It’s a busy afternoon in the downtown Edmonton bank. A law clerk steps in from Jasper Avenue traffic, taking her place at the back of the line. Customers cross their arms, look at their phones and shuffle slowly forward as the clerk double-checks the envelopes she’s holding. If you’re practicing real estate law in Alberta, this scene plays out with law clerks and couriers across the province every day—a common scene, and an expensive one.
Administrative tasks like this might not feel costly. But on top of flat fees for couriers and cheque processing, employees need to take time to manage each step. Law clerks can take on a lot of it, but any time that clerks spend on processing payments is time they’re not spending on other aspects of the practice. That time and money adds up quickly.
Take a hypothetical law practice that closes 20 residential deals in an average month. On each deal, the firm needs to:
- print and sign the cheques to disburse funds;
- go to the bank;
- complete the cheque requisition process;
- prepare the payout letters;
- get everything together for the courier;
- and follow up to make sure it’s been done correctly.
Even making some generous assumptions—that the bank trip takes less than an hour; and that any interoffice exchanges, bank correspondence, and familiarization with the file take less than 15 minutes total—just processing the payment on that deal works out to about 125 minutes.
That time translates to $11.80 in billables and fees, assuming national average clerk, lawyer and courier rates. Over a month, not counting weekends, that’s 41.6 hours and $2,236. Over a year? 20.8 days and $26,832 spent doing nothing but processing payments and disbursing funds.
It’s just the cost of doing business, or at least it used to be. Alberta’s legal professionals now have a better option: EasyFund®. It’s a fast and secure electronic solution to help you transfer closing funds and pay out disbursements without leaving your desk. Keep full control of all funds and complete payments in minutes instead of hours.
We used our savings calculator to determine the savings for the fictional practice above. How much money would your practice or firm save in a year? Use the EasyFund calculator to find out.
EasyFund® is only available in Alberta and Nova Scotia.
Services by First Canadian Title Company Limited. The services company does not provide insurance products. Some products/services may vary by province. Prices and products/services offered are subject to change without notice.
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