Timesheets in legal practice: find out what each case really costs

Two clients pay the same monthly fee. One takes up two hours a month; the other, twenty. Without time tracking, the firm treats them the same — and subsidizes the second one without realizing it.

What a timesheet is

It's the record of hours worked by person, by case and by activity: meetings, research, drafting, hearings, travel. Even firms that don't bill by the hour benefit from it.

What it's for

• Profitability: knowing which clients and types of case pay off;
• Pricing: future proposals based on real data, not intuition;
• Team management: understanding each person's workload;
• Accountability: showing the client the work performed, when the agreement provides for it.

How to implement it without resistance

1. Start with few activity categories;
2. Record in 15-minute blocks — too much precision discourages people;
3. Record time on the same day, never at the end of the month;
4. Show the team what the data is for (and what it isn't for).

Turning hours into decisions

After two or three months, compare each client's hours with the amount received. The results are often surprising — and guide price adjustments, changes in scope or even ending agreements that don't pay for themselves.

How IntegraLegal solves this

IntegraLegal's Financial Center has timesheets linked to cases, alongside revenue, expenses, costs and the ROI of each matter. You see in one place how much time a case took and how much it brought to the firm.

Discover the real profitability of your caseload: try it free for 7 days.

Read also

• Pricing legal services: how to set fees with confidence
• Cash flow in a law firm: the no-nonsense guide
• 8 metrics every law firm should track

Notice: this content is for information only. It does not replace a lawyer's analysis of the specific case. Always check the legislation, case law and rules in force on the date of your consultation.