Legal Billing Specialist

Schneider Buchel LLP; United States; On-site; USD 50,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Schneider Buchel LLP is seeking a Legal Billing Clerk to manage day-to-day fees and costs, ensuring every billed hour, disbursement, and client payment is captured accurately and invoices are prepared on time to support cash flow and monthly close.

You will collaborate with attorneys, paralegals, and leadership, applying strong accounting fundamentals and attention to detail to maintain rate integrity and accurate matter assignments across client engagements.

Qualifications

• Strong foundation in AR cycles: invoicing, cash application, aging, and write-offs.
• Experience with legal billing platforms; Clio Manage preferred; Excel expertise.
• 2–3 years in billing, AR, or bookkeeping in professional services.
• Associate's degree in accounting/finance or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• High school diploma or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Prepare, review, and issue monthly client invoices with accuracy.
• Audit time entries and disbursements for rate integrity and narrative quality.
• Post client payments, retainer draws, and credit memos on the same day when possible.
• Reconcile AR subledger to the general ledger and resolve variances.
• Produce AR aging reports and assist collections efforts.
• Support month-end close with revenue and AR schedules.
• Document SOPs and pursue process improvements.

Skills

Accounting fundamentals

AR cycle knowledge

Invoicing accuracy

12-key/data entry

Professional communication

Education

Associate's degree in accounting/finance or equivalent

High school diploma or equivalent

Tools

Clio Manage

Excel

Time Matters

Rocket Matter

Job description

We are a growing community association law firm seeking a Legal Billing Clerk to be responsible for the day-to-day fees and costs billing function. This is a precision role: you will be the person who makes sure every recorded billable hour, disbursement, and client payment is captured correctly and invoices are prepared in a timely and accurate manner. The right candidate is fluent in fundamental accounting, comfortable reconciling subledgers to the general ledger, and genuinely energized by finding the one transaction out of a thousand that does not tie. You will work directly with attorneys, paralegals, and firm leadership, and your work product will feed the firm's cash flow forecasting, collections strategy, and monthly close.

Responsibilities

• Billing Lifecycle Execution (approximately 50%) Prepare, review, and issue monthly client invoices in accordance with firm billing standards and engagement-specific terms. Audit time entries and disbursements for accuracy, narrative quality, correct matter assignment, and rate integrity prior to invoice release. Process pre-bill distribution to responsible attorneys, track markups and approvals, and enforce turnaround deadlines. Post client costs, filing fees, and advanced disbursements to the correct matter with supporting documentation attached. Apply and post client payments, retainer draws, and credit memos accurately and on the same business day where practicable.
• Accounts Receivable and Reconciliation (approximately 35%) Prepare and submit invoices through client e-billing portals where applicable; resolve rejections and short-pays to closure. Perform monthly reconciliation of the AR subledger to the general ledger control account; research, document, and clear all variances before close. Reconcile client trust/escrow and retainer balances, confirming that ledger balances agree to bank balances and that no matter carries a negative balance. Produce and analyze AR aging reports; flag and elevate matters aging beyond firm thresholds with supporting account history. Support collections activity: prepare statements of account, respond to client billing inquiries, document contact history, and track promise-to-pay commitments. Investigate and resolve unapplied cash, duplicate payments, misapplied receipts, and write-off requests, routing each through the proper approval path.
• Data Integrity and Process Improvement (approximately 15%) Assist with month-end and year-end close deliverables, including revenue and AR schedules and audit support requests. Maintain client and matter billing records and insurance rates, billing contacts, addresses, terms, and billing instructions are all accurate. Identify recurring upstream errors, incomplete time narratives, missing cost documentation, unassigned matters, and work with timekeepers to correct at the source rather than at the invoice. Document and follow standard operating procedures; recommend refinements where a control is weak, duplicative, or manual without cause. Prepare recurring and ad hoc reporting for the finance function: realization, write-off, collection cycle time, and unbilled work in process.

Qualifications

• Accounting Fundamentals Familiarity with the AR cycle end-to-end: invoice generation, cash application, aging, dispute resolution, and write-off. Understanding of client trust/escrow accounting principles, including the prohibition on commingling and the requirement that client funds be individually tracked.
• Technical Skills Proficiency in a legal practice management or billing platform — Clio Manage strongly preferred ; comparable systems (Rocket Matter, Time Matters) considered. Intermediate to advanced Excel: pivot tables, lookups (XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP), filtering, conditional formatting, and text-to-column cleanup of exported data. Comfort working across integrated systems and understanding that a change in one platform must be reflected in the other.
• Experience and Education 10-key accuracy and confident data entry speed.
• Minimum 2–3 years of billing, AR, or bookkeeping experience; law firm or professional services billing experience strongly preferred.
• Associate's degree in accounting, finance, or business administration, or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• High school diploma or equivalent required.
• These are not secondary to the technical requirements. In this role, they determine whether the numbers can be trusted.
• Uncompromising Attention to Detail You read every line. You notice when a rate changed mid-month, when a disbursement posted to the wrong matter, and when a total is off by $4.17 — and you do not release the invoice until you know why. You self-review before someone else has to.
• Ownership and Follow-Through You treat open items as yours until they are closed, not until they are handed off. When a reconciliation does not tie, you stay with it. When you need information from an attorney, you follow up until you have it.
• Accountability Without Defensiveness When you make an error, you raise it immediately, document what happened, and propose the control that prevents a recurrence. You understand that a mistake surfaced early is a small problem and a mistake surfaced by a client is a large one.
• Professional Communication and Client Service You can explain a billing entry clearly and courteously to a client, a board member, or an attorney, and you can hold a firm position on a payment obligation without escalating the tone.
• Discretion and Confidentiality You handle privileged client information, financial records, and internal firm data with complete discretion, both inside and outside the office.
• Process Discipline with a Continuous Improvement Mindset You follow the procedure as written, and you speak up when the procedure is the problem. You prefer fixing the cause over repeating the correction.
• Collaboration Across Departments You work well with timekeepers, paralegals, administrative staff, and leadership, recognizing that billing accuracy depends on people outside your own desk.
• Composure Under Deadline Month-end is non-negotiable. You plan for it, protect the calendar, and maintain accuracy under volume rather than trading one for the other.

Compensation

$50,000 per year