Expense and Indemnity Reserves – CounselLink Clients

This article covers the following:

Creating and Editing Expense Reserves
Creating and Editing Indemnity Reserves
Adding an Indemnity Payment
Printing Reserve Information

Creating and Editing Expense Reserves

Expense Reserves represent funds set aside to cover legal fees and related expenses. They differ from Indemnity Reserves, which are allocated specifically for settlement amounts or claim payments.

Expense Reserves are an optional configuration. This feature is set up during your account implementation or through Customer Care.

Creating an Expense Reserve

Click the Financials tab on the Matter Overview page.
Click Add Expense Reserve under the Matter Reserves section.

If Reserves already exist, then the Add Expense Reserve button changes to Edit Expense Reserve.

The Expense Reserve window displays.
Click the Reserve Contact drop-down list.

The Reserve Contact defaults to the user creating the reserve, but it may be changed to any user with the Reserve Administrator role and who has visibility to the matter.
Enter the total reserve amount in the Add Expense Reserve field.
Optional: Select Include Historical Spend to include prior fees, bills, and expenses in reserve calculations.
Enter comments as applicable in the Comments field.
Select email notifications as appropriate in the Email Notifications area.

You may configure notifications when the actual spend on the matter exceeds the Expense Reserve amount or actual spend exceeds a specified percentage threshold of the Expense Reserve. The email notification is triggered at the time the event occurs and includes a link to the Reserves section of the Financials tab.
Click Save.

Once created, the Expense Reserve displays in the Matter Reserves list.

Editing an Expense Reserve

Once an Expense Reserve has been created, the Add Expense Reserve button is replaced with the Edit Expense Reserve button.

Click the pencil icon next to the Expense Reserve in the Matter Reserves section.

The Expense Reserve window displays.
Select a Change Reason from the drop-down list.
Edit the fields as described in the section above.
Click Save.

The updated values display in the Matter Reserves section. If the matter includes approved invoice spend, totals in the Actual, Remaining Balance, and Percent columns are automatically updated.

Creating and Editing Indemnity Reserves

Indemnity Reserves represent funds allocated for settlement payments or claim payouts. They differ from Expense Reserves, which cover legal fees and related expenses.

Users must have the Reserve Payment Administrator role to create indemnity reserves.

Creating an Indemnity Reserve

Click the Financials tab on the Matter Overview page.
Click Add Indemnity Reserve in the Matter Reserves section.

If reserves already exist in this section, then Add Indemnity Reserve changes to Edit Indemnity Reserve.

The Indemnity Reserve window displays.
Select a contact from the Reserve Contact drop-down list.

The Reserve Contact defaults to the user creating the reserve, but it may be changed to any user with the Reserve Administrator role and who has visibility to the matter.
Enter the reserve amount in the Add Indemnity Reserve field.
Enter comments as applicable in the Comments field.
Click Save.

The Indemnity Reserve appears in the Matter Reserves list.

Editing an Indemnity Reserve

Once a Reserve has been created, the Add Indemnity Reserve button changes to Edit Indemnity Reserve.

Click the pencil icon next to the Indemnity Reserve in the Matter Reserves section of the Financials tab.

The Expense Reserve window displays.
Select a Change Reason from the drop-down list.
Edit the fields as described in the section above.
Click Save.

Adding an Indemnity Payment

Before adding an Indemnity Payment, you must first create an Indemnity Reserve.

You must have the Reserve Payment Administrator role and Reserve Administrator role to add Indemnity Payments.

Open the matter.
Click Add Indemnity Payment in the Matter Reserves section of the Financials tab.

The Indemnity Payment window displays.
Enter the payment amount in the Add Indemnity Payment field.

A warning appears if the payment causes Actual Indemnity Payments to exceed the Indemnity Reserve amount. This warning does not prevent you from saving the payment. Negative values are allowed to track reversed or reissued payments. However, the Reserve Actual cannot fall below zero.
Enter the transaction number in the Transaction Number field.
Enter the Indemnity Payment date In the Date field.
Enter comments as applicable in the Comments field.
Enter the name of the payee in the Payee Name field.
Optional: Complete the Street, City, State, and Postal Code fields.
Optional: Add attachments by clicking Choose a File or draggin and dropping one from your desktop.

Attachments on Indemnity Payments are automatically filed in a Reserves subfolder in the Documents tab.
Click Save.

Multiple payments may be added. The total of all Indemnity Payments appears in the Actual column for the Indemnity Reserve.