Legal practice

A law firm works on matters for clients, and much of what it does has rules: who it may act for, how it keeps clients’ money, when a court date or a deadline falls. Kila runs a law firm as a practice of its own: each person opens on the work of their role, and whatever needs a second person (a partner, a reviewer, someone who did not ask) waits for one.

What is special

• Intake before instructions. Each new client goes through a conflict search and their identification before a matter opens.
• Matters with their own life. A matter goes from draft to archive through the same states, with Kila checking the gates at each move, and the steps that matter go to a partner.
• A court diary that keeps its records. “A court date closes only with its full record”, and a deadline someone set is verified by someone else.
• Time, fee notes and the scale. Time and disbursements become a pre-bill that a partner approves before billing issues the fee note. Fees can follow the Advocates (Remuneration) Order’s scale.
• Client money apart. “Money held for clients in the client accounts, kept apart from the firm’s own (Advocates (Accounts) Rules).” A payment out needs a partner who did not ask, and someone else releases it at the bank.
• Its own words. Customers are clients, sales are fee notes and branches are offices.

Zoom

How a matter goes through the firm

1. Take the client in. Search for conflicts before taking instructions, decide any possible conflict, and identify the client: Run a conflict search, Decide a conflict review and Identify a client.
2. Open the matter. Open a matter and How a matter moves.
3. Keep the dates. Record what happened at a court date and Verify a deadline.
4. Do the work. Draft a document from a template and Send a message to a client.
5. Record and bill it. Record your time, Agree the fees on a matter, Issue a fee note and Charge interest on a fee note.
6. Hold the client’s money. Receive client money, Pay out of client money and Import the client account statement.
7. Decide what waits for a partner. Decide the firm’s approvals.

Who does what

Role	What Kila says it is for	In the demo
Owner	Full access to the business, including billing.	Margaret Wanjiru
Partner	Opens matters, sets rates, invoices, writes off and runs retainers; sees every matter but restricted ones; clears conflicts, agrees fees below the scale and approves payments out of client money.	Tom Otieno, Fatma Said
Advocate	Works on the matters on their team: logs time and expenses, keeps their diary, documents and client money requests. Payments out wait for a partner.	Brian Kiplagat, Cynthia Achieng, Peter Omondi
Pupil	Works under a principal on the matters on their team: logs own time, drafts documents, keeps the diary. No fee notes and no client money.	Naomi Wairimu
Paralegal	Matters on their team, documents, the diary and their own time. No fees and no client money.	Dennis Mutua
Court clerk	Keeps the diary of court dates for every advocate, records outcomes and next dates, files and records filing costs as expenses. No fees.	Joseph Kamau
Secretary or receptionist	Takes in new clients: records them, runs the conflict search (not the waiver) and captures their identification; keeps the diary. No rates or fees.	Lucy Njeri
Accounts	Fee notes, receipts, office books and the client account: receipts, requests to pay out and monthly reconciliations. Approvals and sign-off stay with the partners.	Grace Mwikali
Compliance officer (AML)	Verifies client identification and risk ratings and keeps the internal suspicious transaction log; reports to the LSK.	Rose Nyambura
Billing and credit control	Issues the approved bills, sends statements, chases overdue clients and collects withholding tax certificates.	Kevin Mwangi
Practice manager	Runs the firm’s operations: practice configuration, workflows and templates, workloads and handovers, the firm’s dashboards, office expenses and the compliance calendar. No client money and no legal sign-offs.	Daniel Mutiso
IT and systems administrator	Offices, settings and the audit trail (who opened restricted matters); an owner adds managing users and integrations to this role on purpose. No client matters, documents, fee notes or client money.	Ian Wekesa

The demo firm’s reporting accountant, CPA Jane Muthoni, has the read-only Auditor role.

How Kila sets it up

The main screen is My dashboard: each person’s counts, their work and what waits for them. Some roles open elsewhere: the court clerk on the Court diary, the receptionist on Intake, accounts on Client money, the compliance officer on Compliance, the practice manager on Firm insights and the IT administrator on Practice configuration.

The menu has five sections: My work, Practice, Practice areas (such as Conveyancing, Probate and estates and Debt recovery), Fees and client money and The firm. Each person sees the parts their role allows.

Its words:

Most businesses	Legal practice
customer	client
sale	fee note
receipt	fee note
branch	office
staff	team member

Its set-up steps

The owner’s Setup lists, after Business details and KRA PIN:

1. Practice areas, departments, teams and people
2. Advocates’ practising certificates
3. Client bank account
4. Rate tables and fee agreements
5. First client through intake, with the conflict search and identification
6. First matter through the new matter wizard
7. Document templates
8. Client portal access

The firm’s rules (who sees a matter, the conflict checks, the client money approvals, interest and more) are in The firm › Practice configuration. “The two marked with a lock are required by Kenyan law for a law firm and stay on.”

Reports that matter here

The firm › Firm insights is “The firm at a glance: matters, fees, work at risk and compliance. Every figure opens the list behind it.” Its tabs are The firm, Matter health, People and capacity, Money, Clients, Compliance and Reports, and Managing partner report (PDF) downloads the summary.

Try it in the demo

Wanjiru & Otieno Advocates runs as a law firm, with made-up data: offices in Kilimani and Kisumu, partners, associates, a pupil, a paralegal, a court clerk, accounts and compliance, with matters in litigation, conveyancing, probate, debt recovery and company work, fee notes and client money. The link fills in the person’s email: add the demo password the Kila team gave you.

• Wanjiru & Otieno AdvocatesLaw firmSign in as Margaret Wanjiru (owner) (opens in a new tab)