Billing Specialist

Manatt Phelps & Phillips•Los Angeles, CA

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP is seeking a Billing Specialist for their New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Tampa, San Diego, or Orange County office. This role involves processing a high volume of bills monthly, ensuring accuracy and timeliness in accordance with billing professional instructions, client guidelines, and departmental policies. The position requires familiarity with special fee arrangements and acting as a resource for billing professionals. The specialist will monitor matter billings against budgets, create and maintain billing instructions, and review client/matter setups for accuracy. Responsibilities include submitting invoices electronically, resolving reductions and appeals, and communicating with billing professionals, assistants, and clients to resolve billing issues. The role also involves escalating issues to the Billing Supervisor, suggesting process improvements, explaining billing policies, monitoring carry forwards and write-offs, coordinating with Accounts Payable for cost capture, and troubleshooting with Collections. Additionally, the Billing Specialist will create billing schedules and analyses, and assist with special billing projects.

Requirements

Minimum of two years of legal billing experience.
Knowledge of billing systems such as Aderant required.
Experience with e-billing.
Self-starter who proactively focuses on providing excellent and responsive client service.
Quickly grasps processes and procedures and applies them to everyday tasks.
Prioritizes and organizes workflow to complete tasks in a timely manner.
Active listening skills and a systematic and structured approach to problem solving which results in the implementation of practical solutions.
Adapts to different work styles and to changing circumstances while adhering to Firm policies and billing guidelines.
Communicates effectively with all levels of the organization both verbally and in writing.
Works well under pressure and stays focused on accomplishing the task.
Exercises good judgment.
Works well both independently as well as part of a team.
Solid basic math skills, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and calculation of percentages.
Excellent spelling and grammar skills.
Demonstrated proficiency with Word and Excel.
Strong attention to detail and ability to follow instructions accurately.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Accurately and timely process high volume of bills each month, including complex bills with requirements such as split party billing, flat fee arrangements and multiple discounts by matter for client-level bills.
Familiarize self with special fee arrangements for clients and act as resource to billing professionals on how to best implement arrangements.
Monitor select matter billings against budgets to track and alert of potential overage/deficit.
Create and maintain accurate and up-to-date client and/or billing professional specific billing instructions.
Review client and matter setup for accuracy and consistency.
Review and edit pre-bills according to billing professional instructions and compliant with client billing guidelines
Submit invoices electronically, monitor and promptly resolve reduction and appeals.
Communicate effectively with billing professionals, assistants, and clients to solve problems that arise during the billing process to ensure that bills are mailed timely.
Escalate to the Billing Supervisor, if necessary, clearly articulating the issue and possible solutions.
Actively listen to issues raised by billing professionals and offer suggestions to the Billing Supervisor on process changes that address the issues.
Clearly articulate Firm’s billing policies, including policies on write-offs and carry forwards to billing professionals and their assistants.
Monitor carry forwards and write-offs and alert Billing Supervisor of problems.
Coordinate with Accounts Payable to ensure that all costs are captured timely, particularly in the case of an out-of-cycle invoice, such as when a closing occurs.
Troubleshoot with Collections to resolve billing issues resulting in payment problems.
Create billing schedules and bill and payment analyses as required.
Assist with special billing projects as needed.