A Day in the Life of a Legal Cashier
Merely months after I left high school, I was determined to get straight into the business world and gain experience that would open doors anywhere I go. I applied to start as a junior for The Cashroom. Now, over seven years later, I am a qualified legal cashier in a team servicing 28 clients – still with The Cashroom.
On a daily basis, I am responsible for ensuring that our client’s books are up-to-date. This is achieved by ensuring all transactions from the previous day have been posted to the client’s Practice Management System (PMS). We would then do a bank reconciliation on the PMS using their bank statements. The bank reconciliation will highlight any omissions or errors. Oh, and our clients do not all use the same PMS. There are several large businesses in the UK which provide a wide range of different systems. Compared to an in-house cashier, this means that my colleagues and I must be able to use and adapt to these systems.
Once these daily tasks have been done, we then focus on queries from our clients and ensuring any ad-hoc tasks are completed. This can range from our regular compliance checks (credit balances not moved in two months for example) to preparing a purchase ledger payment run. Different practice management systems are not the only challenge that we face. Our clients work in various locations and practice different types of the Law.
We also deal with various projects outwith the general cashiering tasks. For example, one of our clients may decide to move from one PMS to another. These changes can provide a lot of benefits to our client, but the changeover is not a simple procedure. As the cashiers, we need to analyse the data on the current system and work with the new provider to ensure it is dealt with correctly on the new system.
Another example would be to assist with a Law Society inspection. Whilst most practice units keep the prospect of an inspection in mind, it’s not always at the top of the list. This can make an inspection notice a stressful process. It is our role as cashiers to provide all the reports that an inspector will need and to assist with any queries or issues raised during the inspection. This allows the practice unit and its staff to focus on their work.
But I am more than just a cashier! Over the years I have expanded into several areas of the business. I volunteered to help our Service Transition team, joined a steering group for The Cashroom’s own web-based Portal, organised our ambitious social committee with colleagues, and accepted a place in The Cashroom’s Future Leadership Programme.
No day at The Cashroom is the same as the last. One day I could be helping my team ensure that all our clients are being serviced with the highest quality of care. The next, I could be in and out of meeting with the Portal developers making sure we are always innovating and deploying new features for our colleagues and clients.
There is no satisfaction in staying in the same place. That is why I push my limits each day to expand my knowledge base. A example of this would be voluntarily undergoing training with some of the UK’s best-selling practice management system providers for example. Doing this allows me to do my daily cashiering work with full confidence and assist our clients to unlock their system’s full potential. You may not be surprised to hear, that’s not all the training I do, I also help train juniors who start the same way that I did over seven years ago. My experience in all the aforementioned areas, combined with my personal journey through the same route that they are on, guides our newer staff in the right direction.
As you can see, there are many different aspects to my role as a Legal Cashier at The Cashroom, and it is the variety and great experience I get from all of these that keep me motivated at work on a daily basis.
Kyle Stratton, Legal Cashier
The Cashroom Ltd
The vast opportunity of increased legal innovation and efficiency
Law firms are also realising the importance of law firm efficiency by freeing up resources to work on more complex and, ultimately, higher-value work. In addition to technology, outsourcing of essential business services is enabling internal legal resources to focus on what they do best – practice law. Small, medium, and large Solicitor practices are increasingly utilising the knowledge and skills of external business services, including cyber security specialists, IT, and financials (
According to the UK’s 
When assessing law firm data security risks where third parties are used to process data on behalf of the controller, it is essential to ensure that the processor is able to comply with their legal obligations under GDPR – this should not just be assumed. Failure to verify this could lead to a ‘supply chain compromise’ whereby the third party fails to adequately secure the IT systems that hold your (and your clients) data.
6000 people in the UK still have a black and white TV licence. 6000! Why on earth is that the case in 2020? 
After all, the cost of something is always relative to the worth it represents to the buyer, isn’t it?
OK or Even Keel – This is when your prospective clients are basically happy with their lot. It does not mean they are not a potential buyer, just that they don’t perceive an urgent need for what you’re selling. With this kind of client, it’s important to stay in communication. Keep them informed of your services and products. Make them aware of the benefits of working with you. But don’t in any way go for the hard sell. You want to be in their mind when they move into one of the other two modes.
Hope or Aspiration – these clients are a different challenge. Perhaps they are growing a business or trying to do deals. They have a big idea and they are buying your services as part of a strategic plan. You will need to convince them you can match their requirements and ambitions with a service that enables them to achieve their goals. Should you consider a more project based approach to deliver your services in alignment with the client’s timescales, and should that lead to a slightly different discussion around pricing?
It’s no secret that law firms are a particular target for cyber criminals, so it’s imperative to find out what defences an outsourced legal cashiering firm have in place.. At The Cashroom, we offer a secure end to end encrypted online portal to allow internal and external stakeholders to communicate and share information. We also hold an industry leading 
The news is regularly showcasing headlines about companies experiencing cyber breaches, as criminals refine their skills, finding sophisticated ways to get their hands-on personal data and intercept financial transactions. So when was the last time you reviewed your law firm data security?
It is not surprising that more law firms are turning to portal technology to protect client and business information given the increased vulnerabilities to email communication.
detailed plan for the future. Sure, there were appraisals and performance reviews which set goals, and identified areas for improvement, but they were concerned more with performing better in your current role, rather than planning and preparing for future roles, and areas of interest. Have a think for moment – does your firm have a plan for developing its key people for the future?
So, perhaps there is some food for thought here for discussion at your next Partners meeting. Do you have the same people in mind to take over the reins, and how are you going to equip them with the skills to do so? I would suggest putting a realistic plan together, with clear and achievable objectives, put it in to practice as soon as possible, and keep in regular dialogue with the people involved. They will likely be motivated by the opportunity, bringing better engagement immediately, and more seamless business continuity and succession into the future.
Do you have all your eggs in one basket?
Getting the best from a pension
Commissioner’s Office (
Perhaps some sound advice would be to pause for breath the next time a client asks your professional view on something outside your area of expertise. Is there a colleague who may be better placed to advise? Is there another friendly firm who would look after your client for this particular matter, but not poach them for future work? Perhaps you are part of a network such as the 
knowledge, it could potentially be dangerous for a number of reasons. For example, are you up to speed with the latest cyber fraud tactics? Are you fully aware of what your employees’ rights and responsibilities are from an HR perspective? Or is trying to do your own cashiering going to land you in hot water at a compliance inspection/audit. With all of these examples, you may ‘think’ you know what you are doing, or that you can get by, but do you “know’ what you are doing? If not, the additional time you’re spending on them, not to mention the stress, probably more than justifies delegating to somebody better placed to deal with them, or outsourcing those responsibilities to experienced experts or third-party providers. That way, you can sleep at night knowing things are being done properly, that you are covered from an insurance point of you, and just as importantly, that you can focus on what you do best, whether that be generating new business for your firm, or doing fee earning work for clients. I hope there is some food for thought here, and some take away points to discuss at your next Partners meeting.
LawCare
After all, change can bring risk, so you need to be confident that the strategy you implement will be worth it. Speaking to third party experts about outsourcing your account services should reassure you that the impact will be beneficial on your business moving forward.
3. Some employers are fortunate to have deep pockets, or access to investment cash for wellbeing, allowing them to invest in a gym in the office, subsidise gym memberships, or have personal trainers or dieticians come in to the office regularly. However, you really don’t need to go to that extent to encourage your employees to spend a bit more time moving and exercising regularly during their working day, thereby improving their wellness. How about encouraging walking meetings: a brisk 10 – 15 minutes round the block to chat through something you would normally do while sitting slumped in a meeting room to do. You will likely arrive back in the office refreshed, or at least a little more awake, and ready for the next task. Top tip – an initiative like this requires a top-down adoption, i.e. the leaders and managers of the business need to embrace it and start doing it regularly, to help instil into more junior staff that it is acceptable, and in fact is to be encouraged!
5. Finally, make seasonal events (e.g Easter, Halloween, Christmas) fun! Think about giving out Advent Calendars or Easter Eggs to all staff – not a huge investment, but definitely a morale booster – or having a dress down/up(!) day for Halloween. This can encourage interaction amongst employees, lift spirits in the office, and at the same time be used to generate some money for a charity of your choice.
Property hijackings (where criminals pose as owners) are escalating. In many cases, criminals will rent a property and steal the landlord’s post. They then use this to pose as the real owner and sell the house to cash buyers.
Information security certification (e.g. ISO 27001 or Cyber Essentials) helps to protect client and employee data. This won’t just keep sensitive data secure, it will also demonstrate to clients (and the ICO) that you take your responsibilities seriously.
At 
Outsourcing to The Cashroom has been painless. So easy to deal with accommodating everything that we need to do, when we need to do it, whilst keeping us on the right side of the vast array of regulations. 
At the same time, the total cost of employing in-house cashiering personnel is expensive. Because, in addition to wages, you also have to take the costs of recruitment, induction, training, mentoring, sick pay, maternity cover, holiday cover, pension contributions, and National Insurance into consideration.
The Cashroom offer an invaluable service for any solicitor’s firm. Their approach is efficient, professional and responsive. They have allowed us to deal with rapid growth by taking on all accounts functionality.”
The Cashroom has definitely been a good business move, not only because of efficiency but also in relation to compliance which can be daunting at times.”
We operate a business which requires efficiency and certainty of service. The Cashroom has augmented our own internal accounts team, taking control of key elements and working closely to provide a seamless service to us. 
How quickly can you get up and running?
We have been using The Cashroom’s services for three years now. We brought them in to provide a secure, efficient, compliant cashiering function to support our growing business with their flexible resource model. 
In the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019, conducted by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS), 32% of UK businesses had reported a cyber security breach in the last 12 months. Over a third admitting this breach led to a loss of data or assets.
‘Fraud the Facts 2019’ report highlighted that email (malicious redirection) fraud has become a lucrative business. Fraudsters use emails to convince a home seller or law firm to change their bank details before a payment is made resulting in £123million lost in 2018.