Your law firm needs legal time tracking software to promote accuracy, efficiency, and security of your time tracking data along with accessibility for all firm members. Is your law practice still tracking time manually, with pieces of paper here and random legal pad scribbles there? If so, you could be setting your firm up for inaccuracies and inefficiencies. You need legal time tracking software and here are seven reasons why:

#1 More profitable time

Manual time tracking can waste a lot of your firm’s valuable time. Consider this example. You work on 10 separate matters throughout the workday. You make telephone calls, attend two hearings and participate in a settlement conference. To track your time, you manually write down the start and end times for each of these tasks, along with a brief description of what work is being completed. Let’s say that you spend about three minutes writing down times and descriptions for each task.

If you are billing at $300 per hour, those minutes spent time tracking equate to about $150 a day, $750 for the 5-day work week, and $39,000 for the year. Now, multiply that by each of your firm’s attorneys and see how much money you are potentially throwing away.

With an efficient time tracking program like TimeSolv, it only takes a few seconds to start and stop tracking. The platform also allows for customized billing codes, so there’s no need to spend time crafting the perfect task description. Now, you can spend that otherwise wasted time on profitable tasks, so you’re making money instead of wasting it.

#2 Efficient billing

Time tracking software also saves your firm time when generating client invoices. Billing is one of the most undesirable aspects of law practice largely because it takes so much time. If your practice is still using a manual time tracking system, your staff must first spend time collecting time tracking records from each attorney. Then, assuming everyone locates all of their manually recorded times, your staff has to spend time organizing and entering them into the billing system.

The right legal time tracking software lets you skip all of those time-wasting steps. Time entered by your attorneys is automatically synced with the office system, so invoicing becomes a painless process. With TimeSolv, you can say goodbye to frustrated staff members and missed billable hours.

#3 Accurate tracking

Manual time tracking leaves a lot of opportunity for mistakes and inaccuracies. How many times a day is your work on one matter interrupted because of a pressing issue that pops up in another matter? When that happens, do you always remember to go back and write down the exact times you stopped working on one case and started working on another? Probably not. Now, you have to waste even more time and money trying to backtrack and approximate accurate start and stop times.

A comprehensive time tracking program offers simultaneous billing options, so you can easily move between matters, without missing a minute of time. The practice of law is extremely busy and often requires some level of multitasking. Why not implement a time tracking system that can keep up with all the things you do each day?

#4 Accurate billing

As if inaccurate time tracking wasn’t bad enough, let’s add another layer of inaccuracy onto this scenario. Your billing clerk misreads your handwritten notes and generates a client invoice that bills for 3 hours of work instead of the 2.5 hours you actually spent on that initial matter. Now, you have inadvertently overcharged a client and opened yourself up to all of the problems that can cause.

Computerized time tracking promotes accuracy within your legal practice by taking the guesswork out of the invoicing process. Your time is automatically tracked so that you can consistently provide your clients with bills that are correct.

#5 Convenience

The practice of law is no longer confined to four walls and a desktop computer. With laptops, tablets, and smartphones, attorneys can practice wherever and whenever the need arises. While the pen and paper time-tracking option may seem convenient, what happens when you can’t locate that same scrap of paper for invoicing?

With innovative legal time tracking software like TimeSolv, your time tracking system is accessible right from your cell phone. So, whether you are sitting on the beach with your laptop (Does anyone really do that?) or catching a bite to eat at your favorite diner, you can easily track all time spent on a matter right from your phone. Even if there’s no Wi-Fi available, the TimeSolv app keeps track of your time and automatically syncs with the office system when an internet connection becomes available.

#6 Team accountability and budgeting

The convenience of time tracking software also promotes accountability and budgeting among firm members. Whether there are two lawyers working on a complex issue, or a paralegal who is assigned to a case, all authorized persons can simultaneously track the time spent of the same matter.

That information is then synced together under the relevant case, with timekeeper identifications and task descriptions. This allows firm administrators can keep track of time spent on a matter for proper budgeting and accountability.

#7 Security

I know it’s been said many times before, but until every lawyer moves from manual time tracking to a software platform, it bears repeating again. Paper is not secure. A tracking ledger can be destroyed in a fire, or you could leave that piece of paper you were writing on at the restaurant table. Manual time records can be destroyed in the blink of an eye, leaving you with no way to accurately bill for your time.

TimeSolv uses a state-of-the-art data center to ensure that your time tracking records are safe from physical threats, as well as cyber-attacks. With a computerized time tracking system, you can better promote the security of your time tracking data.

Legal time tracking and billing are extremely important aspects of running a successful law practice. Yet, many lawyers continue to gamble with these responsibilities by relying on unreliable manual tracking systems.

Legal time tracking software helps you ensure the efficiency and accuracy of your time tracking records. To learn more about how TimeSolv helps your firm meet its time tracking needs, click here for a free trial.


About Erika Winston:

Erika Winston is a freelance writer with a passion for law. Through her business, Personal Touch Edits, she helps legal professionals deliver effective written messages. Erika is a regular contributor to TimeSolv and a variety of other publications. 

https://www.personaltouchedits.com/