While clients across the legal industry are taking longer to pay bills, law firms in Washington, D.C., have cranked up the volume on their push to get paid on time this year, whether it’s by making investments in billing tools or putting more pressure on lawyers to enter their time.

Steptoe Chair Gwen Renigar said in a recent interview that the firm switched its financial systems in July, which has “automated a number of steps and gone to online portals,” allowing its lawyers to “get their time and get their bills out more efficiently electronically.”