Mastery of ethical and efficient billing is a cornerstone to the success of any legal practice. It is a skill that can lead to immediate results in productivity and profitability. Particularly for newly admitted attorneys, learning the ins and outs of successful billing practices goes a long way to ensuring you meet billable requirements and that your time is captured accurately. This article offers a refresher on best billing practices for seasoned billers and a roadmap for newer attorneys.
Make Daily and Accurate Billing a Habit
Recording time on a contemporaneous, or at least daily basis, is a practice that should be a habit for all attorneys. Waiting days or weeks to enter time will inevitably result in less time being recorded, and as a result, less profitability. Establish a habit—either at the end of each day or the beginning of the next—to make sure your time is current. Waiting risks losing time that cannot be recaptured, or worse, can result in an unintended, but nevertheless problematic, overstatement of time. A client paying hundreds of dollars per hour for your time likely knows how long your telephone conversations were, and will not appreciate a misstatement of your time even if unintentional.
