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Resolution and money: how it works

Follow recorded work and reviewed hearing-time drafts into billing. Keep negotiation, client authority, accepted terms, signed closing and separately approved payments traceable; reconcile trust with the bank statement.

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Return to resolution and money

Availability

Limited availabilityCard payments run through the firm's own Stripe or LawPay account once it is connected. BRON never sends money out.
Supported work
Connect recorded work to the bill, settlement terms to the closing statement and trust balances to the bank record.
Start with
A confirmed hearing debrief can draft time from a duration counsel supplied or the record states. Its timekeeper must confirm the draft before billing; any required time approval still applies.
Key limit
BRON exports LEDES invoices as files; it does not submit them to a billing system. Two-person approval of trust payments applies once the firm sets a dollar threshold. These paths have not been tested on a live matter.

Some capabilities have their own availability or configuration requirements, shown below.

Before you start

  • A confirmed hearing debrief can draft time from a duration counsel supplied or the record states. Its timekeeper must confirm the draft before billing; any required time approval still applies.
  • The work register names the recorded time, expenses, verified work units, AI usage and reconstructed suggestions behind billing review. Applicable firm rates support invoices. Reviewed settlement terms, fees, costs and liens support closing; a valuation estimate alone is not a settlement instruction.
  • A fee arrangement and rate cards written by the firm. BRON does not set prices, and a task with no applicable rate stays unpriced.
  • For card payments, the firm's own Stripe or LawPay account, connected with the firm's keys. Until it is connected, BRON takes no card payments.
  • For bank statements by feed, a Plaid link the firm sets up. Without one, enter the bank statement by hand.
  • A trust account on file, if the firm holds client money. A firm that holds none does not need one.
  • For two-person approval of trust payments, a dollar threshold set under Settings, then Trust approvals.
  • Time approval is off until the firm turns it on, and it has no settings screen.
  • Nothing, for a LEDES export. BRON writes the file and does not submit it to a billing system.

How it works

Review the time, expenses and work behind the bill. Calculate the closing statement from recorded settlement terms, fees, costs and liens, then inspect each deduction and proposed payee. Compare the trust ledger and client balances with the bank statement; a missing statement leaves the month not reconciled.

What recorded work or settlement term supports this charge, deduction or payment proposal?

From recorded work to the bill

  • Review time drafted from a hearing debrief

    After counsel confirms an appearance’s outcome and supplies its duration, the debrief can prepare a draft time entry. The timekeeper must confirm that draft before it can be billed; any required time approval still applies. BRON does not infer billable duration from an unstated time or convert bench notes into a client update.

  • See what is ready, held or awaiting review

    The work register brings time, expenses, verified work units, AI usage and reconstructed time suggestions into review. Each row names its source and billing basis; unpriced work stays held, and suggestions remain for review. A source that cannot be read is named rather than counted as nothing to bill.

From legal work to billing and closing

  • Preserve the reviewed figures and signed version

    A dated offer and valuation range support counsel’s settlement discussion; neither authorizes a trust payment. Closing begins with reviewed settlement terms, recorded fees, costs and liens. Check the bank statement against the trust ledger and client balances, inspect each deduction and payee, and retain the signed version. A separate approved payment proposal preserves who authorized which amount; BRON does not make the bank transfer.

Time and the bill

  • Price time from the firm's rate cards

    A time entry is priced from the firm's own rate cards, looked up in a fixed order: the matter, then the client, then the activity, then the timekeeper's default card, then the firm default. The rounding is recorded beside the minutes it came from.

  • Optional time approval needs a second attorney

    With time approval on, an entry can be approved only by a licensed attorney at the firm who did not write it, and only approved time goes onto an invoice.

  • Each invoice line shows what it rests on

    Available

    Time typed in by hand reads differently from work BRON recorded as it happened. A line with nothing behind it is marked unproved rather than billed as if it were supported.

  • Export invoices as LEDES

    Export an invoice as a LEDES file for the client's e-billing system. BRON writes the file and does not submit it. An invoice the format cannot carry, such as one with a fractional cent, is refused by name.

  • Card payments through the firm's own account

    Clients can pay by card through the firm's own Stripe or LawPay account, once it is connected. Until the firm connects one, BRON takes no card payments.

The trust account

  • A posting that would overdraw is refused

    Available

    A trust posting that would take a matter or a client below zero is refused. Amounts are kept in whole cents, and a figure that would need rounding is refused rather than rounded.

  • Payments at or above the threshold need two attorneys

    Once the firm sets a dollar threshold, a trust payment at or above it waits for a second licensed attorney. Deposits are never held. Until a threshold is set, a payment posts on one approval.

  • Three-way reconciliation

    Available

    Reconcile the bank statement, the trust ledger and each client's balance. The result records whether they matched and by how much they differ. A missing bank figure is recorded as missing, never as zero.

  • A screened matter in a pooled account

    In a pooled trust account, a matter behind an ethical wall keeps its amounts, dates and reference numbers. Someone screened from it sees that the row is withheld, never the client or the case.

The settlement

  • Record negotiations beside that day's range

    Each demand, offer, counter-offer and acceptance is recorded with the valuation range as it stood that day. A correction is a new entry beside the original.

  • A closing statement that moves no money

    Available

    Review the distribution from gross settlement less recorded fees, costs and liens to net recovery. Each deduction names the record it comes from. A referral fee division is part of the attorney fee, not a second deduction from the client. The calculation pays no one.

  • The signed version is fixed

    Available

    Sending a closing statement for signature fixes that version, and a later change makes a new statement. An approved statement proposes its payees for the trust approval queue rather than paying them.

The signature

  • Send the statement for signatures in turn

    Available

    Send the closing statement or an engagement letter for signature from the matter. Signers sign in turn, and the document is sealed when the last one signs. Invitations go out once the firm's outbound email is switched on.

  • Anyone can check the signed PDF

    Available

    Anyone holding the executed PDF can check it in their own browser. The result says whether the file matches the one sealed, and whether the seal is confirmed on the Bitcoin chain, pending, or digest only.

What it reads from

  • Time and expenses entered on the matter
  • The fee arrangement and rate cards your firm wrote
  • The valuation range, for the negotiation record
  • Liens and provider balances recorded on the matter

Who can do what

  • Counsel reviews the statement and each payment proposal. The dated offer/range comparison and signed closing statement connect strategy and the retained record to the financial work.
  • A second licensed attorney approves a direct trust payment at or above the firm's threshold. Deposits are never held for a second approval.
  • Once time approval is on, a licensed attorney at the firm who did not write an entry approves it.
  • Paying out of trust, recording a deposit, running a reconciliation and requesting a retainer top-up each stop for approval first.
  • Sending an engagement letter for signature needs a licensed attorney.
  • In Florida, paying out contingency funds needs the client's signature on the closing statement. Matters in other states do not require it.
  • An approved closing statement proposes each payee for the trust approval queue. Each proposal needs a second licensed attorney even if the firm has no threshold. Approving the statement moves no money.
  • In a pooled trust account, people screened from a matter see its amounts but not its client, case or description.
  • Anyone holding a signed PDF can check it in their own browser, without an account.

What it produces

  • Invoices, and LEDES files for the client's e-billing system
  • The trust ledger and each month's reconciliation
  • The closing statement the client signs
  • The matter's activity log

Limits

  • BRON never sends money out. A payment is recorded in the trust ledger, and the money moves through the firm's bank.
  • Card payments start only once the firm connects its own Stripe or LawPay account.
  • LEDES files are exported, not submitted. They are checked against a documented subset of the format, not certified against the official standard, and a client's billing vendor may not accept them.
  • Two-person approval is off until the firm sets a threshold. Until then, a trust payment posts on one approval.
  • Posted trust entries are kept and cannot be edited. A correction is a new entry beside the original.
  • A trust posting and its account balance change occur together. The account, matter and client overdraw checks remain on that posting path; a closing calculation cannot bypass them.
  • A net recovery can be negative, and the statement shows it as negative.
  • These are the firm's own books. A reconciliation record does not replace the firm's review, and nothing here is accounting advice.

What BRON will not do

  • Send money out.

    BRON records trust movements and calculates the closing statement. Paying anyone stays with the firm and its bank.

  • Pay out contingency funds in a Florida matter before the client signs the closing statement.

    Florida Bar Rule 4-1.5(f)(5) requires a closing statement signed by the client. A signature request that was sent but not finished does not count. Matters in other states are not gated this way.

  • Certify a reconciliation that has no bank figure.

    The ledger and the client balances agreeing does not show that the bank agrees. Without the statement, the month is recorded as not reconciled.

  • Price work the firm has not priced.

    A task whose kind is not on the firm's fee menu stays unpriced and is listed with the reason. BRON does not fill in a rate.

  • Adjust a closing statement that does not balance.

    A person approved those figures. BRON carries them exactly or stops, rather than closing a gap nobody approved.

  • Bill at nothing when it cannot read the fee terms.

    If the fee arrangement cannot be read, BRON says it could not read it and does not price the work. A failed read is never treated as a zero fee.

When something goes wrong

  • An unstated hearing duration remains missing; BRON does not invent billable time. A draft client update from the same debrief remains private until published.
  • An approved strategy or statement moves no money. Reconciliation without the bank statement remains not reconciled, even if the ledger and client balances agree.
  • A trust posting that would take a matter or a client below zero is refused, and so is an amount that would need rounding.
  • A missing bank figure is recorded as missing, never as zero, and BRON will not certify a reconciliation without one.
  • An invoice the LEDES format cannot carry, such as one with a fractional cent or a subtotal that does not add up, is refused by name and no file is written.
  • If the fee terms cannot be read, BRON says so and does not price the work.
  • A closing statement that does not balance is refused, not adjusted.
  • A negative net recovery stays negative. A referral fee division is shown within the attorney fee rather than deducted from the client again.
  • Across matters, a figure that could not be read marks the total as partial and names the matter.
  • If the trust register cannot be read, a pooled account withholds every row rather than guessing which to show.
  • A signature check says whether the seal is confirmed on the Bitcoin chain, pending, or digest only.
  • LEDES exports are checked against a documented part of the format. They have not been certified against the full LEDES standard, and a client's billing vendor may not accept them.