Every law firm or a lawyer has to track the billable time and invoice it to clients. You may be a partner or a litigation support staff, you have to track the billable time spent so that your firm can invoice it and get paid for it. In a law firm this time is tracked in increments of six, ten and fifteen minute duration. Since most of the clients are using online billing software to track and analyze invoices, it becomes important for a law firm to track billable hours effectively.
Work Descriptions
An invoice should always have clearly defined and descriptive task descriptions. This improves the client’s understanding of the task and the amount of effort and time it may require. A balanced task description that is detailed as well as well understood, is what creates the right impression for the client.
Work Divisions
Every work done must be divided into tasks and a task-wise time summary must be sent to the client. Grouping tasks and then sending a time summary should be avoided. Itemizing helps in showcasing the efficiency with which the law firm works.
Be Prompt
When you are prompt with recording the time, post a task is complete, you can accurately fill in your timesheet. If you don’t follow such a practice you may end up adding more time for each task than actually spent. You can use an online software like Invoicera to log hours and fill in the timesheet as soon as a task is complete.
Know Who You Are Billing To
Always keep in mind your client while you are filling in your timesheets. If the person reviewing your entries is a legal professional at the client’s end, then one must be extra careful while recording time for each task. Your invoice could be reviewed by a number of professionals at various levels. Using the correct legal terminology is also of utmost importance.
Understanding The Client Policies
It is very important to understand and analyze the agreement that you have with your clients with respect to the policies and deliverable. The agreement usually details out the quality and quantity of work along with the hours to be completed. Once you are aware about the expectations of your client, it is easier for you to invoice them accordingly. In the era of task based coded billing, one should learn about the client specific requirements, and then log hours for each task.
