Client Cost Advance Tracking System
A done-for-you law firm automation built for the Costs & Disbursements Clerk, connecting Clio, Slack, and Google Sheets so the work below happens on its own.
What this automation does, step by step
Every cost the firm advances on a client's behalf, filing fees, expert witness retainers, medical record requests, is automatically logged against the matter the moment it's entered into the billing system in Clio or TimeSolv, tagged by category and date so nothing gets buried in a general expense account.
The automation maintains a running advanced-costs total per matter and automatically flags it for reimbursement the moment the matter is marked settled or resolved, notifying the costs and disbursements clerk through Slack rather than requiring someone to dig back through months of expense entries.
A monthly Google Sheets report shows total costs currently advanced across all open matters, giving the firm visibility into outstanding exposure.
Firms running this reliably recover advanced costs at settlement instead of writing off forgotten expenses, which on caseloads with dozens of active matters can add up to real money left on the table.
- Practice management/billing software (e.g., Clio or TimeSolv)
- Zapier or Make.com
- Slack (reimbursement flags)
- Google Sheets (cost report)
Using different software? We build around what you already have, so you never have to switch tools to automate.
The manual way vs. the automated way
Without automation
Manually, a costs & disbursements clerk is stuck doing repetitive follow-ups and data entry that could otherwise run quietly in the background. None of it is difficult, it's just slow, repetitive, and easy to fall behind on.
With this automation
- Invoices generated the moment a job or milestone completes
- Polite, escalating payment reminders that run on schedule
- Failed payment recovery for subscriptions and memberships
- Expense, commission, and reconciliation work handled automatically
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