Here’s a shocking statistic: the average lawyer only bills 2.5 hours in an eight-hour day.
That leaves a whopping 5.5 hours of uncompensated time. Some of that, of course, is non-billable. But lots of it could – and should – be billed.
“It’s a classic paradox for law firms: while it’s essential for attorneys to track their time, traditionally, the lawyer time tracking process takes up time,” according to practice management provider Clio. “Still, accurate time tracking is a necessity for law firms. By finding ways to simply and efficiently track all hours worked, lawyers are better able to close the loop between hours worked and hours billed, invoice more accurately, and boost profitability.”
Below are Six Top Time-Tracking Tools, as ranked by Clio.
Read the 2021 CLIO Legal Trends Report here.
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6 Top Time-Tracking Tools
Below is the Clio list. All quotes and prices are from this Clio article.
- Clio Manage. Key features: “Gives you the versatility to add time entries directly from multiple places, including your calendar events, tasks, communication logs, notes, and documents. You can also track time entries from your email inbox and record them in real-time via a running-clock timer feature.” Pricing: Clio Manage’s Starter plan costs $39 per user, per month (billed annually).
- Time Bro: Key features: “Automatically tracks all your computer activities, meetings, and offline time—serving as a second memory so you don’t lose out on time worked. For data privacy, all this tracking data is stored on your device—so you have control of your data and there is no access or monitoring for other parties.” Pricing: Basic plan starts at $12 per user, per month (12-month subscription).
- Wise Time. Key features: “Works in the background while you work—capturing all your activity and then collating it into a meticulous (and totally private—until you decide to share it) timeline of your day’s work.” Pricing: The starter tier is $10 per user, per month.
- MagicTime. Key features: When connected to CLIO, “MagicTime’s lawyer time tracking app automatically captures lawyer time using desktop applications on macOS, Windows, and Chrome extensions—building your timesheet in the background while you work. You can then file your timesheet in Clio with a few clicks.” Pricing: $29 per user, per month.
- Fresh Time. Key features: “FreshBooks’ invoicing software and time and expense tracking for lawyers work together to make it easier to track time and send out invoices. With FreshBooks, you can start a timer when you start working—when you’re done, you’ll instantly have a time log that you can use for an invoice.” Pricing: Starts at $15 per month for up to five billable clients.
- TimeSparrow. Key features: “Track your time and create time entries in multiple convenient ways—whether that means via timers, text messages, email, or Amazon Alexa. If you need it, you can also direct TimeSparrow to call you at a scheduled time to record your time entries. TimeSparrow also integrates and syncs with Clio—which means that your time entries can be found in both places.” Pricing: $25 per lawyer, per month.
Source: A Guide to the 10 Best Lawyer Time Tracking Tools | Clio
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