Besides the fiscal impact, unpaid bills actually create incentives for clients to complain. Set your own limits and refuse to acquiesce to unreasonable or inappropriate demands. The same public that wants less litigious and more moderate attorneys in general wants one thing only from their own lawyers - a win. Don't let clients decide where the line is with respect to ethics. Invest in adequate practice systems.
Computers are ready-made for conflict prevention and, with networks, can be even better.
The trust accounting rules are highly detailed and, although reasonable, are not self-evident. Inexpensive and helpful prepackaged trust accounting systems are available. Invest in a professional responsibility library. The explosion of professional responsibility cases has yielded a wealth of law that can serve as real guidance in difficult situations, sometimes yielding categorical answers. Annotations of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct are an inexpensive option to a more complete professional responsibility library.