How to Process a Settlement Using the Settlement Wizard

What is the Settlement Wizard?

The Settlement Wizard is a guided 6-step workflow on the Settlement tab of any contingent fee matter. It automates fee calculations, confirms expenses, reviews liens, and generates a client-facing Settlement Statement PDF — all without leaving LeanLaw.

Note: The wizard does not create QuickBooks transactions on its own. Paying the attorney fee, any liens, co-counsel or referring attorneys, and the client’s net proceeds are all done afterward — see Settlement Disbursements below.

Prerequisites

Before using the Settlement Wizard, ensure:

The matter’s billing type is set to Contingency
A Contingency Fee % is entered on the matter (required at matter creation)
The firm is set to Matter Accounting (not Client Accounting) in Settings → QuickBooks → Client or Matter Accounting — contingency trust tracking is per-matter and requires this setting
Trust Accounting is enabled at the firm level, and the matter’s trust sub-account exists in QuickBooks (recording a deposit to trust for the settlement amount will create it if it doesn’t exist yet)
Any hard costs the firm pays as vendor bills or checks are entered as expenses/bills in QuickBooks and synced to LeanLaw — a check written directly from the trust account in QBO will not show up on the settlement statement
You have billing access + matter edit permissions

The 6 Steps

Step	Name	What You Do
1	Enter Settlement	Enter deposits to trust that make up the settlement amount
2	Confirm Expenses	Review and confirm unbilled expenses on the matter; confirm expense interest if enabled
3	Record Attorney Fee	Create or confirm a fixed fee matching the calculated attorney fee
4	Review Third-Party Liens	Verify liens pulled from the Liens tab
5	Map Prior Payments	(Only applies if the client pays expenses as they go) Map prior trust payments to expenses
6	Review & Customize Statement	Produce a frozen PDF settlement statement for the client

Note: Step 5 is always visible in the wizard stepper but will appear disabled with a tooltip (“Only applies when client pays expenses as they go”) if your expense arrangement doesn’t require it. The wizard will skip from Step 4 to Step 6 automatically.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Step 1: Enter Settlement

On screen this step is titled “Select Settlement Deposits.” Enter the deposits to trust that make up the settlement amount. There may be multiple deposits — for example, if three insurance companies each contribute a portion of the recovery. The wizard totals these deposits to determine the gross settlement amount, which triggers all downstream calculations. The total recovery amount must be greater than $0.

Step 2: Confirm Expenses

Review all unbilled expenses on the matter. The wizard displays each expense with its description, date, and amount. Confirm that the list is complete and accurate before proceeding.

If expenses exceed the recovery amount and you use the net-of-expenses fee method, the wizard will block you from continuing (the fee base would be negative).

Reminder: Any hard cost the firm paid as a vendor bill or check in QuickBooks needs to be created and synced to LeanLaw before this step, or it won’t appear here.

Expense Interest (if enabled on this matter)

If the firm charges interest on advanced expenses:

The interest rate is set once in Settings → Billing → Interest on expenses.
On the matter, the Expense Interest toggle stays enabled in Matter → Settlement → Settings.
In Step 2 of the wizard, set the Interest As-Of Date — interest is charged through this date; expenses dated after it are excluded. Interest applies to both hard costs and soft costs already on the matter.
Review the list of expenses, amount, days of interest, and interest amount. If it looks right, click Confirm expense interest. This creates a soft cost representing the total interest charged across all expenses on the matter.
Continue through the wizard — the settlement statement reflects this as part of case costs.

Note: The Contingency Statement report’s second-level breakdown estimates expense interest based on the report’s date range — that estimate can differ from the actual interest finalized on the settlement statement, which is calculated as of the Interest As-Of Date rather than a report period. Treat Step 2’s breakdown, not the Contingency Statement report, as the authoritative interest figure for a given settlement. A dedicated expense-interest report is on the roadmap.

Step 3: Record Attorney Fee

The wizard calculates the attorney fee based on your configured fee method (net or gross) and expense arrangement. You’ll see:

A calculation breakdown showing how the fee was derived
The calculated attorney fee amount in a callout box
Any existing fixed fees on the matter

If no matching fee exists, click Create Fixed Fee to create one. If a matching fee already exists, the step auto-completes. You must have exactly one fixed fee matching the calculated amount to proceed.

Need to adjust the fee record itself? Click Edit fee details to expand a panel where you can change the Fee Description and Fee Date before the fee is created (in addition to the Round to whole dollar toggle — see Rounding).

Co-counsel or a referring attorney on this matter? Set them up ahead of time on the matter’s Fee Recipients tab — Step 3 only shows their percentages for a final review, you can’t add or remove recipients here. The fee created in this step is already reduced to the primary firm’s net share. See Co-Counsel and Referring Attorney Fees on a Settlement.

Step 4: Review Third-Party Liens

The wizard pulls liens from the Liens tab on the matter. Review the list and verify amounts are correct.

Need to add or modify a lien? Navigate to the Liens tab on the matter to add, edit, or update lien records before proceeding. See How to Track and Manage Liens on a Matter for details.

Step 5: Map Prior Payments (if applicable)

If your expense arrangement is “Client pays as they go,” this step lets you identify payments on the matter from the client for expenses so they aren’t double-counted in the settlement statement.

Step 6: Review & Customize Statement

Review or customize the statement’s narrative text (see How to Customize Your Settlement Statement), then click Generate Settlement Statement to produce a frozen PDF. The statement shows:

Settlement deposits (from trust)
Attorney fees, and co-counsel/referring attorney fees if applicable
Expenses advanced on behalf of client (including expense interest, if applicable)
Third-party liens/payments
Net proceeds to client
Signature lines for client and attorney

The PDF is stored on the server and can be re-downloaded anytime.

After the Wizard

Generating the statement does not create any QuickBooks transactions or pay anyone. Once the statement is generated, go to the Settlement Disbursements table on the Settlement tab to bill the client and pay the attorney fee, any liens, co-counsel/referring attorneys, and the client’s net proceeds — see Settlement Disbursements for the full walkthrough.

Note: LeanLaw automatically excludes the admin fee from any invoice created through the Settlement Wizard.

Sales tax: If your firm charges sales tax on legal services (required in a small number of states, including Hawai’i, New Mexico, and South Dakota), LeanLaw automatically regenerates the statement with the correct tax amount once the invoice is finalized on the Settlement Disbursements table. Wait to download the statement until after that step — a copy downloaded or sent before finalizing will have the wrong (or missing) tax amount and will not update on its own. See Understanding the Settlement Statement PDF.