CounselLink Answer Center for Clients

Reviewing and Managing Fee Offers

  • Updated

Once you've located a fee offer for review, evaluate the submitted timekeeper rates and associated terms. You may approve or reject the offer in full or partially approve/reject individual timekeeper rates.

Law firms must have an approved fee offer before they can invoice on a matter. Fee offers are made by using a fee structure, or billing agreement.

You must have the Approve Fee Offer or Fee Change Approval Contact role to approve or edit fee offers.

This article covers the following:

Reviewing Timekeeper Rates

When a new or resubmitted fee offer is submitted, you receive an email notification with a link to review it.

On the Fee Offer Overview page, review the Timekeeper Rates section before approving or rejecting the offer.

Column Description
Timekeeper

Name of the timekeeper. Click to view the Law Firm User Profile (includes diversity information).
Initials Timekeeper ID.
Level Timekeeper level (e.g., Associate, Partner).
Previous Rate Previously approved rate (blank for new timekeepers).
Submitted Rate Newly submitted rate.
Rate Change

Difference between previous and submitted rate (toggle between currency and percentage).
Negotiated If the Fee Offer Negotiate feature is enabled for your organization, this column shows the proposed negotiated rate.
Status

Depending on the change to the timekeeper rate, this column displays one of four statuses:

  • Same (no change)
  • Added (timekeeper added)
  • Decreased (timekeeper rate decreased)
  • Increased (timekeeper rate increased).
Actions

Each timekeeper row has the following action options:

  • Mark as Approved: Approve the timekeeper rate.
  • Mark as Rejected: Reject the timekeeper rate.
  • Negotiate Rates: If enabled for your organization, negotiate a rate for this timekeeper.
  • Note for Reason for Rate Change: View information about the rate change. A yellow note icon indicates a note is available.

  • Timekeeper Rate Analysis: If your organization has Analytics enabled, view rate history and median rate comparison information for the timekeeper.

Approving or Rejecting Timekeepers

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You may approve or reject timekeeper rates individually.

Approved timekeepers can be used for billing once the fee offer is approved. Rejected timekeepers are returned to the law firm for resubmission.

If no approved rate exists for a rejected timekeeper on a given date, a rate of $0 will apply until approval.

Reviewing Individual Timekeepers

  1. Navigate to the Fee Offer Overview page.

  2. Review the list of timekeepers and associated rates under the Timekeeper Rates section.

  3. If you need to approve some timekeepers but reject others, mark individual rates as approved or rejected.

    • Approve: Click the Mark as Approved icon on the timekeeper line.

    • Reject: click the Mark as Rejected icon on the timekeeper line.

      1. Enter a reason for the rejection (e.g., "Rate higher than agreed upon").

      2. Click Mark Timekeeper for Rejection. The timekeeper is marked for rejection, and the reason entered is passed along to the law firm upon rejecting the fee offer.
  • To mark multiple timekeepers as Approved or Rejected:
    1. Place a check mark next to the timekeeper(s).
    2. Click Mark for Approval or Mark for Rejection.
    3. Click OK. If marked for rejected, fill out the rejection reason and click Mark Timekeepers for Rejection.

Optional: Undo a timekeeper action to remove an approval or a rejection.

  1. Click the Undo Marker icon next to the timekeeper line.

  2. Click OK. The previous action on the timekeeper line is removed.

Negotiating Timekeeper Rates

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Negotiating timekeeper rates works much like approving or rejecting them. Your organization reviews rates submitted by the firm and can send back new suggested rates. 

Your organization must have this feature enabled in order to use it.

  1. Navigate to the Fee Offer Overview page.

  2. Review the list of timekeepers and associated rates under the Timekeeper Rates section.

  3. Click the hand shake icon next to a timekeeper, or select multiple timekeepers and click Negotiate Rates.

    The Negotiate Submitted Timekeeper window displays.

  4. Enter a suggested rate for the timekeeper in the Negotiate Rate field(s).
  5. Enter a reason for the update in the Negotiate Reason field(s).
  6. Click Save Negotiated Rate.

Timekeepers with negotiated rates will display a handshake icon next to their name. Approved timekeepers may invoice while others remain under negotiation.

Adding Fee Offer Details

You can add an internal note to other users in the Fee Offer Details section. Notes are visible to users with access to the fee offer.

You must have the Approve Fee offer role to perform this action.

  1. Expand the Fee Offer Details section on the Fee Offer Overview page.

  2. Click +Add. The Fee Offer Details window displays.

  3. Enter your comments in the Notes field.
  4. Click Save.

Approving or Rejecting a Fee Offer (Fully or Partially)

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After reviewing timekeeper rates, you may approve or reject the offer.

Depending on the approved or rejected timekeepers, it may be easier to fully or partially reject the offer. For example, if you have to reject three timekeeper rates, you can reject them individually, then approve the remaining timekeepers.

You must have the Approve Fee Offer or Fee Change Approval Contact role to approve or reject fee offers.

Rejecting the Fee Offer Fully

  1. Click Reject Fee Offer.

The Reject Fee Offer window displays.

  1. Enter a reason into the Rejection Reason field.
  2. Click Reject Fee Offer. The offer is returned to the law firm for resubmission.

Rejecting the Fee Offer Partially

  1. Click Reject Remaining Timekeepers. The Reject Remaining Timekeepers window displays.

    If your organization uses the Negotiate Timekeepers feature, you will see a Reject Remaining Timekeepers window with the count of Approved, Negotiated, and Rejected.

  2. Enter a reason into the Rejection Reason field.

  3. Optional: Enter a backdate into the Backdate To field.

    The backdate feature must be configured by your organization to access it.

  4. Click Reject Remaining Timekeepers. The fee offer receives a Partially Approved status, and the rejected timekeepers are sent back to the firm for resubmission.

Approving the Fee Offer Fully

  1. Click Approve Fee Offer. The Approve Fee Offer window displays.

  1. Optional: Enter a backdate into the Backdate To field.

    This feature must be configured by your organization to access it.

  2. Click Approve Fee Offer. The fee offer is approved for the law firm.

Approving the Fee Offer Partially

  1. Click Approve Remaining Timekeepers. The Approve Remaining Timekeepers window displays.

    If your organization uses the Negotiate Timekeepers feature, you will see an Approve Remaining Timekeepers window with the count of Approved, Negotiated, and Rejected.

  2. Optional: Enter a backdate into the Backdate To field.

    This feature must be configured by your organization to access it.

  3. Click Approve Remaining Timekeepers. The fee offer receives a Partially Approved status, and the rejected timekeepers are sent back to the firm for resubmission.

Reviewing Resubmitted Fee Offers

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Resubmitted offers appear in the Fees & Discounts panel under Resubmitted Offers.

The user in charge of approving the fee offer will also receive an email notification upon resubmission. This notification includes a link to the fee offer, including which timekeepers were resubmitted.

You must have the Approve Fee Offer or Fee Change Approval Contact role to approve or edit fee offers.

Reviewing Resubmitted Timekeeper Information

  1. Click Resubmitted Offers in the Fees & Discounts panel.
  2. Click a Fee Offer Id from the Fees Search page. The Fee Offer Overview page displays.
  3. In the Timekeeper Information section, review the list of timekeepers and associated rates. Review their statuses:

    • Resubmitted: Rates previously rejected and resubmitted by the firm. You can view the Previous Rate, the Submitted Rate column, and the original reason for rejection (click the yellow sticky note).

    • Approved: Rates previously approved and remain approved.
  4. Select timekeepers and click:
    • Approve Resubmitted Timekeepers. The selected timekeepers will be immediately approved.
    • Reject Resubmitted Timekeepers. You'll be asked to again provide a reason for the rejection. The rejected timekeepers return to the law firm for resubmission.

Backdating a Fee Offer

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You may backdate Pending, Active, or Inactive fee offers.

Backdating rules:

  • Later fee offers become void.

  • Earlier fee offers become inactive or adjusted.

  • Only one fee offer may be active at a time.

This feature must be configured by your organization to access it. You must have the Approve Fee Offer role to backdate.

  1. Navigate to the Fee Offer Overview page.
  2. Click More Actions in the upper-right corner.

  3. Select Backdate Fee Offer.

    The Backdate Fee Offer window displays.

  4. Enter a date in the New Effective date field or select a day by clicking the calendar icon.
  5. Enter a description in the Reason for Backdate text box.
  6. Click Backdate.

Editing the Payment Terms

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Payment terms determine invoice due dates for invoices submitted under the fee offer.

Important:

  • Approved invoices prior to updating terms will not update.

  • Manually entered due dates will not change.

  • Unapproved invoices will update if payment terms change.

You must have the Approve Fee Offer or Fee Offer Setup role to edit payment terms.

  1. Navigate to the Fee Offer Overview page.

  2. Click the pencil icon under the Payment Terms section. The Payment Terms window displays.

  3. Enter a number value into the Payment Terms field.
  4. Optional: Select the checkbox to apply payment terms to unapproved invoices as well.
  5. Click Save.

Creating a Fee Offer

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This process describes how to create a fee offer using flat, hourly, or detailed hourly fees. Typically, the law firm staff completes this task, but your organization may wish to maintain fee offers on behalf of its firms. The rates are input when a law firm has registered with CounselLink but have not yet been assigned Matters.

Only one fee offer may be active at a time per fee structure. Fee offers remain active until the effective date of a new one. After this date, matters assigned to that fee structure can bill at the new rate.

These instructions show the most common type of billing arrangements. The sections detailed will vary by each client.

  1. Click +Add Fee Offer from the Fee Offers tab of the Fee Structure Overview page. The Create Fee Offer page displays.

  2. In the Effective Date field, enter the effective date for the Fee Offer.

  3. In the Fee Offer Currency field, use the drop-down to select the currency that the Fee Offer is in.

    By default, the currency in use by the Fee Structure is applied.

  4. In the Reason for the Fee Offer box, provide a reason why the Fee Offer is being created.
  5. In the Group By field, if there are multiple stages listed on the Fee Structure, select the option to be grouped by (Fee Type or Stage Name).

  6. In the Offered Amount field, enter the offered fee for the stage.

    Some Stage types will be a dollar amount or a percentage. Stage type that allow fees to be entered by individual timekeepers may also be used.

  7. Click Save to complete the Fee Offer creation process, or click Cancel to cancel the operation all together.

Optional: Add Discounts

  1. Click +Create Discount under the Discounts section of the Fee Offer Overview page.

    The Create Discount window displays.

  2. Perform one of the following:
    • Click Create Prompt Pay Discount.

      1. The Create Prompt Pay Discount window displays.

      2. Complete all required fields.
      3. Click Save Discounts.
    • Click Create Discount Terms.

      1. The Create Discount Terms window displays.

      2. Complete all fields as appropriate.
      3. Click Save Discounts.