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Creating and Managing Fixed Fee Charges in LeanLaw

How to create, edit, and manage fixed fee charges on matters in LeanLaw — including one-time, recurring, and completion-based charges, field reference, and revenue allocation.

Fixed fee charges are the individual billing items within a fixed fee matter — or added on top of an hourly matter. This guide covers creating new charges, all available fields, recurring billing setup, and splitting revenue between multiple users.

 

Adding a Fixed Fee Charge to a Matter

  1. Open the matter from the Matters tab.
  2. Click the Fixed Fees tab within the matter.
  3. Click Add Fixed Fee.
  4. Fill in the charge fields (see reference table below) or use the Fixed Fee Template dropdown.
  5. Click Create Fixed Fee to save.

The charge now appears on the matter's Fixed Fees tab and in the Billing → Ready to Bill queue for the applicable billing period.

 

Fixed Fee Charge Fields Reference

Field

Description

Amount

Required. The flat fee amount to charge the client.

Invoice Description

Required. The description that appears on the client's invoice. Be specific — this is client-facing.

Label

Internal only. A short name for this charge visible only to your firm (e.g., 'Estate Plan — Phase 1'). Not shown on invoices. Used as the template name if saving as a template.

Date

The billing date for the charge. Determines which billing period the charge appears in. If left blank, the charge can be assigned to an invoice manually at billing time.

Hourly Limit

Optional. Sets the maximum hours included in this flat fee. Hours beyond the limit become separately billable. Leave blank for a true flat fee with no hour cap.

Limit Rate

Optional. The hourly rate applied to hours exceeding the Hourly Limit. Often set to a discounted rate.

Invoice User

Strongly recommended. The team member credited for this fee on invoices and in revenue reports. Defaults to the logged-in user if left blank.

Recurring

Set to Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly to create a repeating charge. See Recurring Charges section below.

Revenue Allocation

Split the fee between multiple users for reporting. See Revenue Allocation section below.

LEDES Codes

If the matter uses LEDES billing, set the Activity and Task codes for the fixed fee charge.

 

⚠️ Invoice User is important: Always set the Invoice User field. It controls how fixed fee revenue is attributed in the Compensation (Revenue by Attorney) report. If left blank, the fee may not appear correctly in revenue reporting for the responsible attorney.

 

Recurring Fixed Fee Charges

To set up a charge that repeats automatically:

  1. In the Add Fixed Fee form, find the Recurring dropdown.
  2. Select Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly.
  3. Set a Start Date for when the recurring charges should begin.
  4. Set an End Date, or enter a Count (total number of times to bill the fee). 
  5. Enable Add recurring period to description if you want the month, quarter, or year automatically appended to the invoice description (e.g., 'Monthly Legal Counsel — May 2025').
  6. Click Create Fixed Fee.

📋 Note: Recurring charges generate one charge per period in the billing queue. Each charge appears separately in Ready to Bill and must be included on an invoice individually — they don't auto-invoice.

 

Completion-Based Fixed Fee Charges

To create a charge that must be manually marked complete before invoicing:

  1. Add the fixed fee charge as described above, but select Completion Based as the fee type (or toggle the completion-based option).
  2. The charge appears in the matter's Fixed Fees tab with a 'Not Complete' status.
  3. When the work is finished, open the charge and mark it as Complete.
  4. The charge moves to Ready to Bill and can be included on the next invoice.

💡 Tip: Use completion-based fees for phased work where you want explicit control over when each milestone gets invoiced. The completion step creates an intentional billing checkpoint.

 

Revenue Allocation — Splitting a Fixed Fee Between Users

If multiple timekeepers contribute to a fixed fee matter, you can split the fee revenue between them for accurate reporting in the Compensation (Revenue by Attorney) report.

  1. Open the matter and go to the Fixed Fees tab.
  2. Click the fixed fee charge to open its detail view.
  3. Click the Revenue Allocation tab (or Billing Allocation tab) within the charge.
  4. Click Add User and select the first contributor.
  5. Set their allocation by Percent, Hours Worked, or Dollar Amount.
  6. Add additional users and their allocations as needed.
  7. Click Save Fixed Fee.

📋 Note: Fixed fee revenue allocation assigns 'Worked' credit to users before firm-level allocation settings (Responsible, Origination, Firm Share) are applied. You'll see the full allocation breakdown in the Compensation report and in payment allocation views.

 

Editing and Deleting Charges

To edit an existing fixed fee charge:

  1. Open the matter and go to the Fixed Fees tab.
  2. Click the charge to open its detail view.
  3. Make your changes and click Save Fixed Fee.

⚠️ Invoiced charges: A fixed fee charge that has already been included in an invoice cannot be edited. To make changes, void the invoice first to return the charge to Ready to Bill status.