Harvest
Time Tracking
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Billable Hours Tracker for Attorneys

Harvest is a billable hours tracker designed for attorneys, helping to recover lost revenue from delayed time entries, which can reach up to 50%.

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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
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Today's total 6:54:09

The Imperative of Accurate Time Tracking in Legal Practice

Accurate time tracking is a critical component of legal practice, directly influencing a law firm's revenue and operational efficiency. Lawyers often face the challenge of accurately capturing their billable hours, as statistics show that attorneys only bill 2.6 to 2.9 hours of an 8-hour workday, which is around 31% to 37% of their total working time. This inefficiency can lead to substantial revenue losses, especially when time entries are delayed—potentially losing 10% to 15% of billable hours when recorded at day's end, and up to 50% if deferred for a week.

Harvest offers a solution with its one-click start/stop timers that facilitate real-time time capture. This feature ensures that attorneys can log their hours immediately, reducing the risk of lost time. Additionally, Harvest's detailed reporting capabilities provide insights into billable and non-billable hours, allowing attorneys to maintain compliance with ethical guidelines and enhance client trust through transparent billing practices.

Essential Features of a Billable Hours Tracker for Attorneys

For attorneys, selecting a billable hours tracker with the right features is crucial for maximizing efficiency and ensuring compliance. Key features include real-time tracking, automatic time capture, and the ability to manage multiple timers for seamless task switching. Given that attorneys may bill differently for litigation versus transactional work, Harvest supports setting flexible rates per project or individual, making it adaptable to various legal tasks.

Moreover, Harvest integrates with popular practice management and billing systems, reducing the need for duplicate data entry and minimizing errors. Its reporting features provide valuable insights into utilization rates and client profitability, helping attorneys make data-driven decisions. Security is also paramount; Harvest ensures the protection of sensitive client data through robust security measures and user permissions.

Navigating Ethical Billing and Compliance Standards

Attorneys are bound by ethical guidelines such as the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which dictate transparency and reasonableness in billing practices. Challenges like double billing and block billing can undermine client trust and lead to compliance issues. Harvest addresses these concerns by offering detailed activity descriptions and categorizing billable versus non-billable hours, tailored to the specific needs of legal tasks.

To comply with ethical standards, attorneys should communicate billing policies and expenses clearly to clients from the outset. Harvest's ability to track time against retainer agreements and fixed fee projects ensures that all client-related tasks are accurately billed. This comprehensive approach not only aids in compliance but also enhances the overall client relationship.

Best Practices for Maximizing Billable Hours and Efficiency

Implementing best practices in time management is vital for maximizing billable hours and improving law firm efficiency. Real-time entry of billable hours should be a core habit, as delayed entries can result in significant revenue loss. Harvest's one-click timers facilitate this practice, enabling attorneys to capture work as it happens.

Standardizing timekeeping processes, such as adopting the industry-standard six-minute increments, helps maintain consistency across the firm. Regularly reviewing and approving time entries ensures accuracy before invoicing. Harvest's detailed reports and analytics empower firms to monitor utilization and realization rates, driving performance improvements and profitability.

Harvest Billable Hours Tracker for Attorneys

See how Harvest helps attorneys track billable hours accurately for various legal tasks, ensuring compliance and maximizing revenue.

Screenshot of Harvest tracking billable hours for attorneys

Billable Hours Tracker for Attorneys FAQs

  • Attorneys can track billable hours efficiently by using tools like Harvest, which provide one-click timers for real-time tracking. This reduces the risk of lost hours due to delayed entries, which can lead to a 10% to 50% revenue loss.

  • A billable hours tracker for attorneys should include real-time tracking, flexible billing rates, integration with practice management systems, and detailed reporting. Harvest offers all these features to ensure effective time management and compliance.

  • Harvest integrates seamlessly with various practice management tools, allowing attorneys to synchronize their time tracking and billing data. This integration minimizes manual entry and reduces errors.

  • Yes, Harvest offers detailed reporting that categorizes billable and non-billable hours. This feature is customizable to suit specific legal tasks, ensuring accurate billing and compliance with ethical standards.

  • Real-time time capture is important because it prevents revenue loss from unrecorded hours. For attorneys, delayed time entry can result in losing up to 50% of potential billable hours. Harvest's one-click timers support this practice efficiently.

  • While some tools offer free versions, Harvest provides a free 30-day trial with no credit card required, allowing attorneys to evaluate its features and determine its suitability for their practice.

  • The legal industry typically uses six-minute increments (0.1 hours) for billing. This standard ensures precise and fair billing practices, which tools like Harvest can accommodate efficiently.