Run an advisory retainer

Before you start

Retainers are on every plan. The Retainers page sits in the Corporate group of the sidebar, which shows when the firm's practice focus is Corporate & advisory or Mixed.

Set up a retainer

A retainer is a matter with a fee that repeats. You can start one in two ways.

• Open a matter from the Advisory retainer template.
• Or put any matter on a retainer from its fees.

To set the fee:

1. Open the matter and go to Billing.
2. Click Edit on the Retainer card, or Change on the Fee arrangement card.
3. Switch on Retainer.
4. Enter the Amount, choose Monthly or Quarterly, and pick when it Starts.
5. Click Save changes.

The card then shows when the matter is Next invoiced.

The day retainers are invoiced and whether they go out on their own are firm settings. Open Settings, then Fees and billing, and look under Retainers for Invoice retainers on and Send them automatically. With automatic sending off, retainer invoices are saved as drafts for you to check. See set your default fees.

Follow this period's use

On a retainer matter, the Billing tab shows the current period, the Retainer terms, the Next invoice and Past invoices.

If the retainer includes hours or requests, the period card shows how much is used and when it resets. Where an overage rate is set, time over the included hours is billed at that rate on the next invoice. The card also says when the client is told how much they have used.

Log a client request

1. On the retainer matter, click Log a request.
2. Fill in What did they ask for? and, if you like, Details.
3. Set Asked on, how it Came in by (for example Phone or Email), and who it was Handled by.
4. Add Hours spent, or leave it empty and link time entries later.
5. Leave Counts toward the retainer on, unless the work is outside the scope and needs a quote.
6. Click Log request.

If your plan has the client portal, clients can also send requests from the portal with Send request. They land in the same list.

Every request is on the matter's Requests tab. Open the menu on a request for Edit, Link time, Count it, Outside scope, Quote as a new matter and Delete. Link time connects time already logged on the matter, and the request's hours are then taken from those entries.

Quote work outside the retainer

When a request is outside the retainer, a banner offers Count it or Quote as a new matter.

1. Click Quote as a new matter.
2. Check the New matter title and enter the Fixed fee (before VAT).
3. Choose a Matter template if you want one, and say What the fee covers.
4. Under Invoice, choose Draft an invoice, Send the invoice now or No invoice yet. Sending emails the invoice with a pay link to the address under Send to.
5. Click Open matter, or Open matter and send.

Chronica opens a fixed-fee matter for the client. The request is marked as quoted and stops counting toward the retainer.

See every retainer

Open Retainers to see each one with its Fee, This period use and Term. Filter by Active, Renewing in 30 days, Ended or All, or search by client, matter or reference. The Status column flags retainers with requests to quote and those renewing or ending soon.

Questions

What happens to unused hours?

The period card says whether unused hours roll over to the next period.

Can I see the work on a company's record?

Yes. Start the retainer from the company with Start a matter, or link it with Link a matter, and it shows on the company's Matters tab. See manage client companies.