How to Track and Manage Liens on a Matter
Use the Liens tab on contingent fee matters to record, track, and manage third-party liens throughout the case lifecycle.
What is the Liens Tab?
The Liens tab is a dedicated section on each contingent fee matter where you can record and manage all third-party liens — medical providers, insurance subrogation claims, government obligations (Medicare/Medicaid), and letters of protection.
Liens recorded here feed directly into the Settlement Calculator (Step 4: Review Liens) and appear on the Settlement Statement.
Who Should Use It
- Paralegals — Record liens as they come in, track negotiation progress
- Billing Administrators — Verify lien amounts before settlement, manage payments
- Managing Partners / Attorneys — Review lien totals before authorizing disbursement
Adding a Lien
Each lien record includes:
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Payee | Yes | Entity name (hospital, insurer, etc.) |
| Description | Yes | Brief description of the lien |
| Lien Type | Yes | Medical Provider, Insurance Subrogation, Government (Medicare/Medicaid), Letter of Protection, or Other |
| Original Amount | Yes | The amount initially asserted |
| Negotiated Amount | No | Current/negotiated amount (if different from original) |
| Status | Yes | Pending, Negotiating, Finalized, or Paid |
| County / Jurisdiction | No | Optional free-text field |
Lien Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Lien received but not yet reviewed or contested |
| Negotiating | Actively negotiating a reduction with the lienholder |
| Finalized | Final amount agreed upon — ready for settlement |
| Paid | Check has been issued to the lienholder |
How Liens Connect to the Settlement Statement
When you reach Step 4 (Review Liens) in the Settlement Wizard, lien data from the Liens tab is displayed for your review. The total lien amount is included in the settlement statement’s “Third-Party Liens / Payments” section and deducted from the client’s net proceeds.
Key advantage: Record liens during the case — not at the last minute before settlement. This ensures your settlement statement reflects verified amounts.
Paying a Lien from LeanLaw
Once a lien’s status is Finalized, you can push its payment as a trust check directly to QuickBooks Online from the Liens tab — no manual QBO entry required for the check itself.
Note: LeanLaw does not currently validate two things when you do this:
- Whether the check you’re undoing has already been reconciled or cleared in QuickBooks
- Whether paying this lien would overdraw the matter’s trust balance
Double-check both in QBO before undoing a lien payment or paying a lien close to the trust balance, especially if more than one person is writing trust checks for the matter.
The check LeanLaw creates in QBO includes “LeanLaw:LienDisbursement” in the memo line — this is expected, not an error, if a client or bookkeeper asks about it.
If you’d rather not push the payment from LeanLaw, you can still record the lien payment manually in QuickBooks using your normal trust disbursement workflow.