“Do you accept credit cards?”, was a question that a client had to ask a law firm years ago because not every law firm did. Lawyers and law firms that were unable to process electronic payments were often challenged during the last two months. We heard tales of woe of lawyers in other states barred from going to their offices to pick up the mail or good clients of law firms who promised that they had mailed a check for payment, but it got caught in a clearing house.

What about the client who doesn’t want to pay with a credit card? The client who wants to pay by check should be given an e-check option. Knowing how to process ACH payments is something every law firm should understand. Sometimes this method can save the firm significant service charge fees. Do your clients automatically receive a payment link when they receive their monthly billing? Perhaps they should.

LawPay is a very popular Oklahoma Bar Association member benefit. LawPay reps understand attorney trust accounts and the special handling of those funds. Clients sometimes ask their lawyer for a monthly fee payment schedule and lawyers tend to reject that, having been burned in the past by clients who made a payment or two and then stopped. But if the client agreed to let the law firm process those payments against his bank account each payday, the lawyer is more secure. In LawPay’s Resource Center there are sample credit card authorization forms to accomplish that.

I visited with LawPay’s Amy Mann about the numerous options for electronic payments, including online payment pages.