Setup - Invoices

Setup - Invoices

Overview

This help page addresses the following topics about setting up invoicing in Safari to charge the serving party for your subpoena response costs:
  1. Safari's approach to invoicing
  2. Invoice practices by other companies (comparative data)
  3. Setting up pre-configured invoices in Safari (including tips for naming conventions and line-item narratives)
  4. Creating template correspondence to send to serving parties about your invoicing policy

Safari's Approach to Invoicing

Invoicing Best Practices

Because subpoena invoices are usually relatively low-dollar amounts, it's important to adopt a streamlined approach.  Here are the basics of what most companies do on Safari:
  1. Decide when you will not invoice (e.g., some companies choose as policy not to invoice law enforcement).
  2. Upon receipt of a subpoena, send a form acknowledgement of receipt and cost estimate, notifying the serving party that you'll request reimbursement at the time of production (see template discussion at the end of this help page).
  3. Establish several invoice amount levels and create pre-built invoices depending on your effort in responding.  For example, a level-1 invoice (e.g., $75), might be for only one subject with one or two data sources.  A level-2 invoice (e.g., $125) might be for multiple data sources.  And a level-3 invoice (e.g., $200) might be for multiple subjects and multiple data sources.  See below to learn more.
Note: you can always generate custom invoices for an individual matter if you wish.  See Invoicing - Invoice Types.

Pre-Configuring Flat-Fee Invoices for an Efficient, Data-Driven Approach 

Safari's pre-configured invoice functionality makes it practical and efficient for you to generate invoices for subpoena response.  The idea underlying pre-configured invoices is to create several tiers of flat-fee invoices based on your reasonable estimates of average time to respond, multiplied by the average fully burdened hourly cost of employee time.  You'll appreciate this efficient way to generate a large number of relatively small invoices.  Safari customers have loved this approach for at least three reasons: 
  1. It's a defensible, data-driven approach to invoicing your reasonable cost in responding.
  2. As long as the invoice amount is reasonable, it's rarely a good use of the serving party's time to raise questions about the invoice (simply picking up the phone can cost them more than your invoice).
  3. Even in the unusual case where a serving party wants to negotiate the invoice, you can always change the invoice to be a "Custom / Negotiated Amt" invoice (see above) or just turn off the paywall.

Invoice Practices by Other Companies (Comparative Data)

It's helpful to know what similar companies are doing!  See this recent data in Safari about other companies' invoice practices:

Company TypePercentage that Invoice
Percentage of Matters Invoiced
Average Invoice Amount
Financial Institutions
85%
33%
$80.74
Non-Financial Institutions
91%
57%
$113.90
    Large Employers
100%
63%
$97.67
     Other Companies83%
51%
$130.13

Setting up Pre-Configured Invoices in Safari

Create/Edit a Pre-Configured Invoice

Safari system Owners or Admins can edit and create new invoice templates as follows:
  1. On the left side, click "Setup"
  2. Under Setup, click Invoices
  3. On the listing page, click the Invoice name or + New button
  4. Fill out the fields and click  SAVE 

Naming Convention for Your Pre-Configured Invoices

If you create multiple pre-configured invoices, you should use whatever naming convention is most intuitive for your Safari users.  
NOTE:  The name of the invoice template is NOT shown to subpoena serving parties – it’s internal only. 

Order of Pre-Configured Invoices in the Invoice Type Selector

The invoice list under System Setup sorts alphabetically.  In the Inv Type pick list, the list sorts by invoice amount, smallest to largest.  


Sample Line-Item Narratives

Below are sample narratives for line items, assuming you create three tiers.  The narrative offers some rationale for the invoice amount, such as whether there were multiple database searches, etc.

  1. [Tier 1 - lowest amount] - Standard fee for information request; includes analysis, data retrieval, and preparation and delivery of responsive documents.
  2. [Tier 2 - middle amount] - Standard fee for information request involving two or more databases; includes analysis, data retrieval, preparation and delivery of responsive documents.
  3. [Tier 3 - highest amount] - Standard fee for information request involving three or more databases or multiple subjects; includes analysis, data retrieval, preparation and delivery of responsive documents.
TIP:  We recommend creating only one line item for each pre-configured invoice. 

EXAMPLE of a Pre-Configured Invoice


Click on the image to expand
Header:  All this information comes from either the Entity setup page or the matter fields.
  1. Company and Contact.  Data from fields in the Entity setup page (e.g., logo, name, billing address, and invoice-support contact name and email).  
    1. Note:  the Entity name and billing address come from the Entity selected for the matter.  If any Entity billing address field is blank, no address appears.
  2. Invoice No.  Safari ID for the matter. 
  3. Invoice Date.  When you open the portal is opened (which is when you create the invoice).
  4. Company EIN.  Shown only if you enter an EIN on the Entity Setup page (for the Entity selected in the matter).
  5. Serving Party.  Serving party information you store in the matter.
  6. Case No. and Received.  Data from Case No. and Date Received fields to help the serving party link the invoice to a case to which your expense should be charged.
Line Items:  The information you enter for each pre-configured invoice.  You can specify one or more line items for each invoice.  However, Safari generally recommends creating only one line item to simplify the invoice.
Prepayment & Net Due:  The data entered about each request generates this information.
  1. If you've entered a prepayment amount in the matter's "Billing" section, it is shown (along with the check number if entered).  If the prepayment amount exceeds the line-item total, the Net Due is still $0 (not a negative number).  
  2. If there is no prepayment amount, the invoice just shows a total due.

Template Correspondence About Your Invoicing Policy

When you receive a subpoena, a best practice is to send a Correspondence to the serving party to 1) acknowledge receipt of the document request, 2) tell them when to expect your response, and 3) notify the serving party of your estimated fee (this eliminates any invoice surprise when the serving party receives it with your response documents).

Below is a sample correspondence template:
//////////////////////////////////////

[[Co. Logo]]

Case No.: [[ Case Number ]]  
Our Reference ID: [[ Safari Id ]]  
Document Title: [[ Document Title ]]  
Date Served: [[ Date Received ]]  
Subject of Subpoena: [[ Subject Names ]]  

We have received your [[Document Title]] and will respond by [[ Date Due (Response)]].  When our response is ready, you’ll receive an email from no-reply@secure-share.com with instructions to access an online portal and download documents.  Our expected cost is between $75 - $200, which you must pay with a credit card at the time you download our responsive documents.

Please contact [[Reviewer Full Name]] at [[Reviewer Email]] with any questions. 

Regards,
[[Reviewer Signature]]

ANOTHER OPTION.  Some companies modify this letter to state they won't even begin gathering documents until the serving party responds within 30 days that they agree to pay the invoiced amount.  That eliminates some non-serious document requests without you having to do any work.

Is there a question we haven't answered?  Please send it to us at support@safarilaw.com.

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