Now offering law firm packages ยท new product line, by popular demand
Your firm, open in thirty days, built for retainers.
We set up all of it: the PLLC (or the entity your state bar allows), the operating and IOLTA trust accounts at the bank, Stripe for retainers and flat fees, malpractice insurance, secure client intake with conflicts and e-sign, a trust ledger that reconciles itself every month, and the compliance calendar. One flat price to open, one flat price to run. You practice law; we run the back office.
Hourly is going away. Firms are moving clients to monthly retainers and flat fees, and we see it every day in our own outbound to law firms. The box is built for that model from the first invoice.
Plans
Law firm packages: open it, run it, grow it.
Firm Launch
Everything between "I'm leaving the firm" and the first client.
- PLLC formation (or the PC / LLP your state allows for lawyers), EIN, registered agent, operating agreement
- Bar registration steps for the entity and the firm name
- Bank: operating account and IOLTA trust account at an eligible bank, IOLTA program enrollment
- Stripe: a payments account configured for a law firm, retainer and flat-fee invoices by card and ACH, card fees kept off the trust account
- Insurance: malpractice quotes from carriers that write your state and practice area, bound before you open
- Secure intake: encrypted intake forms, conflicts check, engagement letter e-signed, matter opened
- Engagement-letter and fee-agreement templates for you to adopt (they're your documents; you're the lawyer)
- Compliance calendar loaded: bar dues, CLE, trust reconciliation, renewals
Practice OS
The back office, every month.
- Trust ledger with client sub-ledgers, unsafe actions blocked, monthly three-way reconciliation report
- Billing for flat fees and evergreen retainers: balances, replenishment, invoices, card and ACH
- Intake and conflicts check; engagement letters e-signed
- Client portal: documents, invoices, messages
- Compliance calendar with reminders
- Bookkeeping export for your CPA
Retainer Practice setup
Turn an hourly practice into a retainer practice.
- Fee menu priced from your own historical hours
- Scope sheets per service
- Evergreen retainer agreement template (yours to adopt)
- The pitch, the FAQ and the switch plan for existing clients
When you want more clients, not more software.
CourtCheat calls every business in your market and books retainer consults onto your calendar ($7,000 per 20,000 businesses called). Google Maps and local SEO through our agency partners. Paralegal placement from our vetted list, paid by the firm as a share of first-year salary. DocketX answers your phone and runs intake as a virtual front office.
What it takes
The list nobody gives you at the firm you're leaving.
The right entity
Texas and New York allow a PLLC; Florida a PA or PLLC; California bars LLCs for lawyers, so it's a professional corporation or an LLP. Most states want the entity and its name registered with the bar.
Two bank accounts
An operating account and an IOLTA trust account at an eligible bank, enrolled with the state's IOLTA program. Client money never touches operating.
Malpractice insurance, bound before you open
Quotes from the carriers that write your state and practice area, the application filled from your bar record, coverage in force on day one and on the calendar for renewal.
Trust accounting that can't go wrong
Client ledgers, no commingling, no negative client balances, and a three-way reconciliation every month. This is the thing solos get disciplined for; the ledger blocks the mistake instead of warning about it.
Stripe, set up for a law firm
Evergreen retainers with replenishment, flat fees with scope sheets, earned-on-receipt where your state allows it and trust where it doesn't, invoices paid by card or ACH. Processing fees never come out of client trust money.
Secure intake and a front office
A phone that's answered, an encrypted intake form, a conflicts check, an engagement letter signed electronically, and a matter opened, without you doing any of it.
The calendar
CLE hours and cycle, bar dues, malpractice renewal, entity annual report, IOLTA certification, monthly reconciliation. All computed from your state and your dates, with reminders.
Clients
A Google Business Profile that ranks, reviews, and outbound: our call center calls businesses in your market and books retainer consults onto your calendar.
Help
Paralegals who are looking for work, placed with you and paid for by the firm as a share of first-year salary, so you don't pay a recruiter up front.
Law Firm in a Box provides business services and software to lawyers. We do not practice law, share fees, pay referral fees or give legal advice. Entity, bar and trust-accounting rules are presented from each state's published sources for you to decide on; you own your trust account and your client relationships.
Questions
Is this legal for a non-lawyer company to provide?
Yes. Back-office services, software and marketing support for law firms are ordinary vendor services. What we never do is practice law, take a share of your fees, or pay for referrals. The trust account is yours; we keep the ledger.
Which states?
Texas, Florida, New York and California first, with the entity, bar and CLE rules loaded. Other states are quoted; most are close variants.
Can I keep my current billing software?
Yes. The Practice OS is designed around retainers and the trust ledger; if you already run Clio or similar, we can run only the parts you need.
Do you find me clients?
If you want. CourtCheat, our call center, calls businesses in the markets and industries you pick and books retainer consults onto your calendar. It's an add-on, not part of the monthly price.