You Don’t Have to Dread Billing Your Time

Billing your time is a non-negotiable part of working at most law firms. And yet, so many lawyers struggle with it.

I did, too, when I was starting out. It can feel overwhelming, time-consuming, and like the last thing you want to do.

The struggle with billing your time often boils down to one key habit—or lack of one: contemporaneous billing.

Why aren’t you already doing it? Probably because you are thinking that:

▫️You’ll remember later.

▫️You don’t have time.

▫️You have better things to do.

▫️You shouldn’t have to do it. 

▫️You don’t know how to justify the time you spent.

If any of this is what’s running through your head, of course, you aren’t billing often enough, much less contemporaneously.

Why is it a problem that you aren’t billing contemporaneously?

▫️You’re absolutely underbilling. When you can’t remember exactly what you did, you lose track of time and, more often than not, end up short-changing yourself—and the firm.

▫️You’re having to overwork. You’re spending more time billing than needed, and your hours aren’t accurately reflecting how much you’re working, so you have to work more to make up for it.

▫️It’s impacting your promotions and bonuses because you are inevitably underbilling. And whether you like it or not, your hours are one of the things you are measured by.

▫️You are losing opportunities to win points with partners and/or clients by crafting really thoughtful and thorough entries.

▫️It’s such a bummer at the end of the week or month spending hours trying to recreate your time. 

The good news? You can solve all of this.

Here‘s how to move towards contemporaneous billing:

Strategy:

1️⃣ Track your time in real-time as you work. Avoid jotting it down on paper or in a random document—use your firm’s billing software.
2️⃣ Write detailed descriptions of your work immediately after finishing each task. Keep a list of routinely used descriptions handy. 

Mindset:
3️⃣ Figure out what your negative thoughts are about billing (e.g., the list above)  and shift those thoughts to something more useful (e.g., “Billing my time contemporaneously helps me show how hard I’m working”). 

It might feel awkward at first to change your habits, and that’s okay. Building this skill takes practice, but every small effort counts.

When you make contemporaneous billing a habit, you’ll save yourself hours of frustration, ensure you get credit for your hard work, and even boost the firm’s bottom line.

And most importantly, you’ll feel more in control of your time and more motivated to bill!

What’s one step you can take today to start tracking your time as you work?