LawAccounting partners with Talli: pay clients their settlement funds from inside LawAccounting

LawAccounting has partnered with Talli, a payment platform built for law firms and others that hold and pay out client money. Talli is now built into LawAccounting. Your firm can send a client’s settlement payout from the matter, the client picks how they want to be paid, and the payment posts back to your books.

This post walks through how a payout works and what it means for your trust account.

Why settlement payouts still take so long

Ask anyone who runs accounting at a personal injury firm what happens after a case settles. The fee is calculated, the costs are deducted and the client’s share is ready. Then someone prints a check.

That check gets mailed. The client waits for it to arrive, then waits again for it to clear, and in the meantime they call the office asking where it is. Some checks get lost and have to be voided and reissued. Some are never cashed at all. Those sit in trust as stale items and hold up three-way reconciliation, and money that is never collected eventually goes through your state’s unclaimed property process.

Each check also costs money. Printing, postage and positive pay fees come with every one.

Then there are the records. The payment file sits at the bank, the status sits in someone’s email and the entry sits in the ledger. When a bar auditor asks how a client was paid, your staff have to pull it all together by hand.

“When a firm holds a client’s settlement, the job isn’t done until that money reaches the client,” said Rob Heffernan, Founder and CEO of Talli. “For too long, that last step has meant printing checks and chasing the ones that never get cashed.”

What the partnership does

LawAccounting is legal accounting software built on Salesforce. Talli is a payment disbursement platform for organizations that pay out other people’s money, such as law firms, settlement administrators and trustees. Talli was founded in 2024 and has paid more than 500,000 recipients across settlement distributions.

With the integration, your firm sends settlement payouts, vendor payments and other matter payments from the matter record in LawAccounting. Talli delivers the payment, screens the payee and tracks the result. The status of every payment comes back into LawAccounting for reconciliation and reporting.

If your firm uses CaseQube for practice management, you can start payouts from the matter in CaseQube as well.

How a settlement payout works

Step 1: Start the payout from the matter

Open the matter in LawAccounting and choose who gets paid and how much. Client distributions, vendor payments and matter expenses all start from the same place.

Step 2: Your client chooses how to be paid

Talli sends the client a secure link by email or text. The client picks ACH bank transfer, prepaid card, PayPal, Venmo, gift card or paper check. They don’t need to create an account.

Step 3: Talli screens and sends the payment

Every payee goes through KYC (identity) and OFAC (sanctions) screening before any money is released. If a payment fails or a client doesn’t respond, it goes into one exception queue, and Talli sends the client reminders.

Step 4: The result posts back to LawAccounting

The payment status flows back to the matter and the ledger. Nobody has to type it in again or upload a payment file to the bank.

Why payment choice matters to your clients

Some clients want the money in their bank account this week. Some don’t have a bank account at all, and a paper check is the only thing that has ever worked for them. Talli gives each client the choice.

A client who picks a digital method doesn’t wait on the mail, and your front desk takes fewer calls asking where the money is. When clients choose how they get paid, more of them collect. That means fewer uncashed checks sitting in your trust account.

How it works with your trust account

You can pay clients from your IOLTA trust funds. Here’s how the money moves.

Payout funds are held in a dedicated account opened through Talli. That account is separate from your operating funds and held for the benefit of your clients. When your firm is ready to pay, it moves funds from trust into that account, and each payout is tagged as a client distribution, attorney fee, vendor payment or other cost.

Talli tracks and reconciles each payment. LawAccounting records it against the matter, so your three-way reconciliation stays current.

Every payment carries an audit trail with screening results, approvals and status. If the bar or a court asks how funds were paid, the answer is in one place. Talli also produces 1099s and distribution reports for each payout.

Talli is a technology company, not a bank. Accounts are held at Talli’s partner banks.

Who it’s for

• Personal injury and plaintiff firms paying settlement proceeds to clients
• Mass tort and class action teams paying hundreds or thousands of claimants from one fund
• Firm accounting teams paying vendors and matter expenses

How to get started

Talli has an online onboarding process. Your firm provides basic business information to open the account, then funds it when it’s ready to send payments. To see pricing for your firm, book a demo with our team.

Frequently asked questions

What is the LawAccounting and Talli integration?

It lets law firms send payments from a matter in LawAccounting using Talli. Clients choose how they get paid, and each payment’s status posts back to LawAccounting for reconciliation.

Can I pay clients from my IOLTA trust account?

Yes. Your firm moves funds from trust into a dedicated account opened through Talli and held for the benefit of your clients. Payouts go out from that account, and every payment is recorded against the matter in LawAccounting.

What payment methods can my clients choose?

ACH bank transfer, prepaid card, PayPal, Venmo, gift card or paper check.

Does my client need to create an account?

No. Talli sends the client a secure link by email or text, and they choose their payment method from that link.

Can Talli collect payments from clients?

No. Talli handles outgoing payments only, such as settlement payouts and vendor payments.

What happens if a client doesn’t collect their payment?

The payment goes into Talli’s exception queue. Talli sends the client reminders and records each attempt, so your firm can show it made reasonable efforts. Funds that stay unclaimed follow the proper unclaimed property process.

Does Talli handle 1099s?

Yes. Talli produces 1099s and distribution reports.

Does this work with CaseQube?

Yes. Firms using CaseQube for practice management can start payouts from the matter in CaseQube as well.

How much does it cost?

Book a demo and we’ll walk you through pricing for your firm.

See a payout from start to finish

• Read more about the partnership
• Check out Talli’s website