Trust management can be a headache but it doesn’t have to be. The system you use will dictate how difficult your escrow administration activities are. Outdated manual methods or generic software are only going to create problems. You are better of using legal billing and accounting software that includes trust management functions — software like CosmoLex.

Manual Methods

Yes it’s true that in the days of gaslights and quill pens, trust accounts were meticulously tracked in handwritten ledgers. And yes it’s true that you can still track your trust accounts this way. You can also walk to work instead of driving, but it’s probably going to increase your commute time. Manual trust management wastes precious billable hours, not to mention greatly increasing the chance of errors.

Generic Software

Instead of manual spreadsheets you can always track your accounts on electronic spreadsheets. This gives you the advantages of accurate, computer-based calculations, eliminates the problem of misreading a 3 as an 8, and means you won’t get ink on your shirt. In other words, instead of walking to work you ride in on horseback. It might be faster and more efficient but that doesn’t mean it’s the best way to do things.

Third Party Software

There are other lawyer billing software products out there but many of them don’t include trust management features. Instead they offer you the option of exporting your financial data in a form that some other program can read. That means you handle all your billing with one product, laboriously export to another product, and then administer your trust accounts with that. The lack of direct communication makes it hard to accurately track all your income and expense, since you end up entering a lot of transactions twice. You’ve traded in your horse for a Model T.

Integrated Trust Management Functions

Attorneys don’t handle trusts now and then. They handle them all the time. Trust management is implicit to most legal practices, and a legal accounting software product is incomplete if it doesn’t integrate escrow functions. Using a comprehensive product like CosmoLex ensures your closely interrelated billing and trust management functions work together as a team.

There is a difference between “traditional” and “obsolete”. Stop holding your legal practice back with manual trust management or incomplete attorney time and billing software. Upgrade to CosmoLex and get the tools you need to do legal billing and trust management right.