Revenue Distribution & Allocation in LeanLaw: An Overview

LeanLaw's revenue distribution system answers a fundamental question for every law firm: when a client pays an invoice, who gets credit for that revenue and how much? This article explains the key concepts before you configure allocation settings or run compensation reports.

The Core Concept: Allocation

Every time a payment is recorded against a LeanLaw invoice, that payment is allocated to the attorneys and timekeepers who contributed to it. Allocation determines how collected revenue is attributed across your team for compensation and reporting purposes.

By default, all revenue from collected services is allocated entirely to the attorney who performed the work. But most firms customize this to account for:

Firm share: A percentage of all collected revenue reserved for the firm's overhead and operations.
Responsible attorney credit: Revenue credited to the attorney responsible for the client relationship and matter oversight.
Originating attorney credit: Revenue credited to the attorney who originated the client relationship (brought in the business).
Working attorney share: The portion of revenue credited to the attorney who actually performed the work.

💡 Example: A firm sets 20% for origination and 10% for firm share. On a $1,000 collected invoice: $200 goes to the originating attorney, $100 to the firm, and $700 (the remaining 'working' share) to the attorney(s) who did the work — split proportionally based on their contribution to the invoice.

The Three Layers of Allocation

LeanLaw applies allocation settings in a hierarchy — each layer can override the one above it:

Layer	How It Works
Firm-wide settings (baseline)	Set in Settings → Compensation Tracking. Applies to all payments unless overridden at the user or matter level.
User-specific settings (override)	Set per user in Settings → Compensation Tracking → Show Users Allocation. Overrides the firm default for that user on all matters.
Matter-specific settings (highest priority)	Set directly on the matter (originator, responsible attorney, custom working %). Overrides both firm and user settings for that specific matter.

What Are Distributions?

A distribution is a grouped collection of payments — organized by pay period (monthly, quarterly, annually, or custom) — that your firm uses to track what should be paid out to each attorney for a given period.

Distributions are how you move from 'LeanLaw says Attorney A is owed $X this month' to actually generating the QuickBooks Online bills for that compensation. Key points:

Distributions organize payments by period: You assign collected payments to a distribution, grouping them for compensation calculation.
Distributions can generate QuickBooks Online bills: When you finalize a distribution, LeanLaw can create bills in QuickBooks Online equal to each attorney's allocated share — one bill per attorney, labeled with the distribution name.
Distributions are optional: If your firm compensates attorneys differently (e.g., salary), you may only use the Compensation report without creating formal distributions.

Where to Find Revenue Distribution Data

Tool / Report	What It Shows
Compensation (Revenue by Attorney) Report	The primary report for revenue allocation. Shows each attorney's Worked, Worked Share, Origination, Responsible, and Total allocation values for a selected period. Found under Reports → By User → Compensation.
Revenue Reports	Shows billed and collected amounts by client/matter and by attorney. Includes origination and responsible attorney columns when configured. Found under Reports → Revenue.
Distributions Page	Manage and view all distributions — create, assign payments, lock, and generate QuickBooks Online bills. Found under Billing → Distributions (or Reports → Distributions).
Payment Allocation Details	Each individual payment has allocation details showing how that specific payment was split across attorneys. Accessible by clicking into any payment in the Distributions page.

LeanLaw vs. QuickBooks Revenue Totals

For partially paid invoices, LeanLaw and QuickBooks Online may show different revenue allocation breakdowns for the same invoice — though the totals will match. This is because the two systems use different methods to distribute partial payments across line items. This is expected behavior, not an error.

📋 Note: If you see revenue discrepancies between LeanLaw and QBO reports, check whether the invoice was partially paid. Partial payment allocation differences between the two systems are by design. See the related article on this topic for a detailed explanation.