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Business Accounting

• 2021 Year-end Accounting Checklist for Law Firms
• 2021 Mid-Year Accounting Checklist for Law Offices [USA] (50:03)
• What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Accepting Credit Cards (27:44)
• 5 Questions Law Firms Should Ask Credit Card Merchant Service Providers
• 5 Key Benefits of Streamlining Your Billing & Accounting Workflow (29:41)
• When should my law firm outsource bookkeeping?
• What expenses are tax-deductible for law firms?
• How Should I Pay Myself from My Law Firm?
• Does my law firm have to pay sales tax?
• How much should our law firm be spending on staff and general overhead?
• How Can Our Law Firm Create a Budget?
• 2020 Year-end Accounting Checklist for Law Firms
• ABCs of Law Firm Financials (10:31)
• What financial red flags should law firms look out for?
• 2020 Year-end Accounting Checklist for Canadian Law Firms
• The Top 5 Reasons Lawyers are Switching from QuickBooks (10:40)
• (Canada) How to Modernize Your Law Firm Accounting with CosmoLex (29:03)
• Simplify Your Law Firm Accounting with CosmoLex (30:17)
• Law Firm Financials: Managing Your Money & Trust Account Compliance (32:37)
• Can our law firm write off bad debts?
• Does my law firm need a bookkeeper if we have an accountant?
• Mid-Year Accounting Checklist for Canadian Law Firms
• Mid-Year Accounting Checklist for USA Law Firms
• CARES Act, PPP-SBA Loans, and Recovering after COVID-19
• How should law firms approach clients about past due accounts?
• When should our law firm's client accounts be sent to a collections agency?
• How to Improve Your Law Firm’s Financial Security Today
• The Simple Guide to Improving Your Law Firm's Financial Security
• Using Modern Tools to Increase Your Legal Accounting Productivity (27:59)
• The Top 5 Accounting Challenges Facing Modern Law Firms (31:44)
• 5 Ways Using Separate Billing and Accounting Software is Wasting Your Time (39:42)
• 5 Ways to Run a Compliant Law Firm
• Top 5 Reasons to Find a QuickBooks® Alternative for Your Law Firm (37:25)
• What is the statement of cash flows for law firms?
• Are settlement funds taxed?
• How do invoice payments need to be allocated?
• Is recovering advanced client costs taxable?
• How should our firm record matter costs?
• How do I read my law firm's balance sheet?
• What Should Be Included in a Settlement Statement?
• Can general accounting programs like QuickBooks generate required legal reports?
• What steps are involved in administering payroll?
• What is a cash-flow analysis?
• Can general accounting tools be used for law firms?
• Why are accounts receivables considered an asset?
• How is law firm accounting different from other types of business accounting?
• Why should I use a specialized legal accounting program?
• Does my accounting program use double-entry bookkeeping?
• How does double-entry bookkeeping work?
• Can general accounting programs like QuickBooks allocate legal payments?
• What steps can I take to protect my firm from embezzlement?
• What is a chart of accounts?
• What do "debit" and "credit" mean?
• What is a journal entry and when do I need to use one?
• When do you use a “debit” vs. a “credit”?
• Can I transfer my data to a new accounting program?
• Can I use a general account program like Quickbooks to bill legal clients?
• Can a general accounting program like QuickBooks apply complex rate structures and non-traditional fee arrangements to invoices?
• Can I use a general accounting program like QuickBooks to track reimbursable costs?
• What is the difference between a hard cost and a soft cost for a law firm?
• What is in my law firm's profit and loss statement?
• How do I track clients with overdue balances?
• What is a profit and loss statement?
• What is the general ledger?
• What is the difference between cash-based and accrual-based accounting?
• Infographic: Top 10 Year-End Accounting Pitfalls Checklist
• Year-end Accounting Checklist for Law Firms (47:42)
• Redefining Modern Practice Management: Legal Accounting (32:53)
• The Year-end Accounting Pitfalls Checklist (6:33)
• ABCs of Law Firm Financials: Accounting, Billing, and keeping it all Compliant (10:31)
• eBook: The Five Obstacles of Legal Accounting
• Top 10 Profitability Metrics for Law Firms (8:21)
• Ask an Expert: Basics of Billing & Accounting Compliance (46:04)
• The Top 3 Business Accounting Challenges for Law Firms (15:43)
• Legal Accounting Face-off: QuickBooks & CosmoLex (54:56)
• The Critical Challenges of Using QBO for Law Firms
• Accounts Payable: What Law Firms Need to Know
• Navigating Your Accounts Payable: Bills & Beyond (36:51)
• Understanding Productivity & Compensation Models for Law Firms
• Legal Accounting Webinar Series: Credit Card Accounting (36:32)
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Case Management

• What Features Should Legal Case Management Software Have?
• What’s the Best Workflow Management Software for Law Firms?
• How Can Lawyers and Paralegals Keep Each Other Up to Date on Cases?
• 5 Ways CosmoLex Can Help Organize Your Practice (33:23)
• Can I use a spreadsheet to manage my law firm cases?
• How can our law firm track case tasks?
• How can my law firm keep track of all our cases?
• What are options for lawyers when courts aren't open for trial?
• What are case management best practices for law firms?
• The Five Pillars of Modern Legal Practice Management
• It’s Not Too Late to Migrate: Choosing New Legal Software in 2020 (29:00)
• How do I run a conflicts of interest check?
• How can I secure communications with my clients?
• How can I securely share files with people outside my firm?
• Document Management vs Practice Management (43:09)
• 3 Steps to Modernize Your Practice Management Solution (39:49)
• Harnessing the Power of Fully-integrated Practice Management Software (32:05)
• Top 7 Reasons PCLaw Users Are Moving to CosmoLex (57:45)
• Legal Matter Management Essentials for Modern Law Offices
• 3 Common Pitfalls of Legal Matter Management (42:21)
• Can Your Law Firm Last Using Generic Software? (49:37)
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Cloud Computing & Security

• How Can I Make Sure My Law Firm’s Data is Protected?
• What Should a Law Firm Data Security Policy Contain?
• Keeping Your Law Firm Safe in the Cloud (31:46)
• The Best Security Questions to Ask Your Cloud Vendors
• Running a Modern Law Practice with CosmoLex (28:13)
• How Can Our Law Firm Protect Data on Our Firm’s Phones and Laptops?
• Should Law Firms Use a Password Manager?
• Revitalizing Your Law Firm: Selecting the Best Practice Management Software (26:57)
• Revitalizing Your Law Office: How to Migrate to Modern Practice Management Software (29:16)
• Is it ethical or allowed for law firms to use cloud storage?
• Top Tech Must-haves for Lawyers in 2021 (45:32)
• Article: How to Migrate to a New Practice Management Software
• Checklist: How to Migrate to a New Practice Management Software
• How to Securely Migrate to New Legal Software (USA) (31:27)
• How to Securely Migrate to New Legal Software: Moving to the Cloud for Canadian Law Firms (32:45)
• How to Securely Migrate to New Legal Software: For Cloud-based Law Firms (34:12)
• Infographic: Top 10 Law Firm Security Tips
• What should lawyers look for when choosing a cloud-based practice management program?
• What data security best practices should law firms take when working remotely?
• What options do lawyers have aside from in-person consultations?
• eBook: Using Modern Tools to Increase Your Productivity
• What type of law practice management software is best for remote work?
• What are the best practices for working remotely for law firms?
• Are lawyers allowed to use cloud computing?
• The Lawyer’s Guide to Creating a Paperless Law Office
• eBook: Getting to Know Cloud Practice Management
• Law Firm Security In The Cloud
• What to Know When Migrating from Yesterday’s Legal Software
• How often should my firm be backing up its data?
• How can our firm utilize user-level access rights to protect data?
• If our law firm is moving to the cloud, is all of the data transferred?
• What is hosted cloud?
• What is two-factor authentication (2FA)?
• How can my law firm use integrations?
• Where is our data stored with cloud-based programs?
• What encryption do law firms need?
• What are the advantages to storing my law firm’s files in the cloud?
• How do I become PCI Compliant?
• How can I export data from my online accounting program?
• Do I need my client's permission to store their files in the cloud?
• Should my law firm have its own server?
• What security must my cloud storage have?
• Do law firms have to worry about ransomware?
• How can law firms protect data from a ransomware attack?
• 3 Critical Mistakes to Avoid when Moving to the Cloud (34:28)
• 10 Tips in 10 Minutes: Utilizing the Cloud in Your Law Practice (11:38)
• Demystifying Modern Practice Management
• Ask An Expert: Data Security Basics for Law Firms (45:57)
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Legal Billing

• How do Lawyers Stay on Top of Hard Costs and Soft Costs in Legal Client Billing?
• Legal Billing Increments and Client Invoice Solutions
• What Law Firms Should Know about Billing for Paralegal Work
• How Can My Law Firm Automate Legal Billing?
• 5 Keys to Efficient Law Firm Billing
• What Should a Law Firm Invoice Include?
• What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Accepting Credit Cards (27:44)
• How CosmoLex Can Improve Your Legal Billing (29:09)
• 10 Steps to Boost Your Law Firm’s Billing Returns
• 5 Proven Billing Tactics to Get Paid Faster (14:40)
• How can our law firm automate our collections?
• Top 5 Billing & Accounting Challenges Faced by Law Firms
• 5 Key Benefits of Streamlining Your Billing & Accounting Workflow (29:41)
• How can we get our clients to pay our law firm?
• Should my law firm ever discount our services?
• How can our law firm implement a payment plan for clients?
• How should our law firm set our rates?
• What Should Our Law Firm Billing Policy Look Like?
• How Can Our Law Firm Improve Our Billing Productivity?
• How often should law firms invoice their clients?
• What’s the fastest way to bill our law firm clients?
• What credit card merchant is best for law firms?
• Law Firm Billing Strategies to Make More Money
• How can our law firm avoid a billing dispute?
• Legal Billing and Accounting: 5 Ways Your Firm Could Fail (22:16)
• Can my law firm charge our clients for credit card processing fees?
• Improving Your Law Office’s Cash Flow: Utilizing Electronic Payments to Increase Client Payment Rates (41:17)
• Top 5 Billing Practices Used by Profitable Law Firms in 2020 (24:48)
• Infographic: Top 5 Billing Practices Used By Profitable Law Firms
• How can our law firm start accepting credit cards?
• What legal billing increment should our law firm use?
• Using Modern Tools to Increase Your Billing Productivity (30:36)
• Should my law firm outsource our legal billing?
• Infographic: Top 10 Tips for Better legal Billing
• How Lawyers are Making More Money: 20 Legal Billing Tips in 30 Minutes (23:48)
• 5 Ways Using Separate Billing and Accounting Software is Wasting Your Time (39:42)
• Can my law firm pass on charges for payment fees to my client?
• How can I make sure my law firm gets paid?
• What charges should and should not be passed on to clients?
• How should our firm pay credit card merchant fees?
• Is a contingent fee tracked as Accounts Receivable?
• What information should I include in my invoice?
• Is a flat fee tracked as Accounts Receivable?
• How should my law firm be tracking time?
• Can legal clients pay by credit card?
• Can general accounting programs like QuickBooks allocate legal payments?
• What is PCI compliance and why is it important?
• Can I use a general account program like Quickbooks to bill legal clients?
• Can I use a general accounting program like QuickBooks for timekeeping?
• Can a general accounting program like QuickBooks apply complex rate structures and non-traditional fee arrangements to invoices?
• Do I need to track my time for a contingent fee case?
• What is the difference between a hard cost and a soft cost for a law firm?
• Do I need to track my time if I charge my legal clients a flat fee?
• Can I email invoices to legal clients?
• How do I track clients with overdue balances?
• What are effective collection methods for law firms?
• 3 Ways to Get Paid What You're Owed: Leveraging Electronic Payments at Your Law Firm (48:55)
• ABCs of Law Firm Financials: Accounting, Billing, and keeping it all Compliant (10:31)
• 5 Billing Practices Used by Profitable Law Firms (34:40)
• Ask an Expert: Basics of Billing & Accounting Compliance (46:04)
• Ask an Expert: Better Billing & Faster Payments for Law Firms (54:00)
• Procuring Profitability in Your Law Firm (24:17)
• Avoiding Compliance Issues When Getting Paid
• Avoiding Legal Compliance Issues When Getting Paid (48:45)
• CosmoLex + Chrometa: Automatic Time Tracking to Increase Billable Hours (27:25)
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Running a Law Office

• Outsourcing for Lawyers: Ethics and Considerations
• What Makes a Good Lawyer?
• What Are the Three Bank Accounts Every Law Firm Should Have?
• 9 Tips to Boost Law Practice Success by Getting Back to Basics
• 5 Tips to Help Lawyers Secure New Clients
• How to Strengthen Your Law Firm’s Most Valuable Asset: Refining the Client Experience
• How Can You Measure Law Firm Productivity?
• Ask an Expert: Managing a Post-Pandemic Law Office (49:13)
• Can My Law Firm Automate Fee Agreements?
• Which Processes Should My Law Firm Automate?
• How Can Law Firms Increase Client Retention?
• What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Accepting Credit Cards
• What Does the Future Look Like for Law Firm Tech?
• Should My Law Firm Hire Another Assistant?
• What’s the Must-Have Tech for Law Firms?
• What Types of Documents Can Be Created Using Automation in a Law Firm?
• What’s the Best Way for Our Law Firm to Communicate with Clients?
• Ultimate Guide to a Better Client Experience
• 10 Tips for Providing a Better Client Experience
• 5 Tips for Providing a Better Client Experience (12:00)
• How Can Lawyers and Paralegals Keep Each Other Up to Date on Cases?
• What Questions Should I Ask Before Entering a Law Firm Partnership?
• How Can Our Law Firm Better Keep Our Clients Informed?
• Someone Wants to Acquire My Law Firm—What Should I Ask For?
• What Should Our Law Firm Client Intake Process Look Like?
• How can our law firm automate document creation?
• How are law firms using AI?
• How can law firms use automations?
• How can our law firm automate our collections?
• What AI tools can solo and small law firms use?
• Top Tech Must-haves for Lawyers in 2021
• Breaking Bad Habits in 2021
• 7 New Year’s Resolutions for Law Practices in 2021 (9:21)
• Breaking Bad Habits for a Better Law Office in 2020
• Top 10 Takeaways for Law Firms in 2020
• Top 10 Productivity Metrics Your Law Firm Should Track (12:00)
• How can my law firm be more successful next year?
• How can our law firm improve our client intake?
• What goals should my law firm set?
• What are the best New Year’s resolutions for law firms?
• 30 Tools in 30 Minutes: Productivity Hacks for More Money, Time and Happiness (38:06)
• How can our law firm securely send client communications?
• How can our law firm calculate fee distribution?
• How can our law firm fix our cash flow?
• What online document storage is secure enough for law firms?
• What is the best way for law firms to track time?
• What’s the fastest way to bill our law firm clients?
• Top 10 Tips to Streamline Your Year-end Process (10:04)
• How and when can my law firm raise its rates?
• What should my law firm include in a fee agreement?
• How can my law firm pay less in taxes?
• What financial KPIs should my law firm be tracking and evaluating?
• What client costs can my law firm be reimbursed for?
• Should my law firm use retainers or just bill as work is done?
• When will law firms go back to what it was like before COVID?
• How should my law firm handle our billing?
• What is the safest way to prepare my law firm for the future or another natural disaster?
• What should my law firm do to plan for the next year?
• What type of bank accounts should our law firm have?
• Advanced Practice Management Strategies for Increased Productivity (27:00)
• Infographic: 10 Tips to Increase Your Law Firm's Productivity
• Top 10 Productivity Metrics Your Law Firm Should Track
• How can our law firm avoid a billing dispute?
• How should our law firm choose a bank?
• How can our law firm start accepting credit cards?
• How much will our law firm be taxed?
• Adjusting to the New Normal: 5 Things COVID-19 Has Taught Us About Running an Efficient Law Office
• When is it time for my law firm to hire another lawyer?
• What tasks can an attorney delegate to someone else in the law firm?
• How much should our law firm bill for paralegal work?
• How can our law firm limit the potential for COVID-19 related lawsuits and claims?
• What will law firm operations look like post COVID?
• How can law firms remotely manage caseloads and deadlines?
• What budget items can my firm reduce?
• What type of vendor management policy should our law firm be following?
• How can lawyers remotely handle remote client interaction?
• What data security best practices should law firms take when working remotely?
• Are law firms required to provide PPE to their employees?
• What should law firms be doing to prepare for reopening their offices?
• How will COVID-19 change the legal industry?
• What are options for lawyers when courts aren't open for trial?
• What options do lawyers have aside from in-person consultations?
• Infographic: Top 10 Things Hurting Lawyers' Productivity
• Using Modern Tools to Increase Your Practice Management Productivity (28:06)
• What type of law practice management software is best for remote work?
• How can our law firm get paid faster?
• How can video conferencing help your law firm's productivity?
• Should my law firm layoff or furlough our employees?
• What should law firms do when work slows down?
• What are the best practices for working remotely for law firms?
• Infographic: 10 Tips to Declutter Your Law Office
• How to Simplify Your Law Firm's Financials, Technology, and Workflows: for Firms Not Leveraging Software (29:11)
• eBook: The Ultimate Guide to Decluttering Your Law Office
• How to Simplify Your Law Firm’s Financials, Technology, and Workflows: Law Firms Using Multiple Systems (29:49)
• How to Simplify Your Law Firm’s Financials, Technology, and Workflows (Firms Using Installed Desktop Software) 34:00
• Should my law firm track non-billable time?
• How can lawyers keep track of their to-do list?
• How can law firms keep track of client emails?
• What document management options do law firms have?
• How can law firms document and implement workflows?
• Preparing Your Law Practice: How to Operate Remotely (41:38)
• What are best practices for choosing a law firm vendor?
• How can I train my law firm staff on new software while keeping my office running?
• What tax deductions can my law firm claim?
• Can my law firm pass on charges for payment fees to my client?
• The Lawyer’s Guide to Creating a Paperless Law Office
• eBook: The ABCs of Running an Efficient Law Office
• 5 Bad Habits Lawyers Must Break in 2020 (35:30)
• eBook: Eliminating Inefficiencies
• Top 7 New Year’s Resolutions for Law Firms (8:40)
• How do I use automation in my law firm?
• What are the most common ethics violations for lawyers?
• As a lawyer, what can I do if my client won't pay their bills?
• What KPIs should my law firm be measuring?
• What is my law firm's tax liability?
• What year-end financial reports should my law firm have?
• How can my law firm avoid bad debt?
• When should I use a virtual paralegal?
• How can my law firm provide extra client value?
• How do I determine my law firm's profitability?
• How do I get a paperless law office?
• How should I set my hourly rate as a lawyer?
• Should my firm use accrual or cash basis accounting?
• How do I develop a pay, benefit, and incentive package?
• What steps do I need to take when hiring an employee?
• What steps must you take to find employees?
• Why should I create an employee handbook?
• How can I secure communications with my clients?
• How do I run a conflicts of interest check?
• What does the trial balance tell us about the company’s finances that the balance sheet doesn’t?
• How long does it take a check to clear the bank?
• Why do employees embezzle from their employers?
• What is the purpose of a balance sheet?
• What goes into a law firm's disaster recovery plan?
• Does my law firm need a disaster recovery plan?
• Can I use a general accounting program like QuickBooks for timekeeping?
• What steps can I take to protect my firm from embezzlement?
• Can I use a general accounting program like QuickBooks to track reimbursable costs?
• How do I draft a business plan for a law firm?
• I want to open my own law practice, what are the first steps?
• Can general accounting programs like QuickBooks send out bill batches?
• What is a break-even analysis?
• Can I email invoices to legal clients?
• 30 Tools in 30 Minutes: Productivity Hacks for More Money, Time, & Happiness (38:06)
• The 5 Tools You Should be Using to Communicate with Clients Today (39:10)
• How to Run a Profitable Law Firm
• Ask an Expert: Digital Marketing for Lawyers (50:13)
• Five Ways to Avoid Client Disputes (46:42)
• How to Run a More Competitive Law Firm in 2018 (33:45)
• Find Your Practice Zen: Time & Stress Management for The Small Firm (45:06)
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Trust & Retainer Accounting

• 4 Common Trust Accounting Errors and How to Avoid Them
• What Do Lawyers Need to Know about Accounting and Client Funds?
• What Every Lawyer Should Know about Disbursing Funds
• What Every Lawyer Should Know About Operating and Trust Accounts
• Should I Deposit a Retainer into an Operating Account or a Trust Account?
• How to Keep Your Three-Way Reconciliation Accurate and Efficient
• Retainer Agreements v. Flat Fees: Which Is Right for Your Law Firm?
• Trust Account Balance Sheets: Understanding Liability and Equity
• What Lawyers Need to Know about Trust Accounts
• How Should Lawyers Explain Trust Accounting to Clients?
• What is the right process for taking money out of a trust account?
• How can I close my retainer cases faster?
• 7 Vital Trust Accounting Reports for Law Offices
• Top 5 Tips for Trust Accounting Success (9:26)
• Trust Compliance Sample Reports
• Who can be a signer on a trust account?
• What Happens to the Interest in a Trust Account?
• When can flat fees that haven’t been earned be taken out of a trust account?
• How can we prevent fraud with our trust accounting?
• What trust accounting records should my law firm be keeping?
• What are the most common issues found during trust account audits?
• What happens during an audit of trust accounts?
• Should my law firm use retainers or just bill as work is done?
• Law Firm Financials: Managing Your Money & Trust Account Compliance (32:37)
• Should an IOLTA account have overdraft protection?
• Who can and should be a signatory on a trust account?
• What name should my law firm put on trust accounts?
• For trust accounting records, what happens if my bank doesn't return deposit slips?
• What is the difference between a flat fee agreement and a retainer?
• When can a lawyer take money out of a retainer?
• Who can have access to our law firm trust account?
• When should our law firm create an individual trust account?
• How can I do a three-way reconciliation?
• How can my law firm prepare for a trust account audit?
• What is considered a misappropriation of trust accounting funds?
• How do you close a law firm trust account?
• Mastering The Reconciliation Process With Accounting Software & Bank Data Feeds
• Beyond The Basics: Advanced Trust Accounting Challenges for Law Firms
• As a lawyer, what should I do if I make a trust accounting mistake?
• How should I record trust deposits?
• How do I handle interest on settlement funds?
• Do I need to keep original canceled checks for compliance purposes?
• What are my state's IOLTA rules?
• What are the benefits of having a retainer?
• Does a client trust account need to generate interest?
• How to Avoid Client Ledger Overdrafts
• What do I do if a client overpays?
• What trust accounting reports should my firm be generating?
• What types of funds should and shouldn't be in trust accounts?
• How do I maintain trust account compliance?
• When can I transfer earned fees from a trust account?
• How do I set up a trust account?
• What client trust funds can be used to pay an invoice?
• Can I use a general accounting program like QuickBooks for Legal Trust Accounting?
• What do I do with unclaimed trust accounting funds if I can’t locate my client?
• Why do I need to do a three-way reconciliation of each trust account?
• Why should I use a specialized legal accounting program?
• What is a three-way reconciliation?
• What do I do when a client fails to deposit a trust refund check?
• After making a deposit to trust, how long do I have to wait before I disburse funds?
• How do I avoid commingling trust funds with my business funds?
• What is PCI compliance and why is it important?
• How is law firm accounting different from other types of business accounting?
• What steps should I take when recording a client payment?
• Why are my client trust accounts showing as liabilities on the balance sheet?
• Is a retainer the same thing as an advance fee deposit?
• Why would I want to use an Evergreen Retainer?
• What is the difference between an operating retainer and a trust retainer?
• What is an evergreen retainer?
• Law Firm Financials: Managing Your Money & Trust Account Compliance (32:37)
• Keeping a Compliant Law Firm: Credit Cards and Beyond (42:39)
• The Top 3 Compliance Roadblocks for Lawyers Using QuickBooks® (55:25)
• 3 Steps to Automate Trust and Audit Compliance with CosmoLex (35:31)
• 7 Essential Trust Accounting Reports for Lawyers (31:02)
• The Winning Argument: Legal-specific Trust Accounting (37:56)
• Advanced Trust Accounting Concepts for Law Firms (45:44)
• Maintaining Trust Compliance While Switching Banks
• Three-way Reconciliation: The #1 Report to Solve Trust Audit Worries (35:05)
• Handle With Care: Managing Client Trust Accounts (44:44)
• 10 Do's and Don'ts of Legal Trust Accounting (37:01)
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