Skip to content
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Creating Invoices in LeanLaw

How to select matters in LeanLaw's Ready to Bill queue and create invoice drafts — including single matter, multi-matter, and bulk draft creation.

Staging an invoice means moving a matter's unbilled work from Ready to Bill into a Draft invoice. This is the first active step in the billing workflow — and where you decide what gets billed this cycle.

 

Accessing the Ready to Bill Queue

  1. Click Billing in the top navigation.
  2. Select the Ready to Bill tab. This shows all clients and matters with unbilled time entries, expenses, or fixed fees ready to be invoiced.

 

Filtering Ready to Bill

Use the filter panel on the left to narrow the queue before staging:

Filter

Use It To

Time Period

Show only work within a specific date range — use this to control what gets included in the current billing cycle.

Client / Matter

Focus on a specific client or matter.

Responsible Attorney

Stage invoices for a specific partner's matters.

Show Only Contingency

Isolate contingency matters for separate review.

 

💡 Tip: Always set your Time Period filter before staging invoices. This ensures only work from the intended billing period is included — entries outside the date range won't be pulled into drafts.

 

Creating a Draft: Single Matter

To stage one matter at a time:

  1. Find the client/matter in the Ready to Bill queue.
  2. Click the single lightning bolt ⚡ icon next to the matter. LeanLaw creates a draft invoice for that matter immediately.
  3. The draft appears in the Drafts tab, ready for editing.

 

Creating Drafts: Multiple Matters at Once

To stage several matters in one action:

  1. Check the checkbox next to each client or matter you want to include.
  2. Click the Create Drafts button in the top-right corner of the screen.
  3. LeanLaw creates individual draft invoices for each selected matter.

📋 Note: Selecting a client (rather than individual matters) stages all unbilled matters for that client. Review what gets selected before clicking Create Drafts if the client has matters you don't want to bill this cycle.

 

Multi-Matter Invoices (Combining Matters on One Invoice)

If you are set up to use Client-Level accounting, LeanLaw will combine multiple matters for the same client onto a single invoice with per-matter subtotals. To do this, select multiple matters for the same client before creating the draft — LeanLaw will combine them into one invoice. 

 

After Staging: What Happens Next

Once a draft is created:

  • The time entries, expenses, and fixed fees included in the draft are locked from further editing in the Time Entries page (they're now 'in billing').
  • The draft appears in the Drafts tab for editing, adjustment, and review.
  • Any unbilled work not selected remains in Ready to Bill for the next cycle.

⚠️ Changed your mind? If you staged the wrong entries or want to return work to Ready to Bill, you can use Save for Later within the draft editor to remove individual items, or undo the entire draft back to Ready to Bill status.