours a month for the same work
- One statement per client: fees, expenses and the trust request together
- The calculation is there to look at, so the team can see how XTND reached the number it used
- All of the information in one place, instead of spread across inboxes and spreadsheets
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