The LawBill Blog

With the Winter games starting these week, it occurred to me that there is an Olympic-like event in which all lawyers who bill by the hour compete every day. Just as with an Olympic athlete, a lawyer’s effort to convert time into a billable event — i.e., gold — requires the right equipment and the proper training.

Keeping with the Olympic theme, I have observed that there are 4 types of lawyer “athletes”:

Failed to Make the Team: Lawyers for whom time stopped in 1970. For these lawyers a computer is an “electrified” typewriter. They hand-write time entries on a paper Time Sheet. Once a month they organize and review the paper sheets and then “type” a bill in Word® to be mailed to each client. They use a paper check book to write checks for firm and client expenses and to record receipts when payments are received. They pay an accountant to periodically collect the paper bills and check book and to re-create these transactions in the accountant’s accounting software to generate the financial reports needed to analyze the profitability of the law business.

Bronze: Lawyers who believe the year is 1990. On their accountant’s advice they use the Timeslips® and QuickBooks® software combination. They hand-write time entries on a paper Time Sheet and their assistant re-enters them into Timeslips. They follow their accountant’s instructions on how to record checks and payments in QuickBooks. They pay the accountant to periodically make sense of the QuickBooks entries to generate meaningful financial reports.

Silver: For these lawyers, 2000 was a very good year. They learned about time, billing and accounting software like Abacus®, TABS3® and PCLaw™. They keep a Time Sheet entry screen open on their workstations as they sit at their desks and make contemporaneous time entries directly into the software as the day proceeds. If they were out of the office they immediately record their time when they return. Their assistant/office manager uses the software to produce time reports, pre-bills, Invoices and Past Due statements, print checks and perform monthly bank reconciliations. The software generates detailed reports so that their accountants need not spend as much time (or bill them as much money) to create the financial reports.

Gold: These are the lawyers for whom 2010 technology provides the tools which enables them operate their legal business with the greatest efficiency. Every software program they use, whether Word®, Excel®, Outlook® or Internet Explorer® displays a billing program timer directly on the Toolbar. Reading each business email is a .2 hr billable event. Telephone calls are immediately recorded, timed and billed through their Practice Management software such as Amicus Attorney®, Practice Master® or Time Matters®. They are never more than 2 mouse clicks away from creating a billable event. When they are out of the office their “smartphone” permits them to record time entries which will synchronize with their billing program. In short, they bill for every working hour.

With the correct software and training every lawyer can earn on place on Legal Team Gold.

What are you waiting for?