Welcome
Thank you for signing up for CaseFox, one of the leading legal billing software. We assure you that CaseFox will be easy to use and beneficial for your law practice. Links are provided throughout the whole program in order to deliver all information. Please also visit the CaseFox Knowledge Base.
Before getting started here are a few tips which will help you in smooth implementation.
STEPS TO MANAGE TIMEKEEPING AND INVOICING
Firstly click on the “Clients” tab and then click on the “Add Client” link which is present immediately next to the search box available in order to create a new client. To create a new case (or project for a client). Click on the “Add Case” link which is present on the right side of the tabbed pane. You may also take the help of the shortcut links which are present on the dashboard in order to create clients, users, and cases.
If you want to set different hourly rates for a case AND/OR your firm has more than one user then: Click on the “Staff” tab and smoothly add users. Now in order to find the listing of all users of your firm: Click on the “Cases (Project)” tab, then in the “Staff Access/Rates” tab, you will find the full listing. Click on the check box, in order to easily grant access to selected users. Further for this particular case, you can easily add different hourly rates for selected users.
Useful Links
Store Additional Information About A Case
Instructions for LEDES Invoices
Automatic/Bulk Invoice Generation
To create a new note: Select a case and then click on the Add Note(Time/Expense) link which is present on the right-hand side pane.
To add hours: Select the “Staff User” which is present on the top of the “Add Note” screen. Enter hour/min or tenth of hours in such a way that the time added is in the multiples of 3 minutes(eg. 1.2*) in order to prevent rounding errors. On the basis of hourly rates of selected hours, the amount will automatically be calculated. For making different types of time/expense entries please scroll down to the bottom of the page for instructions.
If you want this note to be included in the invoice then check “Show On Invoice”.
If you are entering an expense check “This is an Expense” check box. Check both ‘This is an Expense’ and “Show On Invoice” for billable expenses.
Enter the service performed (3 characters min, 1000 characters max). The text which will be added to this box will be used as a line item in an invoice. Look into it by also using abbreviations.
Optimally, in the private note box, you can enter a private note which can be of(10 characters min, and 1000 characters max). Later on, this text will assist you in recollecting the case events. This text will only be visible to you.
Please look upon How To Store Documents And Additional Information. You can also easily enter a local drive file path or a document URL.
If the client requires it, then enter UTBMS task and expense code/activity code or you can select it from the dropdown.
Save the note. The note will be atomically listed below in the list section.
You may generate an invoice, after entering one or more notes.
Click on the “Invoice” tab in order to generate an invoice. Look upon the Automatic Invoice Generation and also how to set custom invoice generation.
Click on the “Create Invoice’ link. Now if you want to upload your firm’s logo then, Prior to generating invoices, after logging into CaseFox you may directly click on the Settings tab on the upper right corner and use the “Upload Logo” tab to upload your logo.
A pop-up will come up. Then click on the Add Time/Expense Entries to Invoice link. After that, another pop-up will come up. After this select one or more notes or you can also select all that needs to be included in the invoice. (You may simply click on “Select All'') as only unbilled notes will be displayed in this pop-up.
You may enter private notes if required. The private note will not get printed on the invoice. You can also enter an invoice text in the Clients Details section (Clients tab → Select client for which you wish to add the private notes → Select the Case → Go to Time/Expense tab → click on the pencil icon of the time /expense entry you wish to add private notes into → click on private notes(add notes) → Click save...
Click on the “Create Invoice” button which is present at the right-hand corner, in order to generate the invoice. In the Public Note section, you may enter a note to your client. Alternatively, you may click on the "Clients" tab -> Select Client which is in the left side panel -> Client Details/Edit button beside clients name l -> enter text in "Service performed". In the Public Note section of the “Create Invoice” screen, this text will automatically be added.
One of the Examples of this text can be "Please make check payable to xxxxx. Thank you.
You will have a painless opportunity to select/de-select specific invoice items which are to be included in tax calculations) if some or all are taxable in your country.
The newly generated invoice will be listed in the “Invoices” tab. You can also email, view, or download PDF (or LEDES) using the icons which are displayed against the invoice. By following the same steps as above an invoice may be deleted (see a delete icon on the very right in the line) and re-generated). Invoices may also be edited. However, the invoice cannot be deleted once payment is recorded against the invoice, but you can delete the payment if it is mistakenly entered.) once you delete all payments against an invoice, the invoice can be deleted). Thus, after generating an invoice, please kindly download the PDF and check if everything is accurate with the invoice, before sending the invoice to the client and recording a payment.
After the invoice is emailed to the client the email Invoice (Envelope) icon will change. (Please visit Settings/Tools/Reports->Invoice/Gen. Settings to change email text) The case details and client’s email will automatically get filled in the email box. Invoice can also be emailed using your own email or by downloading the PDF/Word version to your computer.
Use the payment icon (dollar icon in front of the invoice in the list) to record payments from the client. Multiple partial payments may be recorded. You may also use the Bulk Pay Invoice button under more actions under dropdown.
Invoices can individually be emailed from CaseFox to the clients by directly clicking on the Envelope icon which is present in the invoice listing. Alternatively, email the invoices directly from the dashboard where all click on the Invoices button on the Dashboard for emailing multiple invoices from the same screen.
Interest Calculations: To add interest on overdue payments in an invoice on the account of previously unpaid amounts, click on the Clients tab, select a client, click on the View Client/Edit tab. Enter Yearly Interest Rate (do not add % sign). Select appropriate Payment Terms. Save. Disclaimer: CaseFox uses simple interest calculations. If an invoice is paid by the client partially prior to generating a subsequent invoice, then the interest on only the unpaid amount is calculated.
FEW POINTS THAT WILL GUIDE YOU TOWARDS THE EXPENSE TRACKING MECHANISM
If you intend the entered expense to be included in an invoice so when entering expenses, make sure to also check [ ] Show on Invoice checkbox. The notes will not be presented for invoicing if you don't check the "Show on Invoice" checkbox,
In order to select a case in the left panel bar, Click on the "Cases" tab. After selecting it to scroll down to the bottom on the right-side note listing. If you notice an amount in the "Non-Billable" category, you should directly review your time/expense entries. You may not have checked [ ] "Show on Invoice" checkbox in one or more notes, it is ok if you intentionally unchecked the "Show on Invoice" checkbox.
For entering expenses while doing a time entry, Select this is an expense checkbox and notice a slightly changed screen. in the "Quantity" box, enter the number of units (enter 1, if this is a flat expense, such as Court Filing Fees). Enter Per Unit cost( for example $500) Amount in Total Cost will be calculated automatically (alternatively, you may enter the total cost in the Total Cost box without entering per unit cost).
You can easily delete it, edit the note(s) and then generate the invoice again If you have already created an invoice
TIPS TO MAKE THE EXPENSE AND BILLING LOOK SIMPLER
To enter an hourly billing item: enter the time (either hours/minutes or tenth hours format) in the boxes that are provided. The System will automatically calculate the amount painlessly based on your hourly rates. ( you can also set different hourly rates for different cases as per your requirement.). Click on the "Hourly Rates" tab under settings select a user, an "Edit" link will appear next to the hourly fee amount. The user’s global hourly will be used automatically if you don’t set a different hourly rate for a user.
To enter a flat fee item, effortlessly enter the amount in the "Total Cost" box and do not enter anything in the "time" boxes. Do not check the "expense" checkbox as (this item will be displayed as a "Flat" fee item on the invoice).
To enter an expense, click on the this is an expense checkbox (and leave the "Show on Invoice" checked). Enter a number of units in the box shown and then enter the total cost in the "Total Cost" box. For example, if you want to enter charges for 50 copies @ $1/copy, enter "50" in the "Quantity" box and then enter "1" in the total cost box. This item will be shown as an expense in the invoice.
If you want to enter a no charge entry, enter the time and then change the value in the Total Cost box to zero.
Hours and normal billable rate for this line item and the cost as "No Charge" will be reflected by PDF/Word invoice.
If you want to enter an item at a different billable rate. So, normally when the time is entered, the system automatically calculates the total charges for an item based on staff's hourly rates for the particular case (and if a different hourly rate is not set for the case, staff's global hourly rates) and invoice reflects entered time and hourly rates in addition to the automatically calculated total cost for the item. Sometimes professionals charge different rates for certain items. For example, a time-keeper may charge an hourly rate of $500/hr for legal work but $200/hr as convenience charges for travel and others. To have the invoice reflect this different rate, enter the time as usual and then change the automatically calculated total cost to the desired number. In the previous example, if 1 hour for travel is what an attorney enters, the system will automatically fill the total cost box with $200. Change this amount to $100. PDF/Word Invoice will show the hourly rate of $100/hr for this entered time.
STEPS TO GENERATE ADVANCE PAYMENTS
Advance Payments: If the funds do not belong to a trust account and if you have received an advance payment prior to issuing an invoice ( So After generating the invoice, as usual, directly click on the green dollar sign in order to record the received payment.
Then Click on the download Invoice in PDF from the dropdown to download the invoice. The invoice will clearly reflect the received payment.
STEPS TO MANAGE TRUST FUNDS
Enable/Disable Trust Fund Balance on Invoices: Invoice will clearly show the payment that is deducted from the client trust account (if funds are available) and balance payable by the client (or zero if the trust funds are sufficient enough to pay the whole invoiced amount). It will automatically list the amount in the invoice if there is still a leftover amount in the trust account.
Go to Settings → Invoice Management → General settings → "Show Trust Funds on Invoice" radio button for enabling and disabling the same.
STEPS TO SET DIFFERENT HOURLY RATES FOR DIFFERENT CASES
Click on the Cases (Projects) from the left side pane. In the left panel. Then select the desired case from it. On the right-side panel, click on the "Settings" tab and then go to the Hourly rates column. On the screen, check the checkbox on the left side of a staff name. Click on the pencil icon to enter a new rate. Click Update. This process will overall deliver two things, first, if the selected staff is not an administrator, then the selected staff will now have access to this case and the administrators have access to all cases automatically. Second, a new hourly rate for the selected staff will be set only for this case.
CASEFOX SETTINGS
CaseFox offers numerous settings in order to format PDF invoices according to your needs. And further, there is no such need to regenerate invoices after making changes to any of these properties. After making changes to one or more of these properties, you may go back to the invoice list easily and click on the PDF icon against the desired invoice to download the updated invoice.
Currently, CaseFox offers the following settings ( and the captions are self-explanatory):
Show Trust Funds On Invoice
Show Amount To Be Paid From Trust On Invoice
Do Not Show Rates Column On Invoice
Do Not Show Staff Column On Invoice
Show Staff Column Before Description On Invoice
Do Not Show Hour Column On Invoice
Do Not Show Previous Balance On Invoice
Show Taxable/Non-Taxable Markings For Invoice Items
Show Timekeeper Summary On Invoice
Show List Of Payments Since Last Invoice On Invoice
Show Fees/Expenses Separately On Invoice
Do Not Show Border Line On Invoice
Minimum 1 Inch Margins All Sides in Invoice PDF Document
Minimum 1/2 Inch Margins All Sides in Invoice PDF Document (uncheck both checkboxes for default 10mm margins)
Do Not Send Weekly Activity Reports
Do Not Send Calendaring Reminders
Enable Deleting Trust Fund Entries
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