Allison Lemasters

Legal time tracking software is the go-to method for lawyers tracking billable hours. This time tracking software works with the nuances of law practice, offering features such as multiple timers, mobile-friendliness, simplified invoice creation, and much more.

Time tracking software in 2024 is indispensable, especially for the demanding nature of legal work. If you’re an attorney searching for a simpler way to do billing, an attorney time tracking template, or even just ways to work more efficiently, you should be looking into legal time tracking software. Keep reading to learn about this helpful software, how it eases time tracking, and what features make for the best lawyer time tracking app.

How Do Lawyers Track Their Time?

More and more lawyers are using legal time tracking software to track their time. Historically, lawyers also used handwritten logs, spreadsheets, or even sticky notes, but the industry is quickly migrating towards digital as the standard. The American Bar Association reported that by the end of 2022, the majority of law firms (63%) were already using legal software of some kind — a number that has been steadily climbing since 2019.

Time tracking software provides a more convenient, accurate, and manageable method of accounting for billable hours. The best lawyer time tracking software also offers mobile-friendly interfaces, so attorneys can still track time effectively when they’re out of the office.

Regardless of the method a lawyer or firm uses to track time, some best practices are:

• Enter your time immediately. The sooner you capture time spent, the less likely you are to under or overestimate the hours. Adhering to this habit is one of the main benefits digital tracking provides: a way to quickly enter billable time into a single source of truth.

• Optimize your billing descriptions for client understanding. If clients can clearly see what you are billing for and why, they’re more likely to be satisfied with your work. Clients appreciate high attention to detail around billing, as it makes them see you are being intentional with the time they are paying you for.

• Offer multiple payment options. The easier it is for you to be paid, the more timely your clients’ payments will be — yet another aspect that digital time tracking software helps with. For example, software like Bill4Time supports multiple secure payment methods, making it easy for clients to pay their invoices safely.

• Regularly review and audit your time entries. Make it a habit to review your time entries weekly to catch any mistakes or omissions. This helps maintain accuracy and ensures you are billing correctly for all your work. Using software like Bill4Time can simplify this process by providing detailed reports and summaries for easy review.
  

Looking for more tips on how to track your time? Check out this informational article on billable hours best practices, from automating your billing to optimizing the timing of your invoices. 

How Are Billable Hours Tracked With Software?

Several features of law firm software aid the process of time tracking, such as:

• Timers: Use multiple timers for each task, allowing simple and accurate tracking. You can also view daily and weekly totals for billable time, giving you a clear picture of your work.
• Time and Expense Sorting: This feature lets lawyers search for billed time using filters like entry date, client name, and more. It simplifies finding specific entries and helps with accurate billing.
• Task Categorization: Organize different billable tasks for better accounting and client invoicing. This feature helps keep your billing clear and detailed.

Ultimately, time tracking software organizes, streamlines, and consolidates the process of tracking billable hours. It takes less time to enter and is simpler to generate detailed, easy-to-understand invoices for clients. Plus, your clients can pay their invoices through secure online portals tailored specifically for them.

What App Do Lawyers Use to Track Time?

Lawyers use time tracking apps specifically designed for capturing billable hours. Mobile friendliness is also critical for time tracking in the practice of law, as many attorneys have demanding schedules requiring them to be on the move constantly. Instead of manually recording hours upon returning to the office, a time tracking app allows you to easily log billable hours, whether in the office or the courtroom.

An app that is convenient, mobile-friendly, and tailored to the practice of law is best for lawyer time entry. Some examples of go-to software include Bill4Time, a software designed for lawyers to ease the process of tracking billable hours. 

Bill4Time offers many features to help law practices run more efficiently, from time tracking to invoice creation and even payment portals. Its mobile app makes it easier for attorneys on the go to track their billable time as they move between cases, clients, and various locations. 

What Is the App That Tracks Billable Time?

For quality software that tracks billable time in a mobile-friendly interface, Bill4Time is the right call. With simplified time tracking, at-the-ready invoice templates, and secure payment portals, Bill4Time has everything you need to streamline your billing process. 

Not only will your firm run more smoothly, but your clients will appreciate the detailed, thorough invoices Bill4Time helps you generate — a process that takes less time, effort, and stress from you. Best of all, you can do it all on the go, from any device!

If you’re a lawyer who’s ready to make time tracking a breeze, it’s time for Bill4Time. Try it out for free or schedule a free demo and see firsthand the difference it makes for your practice.

The concept of billable hours versus actual hours plays a pivotal role in defining both the economic health and operational efficiency of law firms. 

Billable hours are the hours law firms charge their clients for, directly affecting their revenue. Conversely, actual hours encompass all work done by lawyers and staff, including non-billable tasks such as administrative duties and client relations.

Understanding the balance between these two types of hours is essential for legal professionals when evaluating career growth, assessing firm stability, or looking to improve workplace efficiency. 

Effective management of these hours is key, and many legal professionals leverage technology to keep accurate records and analyze their work distribution. Legal time tracking software, for instance, can simplify this process, helping attorneys identify areas where they can optimize their billable hours while ensuring they maintain a balanced workload.

As we further explore the nuances of legal billing, upcoming sections will cover topics like:

• What are billable hours vs. actual hours, exactly? 
• How do I define billable and non-billable hours? 
• What are some examples of non-billable hours and billable hours?
• What’s the best way to calculate a billable hour when tracking my time?
• What should my billable rate be in relation to my salary?
• How can I get my billable hours up?

We’ll break down these elements, offering actionable insights to enhance your practice’s efficiency and profitability.

What Is the Difference Between Billable Hours vs. Actual Hours?

Billable hours are the hours that you can charge to a client. These are directly tied to revenue and usually include time spent on tasks like research, drafting documents, and court appearances that directly advance a client’s case. Because your clients pay for billable hours, it’s essential that your firm properly tracks them to keep profits up.

Actual hours include all the time you work, not just what you can bill. This broader category encompasses billable tasks plus additional non-billable activities (more on billable vs. non-billable hours in the next section). For example, if you spend 10 hours working one day, you will likely only spend a portion of that time on tasks you can bill to a client.

When considering the realities of working in a law firm, it’s important to understand how much of your time you can realistically bill to clients. Non-billable time isn’t wasted — these activities are essential for running a successful practice and developing your skills as a lawyer. However, they do not generate direct revenue, and managing the balance between billable and actual hours is a critical skill in legal practice management.

Non-Billable Meaning vs. Billable Meaning

Within your actual hours will be billable and non-billable hours. Non-billable hours are time spent on tasks necessary for your practice but not chargeable to any client. 

Attorneys determine their billable hours and fee structures primarily based on ethical standards outlined by the American Bar Association (ABA) and state-specific rules. 

For example, many attorneys would look to the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.5 for initial guidance:

• Lawyers are prohibited from charging or collecting unreasonable fees.
• In assessing the fairness of a fee, considerations include the customary charges in the locality for similar legal services, the amount of time required, and the lawyer’s experience, among other factors.
• Lawyers must disclose their fee structure to clients early in the client-attorney relationship to prevent misunderstandings.

And then they look at any state-specific rules, like these two examples:

• California’s Rule 1.5 includes a rule that states, “Unconscionability of a fee shall be determined on the basis of all the facts and circumstances existing at the time the agreement is entered into except where the parties contemplate that the fee will be affected by later events.“
• Texas’s Rule 1.04 gets specific with this rule: “A lawyer shall not enter into an arrangement for, charge, or collect a contingent fee for representing a defendant in a criminal case.”

These rules are set to ensure transparency, fairness, and ethical billing practices among law firms across the U.S.

Still, it can be tricky to determine billable vs. non-billable hours. While the differences and billable hour requirements by firm may differ, we’ll discuss what you can generally bill for below.

What Counts as Billable Hours? 

Billable hours include the time legal professionals dedicate directly to handling client matters. While the scope of what can be considered billable varies across firms, the following tasks are generally billable:

• Initial Consultations: Meeting with a prospective client to discuss their case.
• Document Preparation: Drafting legal documents, contracts, briefs, and pleadings.
• Document Review: Analyzing and revising legal documents received from opposing parties.
• Legal Research: Investigating case-relevant laws, precedents, and regulations.
• Case Strategy Development: Crafting strategies for case management and litigation.
• Client Communications: Exchanging information with clients via emails, calls, or meetings.
• Court Appearances: Attending trials, hearings, and other court proceedings.
• Mediation and Arbitration: Representing clients in alternative dispute resolutions.
• Depositions: Preparing for and conducting depositions.
• Settlement Negotiations: Discussing and negotiating settlement terms.
• Trial Preparation: Organizing case materials and strategies for trial.
• Witness Preparation: Coaching witnesses for depositions or trial testimony.

What Is an Example of a Non-Billable Hour?

A non-billable hour refers to time spent on activities that support the operations or development of a law firm but cannot be directly charged to a client. Some examples of non-billable hours include:

• Internal Meetings: Time spent in staff meetings that don’t directly involve client cases.
• Clerical Work: Organizing files, photocopying, and other clerical duties not specific to a client’s case.
• Training Sessions: Attending in-house training or continuing legal education (CLE) courses.
• Business Development: Engaging in networking events or marketing activities to attract new clients.
• Mentoring: Time spent mentoring junior staff or interns without direct client involvement.
• Pro Bono Work: Providing legal services voluntarily without charging a client.
• Researching Legal Software: Looking into new technology for your law firm that is not client-specific.
• Reading Industry Publications: Keeping up-to-date with legal journals and news that are not case-specific.
• Preparing Invoices: Compiling billing information and preparing client invoices.
• Website Maintenance: Updating the firm’s online presence, including blogs and social media, without direct client service.
• Staff Recruitment: Time spent interviewing potential new hires or reviewing resumes.
• Performance Reviews: Conducting or participating in performance evaluation meetings.

How Do You Calculate a Billable Hour? 

To calculate a billable hour, you record the time devoted to direct client services and then apply your hourly rate to that time. There are a few steps involved in calculating your billable hours, such as:

Having a Billable Hours Chart Handy 

If you bill in the standard 6-minute increments, using a billable hours conversion chart like the one below is quite helpful. These charts break down minutes into tenths of an hour, so you can easily convert time to a decimal. Eventually, converting your time will become second nature.

For example, if you worked 14 minutes on a task, you can see on the chart below that that converts to 0.3 hours.

Tracking Your Time

Tracking time accurately is crucial for ensuring proper billing. Here are several methods that attorneys might consider:

• Digital Tracking: Using attorney time tracking software is highly effective and reduces errors.
• Manual Logging: Daily logging of tasks on a calendar or in a digital document like Excel or Google Sheets can serve as an alternative, though it’s less efficient.
• Communications Review: Periodically reviewing emails and call histories can help reconstruct time spent on client-related activities, although you can miss hours with this method.

Tracking your time with legal software is usually your best bet for capturing every billable moment. Bill4Time, for example, allows attorneys to track their time as they work with handy on-screen timers or enter their time manually after a task is complete.

Rounding Up

Attorneys often round up to the nearest allowable increment to ensure they are compensated for the total time spent on a task. For example, if a task takes 43 minutes, rounding up to the nearest tenth of an hour (0.8) is common practice rather than billing for 0.7 hours.

Multiplying by Your Billing Rate

Finally, multiplying the rounded decimal hours by your hourly rate determines the fee. For instance, if the billing rate is $300 per hour and the task duration is 48 minutes (0.8 hours), you would multiply $300 by 0.8 for a total of $240 earned. 

While manually calculating your billable hours is possible, it’s time-consuming and can be inaccurate. It’s even worse when you try to do it from memory at the end of a long week. Alex Dimitrief, a prominent trial lawyer with extensive big law experience, emphasizes the pitfalls of delayed time tracking:

“Lawyers who catch up on time at the end of a billing period with vaguely-worded guesstimates are also not doing right by their colleagues. The belated recording of stock time entries often results in billing for less time than a lawyer actually worked and prevents the firm from gaining meaningful insights from its data.”

Using software like Bill4Time can help you avoid these pitfalls. Bill4Time’s robust time tracking features are designed to meet the unique needs of legal professionals, ensuring no billable minute is overlooked. You can see exactly how it works with a free trial.

How Much of Your Billable Rate Should Be Your Salary? 

Determining your billable rate and salary involves a careful balance between understanding your costs, the value you provide, where you are located, and your practice’s financial goals. Let’s walk through this process step-by-step.

Step 1: Identify and Add Up Your Overhead Costs

Start by listing all your operational expenses. Below are some typical overhead expenses an attorney may incur with some hypothetical costs per month:

• Office rent – $2,500
• Utilities (electricity, water, internet) – $400
• Administrative and support staff salaries – $5,000
• Legal research subscriptions – $250
• Professional liability insurance – $80
• Continuing legal education (CLE) fees – $50
• Marketing and advertising expenses – $500
• Office supplies and equipment – $200
• Technology costs (computers, legal software subscriptions) – $250
• Travel expenses related to client meetings or court appearances – $170

Adding these expenses together, your total monthly overhead would be approximately $9,400.

Step 2: Analyze Market Rates and Define Your Competitive Edge

Understanding the market rates charged by peers in your legal specialty and geographical area is critical. This insight helps you set a competitive rate that reflects your unique qualifications and experience. You can gather this information by:

• Consulting professional associations and networks. Many legal professional associations, like local bar associations, conduct and publish annual surveys detailing average billing rates across various specialties and regions. 
• Using online legal services platforms. Platforms such as Martindale-Hubbell, Avvo, and LegalMatch allow you to view profiles of other attorneys in your area, including their specialties, client reviews, and sometimes even their billing rates.
• Attending industry conferences and seminars. These gatherings are excellent for learning about the latest trends and challenges in your field of practice. 
• Conducting informal peer consultations. Reach out to colleagues and mentors to discuss their experiences with billing. 
• Analyzing competitor marketing and client engagement strategies. Pay attention to their online presence, including websites and social media. This data can tell you a lot about their target clients, the complexity of cases they handle, and their market positioning.

For instance, if you discover that most attorneys in your city with similar skills charge between $300 and $450 per hour, and you possess specialized knowledge or certifications, you could set your rate closer to $450. This higher rate reflects the additional value you bring to clients.

Step 3: Factor in Your Qualifications and Experience

Your experience, reputation, and area of specialization are significant determinants of your billable rate. For instance, if you are a lawyer with over ten years of experience in corporate law with a track record of high-profile case wins, your rate should reflect this. 

Consider also your operational efficiency and client satisfaction levels, which can command a premium in your billing. Your rate should cover costs and signal your market position as a top-tier attorney.

Step 4: Set Financial Goals and Calculate Your Desired Salary

Decide on a target annual income based on your personal financial goals, professional growth aspirations, and market standards. 

For example, if aiming for a salary of $150,000 a year is aligned with your expertise and years of practice, calculate your required billable rate by adding your overhead costs and a profit margin to your salary needs. Here’s how to do so:

1. Determine Your Annual Overhead: If your monthly expenses are $9,400, your annual overhead costs would be $9,400 x 12 = $112,800.
2. Set Your Annual Salary Goal: You’ve decided on a target salary of $150,000 per year.
3. Include Desired Profit Margin: You want a 25% profit margin on top of your combined salary and overhead costs. First, add your salary and overhead: $150,000 (salary) + $112,800 (overhead) = $262,800. Next, calculate 25% of this amount for the profit margin: 25% of $262,800 = $65,700.
4. Calculate Total Needs: Add your profit margin to the sum of your salary and overhead to get the total amount you need to generate: $262,800 + $65,700 = $328,500.
5. Determine Billable Hours: You may ask yourself, is 1,800 billable hours a lot? Consider that you’ll need some downtime, and managing a strong work-life balance is important to your success. If you have to wonder how many billable hours are too much, you may be overworking yourself. The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) also reports on average billable hours for lawyers, which you can check for a good starting point. For this example, let’s say you plan to bill 1,500 hours a year (approximately 30 billable hours per week).
6. Calculate Your Billable Rate: Divide your total financial needs by your billable hours to determine your hourly rate: $328,500 / 1,500 hours = approximately $219 per hour.

In this example, charging at least $219 per hour will cover your salary, overhead, and desired profit margin.

Step 5: Regularly Review Your Pricing Strategy

The legal market and your practice needs will evolve, so you will need to regularly review your billing structure. Stay up-to-date on changes in market demand, legal technology advancements, and your own practice’s growth or specialization changes. 

Annual or bi-annual reviews can help adjust your rates to remain competitive and profitable, ensuring they accurately reflect your current practice status and market conditions.

How To Increase Billable Hours 

One proven strategy for boosting billable hours without reducing service quality is using legal software like Bill4Time. You can see how it works for yourself with a free trial.

Traditional time tracking methods — using spreadsheets or written logs — often lead to lost hours, inaccuracies, and valuable time spent on non-billable tasks. Plus, trying to reconstruct days or weeks of activities at the end of a billing period can result in underreporting, affecting both revenue and insight into work patterns.

Bill4Time addresses these challenges with real-time tracking that captures every minute as it happens, eliminating the inaccuracies associated with delayed logging. Its intuitive interface works on multiple devices, ensuring accurate tracking both in and out of the office.

Bill4Time also generates detailed reports that highlight time spent patterns, providing strategic insights into managing tasks and billable objectives. For example, excessive hours spent on research might indicate the need to delegate preliminary research tasks to paralegals or junior staff.

Finally, integrating Bill4Time into your practice supports not just individual lawyers but entire teams. It streamlines case management processes, enhances transparency with clients through clear and detailed invoices, and supports compliance with the stringent ethical standards required in legal billing.

Want to see how Bill4Time could very well be your next step toward a more profitable and efficient practice? Get started with a free trial today!

Efficient time management allows attorneys to handle their caseloads effectively by setting clear priorities and deadlines while also preserving time for unexpected client needs. By segmenting their day into dedicated time slots for research, casework, client consultations, and administrative tasks, lawyers can maintain a balanced schedule that maximizes productivity.

Incorporating legal time tracking software becomes a powerful asset in this context. This technology simplifies logging billable hours and supports the broader practice of time management itself. It ensures that each consultation, each period of research, and each administrative action is accounted for and billed accurately.

Continue reading to discover strategies that fine-tune time management, how software can help, and a few billable hours best practices for better time management.

Why Is Time Management Important for Lawyers?

Lawyers rely on time management to ensure they can dedicate appropriate attention to each case and uphold their professional responsibilities. From client communication to court appearances to firm responsibilities, lawyers have to juggle a lot of responsibilities each day — not to mention hitting target billable hours in many firms.

But how many hours does a lawyer work per day? Working hours for lawyers can vary widely. Those employed by large firms often face weeks that can stretch to 66 hours, requiring exceptional organizational skills to manage such a demanding schedule.

In smaller and medium-sized firms, lawyers may experience a bit more variability, with workweeks ranging from 42 to 54 hours, which still requires careful planning to balance case work with administrative duties. Lawyers in government agencies typically align with a standard 40-hour workweek, though the nature of legal work can extend these hours at times.

No matter the setting, lawyers must be adept at organizing their schedules to meet case deadlines, prepare for appearances, and meet the needs of their clients, who may require assistance at any hour. It is a balancing act that calls for meticulous time management, especially for those who provide on-call access to their clients around the clock.

What Do Lawyers Do Most of the Day?

For lawyers, the rhythm of a workday is guided by the need to balance a broad array of tasks with the precision and urgency that the legal profession demands. Whether drafting documents, conducting client meetings, or managing unexpected challenges, effective time management is the thread that ties these varied responsibilities together.

A lawyer’s day often comprises:

• Communication with clients and peers to keep cases moving forward.
• Consultations that help lawyers understand client needs and formulate legal strategies.
• Serving as a trustee or advisor, roles that require careful time allocation to honor commitments.
• Court appearances, where efficiency is key to file or present case materials promptly.
• Preparation of legal documents, which demands focused blocks of time for meticulous work.
• Research into case law and evidence, requiring uninterrupted periods for in-depth analysis.
• Oversight of support staff to delegate tasks appropriately and ensure firm-wide coordination.
• Collaboration with opposing counsel, which often involves back-and-forth negotiations.
• Fine-tuning settlement agreements, a task that combines analytical skills with timely execution.
• Formulating arguments for court, a process that blends creative thinking with strategic planning.

Managing such diverse and complex tasks, lawyers find that time is one of their most precious resources. The ability to quickly shift focus between tasks, while ensuring each receives due diligence, is facilitated by robust time management strategies. 

Without proper time management, organization, and a sense of prioritization, it’s easy for time to slip away while multitasking. Thankfully, software like Bill4Time empowers attorneys to track their time with precision, allocate tasks with clarity, and schedule their commitments effectively, enabling them to focus more on their clients and less on the clock.

See how Bill4Time can support time management for lawyers with a free trial.

Time Blocking for Lawyers (With an Example)

Multitasking is one of the biggest challenges for lawyers and can waste more time than it saves. It’s natural to juggle tasks and flip between client calls or firm emails, but that’s the enemy of productivity. When you’re interrupted, it takes time to get back into what you were doing — losing precious minutes each time.

Time blocking, also known as block planning, is an effective productivity technique that limits distractions and interruptions by dividing the day into blocks of time with specific activities in each block. Your time is predetermined, allowing you to focus completely on each task at a time before moving on to the next.

Some benefits of time blocking include:

• Enhanced productivity: Time blocks encourage complete focus instead of multitasking, so you can avoid distractions and interruptions to complete your work faster.
• Better organization: With advanced planning, time blocks ensure that you account for all the tasks you need to complete, in order of priority, and stay on top of important work.
• Increased control: While you can’t control every interruption that may come your way, time blocking gives you more control over how and when you complete your work.
• Improved focus: Building in time for deep thought with important tasks protects your time, gives you the freedom to focus completely, and keeps you from rushing and making mistakes.

Here’s an example of a time blocking for lawyers template that outlines a typical day in a law firm with time blocks:

• 8:00-8:30 am – Review of daily goals and key tasks.
• 8:30-9:00 am – Check emails for overnight developments.
• 9:00-10:00 am – Deep dive into case research for upcoming litigation.
• 10:00-10:15 am – Take a short break, which can increase productivity.
• 10:15-11:00 am – Client consultations, offering advice and updates.
• 11:00-11:15 am – Time reserved for returning calls or addressing urgent emails.
• 11:15-12:00 pm – Preparation for afternoon meetings or court appearances.
• 12:00-12:45 pm – Lunch.
• 12:45-1:00 pm – Quick catch-up on correspondence.
• 1:00-2:00 pm – Drafting or reviewing legal documents
• 2:00-3:00 pm – Meetings with colleagues or support staff to align on tasks.
• 3:00-3:15 pm – Short break to recharge.
• 3:15-4:00 pm – Continued case work or document drafting.
• 4:00-4:15 pm – Administrative tasks and team updates.
• 4:15-5:00 pm – Planning for the next day; setting up tomorrow’s priorities.
• 5:00-5:30 pm – Final email check to ensure all urgent matters are addressed.

This template provides a detailed and structured outline that also includes buffers and breaks, acknowledging the need for flexibility in a lawyer’s dynamic day. If this schedule feels too rigid, you could also create one with wider time blocks that offer a bit more flexibility, like this:

• 8:00-9:00 am – Begin the day with planning and reviewing urgent communications.
• 9:00-12:00 pm – Block for client consultations, case research, and document drafting.
• 12:00-1:00 pm – Lunch and personal time to refresh.
• 1:00-4:00 pm – Continued case work, meetings, and collaboration with staff.
• 4:00-5:30 pm – Administrative tasks, review for the next day, and closing out communications.

Your day-to-day tasks may differ, but this example shows how time blocks can be used to group similar tasks together, organize your day, and stay on track with your priorities. If you run a firm with multiple lawyers, you may even consider implementing time management training for lawyers to encourage this practice throughout your firm. 

Taking Control of Your Time With Bill4Time

Time management skills and techniques are useful on their own, but you can work even smarter and give more attention to your billable time with legal practice management software like Bill4Time. With an array of features to simplify workflows and maximize productivity, you can manage your time better and ensure you’re always on top of urgent tasks.

Bill4Time has features like project-level task lists to create and assign tasks for specific projects or cases, organize them by priority, and delegate them to the appropriate team members. With automated workflows that are customizable to your firm, every member of the team is aware of their responsibilities and due dates from intake to completion.

To save even more time, you can convert any of your completed tasks into time entries, ensuring that you capture every minute of billable time.

Want to experience Bill4Time for yourself? Sign up for a free trial to explore features and see how Bill4Time can improve your firm’s time management and productivity. 

For law firms, having processes to accurately track time is crucial to the success of the entire practice. Proper lawyer time tracking helps firms bill accurately, measure profitability, and identify areas where efficiency can be optimized.

Small law firms are anticipating a 56% increase in demand for legal services. Correspondingly, it’s essential for law firms to implement automated solutions to capture time without hindering productivity.  

In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the importance of precise lawyer time tracking, how to overcome common time tracking challenges, and how to choose the best legal time tracking software to support your business.

Before we get started, here’s a list of what’s to come:

• Why Time Tracking Is Important for Lawyers
• How Do Attorneys Keep Track of Time?
• Importance of Accurate Lawyer Time Tracking
• Why Lawyers Struggle With Time Tracking
• Ethical Considerations for Lawyer Time Tracking
• Common Time Tracking Errors Lawyers Make
• Risks of Manual Time Tracking at Law Firms
• Advantages of Digital Lawyer Time Tracking
• What is Time Tracking Software?
• How To Choose the Best Time Tracking Software
• Time Tracking Software Features to Consider
• How To Standardize Legal Time Tracking at Your Firm
• Improve Your Firm’s Legal Time Tracking with Bill4Time

Why Time Tracking Is Important for Lawyers

To ensure you get paid accurately, it’s essential to track your time diligently. However, it’s not just about recording the hours you spend working, but also making sure that your records accurately reflect the time you dedicate to billable and non-billable tasks. 

Many lawyers make the mistake of mixing billable and non-billable hours, which can result in undercharging their clients for their work.

Undercharging not only undervalues your time and effort, but it can also have negative consequences for your firm in terms of ethics and client retention. While it may not seem like a big deal in the short term, the accumulated impact can lead to financial setbacks and falling behind on finances. 

It’s crucial to be meticulous in time tracking and accurate billing for all your work to ensure fair compensation and maintain the financial health of your firm.

What Are Billable Hours?

Billable hours account for the time spent on business matters that you will charge to your client based on a previously agreed-upon rate. Much of the financial success of your firm is contingent on your billable hours.

According to the aforementioned study from the Thomson Reuters Institute, 20% of small firms pushed work to staff with lower billable rates in 2022.

Now more than ever, it’s important to have the resources to determine how long certain tasks take you and accurately track them so you can bill your clients accordingly. 

Billable vs. Non-Billable Hours

Mixing up billable and non-billable hours can come back to bite you later down the line. It’s vital that you understand the difference so you can receive fair payment.

• Billable hours: The time you spend actively working on a case
  • Examples of common tasks include:
    • Drafting a contract
    • Researching laws relevant to a case
    • Attending meetings or court hearings
    • Building a case strategy
    • Managing client correspondence

• Non-billable hours: The time for which you cannot bill a client but is necessary for the life of the firm.
  • Examples of common tasks include:
    • Completing administrative tasks (e.g., collecting payments)
    • Continuing education
    • Attending seminars and networking events
    • Creating marketing strategies

How Do Attorneys Keep Track of Time?

Although attorneys must keep track of time, it can get complicated quickly. Interruptions can come from phone calls, having to break for team meetings, and taking care of daily firm responsibilities.

Many lawyers tend to use different tools to help them track their time, such as:

• Calendars
• Excel spreadsheets
• Pen and paper

Although these traditional methods can work, any process that requires manual entry, like Excel spreadsheets to track time, increases the risk of human error. You have a lot on your plate and even more on your mind, so relying on your memory and misplacing important documents isn’t worth the financial and professional risk.

Importance of Accurate Lawyer Time Tracking

Time tracking for lawyers influences several aspects of your business. Processes like invoice generation, billing, and determining rates all tie back to how accurately time was captured. 

Let’s explore the impact time tracking has across your practice: 

Improved Productivity

Accurate time tracking not only influences how your firm gets paid but also helps with task management and prioritizing work across the staff. When you understand how and where time is spent in your practice, you can make more informed decisions about your finances, legal service offerings, the types of cases your firm takes on, and how long it takes to complete certain types of cases. 

Accurate Scope of Work

By efficiently tracking time, firms can better report on staff and lawyer performance. This can assist with managing bandwidth and identifying areas of improvement in workflows. By having this information, firms can then accurately allocate resources and provide more accurate scopes of work for clients.  

Legal Billing and Invoicing

The success of a firm’s billing and invoicing all ties back to the process they use to track and manage time. By efficiently capturing time spent on client cases or other relevant case activities, firms can optimize billable hours and easily generate legal invoices that accurately reflect the services provided to clients. 

This level of transparency in a firm’s billing process minimizes the chance of disputes with clients and ensures that the firm is properly compensated.

Client Retention (Transparency) 

Maintaining transparent communication with your clients regarding the time spent on their cases can greatly impact client retention. By providing accurate and detailed invoices that clearly show the time spent on their case, you are showcasing your firm’s commitment to transparency and accountability. 

This fosters trust between you and your clients, and can ultimately enhance your brand’s reputation as a reliable and trustworthy legal service provider. All in all, clients appreciate transparency in billing practices. It can be a key factor in building long-term relationships and retaining clients for repeat business. 

Why Lawyers Struggle With Time Tracking

As a lawyer, you often have a lot on your plate with court hearings, conflicting deadlines, meetings, keeping up with client correspondences — the list goes on.  The sheer volume of tasks can be overwhelming and doesn’t account for administrative work. 

One major administrative burden for lawyers is tracking the time spent on each client’s case. Without automated processes, manual lawyer time tracking can be tedious and time-consuming, involving multiple steps to collect the time you worked. This not only takes up valuable billable time but also increases the risk of errors that can result in improper time tracking and billing.

To streamline your time tracking and billing process, consider using a dedicated time tracking software designed specifically for lawyers. The best time tracking software offers features such as automatic time tracking, task and project management, and integrated billing and invoicing that elevate the administrative burden that comes with traditional time tracking methods.

Don’t worry, we’ll dive more into time tracking software later in the guide so you know how to choose the best one for your firm. 

Ethical Considerations for Lawyer Time Tracking

Proper time tracking practices are important for law firms to ensure compliance and avoid legal and ethical violations. Lawyers are required to follow the rules and regulations set forth by The American Bar Association (ABA). Rules which are relevant to time tracking are Model Rules 1.5, 1.6, and 1.15.

According to ABA Model Rule 1.5 (b), lawyers must communicate the scope of representation, basis or rate of the fee, and expenses to the client preferably in writing, before or within a reasonable time after starting the representation. Any changes in the fee or expenses must also be communicated to the client.

The ABA also provides time tracking tips for lawyers, which include:

• Regularly reviewing time tracking sheets and bills to prevent accusations of padding or billing for more than 24 hours in a day
• Being vigilant when logging time for multiple cases on the same day and at the same time
• Avoid moving on to another client before completing the task at hand to maintain accuracy in time tracking

Common Time Tracking Errors Lawyers Make

Now that we know the risk of improper time tracking, here are the most common mistakes lawyers make when tracking their time: 

• Manual time tracking: Calendars, spreadsheets, and pen and paper are all manual ways to log and track time. Although there’s nothing inherently wrong with them, they are prone to time tracking errors. It’s easy to type in the wrong number, forget to log the hours, or even lose paper files that contain clients’ information.

• Delayed time entry: Many attorneys wait until the end of the day, week, or even month to log their hours. The longer it takes you to enter your time, the more likely you are to forget how much time you actually worked. Don’t be left scrambling with little time to review for discrepancies. 

• Not properly tracking non-billable time: Everything you do is for your clients, it’s easy to confuse billable and non-billable time. Being actively aware of the difference can help better structure the time and effort you dedicate to your clients.

Risks of Manual Time Tracking at Law Firms

Improper time tracking practices, like manual entry, can have various negative impacts on a law firm’s business, including:

• Billing Disputes: Inaccurate time tracking can lead to disputes with clients over billed hours, resulting in potential loss of revenue, strained client relationships, and increased administrative time spent on resolving disputes. This may also make it difficult to justify fees or expenses to clients, leading to the potential erosion of client confidence and reluctance to pay for services rendered.

• Reduced Profitability: Manual time tracking methods can reduce the accuracy of time tracking. This can result in underbilling or overbilling, leading to reduced profitability for your law firm as it may not accurately capture the value of the services provided or may result in lost revenue due to overcharging.

• Legal and Ethical Concerns: As mentioned, failing to accurately track time can raise legal and ethical concerns, potentially resulting in violations of professional conduct rules, penalties, fines, or even legal actions, which can harm the law firm’s reputation and financial stability.

• Damage to Professional Reputation: If your firm is flagged for ethical violations, it can damage your firm’s professional reputation. This could lead to negative word-of-mouth, loss of potential clients, and harm your firm’s overall presence in the legal market. 

• Loss of Client Trust and Loyalty: Clients expect transparency and accuracy when working with law firms. If clients notice repeat discrepancies in your time tracking billing practices, you risk losing repeat business and referrals. Both of which are leading business generation funnels for law firms. 

It is crucial for law firms to implement proper time tracking practices to mitigate these risks and maintain the integrity of their billing and financial processes.

Advantages of Digital Lawyer Time Tracking

It’s estimated that lawyers spend nearly half of their time completing non-billable, administrative tasks rather than practicing law. With digital time tracking, lawyers can streamline the time tracking process which also influences how quickly they generate invoices and verify their accuracy.

Here are a few benefits of digital time tracking: 

Increased Accuracy

Digital lawyer time tracking eliminates the risk of manual errors and provides accurate and reliable time tracking data. This ensures that lawyers and legal professionals can capture their billable and non-billable hours with precision, leading to accurate billing, improved invoicing, and reduced disputes.

Increased Productivity

Instead of wasting time hunting down where your time was allocated, digital time tracking allows you to easily allocate time to specific cases or activities. By categorizing how time is tracked, lawyers can identify areas where they can improve their productivity, prioritize their work, and manage their workload effectively.

Transparent Billing

Lawyers can generate detailed reports on billable and non-billable time to help improve the transparency of their billing and invoicing. This not only supports client trust, but it helps clients understand the value of the legal services provided. 

Enhanced Profitability

Accurate time tracking can help law firms and legal professionals better understand the profitability of their work. By tracking time spent on different tasks and activities, lawyers can analyze their productivity, profitability, and ROI on matters or contacts. This can enable law firms to make data-driven decisions, optimize their pricing strategies, and improve their overall profitability.

Reporting

Many digital time tracking tools offer reporting and analytics features that provide valuable insights into time utilization, productivity, and profitability. Lawyers can use these insights to analyze many aspects of their business. Firms can analyze work patterns, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to optimize their workflow, performance, and profitability.

What Is Time Tracking Software?

Time tracking software is a system that helps individuals and businesses monitor and record the amount of time spent on specific tasks or activities. 

In the context of law firms, time tracking software is used to accurately capture the time spent on billable tasks by lawyers and other staff members. Law firms use time tracking software to streamline their billing processes, improve accuracy and transparency, and increase efficiency. 

By effectively tracking time spent on client matters, law firms can generate accurate invoices and ensure that clients are billed appropriately for the work performed. Time tracking software can also help firms identify areas where they can maximize productivity by highlighting time-consuming or unprofitable tasks.

Overall, time tracking software is an important tool for law firms to ensure that they are maximizing their billable hours and providing accurate billing information to their clients. 

How To Choose the Best Time Tracking Software

Choosing the best time tracking software can be a critical decision that impacts the success of your firm’s operations even beyond time tracking. Here are some essential tips to help you make an informed decision:

Assess Your Firm’s Needs and Goals

Start by identifying your firm’s specific time tracking needs. Consider factors such as the size of your firm, practice area, the software you currently use, and any specific features you require (i.e. project management, reporting, integrations). You will also want to consider your finances and how the new software will fit into your budget.

Defining your needs, goals, and budget before starting your search will mitigate any confusion and ensure you get the features your firm actually needs.

Compare Your Options

There are several time tracking options available on the market which can make it difficult to navigate which is best for your firm. This is why it’s important to have your firm’s goals in mind during the process so you have a point of reference. 

Depending on your practice area, you’ll also want to consider finding time tracking software that is specific to your field.

Read Customer Reviews

Read reviews and testimonials from other users to get insights into their experiences with the time tracking software. Look for feedback related to ease of use, features, customer service, and overall satisfaction to help you make an informed decision.

Book a Trial or Demo

It’s one thing to see videos and images. Always book a demo to see the software in action. Once you have shortlisted your top options, schedule a demo to ask questions and see the functionality of its features. 

When available, you should also opt for a free trial to see how easy it is to transition the time tracking software into your processes over an extended period of time.

Time Tracking Software Features to Consider

Ease of Use

The right time tracking software will be a seamless transition for your firm. It should be easy for you and your staff to quickly start tracking time without a steep learning curve. This is most prevalent in time tracking software that has a clean and simple interface, with clear instructions and navigation.

Features and Customization

Ensuring your firm has the features it needs is important. However, don’t overlook having the ability to customize them. This can come in the form of specific settings. Think of features like adding your billable hour methods or increments or adding your brand logo to invoices

Security and Privacy

Lawyers have a responsibility to ensure that the software and technology they use is secure and maintains client confidentiality. Legal-specific time tracking software often operates in the cloud. With features such as data encryption, user access controls, and automatic backups, your data stays safe. 

Platform Compatibility

Depending on the current systems your firm uses, it’s important the new time tracking software you adopt is compatible with the platforms you use most frequently. This can reduce migration time and lessen the learning curve across your firm. 

Reporting and Analytics

A time tracking software that offers robust time and expense reporting features can provide valuable insights. Make data-driven decisions and improve your firm’s workflow, productivity, and project progress.

Pricing

Consider your budget and evaluate the pricing options offered by different time tracking software vendors. Some time tracking software may offer free or basic plans with limited features. Alternatively, others may offer more robust plans at a higher cost. Choose a pricing plan that fits your budget and provides the features you need.

How To Standardize Legal Time Tracking at Your Firm

Now that you know the features to look for in lawyer time tracking software, it’s important to standardize your time tracking process so everyone at your firm is on the same page. 

Create a Time Tracking Policy

Along with a defined legal billing policy, your firm should consider creating a comprehensive time tracking policy that outlines lawyer time tracking expectations to ensure your firm’s time tracking is consistent. A lawyer time tracking policy should include items such as: 

• Expectations for time tracking
• Accepted methods of capturing time
• How to create detailed time entries
• The difference between billable and non-billable hours
• Compliance guidelines

Use the Time Tracking Software

A centralized time tracking software that is accessible to everyone in your firm will make it easier to capture time, monitor time entries, and track performance. How to properly use your firm’s time tracking software should be outlined in your time tracking policy. 

Determine Your Billing Rates and Codes

Establishing specific billing rates and codes for different tasks or activities will help streamline the billing process and improve accuracy in client invoicing. This includes items like your firm’s billing rates, increments, or fixed fees.

Train Your Staff

Offer training and education to all lawyers and staff on the importance of accurate time tracking and the proper use of time tracking software. Provide guidance on how to submit time entries, use billing codes or categories, and allocate time to the correct client or matter. 

Routinely Monitor Time Entries

Set up a schedule for how often you will review your firm’s perspective and by which measures. The best time tracking software will give you a bird’s eye view of how long you spent doing each task, setting you up to make well-informed decisions.

Improve Your Firm’s Legal Time Tracking with Bill4Time

Time tracking can be an afterthought when balancing firm operations and client demands. The need for legal services and digital processes continues to grow. Now is the time for law firms to adopt solutions that automate time-consuming administrative tasks, like time tracking and billing. 

As discussed, manual lawyer time tracking methods can hinder productivity and profitability. Plus, pose ethical issues that can tarnish your firm’s reputation and client retention. By adopting legal time tracking software, your firm can access the resources it needs to standardize the time tracking process, boost productivity and increase the accuracy of your bills. 

Bill4Time’s time tracking software reduces administrative tasks with automated features. Maximizing firm efficiency by modernizing how law firms track their time.

With Bill4Time your firm will have access to: 

Automated Time Tracking

A set-it-and-forget-it approach to lawyer time tracking. Running multiple timers assigned to different cases allows you to glide between cases while capturing all of your time. Easily start or stop the timers on one screen as you go and make edits as needed.

Multiple Methods of Time Entry Creation

Multiple timers are great for capturing time as you multitask, however, it shouldn’t be the only time tracking method. The right legal time tracking software will allow you to create time entries from calendar events, or emails. 

Integrated Billing and Invoicing

Time tracking is the foundation of billing and invoicing your clients. Having a time tracking software that links the two together will save you time from manually creating an invoice. Create invoice templates, add custom payment links for online payment, and add your firm’s logo.

Robust Reporting

Use Bill4time’s custom reports to easily generate essential time and expense reports to understand your firm’s performance. Apply custom billing codes, search by contact or matter, expense, and more. Bill4Time also comes equipped with all UTBMS codes law firms use for expenses. 

Mobile Application

Time tracking isn’t limited to the office. Bill4Time’s mobile app for lawyer time tracking helps you capture time on the go by having the ability to start and stop timers. The Bill4Time app even lets you track non-billable time.

In short, Bill4Time automates time tracking, legal billing, invoicing, and more to help lawyers operate more efficiently. To find out more, schedule a demo or start a free trial with Bill4Time.

Law firms often require a lot of specialized support staff to keep things running smoothly. A legal billing specialist works closely with lawyers, paralegals, and other staff to make the billing process run smoothly and ensure the firm is getting paid.

Legal billing specialist careers are growing. Find out if this is the right career for you.

What Is a Legal Billing Specialist?

The main job of a billing specialist at a law firm is to prepare and manage billing records for legal services provided. They play a key role in ensuring the firm’s financial transactions are handled properly.

Depending on the firm, legal billing specialists may be responsible for tracking down past-due payments from clients or third parties. This may involve sending letters, making calls, or pursuing legal action for past-due accounts.

Some of the day-to-day responsibilities include:

• Compiling billing statements
• Generating invoices
• Reviewing legal documents for accuracy
• Reviewing past due accounts and setting up payment plans
• Reviewing account status and activity to ensure compliance with state laws regarding lawyer licensing requirements
• Determining whether services have been performed or fees incurred according to legal ethics standards
• Collecting past due accounts receivable by contacting clients or working with a collection agency
• Tracking time and attendance using timekeeping systems
• Managing the process of submitting claims to insurance companies as needed
• Preparing and filing court documents

How to Start a Career as a Law Firm Billing Specialist

Legal billing can be a challenging career to get into. Some law firms require an accounting or business background with a bachelor’s degree. There are still opportunities for legal billing specialists with an associate degree or no degree, however, as long as they have experience with billing.

Some vocational schools offer coursework in legal billing or online courses, which can help you gain the necessary skill set for the job. Some of these skills include:

• Accounting knowledge 
• Computer literacy and the ability to learn a legal time tracking and billing system
• Attention to detail
• Communication skills, both written and spoken
• The ability to multitask and work in a fast-paced environment
• Exceptional organizational skills
• An understanding of the confidentiality and gravity of the legal industry

Legal billing specialists may get their start in an entry-level position at a law firm, but you have the option to open your own legal billing business. Law firms outsource a lot of the administrative work, including billing, and this option gives you the flexibility to choose your workload, hours, and clients.

Running a business isn’t for the faint of heart and requires high attention to detail and organization. You will need business acumen and marketing skills to get your name out there and attract law firms seeking your services.  

Job Market Outlook for Legal Billing Specialists

A legal billing specialist salary can vary according to the experience and education of the specialist, the size of the firm, and the location.

According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary for legal specialists is $63,492 annually, which is approximately $31 an hour. Annual salaries may be as high as $93,000 or as low as $34,500, but the majority fall in the range of $51,000 to $70,500.

The job outlook varies across the country. Like other industries, the legal industry is shifting toward technology to handle repetitive or time-consuming work, including billing.

This can be an opportunity and not a barrier. While the role of legal billing specialists may change and evolve, they still serve a crucial role at medium- and large law firms. Legal billing specialists should become proficient with legal billing software to adapt to the job market changes.

How Legal Billing Software Supports Legal Billing Professionals

As mentioned, legal billing software is essential in automating and streamlining some of a legal billing specialist’s work, but that doesn’t mean the role is being replaced entirely. Instead, it’s changing and offering new and different opportunities.

A legal billing solution like Bill4Time offers an affordable, efficient, and easy process for law firm timekeeping and billing. For legal billing specialists, it can:

Save Time

The most valuable asset in virtually every profession is time — we all want to get more done in less time. Billing and invoicing take a lot of time and require administrative skills, which is why law firms hire legal billing specialists.

These professionals are tasked with filling out invoices manually — a process that’s time-consuming and error-prone. With Bill4Time, you can save client details and create invoice templates to expedite the invoicing process in the future.

Minimize Errors 

The manual process of invoicing is vulnerable to errors that can lead to delays in the payment process, poor relationships with clients, and billing disputes. This often falls on the legal billing specialist.

Effective legal billing software can be used to standardize the billing process and compile all the data — ensuring that there are minimal errors. Invoicing takes less time, clients are happier, and the firm gets paid faster.

Automated Accounting and Payment Reminders

Automation is a helpful resource for law firms to limit repetitive billing procedures. You can automate the billing process for recurring payments, subscription models, or other alternative payment arrangements and free your time to focus on mission-critical tasks.

Streamline the Payment Process

The traditional slow-moving billing and payment process can take a toll on overall revenue and cash flow. Legal billing specialists or other support staff have to create and check invoices, send them to the clients, then wait for the payments to come in.

A faster payment process that caters to client experience means your firm will get paid faster. Bill4Time allows your firm to offer a modern payments solution with our built-in payments solution, Bill4Time Payments. Easily add custom links to client invoices or enable the client portal where they can view and pay their invoice anytime, anywhere.

Simplify Reporting

Reporting is an ongoing process that all law firms should prioritize to make more informed decisions about the health and profitability of the firm. Bill4Time makes reporting simple with exclusive reporting functionality to track billing, cash flow, expenses, projects and matters, billable hours, and more.

Legal Billing Software for Legal Billing Specialists

Whether you’re considering a career as a legal billing specialist or you’re already working at your own firm or a large law firm, learning the ins and outs of legal billing software is a must for the future of your career.