Good News at One Florida Law Firm: More Clients Are Paying on Time

A Miami Herald columnist looking for evidence of an end to the recession talked to more than two dozen lawyers, executives and others before finding an example: the receivables at the Doral commercial law firm Gonzalez & Wermuth.

Name partners Ricardo Gonzalez and Michael Wermuth reported that clients were paying later and later, until at one point this summer, 75 cents of every dollar billed was more than a month overdue, the Miami Herald reports in its new Green Shoots column.

But this fall, things began to improve. Now outstanding billings have dropped to about 25 percent of billable hours, the story says.

“Things seem to be healthier,'' Wermuth told the publication. “What we started seeing was clients having the ability to bring their bills up to date.''

Gonzales said clients have cut costs and overhead. Now “they're looking for opportunities.''