Lawyer in solo practice
Client: Camille R., business lawyer, in solo practice for 4 years. She handles her own invoicing, bookkeeping and tax returns.
Background: management software for a law practice
Camille practises as a self-employed professional, with accounting and tax specifics that are unique to lawyers:
- Fees billed by the hour or as a fixed fee depending on the case
- VAT on an invoicing or cash basis to manage depending on the client
- Fee retainers, client advances and travel expense claims
- Contributions to the CNBF (French national bar pension fund) and to URSSAF
Before Dirigeoo:
- Invoices written in Word, sent by email and tracked in an Excel spreadsheet
- Unpaid fees hard to follow: several cases awaiting payment with no systematic reminders
- Quarterly charges (URSSAF, CNBF) sometimes discovered too late
- Preparing the annual accounting file: 2 days of work for her accountant
The problem
- Unpaid fees: more than €8,000 of outstanding invoices with no reminders sent, revealed by an audit
- Unpredictable cash flow: retainer deposits and expense reimbursements created peaks
- Tax on the back foot: no tax simulation before the annual return
- Time wasted: 2 to 3 hours of financial admin every week
The Dirigeoo solution
- Automated professional invoicing
- Fee note templates in line with bar practice
- Tracking of retainers, deposits and balances by case
- Automatic reminders at 30, 60 and 90 days
- Tax management adapted to BNC (non-commercial profits)
- Real-time income tax simulation
- A calendar of URSSAF and CNBF deadlines with automatic provisions
- Visible net cash position
- Automatic separation of fees received / retainers / expenses
- Built-in 90-day cash flow forecast
- Simpler collaboration with the accountant
- Direct access to supporting documents filed by period
- One-click accounting export in FEC format
Results
- €8,200 recovered: thanks to automated reminders on unpaid fees from the very first month
- Zero tax surprises: Camille sets aside her quarterly charges automatically
- 2 hours saved a week: refocused on high-value client cases
- Year-end closing: from 2 days down to half a day thanks to structured data
Testimonial
“I was embarrassed to admit I didn’t know exactly how much I had in unpaid fees. Dirigeoo told me in the very first week. And the reminders did the rest.”
Camille R. — Business lawyer