MYTH BUSTING COMMON BELIEFS: Part 6

Like “Capturing All My Billable Time Is Impossible (and Not Worth the Hassle).”

Time is money.

Something we all know to be true. But none more so than the lawyer who – since being a trainee lawyer (or candidate attorney) – has been told just how important their time is.

The billable hour. Three words that every legal practitioner knows all too well. It’s how they earn a living – by providing a professional service and charging for their time. And boy-oh-boy is their time precious.

For some lawyers, it just doesn’t feel like there are enough hours in the day – inbetween in-person consults, telephone calls to concerned clients (where you’re cast in the role of shrink far more often than lawyer), drafting of pleadings and notices, perusing served documents, preparing for trial (when necessary), all while trying to find just 30mins to have a cup of coffee and maybe some Avo on low GI toast. It’s exhausting!

And by the time you come to the end of the day – you wonder where all the time went. Because it’s not reflected in your billable hours (for some odd reason).

And we all know how important those pesky billable hours are – it’s why some lawyers get up in the morning, it’s what pushes them to work that extra hour every night. It’s the thrill of billing more than the other associates on their floor. Or maybe just maybe it’s billing enough hours to pay for that boat they’ve been eyeing for their upcoming 50^th Birthday – does anyone smell a midlife crisis on the horizon?

Whatever the reason – as far as lawyers are concerned – billable hours are important. It’s how they butter their bread (if you catch our drift). It’s their justification for slogging through their relentless work hours. And those hours need to be tracked. Not once in a while. Not just when they remember but – All. The. Time. 

How else will a lawyer get paid for the services they provide?

Because the last time we checked, the legal profession hadn’t reverted back to the barter system, has it?!

Some Tips to Maximise Capturing Your Billable Hours

As we have tried to subtly (maybe not to subtly) set out above, every second of time equals some measure of money. Especially for lawyers. So, the lawyers who are able to capture their time effectively see a greater profit coming into their firm. Naturally.

Unfortunately, those who fail to capture all the hours of their day will lose opportunities – and money!

But fear not! AJS has some easy-to-follow tips that will help you maximise the most out of your day – as far as your billables are concerned.

7 Tips to help you track your billable time

1.  Track time as you go, not at the end of the day (or week) – if you wait to only track your time when your work is done for the day (or heaven forbid at the end of the week or month – *shock*, *horror*), you’re probably losing time. The longer you wait, the less accurately you will remember all the details. Let’s be honest, with juggling more than one thing at a time are you likely to remember the exact intricacies of each matter after the fact? Lawyers who wait until the end of the day to track their time can lose more than 10% of billable hours. Plus, they may not have detailed records of what they worked on and why – an essential component in client transparency. 

2.  Automate your time tracking – ok, this might be an obvious one (for most). But tracking your time using multiple sticky notes (or otherwise) that you stick onto your laptop screen or notepad just serves to create clutter and confusion. Because let’s be honest – half the time you lose the notes and the other half you forget which matter the note was about. Call it stress. Call it multitasking. Call it old age. Whatever. Instead use an automated time tracker, which legal professionals can use to track time quickly and easily, whether they’re in the office or at court. Automated time trackers can also sync with billing software. This automation makes client billing faster than ever, and helps to generate valuable time and expense reports so that firms can analyse how each user (and their team) spends their time.  

3.  Automate the billing process – again, this might be an obvious one (for some). Just as automated tracking ensures that you don’t leave any billable time on the table, automating your billing process will ensure that you will get paid exactly what you are owed, and on time.  Automation is necessary to capture and bill time more effectively. When your automated time tracker is integrated with your billing and payments system, there are significant opportunities to open up much more billable time for your law firm and get paid faster. With AJS’ legal billing software, firms can send invoices electronically for instant receipt and save time with batch billing. Our advice is to look for a billing system that helps you get paid faster and easier, offering features such as:  

Firm monitoring that allows you to review and analyse the billing statistics of all firm members,  

Reporting capabilities that can give you a quick view of how your practice is running,   

Customisable billing templates, 

Batch invoicing to send all bills with just one click, and

Fixed fee billing tools.  

Remember that unbilled time never gets compensated, so an effective billing process is vital to bringing more money into your practice.   

4.  Automate non-billable tasks where appropriate – yip, you heard us correctly. Even the non-billables get automated! It’s not just billing, invoicing, and time tracking that are automated. The more tasks you can automate or streamline, the better (and the more time you can scratch back from your day). Consider document automation options (we have that too), to help automate the more labour-intensive work. And suddenly – life is but a breeze!

5.  Describe your time spent in detail – no one wants a client disputing their bill. Umming and aahing their way through their invoice. Not only does this strain client relationships but it eats into your day (and your valuable time).  Instead, when you track time as you go (Tip #1), make sure to detail a full description of your activities (because just “research” isn’t going to cut it).  Clear descriptions of time spent inspires client trust and reduces the likelihood of disputes, helping you stay ahead of the game.

6.  Staying mobile – with society being more mobile than ever (and the legal profession – somewhat reluctantly and eventually – following suit), it seems that lawyers do more work on the run and away from the confines of the office. The freedom of movement with a product like AJS Mobile (which is based in the Cloud) means that lawyers (and support staff) can track billable hours no matter where their duties take them – from a courtroom to a boardroom. It also keeps them from having to drag around sensitive documents because they can easily access a client’s entire file from wherever they are. Mobility empowers your entire law firm to stop missing billable time and start capturing it. All of it.

7.  Make sure you cover all your bases – there are some forward-thinking firms who are looking to do away with the strict billable hour model. For those firms using alternative fee structures, using time-tracking data to build more accurate flat fees for clients is crucial.  Underestimating a project’s length or the amount of work required to close a case can lead to lost revenue. With the improved data from automated time tracking, you can build more accurate fees that improve profit and maximise your fees. So, no matter how you bill – your time tracking and invoicing should be automated.

We think that the answer to this conundrum is plain for all to see – the myth about tracking every fee is BUSTED! Yes, a firm must track every single fee. Daily. As and when a task is done. And that is possible. Just ask us!   

If you are in need of a service provider who has a proven track record or if you want to find out how to incorporate a new tool into your existing practice management suite – or if you simply want to get started with legal tech – feel free to get in touch with AJS. We have the right combination of systems, resources, and business partnerships to assist you with incorporating supportive legal technology into your practice. Effortlessly.

AJS is always here to help you, wherever and whenever possible!

– Written by Alicia Koch on behalf of AJS

(Sources used and to whom we owe thanks – Rocket Matter and TimeSolv).