A section is a block of fees. Its type decides how amounts are arrived at, what its elements are configured with, and which screens the resulting fees display on. A template can hold as many sections as it needs, including several of the same type, for example, one section per phase of a matter.
An element is a single line within a section. Element settings decide whether a fee earner gets that line automatically, whether they can remove it, whether they can change its amount, and whether the fee is created for them.
Section Types
Eight section types are available. The type decides how the fee is calculated, what its elements capture, and whether it can drive estimates, actuals or both.
| Section type | What it charges for | Estimate | Actuals | Rate cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed Fee | A flat amount per fee, either typed into the template or drawn from a rate card. | Yes | Yes | Optional |
| Fixed Fee Tiered | A flat amount that varies by threshold band, for example, by property purchase price. | Yes | Yes | Optional |
| Fixed Fees - Hourly Rates | A fixed amount derived from hours multiplied by a rate. | Yes | Yes | Optional |
| Hourly Rates By Job Role | Charge-out rates that vary by the job role of the person recording time. | Yes | Yes | Optional |
| Hourly Rates By Time Code | Charge-out rates that vary by the time activity recorded. | Yes | Yes | No |
| Hourly Rates By Business Rule | Charge-out rates resolved by evaluating a business rule against the person recording time. | Yes | Yes | No |
| Conditional Tiered Success % | A percentage of an outcome value, varying by threshold band. | Yes | Yes | No |
| Disbursements | Expected disbursements on a bill. Not created automatically. | Yes | No | Optional |
Expand each section below to find out more about each section type along with worked examples.
Fixed fee
Use it for transactional fees, for example, an onboarding fee, an abortive fee or a set fee for a defined piece of work.
Elements capture a display name and a fixed amount, or link to a rate card item on a Fixed Price Services rate card. Where the section does not use rate cards and Specify estimate as a range is on, elements capture a from and a to amount instead.
Elements can also carry a Trigger, a free text description of the event that causes the fee to be charged.
Worked example: criminal defence
A firm charges a set fee for police station attendance and a separate fee for a court appearance, both fixed whatever the time taken.
| Element | Amount | Requirement | Allow multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Police station attendance | £250 | Recommended | Yes |
| Magistrates' court appearance | £400 | Optional | Yes |
Both allow multiple, because a matter can involve several attendances. Neither is mandatory, because not every matter reaches court.
Fixed fee tiered
Use this where a flat fee varies by a threshold that is known for the matter. A residential purchase is the standard example. The solicitor charges a fixed fee, and that fee depends on the purchase price of the property.
| Purchase price from | Purchase price to | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| £1 | £150,000 | £400 |
| £150,000 | £500,000 | £600 |
Each element is one band, capturing a From Value, a To Value and a Fee Amount. Elements sort by their from value.
Worked example: residential conveyancing
Set Threshold type to currency and Validate overlapping thresholds to Must Be Sequential, so the bands cannot leave a gap. Each band is one element, all mandatory, with no override allowed.
| Element | From | To | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to £150,000 | £1 | £150,000 | £400 |
| £150,000 to £500,000 | £150,000 | £500,000 | £600 |
| Over £500,000 | £500,000 | £2,000,000 | £900 |
Give each element a display name. Where a name and both values are set, only the name displays, which reads better than a range on the estimate.
Section settings specific to this type
- Threshold type sets the data type of the band boundaries: currency, integer or decimal. Use integer where the threshold is a quantity rather than a value, for example, a number of transactions completed.
- Validate overlapping thresholds sets how strictly bands are policed. Allow Overlap applies no validation, Don't Allow Overlaps blocks the save where bands overlap, and Must Be Sequential requires the bands to run consecutively.
Conditional tiered success %
Use this for percentage-based fees, commonly no win no fee arrangements. The fee is a percentage of an outcome value rather than a set amount.
Each element captures a From Value, a To Value and a Success Fee percentage. The from value is inclusive and the to value is exclusive. Validate overlapping thresholds works the same way as on Fixed Fee Tiered.
Worked example: debt recovery
Debt recovery is a typical example. A firm charges a higher percentage on smaller debts, because the work is much the same and the recovery is smaller. Commission is charged on each payment the debtor makes, at a percentage that falls as the debt rises, because a larger debt returns more in absolute terms for similar work.
| Element | From | To | Success fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small debt | £0 | £10,000 | 15% |
| Standard debt | £10,000 | £50,000 | 10% |
| Large debt | £50,000 | £250,000 | 7.5% |
Turn Allow multiple on. An instalment plan can run for years and commission is charged each time the debtor pays, so the actuals group under one element with a quantity against them.
Personal injury work charged as a percentage of damages recovered is the other common use.
Fixed fee hourly rate
This type works out the amount from hours multiplied by a rate, but produces a fixed sum. It belongs with the fixed fee surfaces rather than the hourly ones, and its fees are recorded manually rather than generated from time entries.
When a fee earner adds one of these fees, the role and rate display read-only, and they enter the hours. The amount is calculated. The description pre-fills from the role and the rate, and can be edited.
The name says hourly, the behaviour is fixed
This type is the legacy hourly fees handler. It lets a firm quote for hourly work and capture the result as a fixed fee. It is not the type to use for charge-out rates driven by time recording.
Worked example: A quoted piece of advisory work.
The firm quotes six hours of partner time to review a commercial lease, and bills it as one fixed sum rather than tracking the time.
| Element | Role | Rate | Hours | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lease review | Partner | £350 | 6 | £2,100 |
The fee earner enters the hours when recording the fee, and the amount is calculated. The description pre-fills from the role and the rate.
Hourly rates by job role
The most common way to hold charge-out rates. Elements match to organisational roles, so a time entry recorded by a partner picks up the partner rate.
Section settings specific to this type
- Match elements based on selects whether elements match on organisational role, which is the default, or on a user defined field.
- Field appears only when matching on a user defined field, and selects the field through Data Composer.
- Allow user to pick element if not matched lets a fee earner select an element manually where no automatic match is found.
Element settings specific to this type
Elements capture the role, the hourly rate, and optionally estimated minimum and maximum hours. The minimum and maximum amounts are calculated from the rate and the hours, and are read-only.
Where the section uses a Charge Out Rate rate card , the element links to a rate card item and takes its rate from there. This is the setup that carries the least maintenance. Updating a rate means dating a new rate on the rate card item, and every template referencing it picks the new rate up automatically.
Worked example: litigation on hourly ratesBuild a Charge Out Rate rate card with one item per job role, then turn Use rate cards on and use Quick add to create an element per item.
| Element | Job role | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Partner | Partner | £350 |
| Associate | Associate | £240 |
| Paralegal | Paralegal | £185 |
When the partner rate rises to £355 on 1 January 2027, date the new rate on the rate card item. Every template referencing it picks it up, with no template edits.
Hourly rates by time code
Use this where the rate depends on the activity rather than the person. The section references a Time classification, and its elements are filtered to the time codes within that classification.
Legal aid work is the standard example. Travel and waiting attracts a lower hourly rate than attending court, so each carries its own element and rate.
Elements capture the time code and the hourly rate, and optionally minimum and maximum hours.
Worked example: legal aid
The Legal Aid Agency pays a lower rate for waiting than for advocacy, so the rate follows the activity rather than the person. Select the time classification on the section, then add an element per time code.
| Element | Time code | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Advocacy | Attending court | £65 |
| Preparation | Case preparation | £50 |
| Travel and waiting | Travel and waiting | £30 |
A fee earner sitting outside court all morning and appearing for an hour produces two fees at two rates from one day's time recording.
Hourly rates by business rule
Use this where the rate depends on something about the person that is not their job role. Legal aid grading is the main case in practice.
The pattern is to hold the grade on a bespoke aspect on the user record, then write a business rule that reads that aspect and resolves the rate. Legal aid rates are set by grade rather than by the firm's own role hierarchy, so the grade needs somewhere to live that is independent of job role.
Worked example: legal aid grading
Two fee earners can hold the same job role and different legal aid grades, so job role cannot resolve the rate.
- Add aLegal aid gradefield to an aspect on the user record, with values A, B and C.
- Write a business rule that reads the field and returns the grade.
- On the section, set the rule. Add one element per grade.
| Element | Grade | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Grade A fee earner | A | £70 |
| Grade B fee earner | B | £58 |
| Grade C fee earner | C | £46 |
Turn Allow user to pick element if not matched on while the grades are still being populated, so an ungraded user is not blocked.
Disbursements
Covers the disbursements expected to appear on a bill. This type is estimate-only, and disbursements are never created automatically.
The section draws from a Purchase Items rate card. A template can either pre-specify a locked set of disbursement heads, or leave the list open for a fee earner to search and select from. Elements can pre-specify a rate card item and its amount, so a section arrives with its disbursements already listed.
This type does not display the targeting settings, because it only applies to estimates.
Worked example: conveyancing disbursements
Pre-specify the disbursements that always apply and leave the rest for the fee earner to search for. Elements draw from a Purchase Items rate card.
| Element | Amount | Requirement | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| HM Land Registry fee | £135 | Mandatory | Override to zero rated |
| Local authority search | £95 | Recommended | Template rate |
| Bankruptcy search | £4 | Optional | Template rate |
The Land Registry fee is the case for an element-level tax override: everything else on the template bills at the standard rate, and this one carries no tax.
Configure sections & elements
A section is a block of fees. Its type decides how amounts are arrived at, what its elements are configured with, and which screens the resulting fees display on. An element is a single fee inside a section. A template can hold as many sections as it needs, including several of the same type, for example one section per phase of a matter.
The two are configured together, because the properties panel carries a Section tab and an Element tab and the panel follows whatever is selected. Which fields display depends on the section type, so both tables below are set out by type. What each type is for, and when a firm would use it, is under Section types.
For full instructions and videos on how to use sections and elements in the Designer, see Using the fee template editor.
Add a section
- Drag a section type from the toolbox into the centre view.
- Check the Title. It defaults to the template name plus the section type, so it does not have to be typed for every section. The default is not compulsory.
- Check the System Name. It generates from the title and has to be unique. Adding a second section of the same type means entering a different title before the save is enabled.
- Configure the remaining settings in the Section tab of the properties panel.
A section cannot be saved until it holds at least one element.
Add elements to a section
There are two routes. Which one is available depends on whether the section uses rate cards.
Add one element at a time
- Drag an element onto a section from the toolbox.
- Configure the element in the Element tab of the properties panel.
- Where the section uses rate cards, select Search to search the rate card items on the selected rate card, then select the item to link the element to.
Quick add, for sections using rate cards
- Drag Quick add onto the section.
- Select Search. Clio Operate displays every rate card item on the selected rate card.
- Select the items required, or select all of them.
- Confirm. An element is created for each item selected, taking its name and value from the rate card item.
Quick add is the faster route where a section needs many elements. Each element displays the rate card item name and its value, so nothing is keyed by hand.
Section fields
Some fields are on every section type. The rest depend on the type, so read down the column for the type in question. What each field does is in its own row, so nothing about a field sits elsewhere.
Key
| Short | Section type |
|---|---|
| CTS | Conditional Tiered Success % |
| DISB | Disbursements |
| FF | Fixed Fee |
| FFT | Fixed Fee Tiered |
| FFHR | Fixed Fees - Hourly Rates |
| HRBR | Hourly Rates By Business Rule |
| HRJR | Hourly Rates By Job Role |
| HRTC | Hourly Rates By Time Code |
| Field | CTS | DISB | FF | FFT | FFHR | HRBR | HRJR | HRTC | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Displayed as the section heading. Generates automatically from the template name plus the section type, and can be overtyped. The default is not compulsory. |
| Type | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | The section type, set by whichever type was dragged in from the toolbox. It cannot be changed after the section is added, so a section of the wrong type has to be deleted and rebuilt. The type decides how amounts are arrived at and which of the fields below display, which is why this table is set out by type. |
| Description | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | What the section is for. Optional, and not seen by the fee earner. |
| Enabled | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Whether the section is in use. On by default. Disabling it keeps the configuration without offering the fees. |
| Targeting | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Whether the section applies to the estimate, the actuals, or both. Defaults to both where the type supports it. Disbursements are estimate only. Targeting changes which other settings are relevant. Setting a section to estimate only makes the actuals settings obsolete, and the designer adjusts the available options accordingly. It also controls the element-level targeting setting, which only displays where the section is set to both. |
| Specify element as a range | — | — | — | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Elements capture a from and a to amount instead of a single figure, and the estimate displays a range. Use it where an exact figure is not meaningful, for example on time and materials work. On the types that carry hours, this is what turns the hours field into Minimum Hours with a Maximum Hours alongside it, giving the estimate a bracket. Not available when the section uses rate cards, because the rate card sets a single amount. A ranged element also cannot be set to create its fee actual automatically, because the amount to create is not known; a fee earner recording one by hand is prompted to enter an amount within the estimated range. Currently unavailable on Disbursements, because the general section configuration group is hidden for that type. This is expected to change. |
| Use rate cards | — | Y | Y | — | Y | — | Y | — | Whether elements draw their amounts from a rate card instead of holding them in the template. Rate cards are versioned, so a rate change is made once on the rate card and every template referencing it follows. Amounts typed into a template have to be maintained template by template. Use a rate card where the amounts are reused and likely to change, and type them in where they are bespoke to one client. Turning this on also enables Quick add, which creates an element per rate card item in one action. |
| Rate card type | — | Y | Y | — | Y | — | Y | — | Which rate card the section draws from. Displayed only when Use rate cards is on, and the list is filtered to the types valid for that section type. Fixed Fee draws from Fixed Price Services, Disbursements from Purchase Items, and Hourly Rates By Job Role from Charge Out Rate. Labels in the designer read Rate Card Types, Rate Card Item Type and Rate Card Item. See the Rate cards article for how to build and maintain them. |
| Enable time booking | — | — | Y | Y | Y | — | — | — | Whether time can be recorded against this section. Not displayed on the hourly rates types, where time booking is always on by design. Turning it on for a fixed fee section lets a fee earner book time to that section without generating any further fees or unbilled revenue. The time entry is logged and linked, so the firm can see how much time went into delivering the fixed fee. Combined with internal cost rates, this is how a firm reviews profitability on fixed fee work. A £1,000 fixed fee delivered at an internal cost of £500 is profitable. The same fee at an internal cost of £1,100 needs reviewing. A section with time booking on displays in the fee selector on a time entry, so this setting also decides what a fee earner can book time to. |
| Exclude from estimated totals | — | — | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Excludes the whole section from the estimate total displayed in the Financial Frameworks widget. Use it where sections deliberately overlap. Some firms configure one section per stage plus combined sections, for example Stage 1, Stages 1 and 2, and Stages 1 to 3. Only one applies to a given matter, so the overlapping sections are excluded to stop the same fees being counted twice. Tiered sections are the other common case, where summing every tier would inflate the total. Not offered on Conditional Tiered Success %, which carries no monetary value to affect the total, and currently unavailable on Disbursements for the same reason as Specify element as a range. The default for a newly added section needs confirming: the feature description and the spec acceptance criteria say on, the spec overview says off. Sections on templates that predate the feature default to off, so they stay included. |
| Validate overlapping thresholds | Y | — | — | Y | — | — | — | — | How strictly the bands are policed. Allow Overlap applies no validation. Don't Allow Overlaps blocks the save where bands overlap. Must Be Sequential requires the bands to run consecutively, so no gap can be left between them. Must Be Sequential is the safe choice on a value-banded section, because a gap means a matter whose value falls in it resolves to no fee at all. |
| Threshold type | — | — | — | Y | — | — | — | — | The data type of the band boundaries: currency, integer or decimal. Use integer where the threshold is a quantity rather than a value, for example a number of transactions completed. Not offered on Conditional Tiered Success %, where the bands are always monetary. |
| Allow user to pick element if not matched | — | — | — | — | — | Y | Y | Y | Lets a fee earner choose an element by hand where nothing matched automatically. Without it, time recorded by someone the section cannot match has no rate to use. Worth turning on wherever the matching depends on data that may be missing, a bespoke grading field being the usual case. |
| Time Classification | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Y | The time activity the rate is matched on. This is what lets travel and waiting attract a lower rate than attending court, which is the reason the type exists. |
Element fields
Details aspect
On every section type.
| Title | The fee name a fee earner sees on the estimate. Mandatory. Where the element links to a rate card item, it defaults to the item name and can be varied. |
| System Name | Mandatory. Defaults from the title and the section system name, and has to be unique. |
| Enabled | Whether the element is offered. On by default. Disabling keeps the configuration without offering the fee. |
Targeting aspect
Targeting. Narrows this element to the estimate only or the actuals only. Displayed only where the section targeting is set to both. Not on Disbursements, which are estimate only.
Tax aspect
Displays only where tax is enabled on the template.
Override template's tax code. Off by default. When on, a tax code selection is mandatory and applies to this element instead of the template tax code.
Use it for the exceptions. A typical UK template bills at the standard rate throughout and overrides the one or two elements that are zero rated, a court fee recorded as a disbursement being the usual case.
Estimate configuration aspect
Include in estimate. Mandatory, Recommended or Optional. The main lever on how much a fee earner can change, because it decides what a new estimate starts with.
-
Mandatory is on the estimate by default and displays without a delete action, so it cannot be removed. Use it for a core fee or a disbursement that always applies.
Where every element is mandatory and none allows the amount to be overridden, there is nothing for a fee earner to adjust. In that case turn Auto-activate and lock estimates on at template level, so nobody has to open and approve an estimate they cannot change.
- Recommended is on the estimate by default and displays with a delete action. Use it for a fee relevant to most matters using this template, but not compulsory.
- Optional is not on the estimate and does not display until a fee earner adds it with the plus action. Use it for a fee available with this template but not expected on every matter.
Actual configuration aspect
Automatically create fee. Off by default. Creates the fee actual automatically once the commercial model becomes active. It takes effect at that moment, not later.
Use it for fees that are certain. An onboarding fee is a good candidate, because the work is done as soon as the matter opens. A fee that depends on an event, for example a change of ownership, is a poor candidate, because the fee should only exist once the work is done.
Available on the three fixed fee types, and only where the section is targeted at actuals. An hourly rates section never auto-creates, because its fees come from time entries. It is also unavailable on a ranged element, because the amount to create is not known.
Because the fee is on the estimate too, it only auto-creates if it is included there. Removing it from the estimate is how automatic creation is prevented without changing this setting.
It interacts with two others. Where Allow override of amount is on and the amount has been changed on the estimate, auto-create uses the estimate value rather than the template default. Where Allow multiple is on, each instance on the estimate creates its own fee actual.
The state these fees start in is set on the template, by Auto-created fee phase. See Create a template.
Aspect specific to the section type
What displays in this aspect depends on the section type, so read down the column for the type in question. The fields are in the order the blade displays them, and the short names are in the key above.
| Field | CTS | DISB | FF | FFT | FFHR | HRBR | HRJR | HRTC | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allow multiple | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | — | — | — | Off by default. Lets the element be added more than once to the same section, which suits a fee charged repeatedly, for example a commission taken each time a debtor pays. Not displayed on the hourly rates types, where time recording always allows multiple. Where an estimate holds two instances of the element and Automatically create fee is on, two fee actuals are created. On the actuals side, repeated instances group under one element with a quantity against them. Adding a second instance is often the only change available to a fee earner where everything else on the template is locked. |
| Default goods service item | — | Y | — | — | — | — | — | — | The goods or service the disbursement relates to. |
| Description | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Copied to the estimate when a commercial model is created, then to the actual when a fee is recorded. Each copy can be overridden, so the template, the estimate and the actual can all differ. That is how a firm personalises a quote and then a bill. Read-only where it comes from a rate card item. Not used for hourly fee actuals, which take their description from the time entry narrative. |
| Business Rules: Select | — | — | — | — | — | Y | — | — | The business rule evaluated against the person recording time, to decide whether this element applies. This is what lets a rate resolve from something held on a bespoke field, legal aid grading being the usual case. Where no rule matches, the fee earner can only pick an element by hand if Allow user to pick element if not matched is on for the section. |
| Rate card item | — | Y | Y | — | Y | — | Y | — | The rate card entry the element takes its amount from. Displays where the section has Use rate cards on. Select Search to search the items on the selected rate card, then pick the item to link to. On Hourly Rates By Job Role the rate card item carries the job role, which is how the element is matched to the person recording time. That makes it the lowest-maintenance setup of all: a rate change means dating a new rate on the rate card item, and every template referencing it picks the new rate up automatically. |
| From Value | Y | — | — | Y | — | — | — | — | The lower boundary of the band. Elements sort by this value, so the bands display in order whatever sequence they were added in. |
| To Value | Y | — | — | Y | — | — | — | — | The upper boundary of the band. Where a name and both values are set, only the name displays, which reads better on an estimate than a range. |
| Fee Amount | — | — | — | Y | — | — | — | — | The fee charged where the matter value falls in this band. |
| Default Amount | — | Y | Y | — | — | — | — | — | The amount the fee defaults to. This is the amount field on a plain Fixed Fee as well as on a Disbursement. Where the element links to a rate card item, the amount comes from there instead. |
| Success Fee | Y | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | The percentage charged where the value falls in this band. A percentage rather than an amount, because the fee value is not known in advance. The widget displays the minimum and maximum percentages as a range rather than a figure for the same reason. |
| Hourly rate | — | — | — | — | Y | Y | Y | Y | The charge-out rate for this element. Where the section uses a rate card, it comes from the rate card item and is read-only. |
| Hours, or Minimum and Maximum Hours | — | — | — | — | Y | Y | Y | Y | The estimated hours for this element. Combined with the hourly rate to give the element's estimated amount, so a rate of £350 and 10 hours contributes £3,500 to the estimate. The resulting amounts are calculated and read-only. Where the section specifies the element as a range, the field is labelled Minimum Hours and a Maximum Hours field displays alongside it, giving the estimate a bracket. Hours affect the estimate only. Actual hourly fees are priced from the hours recorded on the time entry, not from the template, so leaving this blank does not stop a fee earner recording time. It only means the element quotes nothing. |
| Allow override of amount | Y | Y | Y | — | — | — | — | — | Off by default. Lets a fee earner change the amount, both on the estimate and when recording an actual. Where the amount has been overridden on the estimate and Automatically create fee is on, auto-create uses the estimate value rather than the template value. Where it is off, the value displays locked at the template or estimate figure. |