For law firms that bill by the hour, timekeeping is how you turn work into revenue. Every billable minute that goes unrecorded is money left on the table. Every vague time entry is a potential billing dispute.

The problem is that most attorneys dislike timekeeping. It interrupts the flow of legal work, and it's easy to push off until the end of the day — or the end of the week — when details are fuzzy. The result is lost billable hours, inaccurate invoices, and strained client relationships.

These best practices help law firms capture more billable time, reduce disputes, and build a timekeeping culture that supports profitability.

Record time immediately

This is the single most impactful practice. Attorneys who wait until the end of the day to record time lose a significant portion of their billable hours. By the end of a busy day, it's nearly impossible to reconstruct exactly what you worked on and for how long.

Record time as you go — when you finish a phone call, log it. When you complete a research task, log it. When you step out of a meeting, log it. The few seconds it takes to enter time in the moment saves far more time than trying to reconstruct your day later.

If real-time entry isn't practical for every task, at minimum log time at natural break points — before lunch, before leaving for the day, and between client matters.

Write descriptive time entries

Vague entries like "work on case" or "research" invite client disputes and write-downs. Clients want to understand what they're paying for, and billing partners need enough detail to justify the charges.

What good entries look like

Vague: "Research — 1.5 hours"
Specific: "Researched case law on summary judgment standards in employment discrimination claims; reviewed and analyzed three relevant appellate decisions — 1.5 hours"
Vague: "Phone call with client — 0.5 hours"
Specific: "Telephone conference with client re: proposed settlement terms and strategy for mediation scheduled 3/15 — 0.5 hours"

Good time entries include:

What you did (researched, drafted, reviewed, conferred)
The subject matter (motion to dismiss, deposition preparation, contract terms)
The purpose (for upcoming hearing, in response to opposing counsel's motion)

Avoid block billing

Block billing — grouping multiple tasks into a single time entry — makes it impossible for clients to evaluate whether the time spent was reasonable. Many clients and courts reject block-billed entries outright.

Instead of: "Review file, draft correspondence, prepare for hearing — 4.0 hours"

Enter each task separately:

"Reviewed case file and updated chronology — 1.0 hours"
"Drafted letter to opposing counsel re: discovery dispute — 1.5 hours"
"Prepared outline and exhibits for motion hearing — 1.5 hours"

Use consistent time increments

Most law firms bill in six-minute increments (0.1 of an hour). Whatever increment your firm uses, apply it consistently. Round honestly — don't inflate a two-minute email to 0.3 hours, and don't shortchange yourself by rounding a 25-minute task down to 0.3.

Some firms use minimum billing increments (e.g., 0.2 for any phone call regardless of length). If your firm has these policies, document them clearly so all attorneys apply them uniformly.

Track non-billable time too

Non-billable time — admin, business development, training, internal meetings — is invisible if you don't track it. But it directly affects your firm's profitability.

Tracking non-billable time helps you:

Understand utilization rates — What percentage of each attorney's time is actually billable? If an associate is billing only 50% of their hours, is it because of too many internal meetings, inefficient processes, or insufficient work?
Identify overhead creep — Non-billable activities tend to expand over time. Without data, you can't tell whether admin tasks are consuming more hours this quarter than last.
Set realistic targets — You can't set achievable billable hour targets without knowing how much non-billable work each role requires.

Common timekeeping mistakes

Reconstructing time at the end of the week

Friday afternoon time entry is the most common and most costly mistake. Studies consistently show that attorneys who enter time daily capture more billable hours than those who batch it weekly. The longer you wait, the more you forget.

Undervaluing short tasks

Quick emails, brief phone calls, and short document reviews add up. Many attorneys skip logging tasks that take less than six minutes because they feel trivial. Over a week, those unlogged minutes can total hours of lost billable time.

Inconsistent descriptions across attorneys

When different attorneys describe the same type of work in different ways, it creates confusion for clients reviewing invoices and makes it harder to analyze firm performance. Establish standard descriptions for common activities (e.g., "Telephone conference with..." not sometimes "call" and sometimes "phone meeting").

Failing to distinguish between matters

For clients with multiple matters, make sure time is logged to the correct matter. Misallocated time creates billing errors that are difficult to catch and erode client trust.

Build a timekeeping culture

Start at onboarding

New attorneys should learn timekeeping expectations during their first week. Cover your firm's billing increment, description standards, entry deadlines, and the tools they'll use. Don't assume they learned this in law school — most didn't.

Set daily entry expectations

Make same-day time entry the standard, not the aspiration. Some firms require entries to be completed by end of day; others allow until the following morning. Whatever your policy, enforce it consistently.

Review timesheets regularly

Partners or billing attorneys should review time entries before they go to clients. This serves two purposes: catching errors before they reach the invoice, and providing feedback that improves future entries. A timesheet approval process formalizes this review.

Make it easy

The harder timekeeping is, the less likely attorneys are to do it well. Use time tracking software that works on desktop and mobile, integrates with calendar and email, and minimizes clicks. If entering time takes more than 30 seconds per entry, the tool is creating friction.

Use timekeeping data strategically

Beyond billing, timekeeping data is one of the most valuable management tools a law firm has.

Evaluate matter profitability

Compare actual hours spent against the fee collected for each matter. This reveals which types of cases are profitable and which are consistently going over budget. Use this data to adjust staffing, pricing, or the types of work you accept.

Assess attorney performance

Billable hours are one performance metric, but combine them with realization rates (percentage of billed time that's actually collected) and write-down rates to get a fuller picture. An attorney with high billable hours but low realization may have a description quality problem.

Improve estimates and budgets

Historical time data for completed matters is the best foundation for estimating new ones. If your last five employment discrimination cases averaged 120 hours, you have a defensible basis for your next estimate — rather than guessing.

Identify staffing needs

If your attorneys are consistently exceeding billable hour targets, you may need to hire. If they're falling short, you may need more business development or a reallocation of work. Timekeeping data makes these decisions objective rather than anecdotal.

Attorney Timekeeping Best Practices for Law Firms