Law Firm

A three-way reconciliation that will not tie has a short list of causes. Work through them in order, from outstanding items and bank errors to the ones that require disclosure.

How to actually measure law firm profitability: realization, effective rate, fully loaded timekeeper cost, and matter-level profit, worked through with real numbers.

When client funds belong in an IOLA account versus a separate interest-bearing escrow under NY Rule 1.15 and Judiciary Law 497 – with a worked decision, the ledger discipline, and the mistakes that trigger discipline.

Unclaimed client trust funds in New York go to the Lawyers Fund for Client Protection by court order under Rule 1.15(f), not to the State Comptroller, and there is no dormancy period.

Quick answer: A three-way reconciliation confirms that three numbers match at month-end: your adjusted trust bank balance, your trust checkbook (control) balance, and the total of every client’s individual ledger balance. When all three agree, your IOLTA is in balance. When they don’t, client money is misstated — and in New York that is a

Most law firm owners can quote last month’s revenue but cannot say how much of the work their attorneys performed actually turned into cash. That gap is where profit quietly disappears. Key performance indicators (KPIs) close it by translating billable effort, billing, and collections into a handful of numbers you can watch every month. For

Quick answer: Advanced client costs are expenses your firm pays on a client’s behalf and expects to recover — filing fees, expert witnesses, medical records, and the like. “Hard costs” are paid to outside vendors; “soft costs” are internal charges. How you book them, and whether you deduct them, is a compliance and tax question