Harvest
Time Tracking
Sign up free

What Is a Good Billable Hours Target

Harvest helps legal professionals manage their workload to meet billable hour targets of 1,800 to 2,200 hours annually, enhancing both profitability and work-life balance.

Try Harvest Free

How much revenue is your team leaving on the table?

Most agencies run at 55-60% utilization. Even a small improvement means significant revenue. See what closing the gap looks like for your team.

Number of people who track billable time
$
Blended rate across roles (junior, senior, lead)
55%
Percentage of total hours that are billable. Industry average is 55-60%.
75%
A realistic target for service businesses is 70-80%.
Monthly revenue gap $0
Revenue at current utilization $0/mo
Revenue at target utilization $0/mo
Extra billable hours needed per person/day 0h
Annual revenue opportunity $0

Start tracking team utilization

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
Blog calendar planning
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 Targets for Legal Professionals

A good billable hours target for legal professionals typically ranges between 1,800 to 2,200 hours annually, depending on the size and focus of the law firm. Corporate law firms often set higher targets, aiming for around 85% utilization, translating to approximately 1,693 billable hours per year. Mid-sized firms, on the other hand, may consider 150-165 billable hours per month (1,800-1,980 annually) as a balanced goal, ensuring profitability without compromising attorney well-being. Setting realistic targets is crucial as they directly influence revenue and work-life balance.

Achieving these targets is essential for maintaining firm profitability and individual performance evaluations. Most professional services firms aim for a 65-75% billable hours rate, with top-performing firms pushing for 75% or higher. Legal professionals, however, often face the highest expectations due to the nature of their work and the billing structures in place.

Managing Workload to Meet Billable Hour Targets

Effective workload management is vital for meeting billable hour targets, and Harvest offers a comprehensive solution for this challenge. By tracking both billable and non-billable hours, Harvest provides insights into how time is spent, enabling legal professionals to adjust their schedules and priorities accordingly. This is particularly important as 80% of timesheets contain errors, leading to potential revenue loss.

Harvest also offers detailed reporting features that help identify patterns and inefficiencies in time management. With integrations into tools like Asana and Slack, teams can seamlessly incorporate time tracking into their workflows, ensuring that every minute spent is accurately accounted for. By leveraging Harvest, legal professionals can maintain high utilization rates while avoiding burnout, ensuring both personal and firm-wide success.

The Impact of Billable Hours on Work-Life Balance

High billable hour targets can significantly impact work-life balance, a common concern among legal professionals. Firms often set ambitious targets, with some aiming for up to 2,200 hours annually, which can translate to long workdays and weekends. However, maintaining such high targets without effective time management tools can lead to stress and decreased productivity.

Harvest addresses this challenge by providing an intuitive platform for tracking and managing time. Its one-click start/stop timers and detailed reports allow attorneys to focus on their work without the constant worry of manually logging hours. By making time tracking more efficient, Harvest helps legal professionals achieve their targets without sacrificing personal time, promoting a healthier work-life balance.

Setting Realistic Billable Hour Targets

Setting realistic billable hour targets is crucial for maintaining a sustainable workload and ensuring employee satisfaction. For legal professionals, a target of 1,800 to 2,200 hours annually is common, with variations based on firm size and specialization. Smaller firms might aim for lower targets to balance profitability with employee well-being, while larger firms may set higher targets to maximize revenue.

Harvest assists in achieving these targets by offering project budgets and alerts when limits are approached, allowing firms to adjust workloads proactively. With features like expense tracking and team management, Harvest provides a holistic view of resource allocation, ensuring that targets are met without overextending the team. This strategic approach helps firms maintain profitability while fostering a positive work environment.

Track Billable Hours with Harvest

See how Harvest helps manage billable hours targeting 1,800-2,200 annually, improving profitability and work-life balance.

Screenshot of Harvest showing billable hours tracking and reporting.

What Is a Good Billable Hours Target FAQs

  • The average billable hours target for attorneys is typically between 1,800 to 2,200 hours annually. This varies by firm size and specialization, with corporate law firms often aiming for the higher end of this range to maximize profitability.

  • Billable hour targets can vary significantly between law firms. Corporate law firms may target 85% utilization, translating to around 1,800-2,200 hours annually, while mid-sized firms might aim for 1,800-1,980 hours to balance profitability and employee well-being.

  • To manage your workload effectively, consider using Harvest to track both billable and non-billable hours. This platform provides detailed reports and integrates with tools like Asana and Slack to help you optimize time management and meet your targets.

  • High billable hour targets can strain work-life balance, often requiring long hours and weekend work. Tools like Harvest help mitigate this by streamlining time tracking and reporting, allowing professionals to meet targets efficiently without sacrificing personal time.

  • Failing to meet billable hour targets can affect a firm's profitability and an attorney's performance evaluation. It may lead to missed revenue opportunities and impact career progression. Using tools like Harvest can help ensure accurate tracking and achievement of these targets.

  • Harvest integrates seamlessly with Asana, allowing you to track time directly from your project management tool. This integration helps ensure that all billable hours are accurately captured and synced with your Harvest account, facilitating efficient project management and billing.

  • Yes, Harvest allows you to track expenses alongside billable hours. You can capture receipts, categorize expenses, and include them in your invoices, providing a comprehensive view of project costs and ensuring clients are billed accurately.