ELECTRONIC CORRESPONDENT FACILITY IN LEGALSUITE

For the Agent / Correspondent

 

Author:                 Cindy Kruger

Date:                     April 2007

Audience:             Bookkeeping

Summary:             How the Electronic correspondent facility works in LegalSuite

 

CONTENTS:

 

·                     Overview of process

·                     Retrieving your Firm code

·                     Registering your firm

·                     Setting up the Matter

·                     Uploading your Invoice

·                     Conclusion

 

Overview Of Process:

 

LegalSuite has an exciting feature in which you can automatically capture your correspondent Invoices transactions if your instructing attorney also uses LegalSuite.

 

When an attorney acts on your behalf in an area that falls outside your jurisdiction he is called an Agent or a Correspondent. For example – If the Attorney handling the matter is in Durban but the debtor lives in Johannesburg, an attorney in the Johannesburg area will act as a correspondent to collect the money from the debtor at the request of the Durban attorney.

 

If you are the instructing Attorney this Correspondent / Agent is opened as a creditor in the Creditors Ledger because you are responsible for the fees and disbursements regardless of whether the correspondent collects money from the debtor or not.

 

This feature will allow you as the Agent to send the Invoice transactions electronically and the instructing attorney you can download the transactions which are imported as batches into LegalSuite automatically.

 

This simplifies the procedure and eradicates errors when capturing transactions from the Correspondent invoices.

 

 

Retrieving your Firm code

 

As the Agent / Correspondent you need to obtain the instructing attorneys firm code.  This code is the reference that links the transactions that are uploaded or downloaded and identifies which transactions belong to which attorney.

 

The firm code is found under the “Program Settings” option selected from the “Setup” pulldown menu on the top of the screen. Under the “General” TAB you will find your firm code next to the “Licensed Until” option. If your firm code does not appear under the program settings you need to contact LegalSuite on 0861 711150.

Screen Layout

 

Registering your firm

 

Select  “File” pull down menu on your top tool bar, select “Import/Export” then “Post Office” . If it is the first time you are entering the screen the following message will appear:

 

 

Click on OK and make sure your firms details are correct on the next screen

 

 

Click on OK and your registration is now complete

 

 

Setting up the Matter

 

You are the Agent / Correspondent and have received instructions from another attorney. You must open a matter with the Client being the Instructing Attorney. Remember you need to get the “Firm Code” of the instructing attorney to fill in as a Reference on the Client in the address book.

 

Adding the firm code to the client:

Open the address book by clicking on the  icon on the main toolbar.

Select the client in the address book, click on the  change icon on the main toolbar, click on the “Miscellaneous” TAB and fill in the firm code as shown below:

 

 

Screen Layout:

 

Click on  when completed to accept the change.

 

When inserting the Matter, it is very important that you fill in the Client Reference for the Instructing Attorney. The Client reference will be uploaded with your Invoice and this is how LegalSuite links the transactions to the correct matter on the Instructing Attorneys database. This Reference is found under the “General” TAB on the matter:

 

Screen Layout

 

Uploading your Invoices

 

The Agent / Correspondent capture the transaction and create invoices at period end as per normal.  You now need to upload the Invoice transactions to the Internet so they can be downloaded by the Instructing attorney. The following options can be used to upload these transactions:

 

  1. After you have created your Invoices go to the print Invoices screen. Filter your Invoices so that you have the Instructing Attorneys invoices displayed.

 

 

  1. Select  “File” pull down menu on your top tool bar, select “Import/Export” then “Post Office”

 

Screen Layout

 

 

 

 

Once you have selected this option, the following screen will appear:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click on the registered firms icon too see if your corresponding attorneys firm is registered to use this facility. If the corresponding attorney is registered and your firm does not have him/her entered into your address book in LegalSuite you can select the “add to address book” icon. This will add their details to the address book. The Registered Firms screen is displayed below.

 

 

Screen Layout

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click on

 

LegalSuite will upload the transactions from the Invoices selected:

 

 

Once all the transactions have been uploaded, a screen will appear to inform you of the number of transactions uploaded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click on and you are finished with your upload. You can now inform the Instructing Attorney that they can now download the Invoice transactions from the internet.

          

Conclusion

 

The Electronic correspondent feature will be beneficial to your firm because you can provide a better service to your Instructing Attorneys that are on LegalSuite.

 

You also should be paid quicker for disbursements where no funds have been collected as yet because the Instructing attorney’s accounts will be updated quickly and effectively.

 

This function will make the correspondent process very simple and easy to use.