How to write a lawyer invoice

What goes on a lawyer invoice

Six things, in the order they belong on the page. The invoice generator opens a lawyer / attorney document with the lines already in place, so most of this is checking rather than typing.

1. Put the matter reference on every invoice. Which file, which period. A client with two matters open cannot approve anything without it.
2. Show time in your billing increment. Six minutes, or whatever you bill in, with the count visible. A single figure for the month invites the question you least want.
3. Write a narrative on each line. What was done, for whom, on what date. This is the part that answers a fee query without a meeting.
4. Separate disbursements from fees. Court fees, counsel, searches and experts are not your fee. They belong on their own lines at cost.
5. Show the retainer drawdown. What was held, what has been applied, what remains. A client who can see the balance does not ask for it.
6. State the terms and what happens if unpaid. Interest, suspension of work, or whatever your engagement allows, stated plainly in advance.

The lines a lawyer invoice usually carries

These are the lines the generator opens with when you pick Lawyer / attorney. The figures are a starting point to type over rather than a going rate: this site runs no pricing survey, and the number on your invoice should be the one you charge.

Add, rename, reorder or delete any line, and set tax per line where it applies. Priced as they open, that comes to $3,850 before tax.

A worked lawyer invoice, filled in

This is the same job as the table above, written out the way it would leave your phone. Every figure on it is a starting point rather than a going rate, and the tax line is shown at ten per cent purely so the arithmetic is visible: set your own rate, or none, per line.

Subtotal $3,850, tax $385, total $4,235. The parts worth copying are the structure rather than the numbers: the job reference next to the client, every line separately priced with its count showing, the tax on its own line, and terms that name a number of days instead of saying on receipt.

The narrative, which is the whole invoice

A legal invoice that says "professional services rendered" and a figure is the single most queried document in professional services. The client has no way to assess it, so they assess your relationship instead.

Write each line as what was done, for whom, on what date, at what time cost. "Drafting and revising settlement agreement, 1.8 hours, 14 October" is checkable. It is also, quietly, a record of the value delivered, which is the thing a client forgets fastest.

The narrative is more important than the rate. Clients rarely dispute an hourly rate they agreed to. They dispute totals they cannot reconstruct.

Disbursements, counsel fees and money that is not yours

Legal invoices carry a large amount of third-party cost, and blending it with fees inflates your apparent charge for no benefit.

Separate them clearly: court and filing fees, counsel fees, expert reports, search fees, courier and travel, each at cost on its own line. Where a disbursement carries tax differently from your fee, that is another reason the split has to exist.

If you have paid a disbursement on the client behalf and are recovering it, say so on the line. A client who thinks they are paying you for a court fee is a client with a grievance about your pricing that is entirely avoidable.

Retainers, client money and the balance the client should always see

A retainer held on account is not income until it is applied, and the client should be able to see the position on every invoice.

Show three numbers: held at the start of the period, applied against this invoice, and remaining. It removes the most common source of anxiety in a long matter, which is a client who has paid money and cannot tell what happened to it.

Where a top-up is needed, ask on the invoice with the arithmetic visible rather than in a separate letter. It is a much easier request when the client can see the drawdown that led to it.

Hourly, fixed price or per unit: how lawyers price the work

Legal work is billed in time increments against a matter, which is the most scrutinised billing model in any profession. The narrative is not administration, it is the product: it is what a client reads when they decide whether the bill was fair.

Keep disbursements strictly separate from fees, itemized, with the payee named. Court fees, searches and counsel are not your income and a client who cannot tell them apart from your charges is a client who thinks your charges are far higher than they are.

Working out what to charge

This guide is about what goes on the document, not what the number should be, and nobody should hand you a rate for your own market. What the site can do is the arithmetic: the freelance rate calculator works back from what you need to earn, the service price calculator prices a service against your costs, and the profit margin calculator checks what is left once the job is done.

Writing it on your phone, in five steps

Most lawyers write the invoice standing next to the work rather than at a desk a week later, and the week later version is the one that gets details wrong. The generator is built for the first case.

1. Open it with your trade already chosen. The lawyer / attorney invoice loads with initial consultation and the rest of the lines already on the page.
2. Put the client and the job reference in first. It is the part you will not remember accurately in three days, and on agent, landlord or contractor work it is the reason the invoice gets paid at all.
3. Edit the lines rather than starting from empty. Change the quantities and the rates, delete what you did not do, add what you did. Keeping the descriptions means the wording stays consistent from one job to the next.
4. Set the terms to 14 days and add a payment link. A due date that is an actual date gets chased. A link and a QR code means it can be settled before you have packed up.
5. Send it before you leave. The clock on your terms starts when the invoice arrives, not when the work finished, so every day it sits unsent is a day added to getting paid.

Getting paid once it is sent

Put a due date and your terms on the document, because an invoice without them is hard to chase. Add a payment link and a QR so settling up is a tap rather than a transfer somebody has to set up. When part of it lands, the receipt maker records it as a part payment and prints the balance still due. If the due date passes, the late fee calculator works out what your own terms allow and writes the chasing letter to go with it.

Five dates decide whether a lawyer gets paid on time, and four of them are set before the work starts.

Mistakes that cost lawyers money

• "Professional services rendered". The single most queried line in professional services. Write the narrative.
• No matter reference. A client with two files open cannot approve either invoice.
• Disbursements blended with fees. It inflates your apparent charge for no benefit at all.
• Retainer applied with no visible balance. The client has paid money and cannot tell what happened to it.
• Terms unstated. What happens on non-payment should be agreed in advance, not asserted afterwards.

Lawyer / attorney invoice questions

Free lawyer invoice template

The free lawyer invoice template opens with the lines above already priced, in any of 200 designs, and exports a print-ready PDF with no signup and nothing saved to a server. If you would rather edit a file offline, there are 72 Word templates, 72 Excel templates with the totals already calculating, and 72 fillable PDFs.

Invoicing guides for related trades

The same billing questions come up next door. These four guides cover the trades closest to lawyers, and each one sits alongside its own free template.

Every trade has one: see all 46 invoicing guides, or go straight to the 46 free invoice templates they describe.

Everything on this site, set up for lawyers

The whole toolkit, with the reason each one matters to lawyers rather than in general. The five marked links open with lawyer / attorney already selected.

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