Transforming Legal Billing, Claims and Payments Through a Centralised Digital Platform
Client: Legal Administration Solutions (LAS)
Industry: Legal Services, Financial Administration, Public Sector Claims
Services: Business Process Consulting, Secure Web Platform Development, Financial Workflow Automation, Invoicing & Payments Systems, Reporting & Audit, Deployment & Ongoing Support
Overview
Legal Administration Solutions (LAS) provides specialist administrative and financial services to Barristers and Solicitors, managing billing, claims, invoicing and payment reconciliation on their behalf. Operating at the intersection of legal practice, public-sector claims and financial administration, LAS required a robust digital platform capable of handling complex account relationships, multiple billing models and highly sensitive financial data.
ERS was engaged to design and deliver a comprehensive payment and account management portal that would centralise LAS’s operations while significantly reducing manual effort for both LAS staff and their legal customers. The platform needed to support a wide range of scenarios, including single and consolidated invoicing, legal aid claims, retention tax handling, partial payments, follow-ups and reconciliation across multiple parties.
The Challenge
Legal billing and claims administration involve a high degree of complexity, driven by differing relationships between Barristers, Solicitors, clients and public bodies such as the Department of Justice. LAS needed to manage thousands of active and historical accounts, each with its own services, charges, invoices, payments and follow-up requirements. These accounts could be billed directly to Solicitors, clients, opposing solicitors or public bodies, depending on the context of the work and the customer type.
A major challenge lay in handling multiple billing and charging models simultaneously. New and long-standing customers are billed differently, with some charged per invoice, others by percentage of bill, and legacy customers subject to annual caps and changing rates. The system also needed to distinguish between accounts billed on invoice generation versus those billed only on payments received. Manual tracking of these rules was inefficient and error-prone.
Further complexity arose in managing legal aid claims, where no external invoice is issued, but fees must still be tracked, paid and reconciled. Retention tax rules introduced additional accounting requirements, with partial payments received while balances remained technically outstanding. LAS also needed to identify special circumstances where both a Solicitor and a Barrister—each a LAS customer—were involved in the same case, requiring coordinated billing, payment reconciliation and shared visibility.
On top of this, LAS required strong auditability, duplicate detection, follow-up tracking and reporting, all delivered within a secure environment suitable for highly sensitive financial and legal data. Delivering a single platform capable of supporting these varied and evolving workflows required a carefully designed, rules-driven system built specifically for the legal domain.
Our Solution
ERS designed and delivered a modular, secure web-based platform that acts as the central operational system for LAS. The engagement began with in-depth process analysis, mapping how accounts, services, invoices, claims and payments flow through LAS’s business. These workflows were translated into a structured digital model that enforces business rules while remaining flexible enough to handle edge cases and future growth.
At the heart of the platform is the Accounts module, where LAS staff manage all customer records, whether Barristers or Solicitors. Each account functions as a job record, containing assigned parties, services performed, billing status and transaction history. Accounts can be created manually or imported in bulk, searched using multiple legal and client references, and protected by duplicate-detection alerts to prevent double billing.
ERS implemented a sophisticated invoicing engine that supports both single and consolidated invoices. LAS users can generate invoices per account or group multiple outstanding accounts for a given Solicitor into a single consolidated invoice, using distinct templates for each scenario. The system automatically determines valid invoice recipients based on customer type and context, ensuring compliance with billing rules.
The payments module allows LAS to record and reconcile payments received either directly by LAS or by customers, supporting partial payments, remittances, bank references and multi-account allocation. Payments immediately update account balances and customer summaries, while notes and follow-up dates enable proactive credit control. A dedicated follow-up dashboard highlights overdue and upcoming actions, ensuring no account is overlooked.
ERS also delivered advanced functionality to address special case matching, where both a Solicitor and Barrister involved in the same case are LAS customers. The system links related accounts using shared case attributes, enabling LAS to reconcile claims, track funds received, calculate amounts due to Barristers and provide transparent visibility to both parties. This feature represents a significant differentiator for LAS, addressing a long-standing pain point in legal administration.
The Result
The LAS platform has transformed how legal billing and payment administration is delivered. Manual processes have been replaced with structured, automated workflows that significantly reduce administrative effort and error. LAS staff can manage high volumes of accounts with confidence, supported by clear visibility into balances, follow-ups and payment status.
Barristers and Solicitors benefit from improved transparency, faster reconciliation and clearer insight into what they are owed or need to pay. The ability to manage complex shared cases within a single system has eliminated confusion and reduced disputes. Internally, LAS now operates with stronger financial control, improved auditability and the flexibility to adapt charging models as regulations and business needs evolve.
The platform has become a core operational asset for LAS, enabling them to scale their services while maintaining accuracy, compliance and trust.
Conclusion
ERS delivered a highly sophisticated legal payment and account management platform tailored to the realities of Barrister and Solicitor billing. By combining deep domain understanding with robust technical design, ERS provided LAS with a system that simplifies complexity, strengthens financial governance and delivers measurable time and cost savings.
This project demonstrates ERS’s ability to design, deliver and support mission-critical financial platforms in regulated professional environments, where accuracy, security and flexibility are paramount.