Harvest
Time Tracking
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Attorney Billing Calculator

For attorneys losing up to $75,000 annually due to delayed time tracking, Harvest offers a solution with automated timers and detailed reports.

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What should you charge per hour?

Most freelancers and consultants dramatically undercharge. This calculator accounts for what most people miss: non-billable time, taxes, and overhead.

$
Accounting for vacation, holidays, sick days
60%
Most freelancers can bill 50-70% of their time. The rest goes to admin, marketing, proposals, and learning.
$
Software, insurance, equipment, accounting, taxes beyond income tax, etc.
Your break-even rate $0
Recommended rate (+20% buffer) $0
Billable hours per week 0h
Equivalent daily rate $0

Start tracking your billable hours

Walk through the entire flow below. Start a timer, check your reports, and create a real invoice — all in three clicks.

Go ahead — start tracking!

One click and you're timing. Try it right here: start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Harvest.

  • One-click timer from browser, desktop & mobile
  • Works inside Jira, Asana, Trello, GitHub & 50+ tools
  • Duration or start/end — your call
  • Day, week & calendar views to stay on top of it all
  • Friendly reminders so no hour gets left behind
Acme Corp
Website Redesign
Homepage layout revisions
1:24:09
Content Strategy
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1:30:00
SEO Audit
Technical audit report
0:45:00
Brand Guidelines
Color system documentation
2:15:00
Logo Concepts
Initial sketches round 1
1:00:00
Today's total 6:54:09

Understanding Billable Hours for Attorneys

Billable hours are the cornerstone of legal practice profitability. Lawyers typically track time in six-minute increments, equating to 0.1 of an hour. This standard precision can boost revenue capture by 15-20% compared to larger increments. The average lawyer records less than three billable hours a day, and firms often set annual targets between 1,700 to 2,300 hours. This translates to a significant portion of an attorney's work being billable, with small-firm attorneys dedicating about 61% of their time to billable tasks.

To effectively maximize revenue, it is crucial to record time immediately. Delaying time entries can result in a 10% revenue loss if logged the next day and up to 50% if delayed until the week's end. For attorneys charging $350 per hour, these losses can amount to $50,000 to $75,000 annually. Utilizing tools like Harvest to automate time tracking can mitigate these losses, ensuring accurate and timely billing.

Calculating Attorney Billing Rates

Determining the right billing rate is essential for attorneys aiming to balance competitiveness and profitability. As of 2025, the average hourly rate for lawyers in the U.S. is $349, with a typical range between $162 and $392. Partners often charge around $604 per hour, while associates average $370. Understanding these benchmarks can help attorneys set rates that reflect their experience and expertise while remaining competitive within their market.

Tools like Harvest allow attorneys to analyze effective hourly rates by offering detailed reports on historical billing data. This feature helps in adjusting pricing strategies to align with industry standards and personal revenue goals. By leveraging Harvest's analytics, attorneys can ensure their rates are both market-competitive and reflective of their value.

Tracking Time Accurately with Harvest

Accurate time tracking is vital for maximizing billable hours and ensuring client satisfaction. Harvest simplifies this process with its one-click timers that automatically log time to specific projects and tasks. This feature ensures that attorneys capture every billable minute without the need for manual entries, reducing the risk of missed or inaccurately recorded time.

In addition to capturing billable hours, Harvest allows for the tracking of non-billable hours, providing a comprehensive view of overall productivity. This dual-tracking capability helps law firms identify areas where efficiency can be improved, ultimately leading to increased revenue. By using Harvest, attorneys can optimize their time management and billing processes, ensuring no billable hour goes unrecorded.

Maximizing Revenue Through Efficient Time Management

Efficient time management is a critical factor in maximizing revenue for law firms. Many firms require attorneys to meet annual billable hour criteria, which range from 1,800 to 1,950 hours in mid-sized firms. However, meeting these targets is not just about working longer hours; it’s about optimizing the time spent on billable work.

Harvest provides solutions that enhance time management through its detailed reporting features. These reports offer insights into billable efficiency, helping attorneys identify the most lucrative tasks and adjust their focus accordingly. By analyzing these reports, attorneys can improve their productivity and ensure that their efforts contribute significantly to their firm’s profitability. Harvest’s integration capabilities with tools like Asana and Slack further streamline workflows, allowing attorneys to focus on their core tasks.

Attorney Billing Calculator by Harvest

The preview displays Harvest's intuitive billing calculator, designed for attorneys to efficiently track and calculate billable hours.

Screenshot of Harvest attorney billing calculator interface

Attorney Billing Calculator FAQs

  • A billable hour is a time increment that lawyers charge clients for their services. Typically, time is tracked in six-minute increments, or 0.1 hours, to ensure precise billing. This method can increase revenue capture by up to 20% compared to larger increments.

  • To calculate billable hours, record all time spent on client-related tasks in six-minute increments. Use tools like Harvest to automate this process with one-click timers, ensuring all billable time is accurately captured and reported.

  • Yes, attorneys can track billable hours manually or through automated tools. Manual methods often lead to revenue losses due to delayed entries, while automated tools like Harvest provide precise, real-time tracking to maximize billable hours.

  • Consider industry benchmarks, your experience, and the complexity of cases when setting rates. The average U.S. attorney charges $349 per hour. Harvest helps analyze your effective hourly rate, ensuring pricing strategies align with market standards.

  • Yes, Harvest allows for tracking both billable and non-billable hours. This comprehensive tracking helps law firms identify productivity improvements and optimize overall workflows.

  • Harvest maximizes revenue by automating time tracking and providing detailed reports on billable efficiency. This allows attorneys to focus on high-value tasks and ensure all billable hours are accurately captured.

  • Manual time tracking often leads to inaccuracies and revenue loss due to delayed entries. Harvest addresses these challenges with automated timers, ensuring precise and timely billing.