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Legal Time Tracking Essential Insights: Overcoming Challenges in Implementing Effective Time Tracking Systems for Law Firms
Demystifying the Billable Hour: How to Right-Size Your Rates
With prices rising so much over the last year (global inflation is forecasted at 8.8% in 2022), it’s the right time to look at your current rates and see if you’re charging enough to remain profitable.
“Learning a new system is a drag”
Another objection is that training is not everyone’s cup of tea. The solution: choose an intuitive software that provides easy demos and customized training upon request.
“I don’t need extra oversight”
No associate or paralegal, or any employee, wants all of their time monitored by a boss, and rightly so. The way to overcome this, however, is by communicating with lawyers and partners about the purpose of the time-tracking data: firm-wide tracking.
You can assure lawyers that the firm-wide data is meant to improve firm-wide analytics, and perhaps create a better system to know each lawyer’s billable hours. The purpose is not, from a bird's eye view, to dig into how an individual lawyer spends their day—that’s important data for a lawyer themselves to review as they evaluate their time management at the end of a day or week.
How to overcome resistance to implementing time-tracking
As you can see, the challenges from lawyers to implementing time-tracking are not insignificant, but overcoming them is fairly easy. Just follow these tips. #1 is Showcasing the Benefits.
Showcase the benefits:
Need fodder for a convincing argument? Share these benefits with your teams (over email and in person).
- Capture all your billable hours: Systemic, contemporaneous time-tracking helps stop the problem of leaving billable hours on the table (when lawyers record their time later in the day or week, they are likely to inevitably forget some hours).
- Multitask your time tracking. Today’s legal time-tracking software allows you to run multiple timers, simply and accurately.
- Time tracking in the background—automatically. Rather than some added tasks, look for software with integrations with Office365 and other apps so that when you click into those apps, the timer knows you are working.
- Improve time management. At week’s end, a lawyer can review how they spent their time, breaks, billable and non-billable hours, and look to improve!
- It’s mobile-integrated. Lawyers no longer have to record in a separate location while on the road, and then again at their desk when they use mobile apps that integrate with the desktop app.
- Integrated with matters. When you use an integrated legal management system with a robust time-tracking system (such as Rocket Matter), each matter can be tied to your time-tracking.
- Integrated with invoicing. You can turn time tracked into invoices with just a few clicks. All you need to do is review for accuracy and details, then send it to the client for payment.
Training
Asking attorneys and legal staff to embrace a tech tool that they don’t know how to use is a recipe for grumbling and resistence. Provide demos, tutorials, hour-long training sessions in the conference room, and dedicated support staff so everyone can feel confident in their time-tracking skills.
Run a trial period
Give employees a trial period to give it a shot. Offer the option for people to run things the new or old way and see if they like it. Soon, those who like it may even become “champions” who can spread the word to colleagues.
Encourage safe feedback
As you roll out a new system, listen first to questions and concerns from the team. Don’t only say that you will listen but actively take notes. Create a safe atmosphere where lawyers know this is a discussion and their concerns are safe and encouraged.
Continuous improvement
Post-implementation, maintain an open feedback loop for continuous improvement. Solicit ongoing feedback and make adjustments to optimize the system based on user experiences.
Celebrate milestones
Recognize and celebrate milestones achieved during the implementation process. It could be a successful week of accurate time tracking or the highest level of billable hours reached yet.
Lawyers forget their objections with Rocket Matter
While the challenges to implementing firm-wide time-tracking are not insignificant, when a team starts using an intuitive system designed specifically for the legal profession, the common concerns fade fast.
Rocket Matter Track helps you get the most out of every hour you work for clients, gives you the analytics to improve, and is simple to start. Schedule a demo or start your free trial to see how much easier time-tracking can be.
Demystifying the Billable Hour: How to Right-Size Your Rates
With prices rising so much over the last year (global inflation is forecasted at 8.8% in 2022), it’s the right time to look at your current rates and see if you’re charging enough to remain profitable.
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