Origination, referrals and fee sharing

Every matter carries three credits the firm decides, and a fourth it reads from the time recorded:

• Origination credit: who brought the work in. It may be split between several people in shares that come to 100%.
• Responsible credit: the partner who answers for the matter.
• Billing credit: the lawyer who manages its bills.
• Working credit: who did the work, read from the time each person recorded. Nobody sets it.

A client carries origination credit too, and each new matter for the client takes it when the matter opens. Reports split fees billed and collected by any of the four.

Changing a credit

A matter's Credits tab shows who holds each credit today. Change names the people, their shares, the day the change applies from and the reason. The credit held before stays on record up to that day, so a report for an earlier period still credits whoever held it then; Earlier credits shows every version.

Where the firm asks for it (Origination rules, Credit changes need approval, on by default), a change to a credit somebody already holds waits for a second partner, who approves or rejects it on the same tab or from Approvals. Whoever asked may withdraw it while it waits. Changing a client's origination may carry the change to the client's open matters that held the credit it replaces.

Where a client came from

A client's Origination tab records how the client arrived: the source (a referral, an event, a campaign, the website), the person or firm who referred them, or the member of staff who did. A correction keeps the reason.

Each source of work may carry its costs, such as a seminar's venue or an advert, by day. The acquisition report reads new clients, what each source cost and the cost of each new client.

A referral code puts a referrer's name on the firm's enquiry link: an enquiry opened through a link carrying it names them as the referrer. Codes are given to referrers on file and to the firm's own people, and are listed under Parties, Referral codes, each with the enquiries it has brought. A code no longer wanted is revoked with the reason.

Thanking a referrer

When a client arrives through a referral, the person who handles the client is given a task to thank the referrer, due within seven days (a setting). Record the referrer thanked on the client's Origination tab closes it.

A thank-you may be a small gift. The firm never pays a person who is not a lawyer for an introduction, and the system refuses to. A gift is held to the firm's caps, all set under Settings, Origination rules:

• Most for one gift: GHS 500 by default.
• Most to one referrer in a year: GHS 1,000 by default.
• Approval over: GHS 200 by default. A gift over it waits for a second person's approval.

Parties, Gifts lists every gift with its value, who gave it, to whom and for which client, narrowed by standing, referrer and year. A gift recorded in error is voided with the reason and stops counting against the caps. The kinds of gift the firm gives, each with its usual value, are kept under Settings, Gift kinds.

Sharing a fee with a lawyer outside the firm

A lawyer outside the firm who referred a matter may share in its fees, where the client consents in writing and the sharing is proper under the conduct rules. First record the lawyer on their own record (Origination tab, Record as a lawyer) with their enrolment number, confirmed against the Roll of Lawyers.

On the matter's Credits tab, Draw up a fee share names the lawyer, a share of the fees collected or a fixed sum, the day it starts, the client's signed consent (a document on the matter) and the basis under the conduct rules. A draft is put for approval once the consent is attached, and a partner other than the one who drew it up approves it.

Once in force, the share is earned as fees on the matter are collected, and reversed if a collection is taken back. Each share reads what it earned, what was paid and what is owed. Pay the lawyer records a payment from an office account in the share's currency and posts it to the books; a payment made in error is voided with the reason. End the fee share stops it earning after a day; what it earned before stays owed.

Billing, Fee shares lists every fee share. A lawyer's statement reads, for a period, what each of their shares owed at the start, what it earned and what was paid, and what it owed at the end.

The rules the firm sets

Settings, Origination rules holds the caps above, whether gifts and fee sharing are allowed at all, whether a credit change needs approval, how many years origination credit lasts after a client's first matter (0, the default, keeps it for good), and the business development bonus (off by default), each with its default shown and every change kept in the history.