Allison Lemasters

What Software Do Lawyers Use to Track Time?

January 22, 2024 By Allison Lemasters Leave a Comment

Many lawyers rely on legal time tracking software to manage their time tracking and billing effectively. This digital solution is the first choice for tracking casework hours and simplifying client billing.

Tailored to meet the unique demands of the legal profession, such software ranges from simple legal billing software to comprehensive, subscription-based systems. However, not all of these solutions are created equal. This article will explore the advantages of such software and how pinpointing the right fit can significantly affect a law firm’s success.

What Is Legal Billing Software and How Does It Track Time?

Legal billing software is a specialized tool designed to help law firms and legal professionals manage their billing processes efficiently. Its key function is tracking time spent on casework, which is essential for accurate client invoicing and productivity tracking.

How does it log billable hours, exactly? Lawyers can start a digital timer when they begin a task and stop it once finished, ensuring precise recording down to the minute. Alternatively, they can enter the duration of activities manually. These systems often feature categorization options, allocating time to specific clients, cases, or tasks, streamlining the invoicing process.

Why Is Lawyer Time Tracking Software So Crucial?

Lawyer time tracking is important for your law firm for several reasons:

Precision in Billing: This software ensures that you’re tracking your time accurately for client billing and your own time management. Inaccuracy in billing can result in either overbilling your client or getting paid less for your time.
Increased Revenue: When you capture all your billable hours, you can maximize your law firm revenue potential. Unbilled or underreported hours can add up, significantly impacting your firm’s bottom line.
Enhanced Credibility With Clients: Transparent and detailed time tracking fosters credibility with clients. It demonstrates professionalism and accountability, which can lead to stronger client relationships and more referrals.
Efficiency Through Automation: Time tracking software automation streamlines the billing process, reducing the administrative burden on your lawyers and legal support staff. For example, you can automate your invoice approval process to speed up the billing cycle.
Accountability and Promotion of Productivity: Time tracking promotes accountability within a law firm. It encourages lawyers to stay focused and productive during their working hours, improving efficiency and, by extension, increasing billable hours.
Reporting and Analysis: Time tracking software with full accounting and reporting features can generate comprehensive reports. These insights show how your firm spends time on different tasks, clients, and matters. Such data can inform strategic decisions like pricing strategies and resource allocation.
Client Satisfaction With Timely and Fair Billing: Clients appreciate timely and accurate invoices. A prompt bill with clear, detailed time entries enhances client satisfaction with your firm.

What to Look for in Law Firm Time Tracking Software

It’s important to choose the right law firm time tracking software to ensure it meets the needs of your firm and staff. Your choices may range from free lawyer time tracking software to subscription-based versions.

However, although free options may offer basic functionality, they often lack customer support and advanced features that can handle the complexity of legal billing. Such solutions also don’t offer robust security measures, which are non-negotiable when handling sensitive client information. Subscription-based versions, on the other hand, typically provide enhanced security, dedicated support, and a suite of features designed for the nuanced needs of legal professionals.

More specifically, here are some features to look for in your legal time tracking software:

Intuitive Interface: Your solution should have an intuitive interface with a straightforward design that makes it easy for legal professionals to record their billable hours efficiently. This ease of use will also simplify training new employees on the software.
Mobile Compatibility: With clients and lawyers increasingly relying on mobile devices, mobile compatibility is a crucial aspect of your timekeeping software. Make sure that your software is accessible via smartphones and tablets to track time on the go. Bill4Time, for example, offers a mobile time tracking application for both Android and iOS devices.
Task and Activity Codes: Your software should be able to assign task and activity codes, including support for LEDES and ABA expense codes. This feature allows for easy categorization of work and simplifies the billing process, providing valuable insights into how time is spent.
Multiple Timer Support: Law firms often juggle multiple clients and matters. Your software should support multiple timers so lawyers can track time for different tasks concurrently, such as research, meetings, and consultations.
Integration Capabilities: Time tracking software should seamlessly integrate with the other tools you use, such as your email, calendars, and accounting software, for a streamlined workflow. Bill4Time, for example, has software integrations with Box, Net Documents, QuickBooks, and more.
Cloud-Based Access: A cloud-based billing system, such as Bill4Time, ensures data is stored and accessible from anywhere with a secure internet connection. This feature is essential for collaboration, especially with remote teams.

These are all key features to consider to make informed decisions about what software solution best supports your firm’s needs.

Is There an Attorney Time Tracking Template in Excel?

Excel templates are available for time tracking but may not be the ideal choice for your law firm. Here’s why:

Manual Entry Prone to Human Error: Excel templates for time tracking often require manual data entry. Lawyers typically have busy schedules, and manual input can cause errors or omissions in recording hours that can have financial and legal ramifications.
Limited Mobility: Excel spreadsheets are not mobile-friendly, so the lack of mobile compatibility can be a drawback for lawyers working on the go. A time tracking app for attorneys is often a key part of accurate, real-time tracking, especially when attorneys are in the field for client meetings or court appearances.
Lack of Customization: Excel templates are helpful, but they’re generic. You may need customization to address specific legal billing requirements. For example, task and activity codes, client association, and billing rate variations can be challenging to implement consistently across your firm with an Excel template.
Not Designed for Legal Work: Excel was not designed specifically for the legal industry, so it lacks some targeted features that a legal time tracking software offers, such as client management or built-in billing features.

Can I Track Billable Hours in Quickbooks Online?

QuickBooks is more for general business use and doesn’t include specialized features for tracking billable hours that law firms require. Law firms generally need support for complex billing arrangements, precise trust account management that aligns with stringent bar regulations, and detailed reporting for in-depth practice analysis. Using QuickBooks alone may necessitate additional steps and customizations to meet these specific legal industry requirements.

Instead, look for a dedicated legal time tracking software like Bill4Time, which is engineered to address these law firm complexities with precision. Bill4Time allows firms to capture billable hours while providing comprehensive solutions for task-based billing, maintaining compliance with bar regulations, and offering deep insights into firm operations through advanced reporting.

Ready to experience the difference a solution can make for your firm? Sign up for a free Bill4Time demo or free trial today and see how we can transform your firm’s time tracking and billing processes.

5 Ways to Optimize Remote Work Time Tracking for Lawyers

December 26, 2023 By Allison Lemasters Leave a Comment

According to a national survey sponsored by the American Bar Association (ABA), remote work options are becoming a must-have for many lawyers. 44% of surveyed individuals expressed a willingness to quit their current job if offered another with better remote work flexibility. Additionally, most participants prefer conducting pretrial hearings, depositions, and court-ordered mediations through remote means.

However, adapting to remote work setups presents unique obstacles, particularly when it comes to time tracking for lawyers. Unlike the structured office or court environment, working from home can blur the boundaries between professional and personal tasks, making it harder to track billable hours accurately.

To address these issues, consider the five following strategies to promote efficiency and precision in remote-working routines.

1. Choose the Best Remote Employee Time Tracking Software

Time tracking software can make a huge difference with remote and hybrid work in your firm, but it’s not all created equal. Be sure to choose a solution with features that suit your team best, such as automated timers that can track hours. This capability is especially handy for lawyers working from different locations, ensuring accurate billing regardless of their work environment.

Additionally, the software should offer detailed time summaries. These reports are invaluable for identifying areas requiring extra support, helping to maintain consistent productivity levels across remote teams.

Billing and invoicing features are also valuable. Compiling hours and creating invoices can be time consuming, but legal software automatically creates and sends branded invoices. This process ensures your firm produces high quality, dependable invoices no matter where they are working.

2. Use a Work-From-Home Time Tracker App

Contemporaneous timekeeping is crucial to accurate, transparent billing. Too often, lawyers rely on memory and estimate hours after the fact, which can lead to over- or underbilling. According to the ABA, contemporaneous timekeeping is a “weak spot” for many lawyers. On average, lawyers lose 10% to 15% of their potential billable time because they can’t estimate accurately. If they wait until the next day, they lose about 25% of the time. By the end of the week, that adds up to about a 50% loss.

In this context, adopting a time tracker app becomes a strategic decision. When your workday includes remote working or court appearances, these apps are particularly useful. They capture every billable moment in real-time, ensuring that each minute of legal expertise is accounted for and billed accurately. High-quality time tracking software will usually come with a corresponding app, so you can easily log your time from the platform on your desktop or from the app on any device.

3. Develop Remote Work Time Tracking Guidelines

Standardized time tracking guidelines are important in any firm, but they are even more vital for hybrid and remote teams. No employee should wonder “how do I track my remote work hours?” and instead know the exact protocol. A remote work time tracking template is a good place to start, but implementing guidelines within time tracking software will offer the most consistency across your bills.

Overall, having clear time tracking guidelines can:

Promote Accuracy: Lawyers and staff may have their own differing methods for tracking time, which can cause inaccuracies. With guidelines, everyone is following the same process and the chances of more accurate time entries increases.
Create Uniform Data: Uniform data is fundamental for accurate reporting to evaluate your firm’s productivity. Standards for timekeeping ensure that your attorneys and staff give you apples-to-apples comparisons for timekeeping.
Build Standards for New Staff Training: When you have a standard in place for timekeeping, it’s much easier to train new staff and set clear expectations to ensure they know what they’re responsible for at the start.
Foster Transparency with Clients: When the details of billable hours are vague, your clients may not trust that they’re getting value out of their legal services. Clear timekeeping guidelines provide more detail about how lawyers should be billing.

4. Provide Training on How to Track Employee Hours Working from Home

Training shouldn’t end at new hires. In addition to guidelines, you should train your staff on why accurate timekeeping is important and best practices. Conduct regular training sessions with your staff — like how to manage time in remote work settings or ethical time tracking considerations — to keep everyone on the same page. If your time tracking reports indicate that you need to improve your processes, training sessions offer an opportunity to update your staff on these changes and explain them.

5. Combine Time Tracking with Practice Management Software

Work-from-home tracking software for time is only one factor in law firm productivity. It should integrate within a broader legal case management platform to streamline your remote workflows and improve your firm’s time tracking accuracy. Here’s how:

Offers a Comprehensive Overview of Cases and Time Spent

Data requires context for interpretation. A comprehensive legal practice management platform is particularly beneficial for remote teams, as it provides a comprehensive overview of all staff activities, cases, and the time allocated to both billable and non-billable tasks. With a broad view like this, you can evaluate areas of good productivity and any opportunities for improvement.

Helps with Resource Allocation

Time tracking data can identify over- or under-utilized resources, allowing you to optimize your firm’s efficiency. With this clear view, you can allocate your resources — remote and in-person — more efficiently according to project timelines and available staff.

Assists with Prioritizing Tasks

For law firms operating remotely, clear visibility into outstanding tasks is particularly valuable. It allows you to prioritize critical projects, like urgent cases needing extensive staff involvement, and effectively plan for other tasks. This clarity is vital for remote teams, where physical distance can sometimes lead to communication gaps or coordination challenges. By having a clear understanding of the priority level of each project, you can develop a more effective course of action for managing the remaining workload.

Enhances Collaboration Across Remote Teams

Collaboration can be a challenge across remote teams. Legal practice management platforms improve collaboration by giving all staff members a view of the shared project and their individual responsibilities. Staff can receive updates on relevant tasks and share questions or insights easily through the software’s messaging and chat features.

Is There an App to Track Work-From-Home Hours?

Bill4Time is the best platform for tracking work-from-home hours. With its corresponding mobile app, automated timekeeping and billing, and convenient integrations, this cloud-based legal case management software gives you all the legal-specific features you need to support and optimize your in-office, remote, or hybrid teams. Sign up for a free demo to see Bill4Time in action!

3 Secrets to Law Firm Billing Success

December 6, 2023 By Allison Lemasters Leave a Comment

If you ask any lawyer what their least favorite part of the job is, the number one answer will likely be “billing.” Law firm billing and invoicing is a constant source of frustration for many in the field. It’s labor-intensive and tedious, from timekeeping to billing cycle monitoring.

While it’s tempting to point fingers at clients for delayed payments, the root of such problems often lies in a law firm’s billing strategies. Using legal time tracking software will solve these issues, but there are a few additional secrets successful law firms employ to make billing less of a headache. If you’re experiencing a rise in late payments or extended billing cycles, try implementing these three strategies for a higher chance of law firm billing success.

1. Create Legal Billing Guidelines

One of the biggest problems in the law firm billing cycle is consistency across staff members. Consider creating legal billing guidelines or a legal billing handbook to give your staff a set of rules to follow when it comes to billing. Here are the basics of what your legal billing guidelines should include:

Introduction

Start with an introduction that explains the purpose of the guidelines and sets the tone. This section should highlight the benefits of adhering to proper billing practices and emphasize the commitment to transparency and fairness. Use the American Bar Association’s Model Rule 1.5 on Fees as a source of inspiration.

Clear Staffing Policies

Outline who is authorized to work on which cases and the expectations for the experience level necessary for various tasks. This section should also include rules for billing rates based on the staff’s roles and expertise.

Sample Attorney Billing Descriptions

Pick some tasks in your firm that everyone does more frequently, and include a list of sample billing descriptions for those tasks. Consider including “bad” legal billing examples and corresponding “good” examples. For instance, a bad example might be “Made initial pleadings,” whereas a good example might be “Prepared petition for divorce and summons according to details from initial client consultation.” Add some sample paralegal billing descriptions as well for your paralegal’s most common tasks.

Legal time tracking software makes this process much easier with multiple features that speed up time entry creation. With Bill4Time, for instance, you can speed through writing descriptions with auto-text. Auto-text allows you to write abbreviations for commonly used time entry descriptions (e.g., typing “RR,” which automatically changes to “research and review”).

Deadlines for Submitting Time

Specify the frequency of submitting time across the firm. At a bare minimum, your staff should submit their hours monthly, but many firms require weekly submissions. Weekly submissions may be superior, as it’s easier to remember everything you’ve done within a week as opposed to a month. If you use time tracking software, you can even make daily submissions because it’s so easy to record your time in real time as you do the work. This process ensures you capture every minute versus relying on your memory at the end of the week or month.

Invoicing Procedures

Make sure that anyone in your firm can easily answer the question, “How do I make an invoice for a law firm?” by defining the format and content of invoices. For example, if a specific format like LEDES is preferred, mention it explicitly. If you’re using legal time tracking software, provide step-by-step instructions for its use or a link to the software’s help center. Be sure to include how frequently clients should receive invoices — monthly invoicing is a good place to start.

Signature Requirement

Include a signature page to confirm that all parties have read, understood, and agreed to the guidelines. Requiring a signature helps in enforcing your policies and prevents future disputes.

2. Use Action Verbs for Legal Billing

The language you choose in your time entries plays an important role in whether or not clients pay your invoices. Using action verbs is an effective strategy, as these words bring clarity and assertiveness to your billing statements.

Why are action verbs effective? First, they convey a sense of urgency and importance. Words like “filed,” “researched,” or “drafted” emphasize the work done, making it tangible for the client. This clarity helps clients understand the value of the services provided, encouraging timely payment.

Second, action verbs enhance the professionalism of your billing statements. They reflect the precision and attention to detail that legal professionals apply in their work. For instance, saying “conducted an in-depth analysis of case law” versus “spent time looking at case law” provides a clearer, more professional depiction of the activity.

Some examples of action verbs that can enhance your billing descriptions include:

Analyzed
Drafted
Negotiated
Researched
Reviewed
Communicated
Facilitated
Advised
Examined
Developed
Investigated
Prepared
Filed
Attended
Resolved

Incorporating these verbs into your billing can transform how clients perceive the invoice. Instead of seeing a list of hours spent, they see a list of actions taken on their behalf to accomplish their legal goals.

3. Conduct Regular Legal Billing Training

By facilitating regular legal billing training, there is a much higher chance that your firm will meet its billable hour requirements and that clients will pay invoices. This approach ensures that all team members are up-to-date on the best practices in legal billing.

How often you conduct this training is up to you. Quarterly training sessions are ideal, as this frequency allows for adjustments in response to regulatory changes, technological advancements, or internal policy updates. Additionally, every new employee should undergo this training as part of their onboarding process.

Here are a few examples of content to include in your quarterly training sessions:

Timekeeping Accuracy: Training should cover how to categorize different tasks and the level of detail required in time entries. Consider highlighting some good examples of billing descriptions you’ve seen from bills that quarter.
Use of Technology: Provide training on the latest billing software and tools. Perhaps focus on a specific feature in your legal time tracking software and how to use that feature more effectively. Your software may even have a library of training videos you can show during training, taking the burden of planning off your plate.
Billing Policies and Procedures: Review the firm’s policies regarding billing cycles, rates, and client communication. If you’ve noticed that staff aren’t following a particular policy, bring attention to that policy and emphasize why it’s essential to the firm’s bottom line.
Client Communication Skills: Train staff on effectively communicating billing matters with clients. Discuss how to address client queries and set client expectations for receiving and paying invoices. Ask your team about the biggest complaints they hear from clients about their bills and brainstorm ways to address these issues.

Bonus Secret: Use Bill4Time

While the strategies mentioned above will improve your billing cycle, using Bill4Time is the best way to find law firm billing success. By incorporating Bill4Time, law firms can address common billing and invoicing challenges more effectively, freeing up time to concentrate on providing top-notch legal services. See how it works by signing up for a free demo, or explore the platform for yourself with a free trial.

The Hidden Costs of Improper Time Tracking for Lawyers

November 2, 2023 By Allison Lemasters Leave a Comment

In legal practice, precision is often the cornerstone of success—from building a compelling case to dissecting complex statutes. Yet, surprisingly, that meticulousness doesn’t always extend to something as fundamental as time tracking. The American Bar Association underscores this oversight, pointing out that, “one major contributing factor to the discouraging public opinion of the legal profession appears to be the billing practices of some of its members.”

While legal professionals have become experts at dissecting statutes or crafting persuasive arguments, many still wrestle with the unglamorous, but highly impactful, issue of accurate timekeeping. The reality is that a lawyer’s approach to time tracking has ripple effects far beyond their pocketbook—it reaches into how the public perceives the ethical standing of a practice.

Given these stakes, this blog delves into the hidden costs and untapped opportunities that arise from how legal professionals track—or fail to track—their time accurately.

Why Is It Important to Record Time Accurately in a Law Firm?

Recording time accurately in a law firm is a strategic imperative that shapes cash flow, profitability, and ethical integrity. To dig a bit deeper, here are some of the major areas time tracking can affect:

Billing Integrity: Inaccuracies in billing can trigger malpractice claims, invite ethical reviews, and create unhappy clients. Accurate time records protect the firm from legal scrutiny and maintain healthy client relationships.

Resource Allocation: Underestimating the time needed for tasks can lead to attorney burnout and compromise case outcomes. Knowing how much time tasks take allows for better planning and resource allocation within the firm.

Community Perception: Incorrect billing not only erodes client trust but could also damage your firm’s reputation in the legal community, affecting your ability to attract top talent and high-value clients.

Productivity Measurement: Tracking time accurately can highlight patterns in case management and legal research, offering valuable data for performance evaluations and operational process changes.

Cost Estimates: Accurate time records make it easier to give clients realistic cost estimates for future cases or tasks.

Dispute Resolution: Detailed time logs can act as evidence in fee disputes, whether those disputes involve clients, opposing counsel, or even within your own firm.

Financial Planning: With precise time records, you can conduct more nuanced profitability analyses for different practice areas or client types, which is vital for strategic planning.

Regulatory Adherence: Failure to keep accurate time records can violate state bar guidelines or industry-specific regulations. Non-compliance risks financial penalties and jeopardizes the firm’s license to practice. If you’re wondering, “What are ethical billing practices in my state, specifically?” check your state bar’s website for more information.

Accurate timekeeping in a law firm touches on nearly every aspect of the business, from maintaining ethical standards to optimizing financial health.

How Do Law Firms Keep Track of Billable Hours Accurately?

To ensure accurate record-keeping of billable hours, law firms are increasingly turning to specialized legal time tracking software. These platforms make it easier to log time while also minimizing human errors that can lead to billing discrepancies or ethical concerns. They serve as an integral part of a law firm’s workflow, allowing for greater accuracy and efficiency in both billing and case management.

The real magic happens when legal professionals access these features through a cloud-based platform. By taking time tracking to the cloud, firms gain a whole new set of advantages beyond just getting the hours right.

Benefits of Time Tracking for Lawyers with an Online Cloud-Based Platform

Let’s take a look at the unique benefits of using a cloud-based platform for time tracking, and how a time tracking platform can transform the way your law firm operates.

Better Productivity

Along with inaccuracies, improper time tracking can waste a lot of valuable time in its process. When you have to write down the start and end time for tasks, including what and who they were for, that can add up over a day.

With an efficient legal billing platform, you can simply click a button to start a timer, and it will track the time you spend on any task. You can also organize your dashboard by client, project, or task, saving time on logging the specifics of the work you’ve completed. All those minutes spent manually calculating billable time are condensed to seconds, freeing your time for more productive tasks.

Efficient Legal Billing

Time tracking software also shortens the time spent generating invoices. In addition to the time spent manually recording timekeeping, the firm’s staff must track records, organize them, bill clients, and collect funds.

Legal billing solutions streamline this entire process and allow your staff to focus on other important tasks. Attorneys automatically enter time-keeping logs that sync with the system, allowing for efficient and accurate invoicing. You can even use legal invoice templates to speed the process along.

Accurate Time Tracking

Manual time tracking also creates numerous opportunities for human error. Distractions, interruptions, and multitasking can disrupt the process, leaving you unsure of when you ended one task and began another. You have to stop to check times and fill in the blanks, which probably leaves more than a few mistakes in how you spend your billable day.

Comprehensive time tracking software offers multiple billing options in one centralized location. You can toggle between tasks, clients, or projects quickly and conveniently without missing a beat.

Log Time Anywhere

In the digital age, there’s no reason to work with outdated manual entry. Lawyers aren’t confined to an office with one computer. Instead, lawyers have the option to work on tablets, laptops, smartphones, and more, using various apps for lawyers. Without a cloud-based time tracking platform, it can be challenging to keep accurate records across devices.

Legal billing solutions allow you to track time, manage projects, and organize expenses from any device with internet access. Whether you’re in court, at a client meeting, or working from home, your entries are safely stored online. If you happen to be offline, your entries will sync as soon as you reconnect, ensuring that no data gets lost.

Enhanced Security

Lawyers often handle sensitive information for clients, and that sensitive information frequently ends up on time entry descriptions. Paper timekeeping records can be misplaced, damaged, or seen by the wrong eyes. And a lawyer time tracking chart in Excel isn’t much better—these are susceptible to unauthorized access and data corruption, posing a real risk to client confidentiality and data integrity.

Opting for a cloud-based legal billing solution addresses these vulnerabilities head-on. Your essential data is securely stored online, protected by advanced security protocols. The data centers that house your information are geographically diverse and come with built-in redundancies, lessening the risk of both physical and cyber threats. So even if you lose your device or face a cyberattack, your crucial records remain safe and easily retrievable.

Eliminate Improper Time Tracking with Bill4Time

If you’re wondering, “Which software is best for business billing and tracking time at a law firm?” look no further than Bill4Time. Manual tracking can leave a firm or lawyer vulnerable in many ways, from revenue leakage to misplacing sensitive information to reputation damage from overbilling. Adopting modern legal technology like Bill4Time allows you to track your time in the office or on the go, so you never have to worry about missing a beat. Book a custom demo to learn more about how Bill4Time can automate your practice.