Tip #188 - How Attorney / Firm Are Recognized as Fees Deposited

In general, attorney’s fees are calculated as a percentage of the recovery (gross or net) when a matter is retained on a contingency fee basis. The Attorney/Firm Fees^[1] will be shown on the Settlement Screen.

You will enter attorney fees on the “Fees Awarded” page for those cases where the attorney fees are generally not calculated as a percentage of the recovery, and there may be many instances of fees awarded in the same case.

Open

There are several standard Dashboards and Reports available in SmartAdvocate that will display Fees Earned, Fees Outstanding, Fees Deposited, etc. The Settlement/Fee Production Dashboard and Settlement Report are two examples.

Fee information entered in the “Fees Awarded” page will automatically populate the appropriate Dashboards and Reports. Fees entered on the Negotiation/ Settlement Page, however, require a little more care in order for them to populate correctly to the aforementioned Dashboards and Reports.

Once a settlement is entered on the Settlement Page, the Fees Earned will be calculated (or it can be entered manually on the page)^[2] and reflected on the appropriate Dashboards or Reports. The entry of a settlement will also trigger the population of “Fees Outstanding” which will remain until the fee information is entered as explained below.

The Firm Fee is entered as a normal distribution Check, but the distribution Check Type must be entered as “Firm Fee”. The system will look to the Check Type and Check Date when calculating Number of Fees Recorded (numerical value) and Total Fees Recorded (dollar amount) as the Firm Fee recorded amount and recorded date.

[1] I will be using Attorney’s Fees and Firm Fees interchangeably, but the Check Type for either fee must be entered as “Firm Fee” on the check distribution.

^[2] If the fee arrangement is entered on the Retainer/Referral Page, the fees will be automatically calculated on the Settlement Page