Patent Publication Number: US-2005144097-A1

Title: Method and apparatus for accelerated payment of client costs

Description:
This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to Application No. 60/533,304 filed Dec. 30, 2003 which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The inventive subject matter pertains to the field of accounting systems, and more particularly to electronic payment systems.  
     BACKGROUND  
      A problem faced by many attorneys, and patent attorneys in particular, is financing out-of-pocket client costs. The logistics of collecting these as retainers prior to expending them is time consuming, particularly due to procedures required for the safe and ethical handling of client retainers. On the other hand, billing these costs along with professional service fees means that the average time to collection of such costs is 30-90 days after they costs are expended. 
    
    
     IN THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a simplified block diagram of one embodiment of the system of the invention subject matter.  
       FIG. 2  is a simplified block diagram of a method according to one example embodiment. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      According to a first embodiment of the inventive subject matter herein, a collection server  10  is provided as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Server  10  is interfaced with a law firm accounting system  20 , or other sources of data useful to accomplish its purpose. The server  10  is set up as follows: 
          upload law firm client list to load Client List (initial upload with updates preferably automatically pulled from law firm accounting system file but otherwise entered manually)     pick/select clients to do “accelerated collection” for     set parameters per selected client 
            accumulate costs for number of days prior to billing: 0-30 days for example     auto debit (with e-mail notice) or send request for payment each time     override default service fee with customized service fee     override default e-mail message with custom client message     allow law firm to set up credit card or account # for client, or send message to client to get them to provide data by self service    
               

      According to one example embodiment shown in  FIG. 2 , accounting records are inspected  30  to determine if there are recent advances or legal fees. If there are, it is determined  32  if the client for which such costs or fees exist is subject to accelerated payment. If so, an electronic request or debit  34  is made to obtain payment.  
      According to one example embodiment, the daily (business days for accelerated) operation of the server is as follows: 
          first, nightly download of out-of-pocket cost file from accounting system: 
            this file shows all out-of-pocket costs entered into the accounting system in the prior period (e.g. day) that are going to be billed to client, typically at the end of the month     for each cost, there is client #, file #, cost, description    
            next, search list for files for clients selected for “accelerated pay”
            aggregate costs for each client (if there are muliple costs entered, ask for one payment for all costs added together)     for selected clients, auto debit or send request for approval of funds (per setting)     if client set up for auto debit, system automatically takes funds from credit card or bank account (e.g. using ACH) and notice is sent if desired. Otherwise, request to approve fund transfer is sent by e-mail, and client logs onto web page directed from link in e-mail and approves or declines payment    
            also, server checks for successful payments of fees 
            batch upload file from bank (ACH) or credit card processing service 
                check off payments received    
                create payment received file 
                client #, file #, credit amount, description    
                create “credit” file of payments received and output file to accounting system    
            nightly download of auditing file from accounting system 
            client #, file#, cost credited from PTFM, description     compare against previous nights uploaded file     note any discrepancies    
               

      In addition, according to this example embodiment, the law firm accounting system uploads the credit file each evening (or other convenient time) and posts a credit against the corresponding file. The originally posted out-of-pocket expense is then offset with a credit once the expense is collected by accelerated pay.  
      According to yet another example embodiment, the law firm accounting system provides that a client account may be marked for “accelerated payment” of client out-of-pocket expenses. The accounting system can, accordingly, in this embodiment, perform the debit of a client credit card or bank account, and upon successful completion of the debit, post a credit or other type of payment to offset the originally entered client cost.  
      In either embodiment, professional services for corresponding files or matters may be billed in the normal payment manner, typically once per month.  
      According to the inventive subject matter herein, “accelerated payment” means requesting payment of an out-of-pocket cost or fee, such as a payment to a patent or trademark office for fees, or a payment for foreign associate services on a patent or trademark matter, on a time schedule that is faster than that normally used for billing of professional service fees for the client in question. In one example embodiment, this request for payment occurs within a day of the posting of the out-of-pocket cost to the accounting system, or within a week of the posting of such an out-of-pocket cost. Or, such payment is requested once per month at the end of a monthly billing cycle, but payment is requested immediately as opposed to allowing the client a customarily longer period to review and approve payment of professional service fees.  
      Thus, according to the inventive subject matter disclosed herein, client costs may be billed immediately after they are incurred by electronic means, while professional service fees may be billed, for example, on a monthly or other billing cycle that is not immediately after the cost is incurred.