Maximize billable hours with attorney time tracking. Discover top tools, best practices, and transcription tips to track time smarter and boost profits.
You know the drill—you spend an hour reviewing contracts, jump into a client call, then fire off a quick email. But when it’s time to log your hours? Somehow, half of your workday is missing.
Attorney time tracking requires capturing every billable minute and making sure your hard work translates into revenue. If you’re still relying on memory or scattered notes to track your time, you’re leaving money on the table.
Let’s fix that. Here’s how to track time smarter, not harder—so you bill more and stress less.
What is Attorney Time Tracking?
If you bill by the hour, every minute counts. But accurate time tracking can get tricky. Attorney time tracking is recording and managing billable hours so clients are billed correctly and law firms maximize revenue.
Gone are the days of scribbling time entries on sticky notes. Modern employee time tracking tools help you log tasks in real-time, categorize billable vs. non-billable work, and generate invoices with ease.
Benefits of Time Tracking
Time tracking allows you to run a more efficient, profitable, and compliant law practice.
Compliance: Stay on the Right Side of Ethics and Regulations
Legal billing must be accurate, transparent, and fair. Many jurisdictions have strict rules about billable hours, and poor timekeeping leads to disputes—or even ethical violations.
Profitability: Capture Every Billable Minute
You know the feeling—you spent an hour reviewing documents, but when you try to log your time later, you can only recall half of it. Those missing minutes add up fast.
Client Trust: Show Transparency and Accuracy
Clients want to know exactly what they’re paying for. A well-documented timekeeping system builds trust by providing clear, itemized records of your work. This transparency reduces disputes and improves client relationships.
Better Productivity: Understand Where Your Time Goes
Ever wonder where your day went? Time tracking reveals inefficiencies, helping you identify time-wasting tasks, streamline workflows, and focus more on high-value legal work.
Easier Invoicing: Bill Faster and More Accurately
Manually piecing together timesheets at the end of the month is a headache. With automated time tracking, invoices practically write themselves. No more scrambling to remember what you worked on—just accurate, hassle-free billing.
Challenges of Time Tracking
Let’s be honest—tracking your time isn’t always easy. Between back-to-back meetings, court appearances, and endless emails, keeping an accurate record of your billable hours can feel like a job in itself. Here’s where most attorneys struggle:
● Forgetting to Log Time
You’re deep in case research, drafting a motion, or on a long client call. By the time you remember to log your time, details are fuzzy—or worse, you forget altogether. Lost time equals lost revenue.
● Tracking Non-Billable Work
Not everything you do is billable, but it still takes up time. Administrative tasks, client intake, and internal meetings eat into your day. You risk overworking while underbilling without a system to separate billable from non-billable hours.
● Inconsistent Timekeeping Habits
Manually entering time at the end of the day (or week) is a recipe for errors. Relying on memory often leads to underreporting your actual work or overestimating hours—either of which can cause issues with clients and compliance.
● Billing Disputes
Vague or inaccurate time entries can lead to client pushback. If an invoice isn’t crystal clear on how time was spent, you may find yourself justifying charges instead of focusing on legal work.
● Technology Overload
Plenty of time tracking tools exist, but not all are attorney-friendly. If a system is clunky, too manual, or doesn’t integrate with your case management software, it’s more hassle than help.
Best Practices for Attorney Time Tracking
So how can you make sure your time tracking is accurate, in compliance, and most importantly, easy? Before we jump into the tools that will make all those things a reality, let’s set a few things straight: without these best practices, a time-tracking tool is useless.
Real-Time Tracking: Log It As You Work
The best way to avoid lost billable hours is to track time as you go. Waiting until the end of the day (or week) to log hours leads to incomplete, inaccurate, or forgotten entries. Use a time-tracking app that runs in the background, allowing you to start and stop timers with a single click.
Regular Audits: Catch Mistakes Before They Cost You
Even with automated tools, errors happen. Set a habit of reviewing your time entries weekly to ensure accuracy. Are all billable hours accounted for? Are time descriptions clear? A quick audit can prevent underbilling, overbilling, and client disputes before they happen.
Clear Procedures: Standardize How Time Is Logged
Everyone should follow the same timekeeping guidelines if you work in a firm. Define:
- What counts as billable vs. non-billable time
- How time should be described in entries (detailed descriptions reduce client pushback)
- How often time should be logged (daily is ideal)
Use the Right Tools: Make Tracking Effortless
Spreadsheets and handwritten notes don’t cut it anymore. Modern time-tracking tools like mobile apps have time-tracking features that integrate with case management software, automate time entry, and make invoicing seamless. The easier it is to track time, the more accurate (and profitable) your billing will be.
5 Incredible Attorney Time Tracking Software
Let’s get your billing back on track with these five attorney time tracking softwares.
1. Clio — Best for all-in-one case management.
If you’re looking for a legal-specific time-tracking solution, Clio is a top choice. It automates time entries, integrates with billing, and works across desktop and mobile devices. Plus, it syncs with legal research tools and document management systems, making it a powerhouse for law firms.
2. Clockify — The best free option.
For attorneys who need a no-cost time tracking tool, Clockify offers a free plan with unlimited tracking. It lets you categorize billable and non-billable hours, run reports, and even track time across different cases or clients. It’s a simple, effective option for solos and small firms.
3. MyCase — Best for small and mid-sized law firms.
MyCase combines time tracking, billing, and client management in one platform. It automatically records time while you work on case files, generates invoices, and helps you stay organized. It’s designed specifically for law firms, so it integrates seamlessly with legal workflows.
4. QuickBooks Time — Best if you’ve already got QuickBooks.
QuickBooks Time is a natural fit if your firm already uses QuickBooks for accounting. It tracks billable hours, syncs with payroll, creates accurate invoices, and offers mobile expense tracking for attorneys who work on the go. The reporting features help you analyze time spent on different cases.
5. Toggl Track — Best for simple, flexible tracking.
Toggl Track is known for its user-friendly interface and one-click time tracking. It’s great for attorneys who want an easy, distraction-free way to log hours without extra bells and whistles. You can tag time entries, generate reports with valuable insights, and integrate with your preferred billing system.
How to Integrate Transcription into Time Tracking
Accurate billing requires documenting your work efficiently. If you’re manually typing meeting notes, deposition summaries, or client consultations, you’re wasting valuable billable time.
Transcription helps streamline your workflow, boost efficiency, and maximize billable hours—all while keeping your records airtight. Here’s how to use transcription in tandem with your time-tracking softwares.
● Dictate Instead of Typing
Instead of spending hours typing case notes, dictate them and let a transcription service handle the rest. SpeakWrite’s human-powered transcription converts your voice into text quickly so that you can focus on client work, not paperwork.
● Automatically Log Transcription Time
If you spend 30 minutes dictating case notes, that’s billable time. Use your time-tracking software to log transcription sessions automatically, ensuring every minute of work is accounted for.
● Use Transcripts for Invoicing and Compliance
Accurate records matter. Transcripts provide detailed documentation of client interactions, ensuring you have clear proof of work for billing and compliance. This reduces disputes and helps maintain transparency with clients.
● Free Up More Billable Hours
Time spent typing is time you’re not billing at full value. By outsourcing transcription, you can focus on legal strategy, client consultations, and case preparation—without falling behind on documentation.
Benefits of Legal Transcription
Legal transcription is a smarter way to work—it gives you back time, peace of mind, and the freedom to get back to what you actually signed up for—client time.
● Time Saver
Every hour spent typing up documents is an hour not spent on case strategy, client consultations, or court prep. Legal transcription service frees up your time so you can focus on billable work instead of admin tasks.
● Document Streamlining
Legal transcription makes it easy to keep every case file accurate and accessible. Instead of scrambling through notes or struggling to recall past conversations, you’ll have clear, structured transcripts ready to reference.
● Accuracy and Professionalism
AI-generated transcriptions often miss legal terminology, multiple speakers, or industry nuances. With human-powered transcription services give you 99-100% accuracy, so your legal documents are court-ready and mistake-free.
● Compliance and Record Keeping
Legal documentation needs to be precise, confidential, and secure. Professional transcription guarantees your records meet industry standards, protecting your firm against disputes and compliance issues.
● Faster Turnaround
Legal work moves fast, and waiting on documentation slows you down. With transcription services delivering documents in hours, not days, you can speed up case preparation, filings, and client communication without delays.
Top Legal Transcription Tool for Attorneys Why SpeakWrite Leads the Industry
Your time is too valuable to waste on typing. SpeakWrite is the go-to legal transcription tool for attorneys who need accurate, secure, and fast documentation—without the hassle of doing it themselves.
Security & Confidentiality: Built for Legal Professionals
Legal work demands the highest level of security. SpeakWrite protects sensitive case details with multi-level security, two-factor authentication (2FA), and encryption standards.
Every transcriptionist undergoes rigorous background checks and signs NDAs, ensuring your legal documents remain confidential.
24/7 Scalable Typist Capacity—No AI, No Offshore Outsourcing
You can’t afford transcription delays. SpeakWrite’s network of US- and Canadian-based typists works around the clock, 365 days a year, delivering human-powered, high-accuracy transcripts—never AI-generated. SpeakWrite scales instantly to handle any workload.
Fast, Reliable Turnaround—Transcripts in About 3 Hours
Waiting on documentation slows down cases. SpeakWrite processes standard-length audio in about 3 hours, so you’re not stuck waiting days for completed transcripts. That means faster case preparation, quicker filings, and less time spent on paperwork.
Smart Features for Busy Attorneys
SpeakWrite’s free Mobile & Desktop App streamlines the transcription process, offering:
- Templates for standard legal documents
- Timestamps for easy reference
- Document summarization to save time
Unmatched Accuracy: 99-100% Human-Powered Precision
AI struggles with legal terminology, multiple speakers, and background noise—but SpeakWrite doesn’t. Our human transcriptionists deliver 99-100% accuracy, ensuring your legal transcripts are court-ready and error-free.
Simple, No-Contract Pricing—Only Pay for What You Use
SpeakWrite’s pay-as-you-go model means no subscriptions, no minimums, and no hidden fees. You’re only charged for completed work, making it a cost-effective solution for solo attorneys and large firms alike.
Seamless Clio Integration
Already using Clio for case management? SpeakWrite’s Clio integration lets you transcribe and format legal documents directly within your practice management platform. Less admin work, more billable time.
Case Study: How SpeakWrite Saved a $750,000 Legal Case
In the legal world, time is often your worst enemy. Missing a deadline can mean losing a case—or, in this instance, nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. Here’s how SpeakWrite’s rapid transcription services played a pivotal role in a high-stakes legal battle.
● The Challenge: A Tight Deadline with High Stakes
Attorney Hugh C. Wood received an urgent call one evening about a complex tort case facing a motion to dismiss in federal court. The deadline to respond was less than 18 hours away, and the associate previously handling the case had left the firm, leaving no draft or strategy in place.
The potential loss? Approximately $750,000.
● The Solution: Overnight Transcription with SpeakWrite
Faced with an overwhelming amount of information and a ticking clock, Wood decided to dictate his response as if presenting an oral argument. He recorded six audio files outlining the introduction, factual background, citations, and legal research.
At around 5:00 AM, he uploaded these recordings to SpeakWrite. Amazingly, by 7:00 to 9:00 AM the same morning, SpeakWrite returned fully transcribed documents.
● The Outcome: A Successful Response and a Preserved Case
With the transcriptions in hand, Wood and his team quickly organized the material into a comprehensive response. They filed it by 3:30 PM that afternoon, narrowly meeting the federal court’s stringent deadline.
The case proceeded over the next two years, ultimately resulting in a settlement of approximately $750,000.
Wood credits SpeakWrite’s swift and accurate transcription services for making this possible, stating that without them, the firm would likely have been dismissed from court.
Attorney Time Tracking: Frequently Asked Questions
What do lawyers use to track time?
Lawyers use time tracking software like Clio, Clockify, MyCase, QuickBooks Time, and Toggl Track to log billable hours. These tools help attorneys record work in real-time, categorize tasks, and generate invoices for accurate client billing. Many legal professionals also use built-in timers within case management software to streamline their timekeeping.
Is there a free app for lawyers time tracking?
Yes, Clockify is a free time tracking app that lawyers can use to log billable hours. It offers unlimited tracking, project categorization, and reporting features at no cost. Other apps like Toggl Track and Harvest also offer free plans with basic time-tracking functions.
What are the increments for attorney time tracking?
Most attorneys bill in six-minute increments instead of an hourly rate (0.1-hour), meaning every task is rounded to the nearest tenth of an hour. Some firms use 15-minute increments (0.25-hour), but six-minute billing is the industry standard for tracking and invoicing time efficiently.
What is 45 minutes in attorney time?
In six-minute increments, 45 minutes is billed as 0.8 hours (since each increment represents 0.1 hours). If using 15-minute increments, 45 minutes is billed as 0.75 hours (three-quarters of an hour). The rounding method depends on the firm’s billing policy.
SpeakWrite Handles the Transcription—You Focus on Practicing Law
Whether you need depositions, client meetings, court proceedings, or legal pleadings transcribed, SpeakWrite delivers the speed, accuracy, and security your firm requires.
Try SpeakWrite today and see how much time you can reclaim.
