In a busy legal practice time tracking, or recording billable hours, can be one of the most challenging tasks. Efficiency and productivity don’t happen by accident. But leading law firms invest in advanced time tracking tools. Here are our top five time tracking tips.
1. Automate Time Tracking
When you're in the zone and being productive, the last thing you want to do is remember to track your billable hours. That's when the automation of time tracking comes in. Rather than interrupting your flow, software can track the time you spend for you. Within Lateral’s legal case management solution, automated time tracking functionality ensures all fee earners capture all their billable time to the appropriate client, case or task, as they work. May this be calls, emails, or meetings. For example, during the composition of a letter, the time will be recorded until the fee earner marks the task as complete.
2. Manage the Time Tracking Data
Management teams should harness the power of the time tracking data they possess. Using the right time tracking tools, you can have access to information reports on each individual’s time recording, enabling accurate analysis of all aspects of your employee’s performance. Other on screen information which management may be privy to includes analysis against budget, and work in process (WIP) trends. This easily accessible on-screen time tracking data can provide management with true and important oversight in their pursuit of optimal productivity.
3. Time Track ‘On the Go’
Not all billable time happens in the office. So another great time tracking tip is to make sure your fee earners can track their time ‘on the go’; in meetings, in hearings or in the courtroom, for example. Leading case management software empowers users to record billable hours via their mobile device, and this inevitably impacts their billable hours to non-billable hours ratio.
Time tracking ‘on the go’ is an important part of your tool kit.
4. Have the Manual Option Too
It’s great to be empowered by automation and technology to reduce your workload, but sometimes fee earners need more nuance and more control when it comes to tracking their time. For example, solicitors may wish to retrospectively record billable time spent. This ensures all fee earners can capture all their billable time to the appropriate client, case or task, as they work.
5. Create Invoices and Present the Data
You’re not aggregating time spent on legal work for no reason. This data needs to be aggregated so you can take action on it and ultimately increase profits. Legal case management software with advanced time tracking functionality can automatically create invoices from the time tracking data you’ve collected, and can export that data as PDFs, CSVs or whichever format you require for reports and invoices.
Lateral’s intuitive time recording system is designed with law firms in mind, and works to reduce administrative loads through its user friendly interface. You never miss a billable minute, since Lateral automatically records all fee earners’ work within the browser system. Request a demo today to learn more.