Free Legal Invoice Templates and Tips for Streamlined Billing

Despite their practice area, size, or location, all law firms have one thing in common—they want less non-billable work. The Thomson Reuters’ 2023 State of U.S. Small Law Firms Report revealed that spending too much time on administrative tasks is a top challenge for 77% of lawyers.

Legal billing and invoicing can be especially time-consuming due to the documents, communication, and level of detail needed to keep everything on track. However, automation and templates can cut down time for these types of repetitive tasks.

We’ll share five free legal invoice templates below to help your law firm streamline the invoicing process. We’ll also review the benefits of using templates and provide tips for improving your legal billing system.

Disclaimer: The templates in this post are for educational purposes only and are not guaranteed or implied to meet compliance or deliver specific results. Please consult your local Bar Association and government entities to confirm compliance requirements and adjust these templates accordingly. Your local Bar Association may also have worksheets and templates that comply with regional requirements.

Legal Services Invoice Template for Billable Hours

If your law firm charges work based on billable hours, you’ll include information in the invoice about work performed, time tracked, billable rates, and the total cost of each line item. Use a law firm billable hours chart to standardize time entries across your law firm and ensure you accurately bill time.

Also consider adopting an online solution that includes time tracking to save time when managing time entries. For example, with MyCase, you’ll be able to track time as you work and receive prompts to track as you begin working on different tasks. You can also easily create invoices that automatically sync time-tracking entries.

Note: You must be logged in to a Google Account to open and make a copy of the Google Doc and Google Sheets templates.

Legal Services Invoice Template for Retainers

Law firms issue general retainer invoices to collect funds before beginning work. Then, they charge clients from the retainer. Retainer invoice templates may also look similar to templates for billable hours—depending on how work is billed.

In addition to line items for each charge, retainer invoices should include a retainer status or trust account balance. The status contains details about the client’scurrent balance and a reminder of the original retainer agreement. If clients have an evergreen retainer, the invoice may also have a notice if the balance has dipped below the agreed-upon minimum. Below is an invoice template, which includes an example of this clause.

Note: You must be logged in to a Google Account to open and make a copy of the Google Doc and Google Sheets templates.

Legal Services Invoice Template for Flat Fees

Flat fee invoice templates are typically simpler than other types of legal invoices. Law firms commonly charge flat fees when executing specific services rather than managing a full case. Examples include drafting wills and corporate documents or reviewing contracts on behalf of a client. Law firms typically set up a flat fee agreement before executing work, while the invoice reflects this arrangement.

Note: You must be logged in to a Google Account to open and make a copy of the Google Sheets template.

Legal Services Invoice Template for Split Billing

Law firms can use split billing templates when multiple parties pay for legal services. Each invoice will include the percentage of the bill each party is responsible for.

With MyCase’s upcoming Split Billing feature, your firm can eliminate the time-consuming and error-prone process of manually dividing invoices by:

• Automatically dividing invoices by percentage for all responsible parties—with no maximum number of splits.
• Generating invoices and tailoring payment pages to only reflect the amount owed by that party.

Note: You must be logged in to a Google Account to open and make a copy of the Google Sheets template.

Legal Services Invoice Template for Contingency Fees

Contingency fee invoices are dependent on whether the client wins their case. If they do, the client agrees to pay the lawyer a percentage of their winnings. This invoice will have details about the amount the client won and the percentage used to pay the law firm.

The invoice can also include incurred expenses, like court filing fees. Some contingency arrangements may require multiple payments depending on how clients receive their settlements or winnings.

Note: You must be logged in to a Google Account to open and make a copy of the Google Sheets template.

Unpaid Invoice Legal Action Letter Template

In a perfect world, all clients would only need a reminder or two to pay outstanding invoices. Unfortunately, some clients struggle to pay or ignore reminders altogether.

Sending an unpaid invoice legal action letter should be a last resort after exhausting all options. Attach copies of past due invoices, previous communication, and other documents relating to the outstanding charges so the client has all relevant information.

What to Include in a Legal Invoice

Most legal invoices include information about the client, items billed, and payment terms and methods. Although specific sections and layouts can differ, maintaining a consistent legal invoice template makes it easier for clients to find the information they need.

A typical legal invoice will include the following elements:

• Law firm branding, logo, colors, and fonts that are consistent throughout the document
• Law firm contact information, including phone number, email, address, and point of contact for billing inquiries
• Client information, including client name, business (if applicable), client number, case number, case matter, and contact information; also includes information for the billing contact if it differs from the client
• Invoice number and issue date to help keep track of each bill
• Billing cycle dates to communicate when your law firm incurred these charges
• List of services rendered, billable rates, and billing codes (if applicable) that concisely describe work performed, how you’ve calculated each line item, and billing codes (if needed)
• List of expenses incurred that your law firm will bill back to the client including court filing fees, witness fees, and travel expenses
• Subtotals from different elements of the invoice, including applicable tax rate—for example, you’ll list a subtotal based on time tracked and a subtotal of expenses incurred
• Total that encompasses all subtotals
• Payment terms and available payment methods that are based on your previous agreements with the client, including payment due dates and consequences for late payments
• Applied discounts so clients can see how it impacted their bill and how long it will be applied
• Payment links (for electronic invoices) or QR codes (for paper invoices) so clients can easily navigate from the invoice to a payment page
• An account summary (if applicable) that states the remaining balance of that client’s trust account or retainer
• Payment plan information (if applicable), including how much the client has paid, the total remaining balance, and other relevant information
• Requests for feedback and feedback link (if applicable) in the invoice itself or in the message sent along with the invoice
• Recommended additional services that your client’s case can benefit from—ideally shared verbally for context before including them in an invoice

How Often Should I Send Invoices?

Law firms should send legal invoices to clients promptly at previously agreed-upon intervals. For example, if the agreement was to send monthly invoices—send them promptly on the same day each month.

Ideally, law firms should establish a billing schedule during the first meeting with clients to ensure they know billing and payment expectations. Discussing billing in advance also allows the client to ask questions, raise concerns, and explore alternative billing terms that suit their situation.

Benefits of Using Legal Invoice Templates

Using legal invoice templates can save your law firm time and improve the overall experience for your client. These are other benefits your firm can enjoy:

• Fewer non-billable hours since you can reuse templates for each invoice
• More accurate and consistent billing by following a standard format each time for billing information
• Faster payment since you can create and send accurate templates faster with a template
• Reduced questions and disputes from clients who may get confused with inconsistently formatted invoices that use too much legal jargon

Tips to Improve the Legal Invoicing Process

Legal invoicing can be challenging. Templates can help reduce time spent creating invoices, but law firms can still lose time answering questions, correcting errors, and tracking down missing information.

Below is a quick list of tips below to help your law firm improve its legal invoicing system.

• Set clear billing guidelines upfront and review these with clients before beginning work.
• Maintain detailed timesheets and expense tracking using an attorney time tracking template or an online time tracking system. This helps ensure accurate billing and prepares your law firm in case a client requests timesheet copies with their invoices.
• Keep clients updated with the status of their cases and billing changes so they understand the charges before reviewing their invoices.
• Adopt a secure client portal so clients can easily access information about their case, review invoices, and pay bills online.
• Itemize the invoice, use simple language, and add succinct descriptions so clients can understand what work you’ve completed and how charges correlate to each activity.
• Promptly send invoices on agreed-upon intervals so clients know when to expect bills and to help encourage on-time payments.
• Send invoices electronically to quickly deliver them, rather than relying on physical mail or asking clients to visit your office.
• Accept multiple payment options to increase the likelihood of getting paid. This can include accepting online payments, and credit cards, and via point-of-sale (POS) systems in your office.
• Offer additional payment terms beyond billable hours to accommodate more clients who may have trouble paying fees with a traditional billable hour model.
• Maintain a consistent reminder schedule so clients always know when the bill is coming, when it’s been delivered, and when it’s past due.
• Keep track of unpaid invoices, consistently follow up with clients, and consider working with a collection agency as a last resort.

Automatically Generate Invoices with MyCase

Legal invoice templates can save some time but still require manual work to create and send. Implementing a comprehensive invoicing and billing system can significantly reduce time spent on administrative work.

Rather than tracking expenses in several spreadsheets and documents, MyCase’s comprehensive legal billing software allows law firms to sync billing and client information in one platform.

Below are the benefits of using MyCase’s legal invoicing and billing software:

• Automatically generate invoices using time tracking, expense tracking, and other billing information logged on the platform.
• Deliver invoices and reminders directly from the platform to keep the client up to date on when invoices are ready, upcoming payment due dates, and if invoices are past due.
• Use default activity descriptions to save time explaining line items for each invoice.
• View a payments dashboard for an overview of total receivables and the status of each invoice.
• Receive notifications when clients view or take action on invoices.
• Sync client billing information with Quickbooks to consolidate information and eliminate double-entry issues.

Sign up for a free MyCase trial today to learn how our platform can expedite your law firm’s legal invoicing and billing process.