Boost Your Firm’s Cash Flow With E-Payment Solutions

Today, lawyers have multiple options for getting paid. Familiar methods include debit and credit cards, as well as virtual cards with single-use electronic tokens. Additionally, Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments, such as direct deposits and electronic checks, are common direct payment forms online.

As the economy shifts online, law firms must adapt to clients’ evolving payment preferences, including electronic payments (e-payments). According to the 2024 “Legal Industry Report” by LawPay and MyCase, 78 percent of law firms now accept online payments via credit/debit cards, and that figure is expected to grow.

The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t the only reason electronic payments have become more common — e-payments also offer substantial benefits. This article highlights the most common types of electronic payments, their advantages, and desirable payment features.

1. Provide a Positive Client Experience

Clients increasingly prefer e-payment solutions, a trend supported by data. A 2021 Insider Intelligence study found that 75 percent of respondents planned to switch bills to electronic payments, with 87 percent of millennials favoring this change. Fiserv’s survey further confirmed this, showing credit and debit cards top consumers’ “must-have” lists for bill pay options.

Among Gen Z consumers, 95 percent prefer debit cards, 83 percent favor payment apps, and 82 percent want mobile wallets. These numbers highlight the growing demand for e-payments and their importance in maintaining client satisfaction.

2. Attract Prospective Clients

Electronic payments can attract new clients and serve existing ones, as consumers increasingly expect businesses, including law firms, to support them. PaymentsJournal reports that 60 percent of consumers use digital payments, 44 percent set up automated payments from their checking accounts, and 39 percent pay via mobile apps or websites. As society moves toward cashless transactions, lacking e-payment options can harm a firm’s reputation and suggest a practice is not up to date. Embracing electronic payments helps keep firms competitive and responsive to client expectations in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

3. Get Paid Faster

Electronic payments benefit law firms by enhancing efficiency and speeding up transactions. According to the 2024 LawPay and MyCase report, firms using LawPay collected 33 percent more from clients, with bills paid nearly four times faster than cash or check payments. Solutions like LawPay’s Next Day Payments enable firms to receive payments in as little as one business day. Additionally, e-payments simplify the tracking of payments and eliminate lost invoices or checks, ensuring more revenue is collected.

4. Optimize Law Firm Workflows

Because online payment solutions allow for automated invoicing or recurring payments, electronic payments prove incredibly useful for client work on retainer or involving repeated transactions.

Many electronic payment solutions on the market also offer integrations with other software solutions that lawyers may use for their practice, such as case or practice management, timekeeping, and accounting/bookkeeping software. This prevents law firm managers from jumping between multiple tools or reconciling data from different programs.

5. Increase Data Security

Having an online solution means that a firm doesn’t have to store bank account details or credit card numbers on its own servers.

With LawPay, customers have access to popular, user-friendly billing and payment features that can make their business more profitable and productive while meeting clients’ needs. Payment features include:

• Next-day payments. Enjoy faster access to money — just one business day after the payment is initially received.
• Online payment options. Provide debit, credit, and e-check options for faster payments and payment scheduling for convenience.
• Pay later. Increase your revenue with legal fee financing loans — ensuring 100 percent payment up front while clients pay in installments over time.
• Card vault. Easily charge and collect payments using a client’s preferred payment method, stored in a secure, industry-compliant system.

When you’re ready to see how LawPay can benefit firms firsthand, schedule a LawPay demo.  

Adrian Aguilera is senior content strategist at LawPay.