Legal Aid UK: Activity and Profit Costs

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Add time and expense entries

In Clio Manage, you can add time entries and expenses directly in your Legal Aid matter. Follow the steps below to do this. You can also capture time using the global timer or when filing emails with Clio's Outlook Add-in. Learn more about the timer here and adding time while filing emails with Clio's Outlook Add-in here.

Tip: The Fixed Fee and Activity category rates in the Activities category dropdown are based on the information you filled out in the Legal Aid fields on your Matter details page. 
  1. Open your Legal Aid matter.
  2. Activities,click New time entry. From the global Create new, click Time entry.
  3. Click New time entry.
  4. Fill in the time details and select the Activity category.
  5. Click Save entry.

 

Log routine letters and phone calls

When recording letters or calls for Legal Aid billing, you can log time in minutes rather than units. According to the UK Cost Assessment Guideline phone calls under six minutes can be logged as six minutes. Calls lasting longer may be recorded as timed attendance or phone called.  

Note: If you are required to generate a Legal Aid CSV for the LAA, you will need to record letters and calls in minutes rather than units.
Tip: The CSV shows routine letters and calls under the ADVICE_TIME column in hours rather than minutes.
  1. Go to a Legal Aid matter.
  2. In Activities, click New time entry. From the global Create new, clickTime entry.
  3. Select a Routine Activity Category (i.e., Routine letters in, Routine telephone calls).
  4. Under Duration, record time in multiples of 6 minutes. 
    • 6 minutes = 0.1, 12 minutes = 0.20, 24 minutes = 0.40, etc.
  5. Complete the remaining fields.
  6. Click Save entry.

 

Record profit costs on Legal Aid matters

In Clio, you can record and track profit costs on fixed-fee Legal Aid matters. Record profit costs from the Activities tab of the matter, then view the profit costs and the difference on the matter’s Dashboard. 

If the time on a legal aid matter has the potential to exceed the fixed fee amount, profit costs are the legal fees and can be calculated at an hourly rate.

Note: When the billed work figure hits 90%, a warning will appear on your matter's Dashboard specifying the percentage value above the exceptional rate threshold and the remaining amount. The difference is calculated by subtracting the profit costs from the threshold.
  1. Open your Legal Aid matter.
  2. Click the Activities subtab.
  3. Click New time entry.
  4. Fill in the time details and select the Activity category.
    • The available categories and rates are predetermined by the practice area.
  5. Click Save entry.

 

 

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