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Creating and Assigning Distributions in LeanLaw

How to create distributions, assign payments to them, view allocation details, lock distributions, and generate QuickBooks Online bills for attorney compensation in LeanLaw.

Distributions let you group collected payments into pay periods — monthly, quarterly, or on whatever schedule your firm uses — and then see exactly how much each attorney earned in that period. Once finalized, distributions can generate bills in QuickBooks Online for payout.

 

The Distribution Workflow

The typical distribution workflow has four steps:

  1. Assign payments to a distribution (grouping them by pay period).
  2. Review the allocation details — who gets what from the grouped payments.
  3. Lock the distribution when the period closes.
  4. Generate QuickBooks Online bills for each attorney's share (optional).

 

Step 1: Navigate to Distributions

Access the Distributions page from within the Billing section or Reports. On the Distributions page, you'll see the Payments tab — showing all payments recorded against LeanLaw invoices that are available to assign.

 

Step 2: Assign Payments to a Distribution

  1. On the Payments tab, check the checkbox next to each payment you want to assign to a distribution.
  2. Click Assign to Distribution at the top of the page.

In the Assign to Distribution window:
  1. If creating a new distribution:
    1. Click Create Distribution.
    2. Give the distribution a name (e.g., 'May 2025 Compensation' or 'Q2 2025').
    3. Save the new distribution name.
  2. To assign to an existing distribution:
    1. Select the distribution from the dropdown.
    2. Click Assign.

    💡 Itemize Distribution Assignment: The Itemize Distribution Assignment switch lets you split parts of a single payment across multiple distributions. Use this for payments that span two pay periods or need to be split for other reasons.

     

    Step 3: Review Allocation Details

    Once payments are assigned to a distribution, open the distribution to review the allocation breakdown:

    • Each payment shows its total amount and how that amount is split across attorneys — Worked, Worked Share, Origination, Responsible, and Total.
    • Non-attorney revenue (unallocated expenses or fixed fees) appears in a separate section.
    • Click into any individual payment to see its full allocation detail.

    📋 Unlocked distributions are editable:   While a distribution is unlocked, you can continue assigning additional payments to it and the allocation settings (from Settings → Compensation Tracking) continue to apply. If you adjust allocation settings at the firm, user, or matter level while a distribution is open, those changes will affect unlocked distributions.

     

    Step 4: Lock the Distribution

    When the pay period is complete and you're ready to finalize, lock the distribution:

    1. Open the distribution.
    2. Click Lock Distribution (or the equivalent finalize action).

    Once locked, a distribution cannot have new payments assigned to it, and allocation settings changes will no longer affect it. The allocation totals are fixed.

    ⚠️ Locking is final: Verify the allocation totals are correct before locking. Review the Compensation report filtered to this distribution to confirm all expected payments are included and the per-attorney totals match your expectations.

     

    Step 5: Generate QuickBooks Bills (Optional)

    After locking, LeanLaw can generate bills in QuickBooks Online equal to each attorney's allocated share:

    1. From the locked distribution, click the option to create QuickBooks Online bills.
    2. LeanLaw generates one bill per attorney in QuickBooks Online, using the distribution name as the description.
    3. These bills appear in QuickBooks Online'S Accounts Payable and can be paid as part of your normal payroll or compensation workflow.

    📋 Note: QuickBooks Online bill generation is optional — some firms use distribution data for internal tracking and compensation calculations without creating QuickBooks Online bills. Choose the approach that fits your firm's payroll workflow.

     

    Filtering the Compensation Report by Distribution

    After creating distributions, the Compensation (Revenue by Attorney) report gains an additional filter — you can view compensation data filtered by a specific distribution rather than just by date. This is useful for verifying a period's compensation before locking and for resolving disputes about a specific pay period.