Configuring Revenue Allocation and Share Settings in LeanLaw

LeanLaw's allocation settings determine how collected revenue is split between working attorneys, the firm, originating attorneys, and responsible attorneys. This article covers how to configure these percentages at the firm level, and how to override them per user or per matter.

📋 Where allocation data appears: Allocation settings affect the Compensation (Revenue by Attorney) report and distributions. They do not affect invoices or client-facing billing. Changes to allocation settings take effect on newly recorded payments — they do not retroactively change payments already assigned to locked distributions.

The Four Allocation Values

Allocation Value	What It Represents
Working (Worked Share)	The percentage of collected revenue credited to the attorney who performed the work. By default, this is 100% — all revenue goes to the working attorney.
Firm Share	A percentage reserved for the firm's overhead. Deducted from the working attorney's share.
Originating Share	A percentage credited to the attorney who originated the client relationship. Deducted from the working attorney's share.
Responsible Share	A percentage credited to the attorney responsible for supervising the matter. Deducted from the working attorney's share.

⚠️ Percentages must not exceed 100%: The sum of Firm Share + Originating Share + Responsible Share must be less than 100% — the remainder becomes the Working share. LeanLaw uses a 'Calculated Value' safeguard to prevent over-allocation. See below.

The Calculated Value Safeguard

One of the four allocation values is designated as the 'Calculated Value' — this value is automatically adjusted by LeanLaw to ensure the total allocation never exceeds 100%.

For example: if Firm Share is 10%, Originating Share is 20%, and Responsible Share is 15%, the Calculated Value (Working) would be 55% — calculated automatically as 100% minus the other three.

💡 Best practice: Set the largest expected share as your Calculated Value. For most firms, Working is the calculated value. If your firm has a large firm share and you'd rather Working be fixed at a set percentage, swap the calculated value to Firm Share.

To swap which value is calculated: click the green circle icon next to Calculated Value in Settings → Compensation Tracking.

Configuring Firm-Wide Allocation Settings

Click the gear icon ⚙️ to open Settings.
In the left-hand menu, click Compensation Tracking.
On the Reports Settings page, enter the desired percentages for each field (see below).
Click the green Save Settings button.

Field	Enter
Originating Attorney Share	The % of all collected revenue credited to originators firm-wide (e.g., 20%).
Responsible Attorney Share	The % credited to responsible attorneys firm-wide (e.g., 10%).
Firm Share or Working Share	Whichever is not your Calculated Value. Enter the fixed percentage for this value.

📋 Note: Firm-wide settings are the baseline. They apply to all payments unless overridden by user-specific or matter-specific settings.

Configuring User-Specific Allocation

To override the firm default for a specific user:

Go to Settings → Compensation Tracking.
Click Show Users Allocation to expand the user-specific allocation table.
Find the user and enter their custom Working percentage.

User-specific settings override the firm default for that user on all matters — but are themselves overridden by matter-specific settings.

Configuring Matter-Specific Allocation

To set allocation for a specific matter (overriding both firm and user defaults):

Open the matter from the Matters tab.
Go to the matter's General or Access & Billing section.
Set the Responsible Attorney and/or Originating Attorney fields (see Article 3).
To set a custom origination percentage for this matter specifically, enter the value next to the originator's name.
To set a custom Working percentage for a specific user on this matter, find the matter-level user allocation settings and enter the value.
Save the matter.

⚠️ Over-allocation risk: Be careful when configuring multiple originators or high allocation percentages on individual matters. LeanLaw warns you if your settings would cause more than 100% of a payment to be allocated — for example, three originators at 20% each would total 60% origination alone. Always verify that the combined percentages on a matter remain below 100%.

Allocation Hierarchy Summary

Level	Priority
Matter-specific	Highest — overrides all
User-specific	Second — overrides firm default
Firm-wide	Baseline — applies when no override