Using MyCase Payments to Save 4 Hours Per Week on Administrative Tasks
Everett, Washington
A Bit of Backstory
Attorney Paul Grass’ desire to enrich the lives of others is evidenced by his diverse background in public service. A Naval oficer turned policeman turned lawyer, Paul used the Post 9/11 GI Bill to return to school and begin his career in law. His experience enables him to serve his clients with empathy, and run his business with a keen eye for eficient operations.
After law school, Paul started his own firm, learning how to be a lawyer while running a new business. He then joined forces with Sullivan Law Group, combining their client base and resources. Soon after, the firm adopted Paul’s existing practice management system, MyCase. Using the billing and payment processing in MyCase, Paul shares how the Sullivan Law Group saves hours per week on administrative tasks.
A Partnership with MyCase
When I first joined the firm, we were using Amicus, an on-premise practice management system. Frankly, it was miserable. The features were rudimentary, you could not accept payments online, and we were paying too much for what we were getting. Because of how expensive it was and how little functionality it had, we broke a 5-year contract with them to join MyCase. We chose MyCase because of the price, billing functions, ease of use, and document management.
Why does your firm accept payments in MyCase?
Because everything is in one system. Also, because it was the same cost as I was paying with my other credit card system. So, I thought: If I can integrate our case management and payment processor without paying more, it’s a no-brainer.
It also saves me time because everything is automatically paid and reconciled. I used to spend four to five hours reconciling billing and client payments each week. Nowadays, I don’t spend more than 20 minutes a week on it.
If I can integrate our case management and payment processor without paying more, it’s a no-brainer.– Paul Grass, Attorney, Sullivan Law Group
Tell me about the process of accepting payments in MyCase.
I start with a “down payment,” or initial fee to ensure the client is invested in our firm’s services. Once they make that payment, I create an invoice and set up a month-to-month automatic payment on a payment plan.
As a lawyer, I’m always thinking ahead and trying to mitigate problems that could come up. On billing issues, like clients not paying, the automatic payment plans are a huge plus for me. It means that clients pay consistently, because it’s an automatic draw, and I don’t even have to think about it. I get an email that says “so-and-so paid her invoice,” and everything is automatically up-to-date. Also, we don’t have the trouble of manually punching in a credit card every month. It’s a big deal.
I used to spend four to five hours reconciling billing and client payments each week. Nowadays, I don’t spend more than 20 minutes on it.– Paul Grass, Attorney, Sullivan Law Group
Why have your payment processor built into your case management?
I’m terrible at math- that’s why I’m a lawyer. With MyCase, the billing and invoicing are linked to my bank accounts, so I don’t need to go back and forth between Quickbooks, Excel, and other systems. I can do trust accounting too, which is just really, really helpful. MyCase does it all so well, without having to integrate a third-party payment processor.
The payment system also helps me manage clients. It makes it easier for me to let them know where they stand without having to harass them. I do like that I have a button I click that says, “Hey, send a reminder to this client about their invoice two days before.” Clients respond with, “Hey, I got that reminder. Thank you very much.” It’s great.
MyCase does it all so well, without having to integrate a third-party payment processor.– Paul Grass, Attorney, Sullivan Law Group
Who would you recommend MyCase to?
If I was starting from scratch or looking at new systems, MyCase would make my life incredibly easy, especially with all the built-in features. I can always look at a billing report and see what’s happening with my financials. I can see a full trust accounting report. It does a full invoice report and activity, with account activity so you can see where everything’s at, where I used to have to go back through my books manually.
If you’re starting practice or if you already have a practice and you’re moving to a practice management system, MyCase is a great way of doing that with a quick onboarding and easy user interface. It does a fantastic job of kind of auto-tracking time, too, which is very, very helpful for billing hourly clients. If you’re taking the step toward better operations at your firm, I think MyCase is the best way to do it.
Any additional remarks regarding MyCase?
I just have to say — your support department is quick and immediately responsive to everything.
Recently, I was getting support from a support team member, who I’ve talked to pretty frequently. She and I have been emailing back about a problem that I was having a couple of weeks ago, and we worked it out very quickly. But then she said, “Hey, I’m leaving for the day, but this person’s taking over.” Getting that transition email was incredible. I just cannot say how much I appreciate your support team.
