6 Must-Try Time Tracking Software for Attorneys in 2024

Law firms may have specific needs due to the nature of their profession. But in the end, their goals are the same as those of other industries—to bill clients accurately and gain fair revenue. Today, in a fast-paced world, switching to automatic solutions is a must to ensure the company’s steady growth and streamlined document management. When it comes to legal practice management software, comprehensive time tracking software for attorneys with billable time should be 1st purchase choice.

Let’s find out what to look for when choosing a perfect legal timekeeping software and how to use its time tracking features to the maximum!

Why use legal time tracking software?

While people tend to think that the sole purpose of a time tracker is to track employee time, currently available tools may surprise them with a wide range of features that streamline daily business processes. In combination with apps for project management management and client management, they ensure accurate billing processes, whether for a small or large law firm.

But no matter the size of a legal practice or the way a company charges its clients, time is literally money. Billable hours leakage happens equally often to law firms that price their services for an hourly rate or fixed costs, mostly due to a lack of understanding of where their time is going.

And here’s where time tracking software for lawyers comes in handy!

How does time tracking software support law firms?

The inaccuracy of traditional time tracking methods leads straight to a waste of money. Large law firms usually have their own ways of dealing with that problem. However, a smaller company that hires legal professionals may suffer quite painful consequences of tracking billable hours inadequately.

Implement legal billing software solutions based on accurate time tracking to prevent unnecessary hours leakage and ensure the law firm’s rapid growth and steady income.

More advanced features may require additional costs. However, spending a few dollars extra per month is nothing in comparison with losing hundreds of billable hours due to inefficient time tracking practices.

Let’s check what key features time tracking software for lawyers should include.

Choose time tracking software for attorneys that:

• Automatically track employees’ hours and fill their timesheets with time entries and computer activities, reducing distractions to focus more on client-related tasks,
• Add time manually with just a few clicks,
• Get accurate records of hours worked per client,
• Generate reports for performance analysis,
• Track billable hours and separate them from non-billable time,
• Send invoices based on time spent working for a particular client,
• Track expenses and send clients reports with receipts as proof,
• Passively track time spent on meetings and phone calls,
• Bill clients based on flexible rates,
• Calculate labor costs,
• Track employees’ attendance to keep papers in order.

If you’re afraid of the costs such a richly packed toolkit may generate, consider this: Legal firms like yours become only half-successful by choosing half-measures like ordinary timekeeping software. Do you want this future for your practice?

Or maybe you aim higher, yet you can’t decide which lawyer time tracking software suits your needs? Let us help.

Below, you’ll find a comprehensive guide to what features to look for in lawyer time tracking tools to ease the pain of daily time and expense recording.

→ Check also: Everything You Need to Know About Stealing Time at Work

What are the key features to look for in time tracking software for attorneys?

There are plenty of standalone time tracking software on the market, yet not every tool will be suitable for law firms’ needs. Time tracking software for attorneys should not only track time spent on legal practice activities but also offer key features for billing capabilities and accurate reporting.

Must-try time tracking software for attorneys 

Besides time tracking software for lawyers, there are tools that streamline the various aspects of running a legal practice. These tools typically offer features such as case management, client communication, document storage, billing and invoicing, time tracking, and scheduling.

By centralizing essential functions into one integrated platform, practices management tools help lawyers optimize their workflows, improve productivity, and deliver better outcomes for their clients.

Additionally, these tools often incorporate compliance features to ensure adherence to legal regulations and standards, providing peace of mind for lawyers while managing their practices efficiently.

Check out our list of best lawyer time tracking tools!

1. TimeCamp – the best time tracking software for attorneys

Automatic time tracking and timesheets

Tracking time manually with a spreadsheet doesn’t work anymore, at least not for success-oriented companies. To ensure your law firm the highest level of time tracking accuracy, switch to TimeCamp, automatic timekeeping software that seamlessly assigns time entries to the right projects.

An automatic time tracker reduces time spent filling out timesheets manually. It detects previously assigned keywords in the titles of websites and applications you’re working on, automatically selects a task, and starts a timer.

This time tracking method works perfectly for tasks that require computer usage.

For more passive time tracking (or if you prefer!), you can still use timesheets:

• Daily for a textual version where you can find detailed information about time entries
• Calendar for visual display and adding timeframes to specific days
• Weekly for filling in timesheets with tasks and their duration time within the week.

Time tracking flexibility

Law firm employees’ workstyles are slightly different from those of any other profession and require a specific approach to tracking time spent on case-related matters. That’s why they need a tool that adjusts to their needs, not vice versa.

Legal time tracking software like TimeCamp ensures full flexibility in time tracking process. You can switch between devices and platforms in perfect sync without worrying about data loss.

TimeCamp offers a separate time tracking app for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It tracks time in the background and, if the module is enabled, registers computer activities for productivity monitoring and analysis.

Besides desktop, TimeCamp is also available for mobile, as a browser plugin for Chrome and Edge, and as a Time Kiosk for simple clocking in and out.

 

Billing

Billing automation is critical to reducing the time spent on billing processes. Legal firms appreciate TimeCamp’s billing add-on – it allows setting specific income and cost rates for different clients and tracking budgets and margins for each project separately. Once the rates are set, just track time for tasks and generate reports with the margin calculated automatically.

You can also enable a rate value history feature that allows setting old values in a different timeframe.

Billable time tracking in TimeCamp allows legal firms to distinguish between billable and non-billable hours. The first option means hours you can charge your clients for, and they can be easily invoiced, while the second usually refers to administrative costs.

How to mark time entry as billable?

You can do it straight from the timesheet or set time tracked for a particular task billable by default to assign this label for lower levels of tasks and subtasks.

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Invoicing

Legal firms can easily generate invoices directly from TimeCamp based on the tracked time for each client or a specific task. This ensures that clients are billed accurately for the work performed, reducing disputes over charges and improving client satisfaction.

In TimeCamp, you can generate a new invoice based on time entries registered for a specific project or task or create one with a blank template and your own values. Both ways allow you to set a specific timeframe, add other products and services to your invoice, fill in the note field, change the issue date, and add a PO number.

Additionally, TimeCamp’s invoicing feature integrates seamlessly with accounting software, enabling efficient payment reconciliation and simplifying financial management for legal firms.

Reporting capabilities

TimeCamp offers robust reporting features that empower users to gain valuable insights into their productivity, project progress, and resource allocation. With a variety of customizable reports, users can analyze their time data in detail and make informed decisions to optimize their workflows.

TimeCamp’s reporting features include detailed summaries of time spent on various tasks and projects, allowing users to track work hours, monitor project budgets, and identify areas for improvement.

Additionally, TimeCamp provides graphical representations such as charts and graphs to visualize data trends and patterns, making it easier for users to interpret and act upon their findings.

Whether lawyers need to generate client invoices, assess team performance, or evaluate project profitability, TimeCamp’s reporting capabilities offer comprehensive and actionable insights to drive productivity and profitability.

→ Read also: Best Reporting Tools to Use in 2024

Expense tracking

Dealing with multiple clients means regular meetings. Sometimes, they extend to full business travels, generating extra costs like transport, meals, and accommodation.

To avoid purchasing a tool solely for expense tracking, look for time tracking software for lawyers that offers this service as a separate feature – and here TimeCamp comes in handy. This way, you’ll be able to control the spending related to a specific project alongside tracked time.

Our time tracking tool with expense monitoring also allows you to decide whether the expense entries submitted by your employees should count toward billable time and the final sum you’ll charge the client.

Moreover, keeping digital copies of receipts and invoices related to certain spending helps to clarify the costs that may raise some concerns, introducing full transparency between law firms and their clients to collect payments for their services more easily.

Project management tool integrations

TimeCamp seamlessly integrates with a variety of project management tools, such as Asana, Planner, Trello, Monday, Notion, or Clickup, streamlining lawyers’ work by providing a unified platform for time tracking and task management.

Through these integrations, lawyers can easily link their TimeCamp accounts with their preferred project management tools, allowing for automatic synchronization of tasks and projects between the two platforms. This integration eliminates the need for manual data entry and ensures that time tracking is seamlessly integrated into lawyers’ existing workflows.

By integrating TimeCamp with project management tools, lawyers can efficiently track time spent on specific tasks and projects directly within their project management environment. It streamlines their work by providing a centralized hub for managing both tasks and time, allowing lawyers to stay focused on their casework without the hassle of switching between multiple applications.

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Calendar integration

TimeCamp’s integration with calendar applications, such as Google Calendar, iCal, and Outlook Calendar, offers lawyers a seamless solution for managing their time and tasks.

By linking TimeCamp with their calendar, professionals can synchronize their appointments, meetings, and events directly into the TimeCamp platform. This integration eliminates the need for manual schedule information entry, saving lawyers valuable time and ensuring that their time tracking data is accurate and up-to-date.

The integration between TimeCamp and calendar applications also provides lawyers with a comprehensive overview of their work schedules. By viewing their calendar entries within the TimeCamp interface, lawyers can easily plan their tasks and allocate time accordingly. It ensures that they stay on top of their workload and meet deadlines effectively.

Additionally, TimeCamp’s reporting features can analyze time spent on calendar events alongside other tasks, providing lawyers with valuable insights into their productivity and helping them identify areas for improvement.

GPS tracking

Besides perfect cross-device synchronization, TimeCamp also offers GPS tracking and geofencing features to register the exact time and location of work completed. This way, lawyers can perform their duties unaffected by additional tasks like creating a new entry for meetings with clients or trials.

GPS data are easily accessible as location reports, ensuring accountability and transparency in work-related travels or client visits.

Attendance

Time tracking data are perfectly suitable for tracking employees’ attendance. Law firms can easily track and monitor staff availability in real-time by allowing employees to log attendance directly within the TimeCamp platform. This feature enables employees to record various types of absences, including vacation days, sick leave, and other types of time off, providing managers with a comprehensive overview of their team’s attendance status.

→ Read also: Attendance Management in 2024: Best Practices!

Highest security standards

Respecting GDPR and other data protection regulations is a must for companies, no matter the industry. However, law firms often handle more sensitive information about their clients, and keeping them safe requires an extra level of security.

TimeCamp time tracking software is perfectly prepared to deal with customers with special needs, offering them custom services regarding data storage and protection. Self-hosted time tracking service or private cloud instance would be perfect, yet these solutions are not easily affordable for a small law firm.

Easy initial setup

Setting up TimeCamp is a breeze, thanks to its intuitive interface and straightforward user onboarding process. From the moment users sign up, TimeCamp guides them through each step, ensuring a seamless and hassle-free setup experience.

The platform offers clear instructions and prompts to help users configure their account settings, customize their workspace, and start tracking time in no time.

Additionally, TimeCamp provides helpful resources such as tutorials, FAQs, and customer support to assist users at every stage of the setup process.

Whether users are solo law professionals or part of larger legal firms, TimeCamp’s user-friendly setup makes it easy for anyone to get started and reap the benefits of efficient time tracking and productivity management.

Affordable pricing

TimeCamp stands out with the best price-quality ratio among other time tracking software for attorneys available on the market:

Pricing

• Free – a free plan of TimeCamp for unlimited users includes all the essentials – accurate time tracking, unlimited projects, a time clock kiosk, desktop, and mobile apps, idle time detection, and many more,
• Starter – $2.99 per user per month, including unlimited tasks, excel reports export, attendance, time-off, overtime tracking (billed annually)
• Premium – $4.99 per user per month, including one integrations, billable time, budget & estimates, apps & websites tracking, project archiving, and more (billed annually),
• Ultimate – $7.99 per user per month, including unlimited integrations, billable rates, labor costs, invoicing, timesheet approvals, custom user roles, and more (billed annually)

Enterprise – custom pricing; contact sales team for more details

Time tracking software for attorneys

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2. Clio 

A practice management tool that simplifies document management and client communications

 

Clio is a comprehensive cloud-based case management software designed specifically for lawyers. It enables them to streamline their workflows and efficiently manage their law practices. With its intuitive interface and powerful features, Clio empowers legal professionals to handle various aspects of their practice, from client intake to billing and everything in between.

It centralizes all client and case information, including contacts, documents, and communications, into a single secure platform accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.

Moreover, Clio provides robust time-tracking and billing functionalities, allowing lawyers to accurately record the hours spent on each case and generate invoices. By automating these processes, Clio helps lawyers optimize their billable hours and improve their bottom line. 

Additionally, the software offers task tracking tools that enable users to assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress efficiently, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.

Key features of Clio:

• Centralized case management
• Time tracking and billing
• Document management
• Client communication
• Task tracking
• Calendar integration
• Secure client portal
• Reporting and analytics
• Mobile accessibility
• Integration with other legal software applications.

With Clio, lawyers can spend less time on administrative tasks and more time focusing on delivering exceptional legal services to their clients.

± Pricing

Although a free plan is not available, you can try Clio’s features for free for 7 days. Paid plans start at $39 per user per month.

3. Smokeball 

Practice management tool that streamlines daily administrative tasks

Smokeball is another comprehensive practice management software tailored for small law firms, offering a suite of features to enhance efficiency and productivity.

One of its key strengths lies in its ability to automate routine tasks, such as document assembly and time tracking, allowing lawyers to focus more on substantive legal work.

Smokeball’s intuitive interface and customizable workflows enable users to organize their cases and client information effectively, ensuring that nothing gets overlooked.

Among Smokeball’s core features are:

• Document assembly and automation
• Time tracking and billable time
• Client and case management
• Task tracking and workflow automation
• Email integration
• Document management and storage
• Calendar and deadline management
• Legal forms library
• Reporting and analytics.

With Smokeball, a small law firm can streamline its operations, improve client communication, and maximize billable hours, ultimately leading to increased profitability and client satisfaction.

± Pricing

Smokeball doesn’t provide specific prices, yet you can choose between 4 paid plans offering different feature sets. A free, 30-day trial is available.

4. LawPay 

Online payments solution with lawyer time tracking software

LawPay specializes in payment processing designed specifically for law firms. It provides a secure and efficient way to accept online payments from clients. Unlike generic payment tools, LawPay caters to the unique needs of law professionals, ensuring compliance with trust accounting rules and safeguarding client funds.

LawPay also offers lawyer time tracking that separates billable and non-billable hours. Its integration with practice management software allows for seamless invoicing and payment reconciliation, streamlining the billing process for law firms.

Key features of LawPay include:

• Trust account compliance
• Secure online payments
• Integration with legal practice management software
• Customized payment pages
• Recurring payments
• Client payment plans
• Client management
• PCI compliance
• Account reporting and analytics
• Dedicated support for large law firms.

LawPay’s focus on trust account compliance and specialized features tailored to the legal industry make it a trusted payment processing solution for law firms, ensuring both convenience for clients and peace of mind for legal professionals regarding the handling of legal documents and client funds.

± Pricing

LawPay offers one paid plan that starts at $19 per month. However, it requires additional transaction fees – prices vary depending on the payment card service. Custom pricing is available.

5. WiseTime 

Legal time tracking software with third-party billing system integration

WiseTime presents lawyers with a seamless solution for effortlessly capturing and analyzing their work activities, tailored specifically to their unique needs.

Unlike conventional time tracking tools, WiseTime operates discreetly in the background, automatically recording work activities without disrupting lawyers’ workflow. This passive approach ensures that legal professionals can concentrate fully on their casework while still maintaining accurate records of their work hours and tasks.

Key features of WiseTime for lawyers include:

• Automatic activity categorization
• Detailed work activity reports
• Project and task analysis
• Seamless integration with legal management software
• Real-time insights into productivity trends
• Privacy and data security measures
• Customizable reporting options
• Client and matter tracking
• Cross-platform compatibility.

WiseTime’s tailored approach to time tracking empowers lawyers to streamline their workflow, gain deeper insights into their caseloads, and optimize their billable hours effectively.

With WiseTime, legal professionals can enhance their productivity, maintain compliance with billing standards, and focus more on delivering exceptional legal services to their clients.

± Pricing

WiseTime offers a Professional plan that costs $360 per user per year and an Enterprise plan with custom pricing.

6. MyCase 

Legal case management tool

MyCase is a comprehensive legal management software designed to streamline the operations of law firms and solo practitioners. With its user-friendly interface and robust features, MyCase empowers legal professionals to efficiently manage their cases, clients, and communications in one centralized platform.

One of the standout aspects of MyCase is its client portal, which facilitates secure communication and collaboration between lawyers and their clients, reducing the need for lengthy email chains and phone calls.

MyCase’s all-in-one approach to legal management enables lawyers to streamline their workflows, improve communication with clients, and enhance overall efficiency. By consolidating essential tools and features into a single platform, MyCase empowers legal professionals to focus more on delivering exceptional legal services and less on administrative tasks.

Key features of MyCase include:

• Client portal for secure communication
• Case management tools
• Document management and storage
• Billing and invoicing
• Calendar and deadline management
• Time tracking
• Task tracking
• Legal form templates
• Mobile accessibility
• Billing (with a third-party app integration).

With its intuitive interface and comprehensive feature set, MyCase is a valuable asset for law firms seeking to optimize their operations and deliver solid client experiences.

± Pricing

Prices of MyCase paid plans start at $39 per user per month. It also offers additional paid features like a dedicated website ($100 per month of support and maintenance + build fee) or accounting ($39 per user per month).

Choose time tracking software for attorneys tool perfect for your business needs

To sum up, choose a provider that ensures international law compliance and has not experienced any data leaks in the past. Time tracking software for attorneys, such as TimeCamp, streamlines law firms’ work by providing a centralized platform for tracking billable hours, managing tasks, and optimizing productivity. 

TimeCamp allows lawyers to accurately record their time spent on various tasks and projects, ensuring that they can bill clients accurately and efficiently.

Additionally, TimeCamp’s features, such as:

• project management integrations,
• reporting features, 
• invoicing tools,

help lawyers streamline their workflow, improve communication with clients and colleagues, and enhance overall efficiency in their practice.

Your law firm deserves more than any time entry management system. Try out TimeCamp to see how much time you can save by automating crucial administrative processes.

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Ola Rybacka Content Specialist at TimeCamp, foodie and doxie lover, full-time otaku. よろしくお願いします！

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