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Managing Users in LeanLaw: Inviting, Editing, and Removing

How to invite new users to LeanLaw, manage their roles and settings, and deactivate users who have left the firm — including setting standard rates, distribution categories, and accounting partner access.

User management in LeanLaw covers inviting new timekeepers and staff, adjusting their roles and settings as responsibilities change, and properly offboarding users who leave the firm. All user management is done from Settings → Users.

📋 Permissions required: You need 'Firm Setup' access to manage users. If you don't have this, ask a Principal or Firm Manager.

 

Inviting a New User

  1. Click the gear icon ⚙️ → Settings → Users.
  2. Click Invite User (or the + / Add User button).
  3. Enter the user's email address.
  4. Configure their settings:

Field

What to Set

Role

Select the user's role: Principal, Attorney, Operator, Accountant, Paralegal, and Time Keeper.

Standard Rate

The user's default hourly billing rate. Applies to all time entries unless overridden at the matter level. Defaults to $0 if left blank.

Access to Firm Setup

Check this box if the user needs administrative access to firm settings, QuickBooks integration, and user management.

Include on All Matters

Check this box to give the user access to all matters in the firm. Recommended for Principals, Operators, and Accountants.

Distribution Category

If your firm uses revenue distributions, set the user's distribution category here.

 

📋 Accounting Partners: For external accountants who need access to a law firm's LeanLaw account without being a billed user, click Add Accounting Partner instead of Invite User. Accounting partners are exempt from per-seat subscription charges but are unable.

 

Editing a User's Settings

To change a user's role, rate, or other settings after they've been invited:

  1. Go to Settings → Users.
  2. Find the user in the list and click their name (or the edit icon).
  3. Adjust any fields as needed.
  4. Save changes.

💡 Changing rates mid-year: Updating a user's Standard Rate only affects new time entries going forward. Existing time entries retain the rate at which they were created unless manually edited or the selection to update existing time entries is chosen.

 

Deactivating a User (Left the Firm)

When a user leaves the firm, you have two options depending on whether they've tracked any data:

Situation

Action

User has never tracked time, expenses, or other data

The user can be fully removed from LeanLaw. Their name disappears from the system entirely.

User has tracked time entries, expenses, or other data

The user can only be deactivated (disabled), not deleted. Their historical data is preserved — it remains in reports, invoices, and billing records. The user cannot log in and new entries cannot be created for them, but they still appear in historical reports.

To deactivate a user:

  1. Go to Settings → Users.
  2. Find the user and click their name.
  3. Click Disable User (or the equivalent deactivation option).

⚠️ Deactivation is not deletion: Deactivated users remain visible in historical reports and billing records.