Billing Clerks: Are You Using Digital Pre-Billing?

You need to get final statements out, but the draft statements are piled on the partner’s desk, and the partner is in court. Are the statements approved? Are more revisions needed? And will you spend hours puzzling out handwritten comments? 

Getting the bills in the mail (or email) is hard on billing staff and partners alike, especially if you are doing it on paper. As recently as 2019, 71% of law firms were revising statements on paper. That, however, is changing. 

Electronic pre-billing in Tabs3 Billing is now more streamlined

As of Version 2025, draft statement review via electronic pre-billing is easier than ever. The improved process works like this:

• You generate a “pre-bill” statement instead of a draft statement or Detail WIP Report.
• Each pre-bill is electronically assigned to the authorized reviewer(s). The review is done inside Tabs3 Billing, so there is no need to print or email documents.
• The reviewer pulls up a digital preview of the statement in Tabs3 Billing. To revise a transaction, they simply click on it and type their changes. They can also add transactions to the pre-bill or leave comments for you.
• The reviewer can put the pre-bill on hold or mark it as “reviewed.”
• You can access a real-time list of reviewed pre-bills that are ready to be sent (pending any changes the reviewers requested via comments).
• You create the final statement as usual.

👉 See This Tabs3 Knowledge Base article offers a deep dive on how to do pre-billing inside Tabs3 Billing. You can learn about the 2025 updates in this publication.

4 ways pre-billing makes statement approval easier for you

1. Never wonder whose desk the draft statement is on

With electronic pre-billing, you can check the status of any statement without leaving your desk. No more trying to find draft statements on a partner’s desk or resending emails. If you are part of a billing team, supporting one another is easier, because all the information is kept in one place.

2. Block accidental revisions once review starts

Generating a draft statement or a Detail WIP Report does not create a statement record or protect the transactions included. As a result, it is possible to inadvertently make changes after the draft statements are generated, but before the final statement is created, thereby adding unauthorized entries to the bill.

When you use pre-billing, Tabs3 Billing creates a statement record and locks down the transactions included on the pre-bill. By default, only authorized reviewers (including appropriate billing staff) can change transactions or add new transactions. Any revisions must be done inside the pre-bill workflow.

The firm can also choose to allow additional users to add or modify transactions, or to make changes outside the pre-bill workflow.

3. Create an audit trail for statement changes

A digital record is created every time a user changes a transaction in a pre-bill. Any authorized user can view that record. When clients or attorneys have questions about final statements, it is simple to track how changes occurred — without digging through file cabinets or poring over handwritten comments.

4. Spend less time revising fee entries

With a paper-based process, all changes must be entered twice. The partner hand-writes changes, and then you type the same words again (after you decipher the partner’s handwriting). Allowing reviewers to type changes directly into Tabs3 Billing can save a great deal of time.

Timekeepers and managing partners get major benefits too

Changing processes can be challenging. Change is easier, however, when the value is clear. When your firm adopts pre-billing:

• Partners and other timekeepers can feel confident that their revisions will never be misinterpreted, because they enter changes directly. That can translate into less time spent fielding billing questions from clients and more time for billable work.
• Partners can quickly (and independently) check the status of each pre-bill and statements’ edit history, so any client concerns can be resolved quickly.
• Partners can instantly see the results of write-downs and other changes when reviewing pre-bills, empowering them to make more informed billing decisions.
• By analyzing how transactions are modified at the pre-bill stage, managing partners can gain insight into profitability issues, like excessive write-downs.

Let us show you how easy statement review could be

Our expert trainers can demonstrate the pre-billing process to help your team decide whether to advocate for changes in your firm’s billing process. We can also support your firm throughout the process of shifting to pre-billing. Contact us today to schedule a demo!