Time-tracking • Fees
Time-tracking and fees: how to bill the hours worked per matter correctly
Many hours a lawyer works never make it onto an invoice because they were not logged in time. Correct per-matter time-tracking turns every billable hour into a collected fee. Below you'll see how to bill the hours worked per matter correctly, with time-tracking and clear fee rules.
The steps (short answer)
- Log the time against the matter as soon as you finish the task, not at month end.
- Note briefly what you did, so you can justify the entry on the invoice.
- Mark each hour as billable or non-billable.
- Apply the lawyer's hourly rate or the fixed fee agreed for the matter.
- Generate the client invoice from the approved hours, with an activity breakdown.
Fixed fee vs. hourly fee
- An hourly fee suits litigation with an unpredictable workload.
- A fixed fee suits standardised work with a clear scope.
- A success fee is added on top of either, conditioned on the result.
- Whatever the model, per-matter time-tracking shows whether the fee covers the real effort.
Table: paper time-tracking vs. in-software time-tracking
Paper time-tracking vs. in-software time-tracking
| Criterion | On paper | In software |
|---|---|---|
| Lost hours | Many hours forgotten before billing | Real-time logging, minimal loss |
| Justification | Hard to explain to the client | Automatic activity breakdown |
| The invoice | Calculated manually, with errors | Generated from approved hours |
Common mistakes
- Logging hours at month end from memory — you lose half of them.
- Not separating billable from non-billable hours.
- Issuing the invoice without an activity breakdown, so the client disputes it.
How 4lawyers helps
- Per-matter time-tracking, with an activity description for each entry.
- Worked hours stay linked to the matter and the client, ready for billing.
- Fee invoicing through 4invoices, starting from the recorded hours.