As a lawyer, you have to track time to determine billable hours. It is also valuable to see where non-billable time is spent. This helps reduce distracting or non-productive activities and refocus the entire team on the most valuable tasks.
This blog will explore the transformative impact of legal time-tracking software on legal practices, guiding you through its functionality, benefits, and how to choose the right tool for your firm.
What is Time Tracking Software for Attorneys?
Time tracking software for attorneys is a specialized tool designed to accurately log hours spent on various client cases and other tasks. Typically, this software goes beyond mere timekeeping by offering features tailored to the unique needs of legal professionals. These may include integration with legal billing software, the ability to assign time to specific clients and matters, detailed reporting capabilities, and support for compliance with legal industry standards.
The primary aim is to enhance efficiency, bill clients accurately, and ultimately increase the firm's profitability while maintaining transparency with clients.
The Best Lawyer Time Tracking Software Depends on Your Needs
These tools are not one-size-fits-all, and they often vary greatly in how they track time and integrate with other tools.
Active Time Tracking Software
Active time tracking requires the user to manually start and stop the timer as they begin and end different tasks or switch between clients. This type of software often features timers that can be easily accessed via desktop apps, web browsers, or mobile devices, allowing lawyers to record time from anywhere at any time.
The chief advantage of active tracking is its precision; since the attorney initiates the timer, the recorded times are exact. However, it requires discipline and consistency from the user to ensure all tasks are logged accurately, which can be a challenge in a busy law practice.
Passive Time Tracking Software
Passive time-tracking tools run quietly in the background, automatically recording the amount of time spent on different applications, websites, or documents without any manual input required from the user.
For attorneys, this means that the software could track how long they spend drafting specific legal documents or researching online without needing to interact with the timer. This method minimizes the risk of forgetting to record time but may require more sorting and organization later to assign the passive tracking data to specific clients or cases.
Hybrid Time Tracking Software
Hybrid time-tracking solutions combine the best of both active and passive tracking. These tools allow users to manually track time when needed but also offer the capability to capture activity passively.
The hybrid approach is particularly advantageous in legal settings as it accommodates different work styles and fluctuating demands on attorneys' time. It provides flexibility, ensuring comprehensive time recording without disrupting the flow of work.
Integrated Time Tracking Software
Many time-tracking tools for attorneys come integrated with broader practice management or legal billing software. This integration allows for seamless coordination between tracking time, managing cases, scheduling, and generating invoices.
The interconnected systems ensure that all billable hours are directly linked to the appropriate client and matter, simplifying the billing process and reducing administrative overhead.
Finding the right legal timekeeping software for your firm can improve your ability to track billable hours. Here are some of the best options for tracking your time.
1. Toggl
Toggl is an incredibly easy-to-use time-tracking software. You can set different colors for various kinds of activities and name your projects. You can add as much or as little detail as you want for each action, and the service comes with a mobile app, too.
You can also view reports for any time period you'd like in just a few clicks. This makes billing simple when you need to invoice a client for your time.
Toggl's timer uses an active time-tracking process that runs in the background, which can be helpful so long as you remember to start and stop it.
Key Features
- Track your time on the mobile version or web application
- Color-coding for tasks and projects
- End-of-week reports
- A free plan with unlimited time tracking and projects
Pricing
- Free plan
- Starter plan: $10/month, includes billable time and hours rounding
- Premium plan: $20/month with team tracking reminders and fixed fee projects
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing; unlimited workspaces available
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Very easy to use
- Law firms can get a lot out of the free plan
- Quickly grab reports at the end of the week for billing purposes
Cons
- Individual projects or clients must be created manually
- Must press the "start" button and tag tasks manually
- Easy to forget that the timer is running
2. MyHours
MyHours is another option built for people who work on an hourly basis rather than on flat-fee projects. It's also good for bringing a team together to work on projects and tasks with timesheets.
Key Features
- Track time easily across individual or team projects
- Analytics and reporting show snapshots of time spent
- Good reporting features
Pricing
- Free: for individuals and small teams with unlimited projects or team members
- Paid: starts at $7/month per user with priority support, invoices, and log editing
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Offers a 30-day trial
- Solo or small law firms can get a lot out of the free version
- Run reports quickly on invoicing days
- Good customer support
Cons
- Few integrations with other tools
- No ability to automate daily reminders for team member billing
- Limited mobile app
3. Microsoft To-Do
If you want to combine time-tracking features and hourly billing without investing in an entire project management tool for your law firm, Microsoft To-Do may be a good fit. Typically, most law firms need something more robust for project management, but a solo lawyer just getting started might see some benefit to the simple task listing available here.
Key Features
- Keep track of customer contact details
- Task/project management
- Calendar sync
- Repeating tasks
- Simple time billing
Pricing
- Free plan: one user only
- Business plan: $9/user per month
- Max price: $99/month
Pros and Cons
Pros
- 14-day free trial
- Lots of integrations with third-party tools
- Solid mobile app
Cons
- Limited storage options
- Many users report bugs and crashes
- Many users say that checklists aren't as functional as they could be
4. Everhour
Everhour is popular in multiple industries. Its powerful integrations allow you to easily budget, run payroll, and gather data for more accurate invoices.
You can also split billable and non-billable hours, capturing everything you work on. This allows you to keep client work separate from things like operations tasks.
Key Features
- Payroll management
- Budgeting capability
- Multiple billing rates
- Accounting integrations
Pricing
- Free tier for teams of up to 5
- Lite plan starts a $5/user/month for reminders, clients, billable rates, profit, invoicing, and API access
- Team plan at $8/user/month for time cards, expenses, and scheduling
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Perfect for managing projects at different billable rates
- Features for estimating time on projects
- Collaboration tools for the entire team
- Very easy to use
Cons
- Reports for new clients must be created manually
- Not all daily or weekly reports can be customized
5. TimeSolv
TimeSolv goes one step beyond accurate time tracking, helping with things like invoicing and staff monitoring. It also has a lot of integrations with legal tech tools you might already use, like LawPay, Office 365, or QuickBooks.
This is one of the higher-priced tools, and some of the features, like project and document management, may be redundant.
Key Features
- Invoicing
- Payments
- Document management
- Reporting
- Budgeting
- Time tracking
- Project management
Pricing
- 1-4 users: $39.95/user/month
- 5-14 users: $34.95/user/month
- Over 15 users: $29.95/user/month
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Offers a 30-day trial
- Set up tags/abbreviations for your popular projects
- Invoices are quick and easy to send
- Time entry is intuitive and user-friendly
Cons
- Hard to move time entries
- Flat fee invoices are clunky
- Not as much personalization available on reports
6. TimeAnalytics
If you want to improve your productivity and capture billable and non-billable activities in the same place, this may be the right choice for you. Much like other tools, you can add and edit time manually or supply notes during or after a work session.
Key Features
- Can track time off for your legal team
- Assign labor costs to specific cases
- Adjustable billing rates
- View logged time on a calendar or daily list
Pricing
- Starter plan: $5.99/user/month
- Optimum plan: $8.45/user/month for invoicing, profit report, email reminders
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Very user-friendly
- Deep-dive reporting and timesheets for clients, teams, and projects
- Free 14-day trial
Cons
- No mobile app
- No free plan outside of the trial
7. RescueTime
RescueTime tracks all the time you spend on your computer automatically. This makes it most helpful for making sure that you or others are not overworking.
RescueTime is not so much a time-tracking tool when compared with some of the other tools on this list. Instead, it will passively track time spent on tasks based on which apps you're active in throughout the day.
That's a helpful feature, but you'll need to plan around it. You may need to set aside time to see what RescueTime tracks. Then, transfer your time logs to other tools to record every minute of billable hours properly.
Key Features
- Review time spent on various websites and apps
- Daily reminders of productivity goals
- Tie activities into their level of productivity
- Time reporting
- Distraction blocking
Pricing
- Free: basic time reporting only
- $12/user/month for calendar and music integrations, history reports, focus features
Pros and Cons
Pros
- 14-day free trial
- Runs in the background
- Automatic weekly reporting
- Can set automated daily emails for hitting productivity goals
- Blocks distractions
Cons
- Categorizes time spent at a broad level like "Google Docs" rather than specific projects
- Limited exports
- Time categories are somewhat restricted
8. Timely
If you're a visual person but want automated time recording, this is the perfect blend for you. This user-friendly software will help get your whole law firm up to speed on the tasks that matter most.
Key Features
- Automated time tracking
- Watch for problems like overtime or employee capacity limits
- Collaborate and plan as a team
- Many integrations with other tools
Pricing
- $11/user/month for 50 projects and 3 teams
- $20/user/month for unlimited projects and teams
- $28/user/month to see all employee activity or send clients live reports
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Drag and drop interface to add new hours
- Automation makes things easy for you
- Very user-friendly
Cons
- Certain tasks may not be properly tagged or logged in the AI system
- Inability to set up automated logging for tasks with specific criteria
- Doesn't always follow Google Calendar order when sending reports
9. Beebole
If you like the ease of running the clock from your phone or a browser, you can easily track your time with Beebole. You can customize your reports and make decisions based on the tool's powerful team reporting.
Key Features
- See where your team is spending their time
- Clear user interface
- Assign billable vs. non-billable hours
- Google and Excel reporting capabilities
Pricing
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Good customer service with broad business hours coverage
- 30-day free trial
- One price with unlimited clients, reports, and projects
- Design your own reports and send them to anyone
Cons
- Limited integrations with some users reporting bugs
- Not as easy to use as other tools
- Some people report that the web app can be buggy
10. Amberlo
Amberlo offers many benefits for law firms of all sizes. This is especially true if you need more than expenses and time tracking. Its billing and management features make it more holistic than other tools.
Key Features
- Time tracking
- Expense tracking
- Calendar
- Document management
- Matter/contract management
- Billing
- Trust accounting tools
Pricing
- Free for single users
- $35/user/month for Office 365/Google calendar integrations and more document storage
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Automatically record each minute logged
- More comprehensive than other tools
- Ability to email clients
- Intuitive to use
Cons
- No integration for Dropbox or Google Drive
- Limited reporting
- Some users say that the mobile app is not as detailed as they'd like
Do Lawyers Need Standalone Time Tracking Software?
For most lawyers, the answer depends on your law firm's tech tool stack.
If your legal practice management software or project management tool has built-in time tracking, you may not need one of these apps.
If your tools don't have built-in tracking features, then you may need a standalone app. This is especially true if you cannot deviate from the tools you use.
Having a separate time-tracking app from your other tools adds a degree of complication. You might have to take extra steps for accurate reporting.
You may need a system to take the time from your tracker and log it in your practice management tool.
This extra step can reduce efficiency. However, it's still better than not tracking time at all, and it's a good way to balance time tracking with software requirements.
Features to Look for In a Legal Time Tracking Tool
Before choosing a timekeeping tool, consider a few important features. Of particular importance are how well it integrates with other tools, how reporting looks, and your support options.
Integrations with Your Other Tools
Time-tracking tools that work with the software you already use are better than those that don't. Integrated tools cut the need to hop back and forth between apps, preventing you from losing time and your focus from context switching.
Some time-tracking tools can automatically track the time you spend on different apps. They can even rate your productivity or distraction level. You can assign a high productivity score to time spent on apps like your case management tool, Microsoft Word, or Zoom meetings.
You could then export daily, weekly, or yearly reports to see how you spend your time.
Analytics and Reporting Features
Fully-featured apps with analytics and reporting can help you get a handle on your utilization rate, productivity, and more. When you know these details, you can make more informed decisions.
Do you notice that you're spending a lot of time in team meetings and fewer billable hours than you'd like? You can implement changes in your office to flip the two.
The analytics and reporting features should be helpful and not overwhelming. Make sure you'll get something useful from it, whether it's a visual chart or a weekly email report.
Customer Support
Technical support is a necessity because you must accurately log billable hours. Anything that goes wrong with your time tracking could jeopardize this crucial metric.
The tool you choose shouldn't leave you to your own devices. If something goes wrong, you need a tool that will give you timely and helpful assistance.
Track Your Time Effectively to Grow Your Firm
It's much easier to grow a law firm when you know where you spend your time and how you can better optimize it. By combining legal time-tracking software with your other tools, you can become more focused on the tasks at hand.
Managing a law firm requires balancing several disparate factors. One of those factors is having the right tools at your disposal to get work done effectively.
Rankings.io has many resources to help you see what other lawyers are using in their firms to go to the next level. If you're interested in learning more, good places to start include our guides to productivity for lawyers, law practice management software, client intake software, and project management software.
