What are Firm Payments?
Firm payments are used to record and track operating expenses which are day to day costs you incur to run your law firm's business. These are not related to specific contacts or matters - they are general expenses needed to keep the firm open and functioning.
Common examples of law firm operating expenses include:
Rent or lease payments for office space
Office supplies and equipment
Legal software subscriptions and IT services
Utilities (e.g., internet, electricity)
Professional liability insurance
Marketing and business development costs
Staff salaries and payroll taxes
These expenses are different from client costs or reimbursable expenses, which are tied to specific matters and may be billed back to the client.
Tracking operating expenses helps law firms manage their budget, understand profitability, and ensure the firm remains financially healthy.
Creating a Firm Payment
To create a new firm payment follow the steps below:
From the white New button choose New Firm Payment or from the Payments History grid choose New Firm Payment.
Select whether this firm payment is a deposit or withdrawal.
Enter the date of the firm payment.
Select the appropriate payment method.
Enter the amount of the firm payment.
Select the bank account or credit card for the deposit or withdrawal.
Select the applicable chart of account to categorize this payment. When creating a firm payment you’ll choose the most appropriate account from your firm’s Chart of Accounts to help record where this money was spent / refunded (e.g. Office Supplies, Marketing, Software).
For a deposit select the Payor - the person or business from whom you are receiving payment. For a withdrawal select the Payee - the person or business to whom you are making the payment.
Note: The Payor and Payee dropdown lists display your firm’s list of contacts. You will likely need to create new contacts to track your payor and payees in PracticePanther.Optionally add reference number, any notes and attach a copy of the invoice or document receipt related to the payment.
Click Save once you’re finished or Save & Add New to immediately create another firm payment.
Viewing Firm Payments
To view your firm payments you’ll first need to navigate to the Payment History grid.
From the main navigation, click on Payments > Payment History to present a list of all your firm’s payments - including contact payments, contact and matter expenses, firm payments, invoice and payment refunds.
Using the Payment Type filter you can choose Firm to only show firm payments in your list.
Using the three dot menu you can Open the firm payment for viewing or choose Edit to make updates to the payment. You can also select the payment ID which is a hyperlink to view the payment.
When viewing a firm payment use the pencil icon to edit the firm payment or choose the delete icon to delete the payment.
Transferring Funds from one Operating Account or Credit Card to Another
If you need to log the transfer of funds from one operating bank account or credit card to another, you are able to use a Firm payment to record the transfer.
To record the transfer of firm funds follow the steps below:
From the white New button choose New Firm Payment or from the Payments History grid choose New Firm Payment.
Choose the Transfer option in the firm payment modal.
Select the bank account or credit card from which the funds have been transferred.
Select the bank account or credit card to which the funds have been transferred.
Enter the date of the transfer of funds.
Enter the amount of the transfer.
Optionally add any notes.
Click Save to save the transfer or click Save & Add New to immediately create another transfer payment.
What Happens Next?
Two payments will be created with the same Payment Id - one to track the movement of funds out of the selected bank account or credit card, and one to track the movement of funds into the selected bank account or credit card.