Configure General Bill Settings

General bill settings control how your firm's bills look, calculate, notify your team, and lock down before you generate them. You set the PDF page size, bill details, currencies, LEDES billing, time rounding, non-billable time, bill states, bill notifications, and default delivery options. Configuring these once means every bill applies your firm's preferences without adjusting each bill.

Set the bill PDF page size

This setting sets the page size for bills you download from Clio Manage: letter, A4, or legal.

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General.
2. Under PDF Page Size, select the page size.
3. Scroll to the bottom and click Save changes.

Configure bill details

Bill details set the default billing template Clio Manage applies to new bills and whether a cover page precedes the invoice.

Set default billing template

The firm default billing template applies to every new bill until you select a different template when you generate a bill.

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General.
2. Under Bill details, click View to review the current firm default billing template.
3. To change it, select a different template from the drop-down, then scroll to the bottom and click Save changes.

Enable bill cover page

A cover page precedes the invoice with the bill number and total amount due. The cover page is not customisable.

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General.
2. Under Bill details, check or uncheck Apply cover page to bills.
3. Scroll to the bottom and click Save changes.

Manage currencies

Clio Manage supports multiple currencies for activities, billing, reporting, and transactions. Administrators manage the default currency and add, edit, and delete currencies.

Change the default currency

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General.
2. Under Default currency, select the currency.
3. Click Save changes.

Add a currency

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General, and in the Currencies section click + Add currency.
2. Confirm you understand the effects of adding a currency, then select the currency.
3. Choose how to record time entries in that currency and how to bill expenses in it, and select a conversion rate if prompted.
4. Click Add, then click Save changes.

Edit or remove a currency

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General, and scroll to the Currencies section.
2. To edit, click the pencil icon for the currency and update its options. Certain changes may overwrite matter billing preferences, and Clio notifies you when they do.
3. To remove, click the trash can icon for the currency. A currency that has been used for billing or accounting cannot be deleted.

Enable LEDES billing

LEDES billing generates bills in the Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (LEDES) format that corporate clients and third-party clearinghouses such as insurers often require. Enable it in general bill settings and select the code sets your firm uses, for example ABA Bankruptcy or EW Civil Litigation. The selected code sets become available when you configure LEDES billing on individual contacts and their matters.

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General, and scroll to LEDES billing.
2. Check Enable LEDES billing.
3. Under Code sets, search for and select the code sets your firm uses.
4. Scroll to the bottom and click Save changes.

Set up UTBMS codes

Uniform Task-Based Management System (UTBMS) codes categorise the activities on a bill for electronic and LEDES billing. UTBMS codes are enabled in general bill settings alongside LEDES billing, and the UTBMS codes subtab in Settings > Billing routes to this same General tab. Because UTBMS codes apply to activities, your firm also assigns them when recording time and expenses. See Set Up Activity Categories.

Set time and decimal rounding

Clio Manage offers two rounding options for time entries and bills:

Decimal rounding

Rounds time entries to the nearest two decimal places. A 0.248-hour entry appears as 0.25 hours.

Time rounding

Rounds time entries up to the nearest minute increment you choose. With a 5-minute increment, a 22-minute entry rounds to 25 minutes.

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General.
2. Scroll to Time rounding.
3. Check or uncheck Enable decimal rounding and Enable time rounding.
4. Click Save changes.

Set non-billable time defaults

This setting controls how Clio Manage treats hourly time entries on flat rate and contingency matters, where firms track time for reference rather than bill it at an hourly rate.

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General, and scroll to Non-billable time.
2. Check Set hourly time entries on flat rate and contingency matters to non-billable by default to record hourly entries at your normal billing rate and mark them non-billable automatically.
3. Uncheck this setting to leave the non-billable checkbox unchecked by default and bill hourly entries on these matters at a rate of $0.00 instead.
4. Click Save changes.

Manage bill states

This setting controls whether your firm can edit a bill after it moves to Approved status.

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General, and scroll to Bill states.
2. Check or uncheck Allow editing of approved bills and client fund requests.
3. Click Save changes.

Enable bill generation notifications

This setting notifies members of your firm when bills have been generated.

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General, and scroll to Bill notifications.
2. Check Display notification section during bill generation.
3. Click Save changes.

Set default bill delivery options

This setting controls how bills attach when your firm sends them. You can still change the attachment option for an individual bill when you send it.

1. Go to Settings > Billing > General, and scroll to Sending bills.
2. Under Default bill attachment options, select Send bills with a secure PDF link or Send bills with an attached PDF.
3. Scroll to the bottom and click Save changes.

Up next

Configure Tax Settings: Set your firm's tax number and invoice tax defaults.