Invoices should be generated from within Equinox – for a detailed explanation of how to do this, please see Equinox Help.
General points on invoicing practice:
- Do take the opportunity to consider, before completing an invoice, whether the total looks reasonable. In some circumstances, the amount may look rather low in comparison with the work done or the importance of the case. Please refer to KJL, if in doubt (print out a draft copy of the invoice for review).
- Before an invoice has been generated, take the opportunity to review all amounts carefully to ensure that all items have been included on the invoice at the correct charge (particularly where foreign currency conversions are concerned). The invoice produced should always match the Case Quote Summary, unless additional items of work have been undertaken in addition to the items originally quoted for. (Please refer back to Preparing a quotation).
- Even when invoicing a standard charge, check whether there is any time recorded for the case. It is very easy to overlook small amounts of time charge, for example for a telephone call. If these are left on the system too long, it becomes difficult or impossible to charge them, so they just have to be written off. We therefore need to add them in to the next standard charge, such as an examination request or grant or registration fees. It doesn’t matter if the standard charge is something you have sent a credit quotation for – you can still include the time charges as well as the quoted amount.
- When you create a new file, for example a case claiming priority from an application which is eventually to become abandoned, you should check whether there is any time recorded on the original file and if appropriate transfer it to the new file. You can do this by opening the charge and selecting “Move to other case” in the sidebar.
- We do, however, need to address the question of quotations which ask for cash up front, because these do not allow us to add anything to the invoice when subsequently billing. Perhaps the best way to deal with this is to make sure that in future we bill all such minor matters for cash clients as soon as possible after the event, something which should now be easier. While sending an invoice for a small amount to an overseas attorney might create difficulties with payment costs, it is probably better for many of our clients if we do not save everything up into one big bill, but simply bill smaller amounts as and when they arise. It will also help to reinforce the idea that professional time and other services are not free.
- When we purchase services from others and then pass on these charges to our clients, we may add a mark-up.
Itemised Billing:
If a particular client requires an itemised invoice, just take the following steps: (TO BE COMPLETED)
Discounts: See 3.3.3 Discounts
Invoice Numbering
The format of the invoice numbers is set by Equinox (according to our wishes) as yyyynnnn. The year changes automatically, and the numbers reset to 0001 at the start of a new year, so care needs to be taken when billing previous year’s work at the beginning of the new year to make sure the date is set correctly.
Last Updated on 31 December 2025 by Keith