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Law Firm bookkeeping

For U.S. law firms

Law Firm Bookkeeping That Gets Your Books & Trust Accounts in Order

Behind on the books? Our legal bookkeeping service catches up the backlog, reconciles your operating and IOLTA trust accounts with documented three-way reconciliation for the accounts in scope, and delivers tax-ready financials for your tax preparer.
  • ✓ 2-minute intake form
  • ✓ Clear quote after records review
  • ✓ Scope and fee agreed upfront
  • ✓ Everything by email — no sales calls
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Your quote includes a timeline based on scope and records.

Attorney reviewing financial records at a tidy desk, taking notes on a legal pad

Works with the tools your firm already uses

QuickBooks Online Xero Clio LawPay MyCase PracticePanther

Don’t see your platform? No problem — we work from whatever you have: practice-management exports, bank and trust statements, or spreadsheets.

Situations Our Law Firm Bookkeeping Service Solves

Trust ledger out of balance, or months or years behind on the firm’s books? From solo attorneys to multi-partner firms, our legal bookkeeping service catches up the backlog and reconciles the accounts, accurately and entirely by email.

Trust Account Won’t Reconcile

Bank balance, book balance, and client ledgers telling three different stories? We review the accounts in scope, correct supported entries, and complete a documented three-way trust account reconciliation, month by month.

Behind on Multiple Years

However far behind the firm’s books are, we work through the agreed scope year by year, in order, including both operating and trust-account records.

Operating & Trust Funds Mixed

Earned fees still sitting in trust, or client costs booked to the wrong account? We review supported transactions, correct their classifications, and rebuild individual client trust ledgers.

Bar Audit or Records Request?

Your state bar expects complete, reconciled trust records. We rebuild your ledgers and reconciliations so you can respond with accurate books. If you’re working against a deadline, tell us in the form and we’ll be straight about what’s possible.

Don’t see your firm’s situation here? Tell us about it ➔

What You’ll Receive

Your complete Tax-Ready Handoff Package, built for law firms:

  • Reconciled operating & trust accounts
  • Three-way reconciliation reports
  • Individual client trust ledgers
  • Profit & Loss statement
  • Balance Sheet
  • Clean, categorized records
  • Ready for your tax preparer

A general bookkeeping cleanup stops at the operating account. For a law firm, that’s only half the books — so trust accounting is built into every engagement, not sold as an add-on.

Bookkeeping only — not tax returns, payroll, or legal or compliance advice; trust-account compliance stays with your firm.

How Our Law Firm Catch-Up Bookkeeping Process Works

Three steps, all by email.

  1. 01

    Tell Us About Your Firm

    Complete the 2-minute intake form — just some basic details about your firm, your accounts, and how far behind the books are. You’ll get a quick email to confirm it’s you, so watch your inbox and just reply “YES.”

  2. 02

    We Send Your Quote

    We review what you’ve shared and go over the scope of the work with you. Once we have everything we need, your clear, fixed-fee quote lands within 1–2 business days. If the quote works for you, we schedule the agreed work as soon as payment’s confirmed.

  3. 03

    Receive Tax-Ready Financials

    You receive your complete Tax-Ready Handoff Package — operating and trust accounts reconciled, ready for your tax preparer.

What Working With Us Looks Like

The whole conversation happens in your inbox, with a written record of key steps. An illustrative exchange:

Illustrative example
New client retainer went into IOLTA — how do you record it?
MP
Managing partner <partner@yourfirm.com>
to The Trusty Books <support@thetrustybooks.com>

Hi — a new client paid a $10,000 retainer last month, deposited into our IOLTA account. I’ve attached the trust account statement. How do you record that on your end?

iolta-statement.pdf
TTB
The Trusty Books <support@thetrustybooks.com>
to partner@yourfirm.com

Thanks — we’ve got it from here. On our side:

  • We record the $10,000 as a client trust liability — it’s the client’s money, not the firm’s income yet
  • When you invoice against it and move earned fees to operating, we record the transfer, reduce the liability, and recognize the income
  • We reconcile three ways every month: bank balance vs. trust ledger vs. each client’s individual balance

Based on the records provided, the agreed cleanup is complete — your operating and trust books are clearly separated, with supporting notes for the adjustments made.

— The Trusty Books
support@thetrustybooks.com
MP
Managing partner <partner@yourfirm.com>
to The Trusty Books <support@thetrustybooks.com>

That’s exactly the paper trail we needed — and nothing on my plate. Leaving it with you.

Two colleagues reviewing financial records together at a law office desk

Hand it off. Get back to practicing law.

You didn’t go to law school to spend nights reconciling trust ledgers. Hand us the backlog: we reconcile the accounts in scope, document the trust activity your records support, and email back tax-ready books with a written record of the work completed. You stay focused on your clients.

Get My Fixed-Fee Quote ➔

Takes 2 minutes · No phone calls

Get My Fixed-Fee Quote

Tell us where your firm’s books stand. Once we have the records needed, we’ll email your clear quote within 1–2 business days — no obligation. No phone number required.

🔒 Your firm’s — and your clients’ — information is handled securely and confidentially, and only shared with the service providers needed to process your request.

Frequently Asked Questions

Pricing & Scope

How much does law firm bookkeeping cost?
It depends on three things: how many months you’re behind, how many accounts are involved (operating, trust, and credit card), and your transaction volume.

We review your firm’s situation first. Once we have the information and records needed to define the scope, we send a clear quote within 1–2 business days. You’ll know the exact cost before any work begins — no hourly billing, and no surprise invoice at the end.
Do you handle IOLTA / trust accounting?
Yes — attorney trust accounting is central to law firm bookkeeping, and it’s built into our service, IOLTA reconciliation included. We reconcile your IOLTA and other trust accounts three ways (bank balance, book balance, and individual client ledgers) and document the differences we find during the cleanup.

One clear boundary: we keep your records accurate and reconciled; responsibility for trust-account compliance stays with your firm. We don’t provide legal or compliance advice.
Will you have access to our client funds?
No. We work from bank and trust statements, plus standard bookkeeper access to your accounting software — enough to clean up and reconcile the records, not to move money.

We never have signature authority over your accounts, and we never initiate or receive transfers from them. Client funds stay entirely under your firm’s control.
Can’t a general bookkeeper handle our books?
A good general bookkeeper can keep your operating account in order. Trust accounting is a different discipline: individual client ledgers, three-way reconciliation, and a strict line between earned and unearned funds. Those are rules most bookkeepers never need to work with, and getting them wrong is exactly what puts trust records out of balance.

This service is built around that specialized half of law firm bookkeeping, and it comes standard with every engagement.
I’m multiple years behind. Do I have to pay everything at once?
No — you won’t have to pay it all at once. For multi-year catch-ups we can break the project into phases and spread the payments to match, with the exact terms set out in your fixed-fee quote. We work year by year, in order, so you’re never hit with one large bill.
What’s not included?
We focus strictly on bookkeeping catch-up and clean-up for law firms. To set clear expectations, these are outside our scope: tax returns, tax advice, audit support or IRS representation, payroll and payroll taxes, sales tax, and legal or compliance advice.

What you receive is a clean, tax-ready financial package — so your tax preparer (or the right specialist) can take it from there.

Process & Delivery

What happens after I request a quote? What do you need to get started?
Step by step:
  1. Submit the form — You’ll share basic details about your firm and backlog, then reply “YES” to a short verification email to confirm your request.
  2. We review your situation — Our team goes through your submission. Because every firm is different, we may follow up by email with a few specific questions or request additional documents — bank and trust statements, or accounting software access, depending on your books.
  3. You receive a fixed quote — Once we have what we need, your clear quote arrives within 1–2 business days.
  4. Confirm and pay via Stripe — We schedule the agreed work.
  5. Project complete — You receive your Tax-Ready Handoff Package — operating and trust accounts reconciled, ready for your tax preparer.
Everything is handled by email, start to finish.
Do you file my taxes?
No — we focus strictly on bookkeeping catch-up and clean-up, not tax filing or tax advice.

Most firms already have a CPA or tax preparer they trust. Our job is to hand them a complete, tax-ready financial package they can work from immediately. We work alongside your tax preparer, not instead of them.

Software & Timeline

Do I need QuickBooks Online? What if we use Clio or another practice-management tool?
No. You don’t need an existing software subscription to get started.

We work with QuickBooks Online and Xero, and we can work from the reports and exports your practice-management tools produce — Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther, LawPay, and others. If you don’t have accounting software at all, we can build from bank statements, trust statements, and spreadsheets. Either way, you’ll receive reconciled books for the accounts included in the agreed scope.
How long does the catch-up take? Do you offer ongoing bookkeeping?
Your quote includes a timeline based on scope, record quality, and current availability. Standard scheduling starts at 3 weeks. Faster timelines depend on complete records, a locked scope, and available priority capacity. Working against a deadline? Tell us in the form — we’ll tell you honestly what’s realistic before any payment.

After the catch-up, optional monthly bookkeeping can keep your operating and trust accounts on a regular reconciliation schedule — so the records are better prepared by next tax season.

Know the scope, fee, and timeline before work begins.

Start with a 2-minute intake form. We’ll review it and tell you exactly what we need next.

Scope and fee agreed upfront. No calls, no meetings. Secure payment via Stripe. Clear quote after records review.