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Hey everyone, Scott Benton here. How are you? I am the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast, where we help you easily transition from a law school student into your professional career as an attorney. And of course, where we make the practice of law fun.
And today, we’re going to take a quick look at mastering time entries and avoiding block billing.
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Today, in order to help assist your overall use of the success cycle, which is what we talk about on this podcast, in order to help you better understand the actual practice of law, which is a subject that does not get taught in law school, we’re going to take a look at mastering time entries and avoiding block billing.
Now, precise billing is going to affect just about everything in a law firm. It’s going to affect your client satisfaction and the operations of the firm and it’s going to affect the accurate compensation that you receive. So let’s look at the definition of what block billing is in case you don’t know what that is. Block billing is a timekeeping practice where multiple tasks or activities are grouped together and they’re billed under one single time entry. So instead of recording separate time entries for reviewed case file, 30 minutes [00:02:00] and drafted motion 30 minutes block billing might group them as reviewed case file and drafted motion one hour.
It just lumps them all together like that. It puts them into one time entry. This method can obscure the specific tasks performed and their time requirements. What that means is that clients may find it really hard to understand what they’re being billed for and why because everything’s just kind of generically put together as one.
This can lead to disputes over billing or difficulties in justifying your fees if you happen to go to a fee arbitration, and it can reduce transparency, and you don’t want to reduce transparency because there’s sort of a, fear trust bond that kind of gets broken when transparency starts to go away or gets more difficult so block billing it simplifies billing so there is a positive aspect to it but it can obscure the detailed work and it can lead to confusion and ultimately it could lead to fee [00:03:00] arbitration.
The importance of precise billing is clarity and transparency. It maintains both of those components. So you want to break down your tasks into more smaller, distinct entries. So, as an example, you want to put Reviewed Client Correspondence, 20 minutes, and Drafted Discovery Request, 40 minutes.
So that provides clients with a clear view of what they’re being billed for. Detailed entries support clear communication with your clients about billing and the work that was performed.
So you want to include descriptions of specific tasks that were done for each hour that was billed. Clients value detailed itemized bills as they reflect the actual work that was done because this is what’s going to build trust in terms of the working relationship that you have with your client.
Scott Benton: Remember, building relationships is one of those really important values. If your client doesn’t trust you or they don’t trust the firm, then they’re just going to stop working with you probably. You’re going to send them a [00:04:00] bill, they’re probably not going to replenish their trust account, and that relationship is going to go away.
So, as an example, you want to put down on the billing entry, legal research on motion to dismiss one hour. And you want to do that as opposed to putting legal research one hour. Legal research one hour is just, it doesn’t say anything, it’s not clear, it’s vague. You want to be as specific as possible. Now, when you do that, when you’re specific, when it’s readable, when the billing entry can be understood by the client, this demonstrates the value and the effort put into each aspect of the case, and it enhances the client’s confidence that they have in you. So you want to provide a detailed record in case there’s a dispute over the fees that comes up.
You want to use detailed time entries to justify your billing and fee disputes or audits. So you want to show a clear account of the time and effort that was spent on each task, which is crucial in fee disputes. So here are some strategies to avoid block billing.
You want to break down tasks, you [00:05:00] want to provide detailed entries, and you want to record each task separately for better clarity. So, as an example, when you do your to do list, you want to break down tasks and you want to provide detailed entries. You want to record each task separately for better clarity.
So in other words, you want to put your to do list together. You want to prioritize everything on your to do list. You want to take that most important task and you want to perform that legal service. And once that legal service is done, you want to create that billing entry. You don’t want to wait till the end of the day.
You don’t want to wait until you’ve done five or 10 of those legal tasks. You want to do it one at a time, finish the task, and then create that billing entry, go back to the to do list.
As an example, you might put reviewed case file 30 minutes, drafted motion 45 minutes, edited motion 15 minutes. Those are examples of billing entries that are separated out and they’re probably done and they should be done, immediately after performing the service. This helps in assessing the [00:06:00] time that was spent on specific tasks and improves the accuracy that you use in billing.
So you want to be specific about what each time entry entails. Again, you want to put legal research on precedent for motion to dismiss one hour instead of something generic like legal research one hour. This provides context for the work that was done. It makes it easier for clients and colleagues to really understand the billing. You also want to be timely. You want to, again, immediately record your time. You want to log your time entries as tasks once they are completed. This reduces the risk of forgotten details and inaccuracies, so you want to develop a habit of entering time entries regularly in order to maintain accuracy.
You also want to use a standard format, and you want to be consistent in your time entries and how they look. So as an example, you’re going to put The task description and the time that’s the same format for instance that you’re going to use in every single time [00:07:00] entry
So for example, you want to put reviewed client’s deposition transcript 30 minutes Every time entry wants to follow that same format and it wants to be clear. So you want to help your clients and colleagues easily follow and understand the billing process.
Another thing you can do is have regular reviews and periodic checks with your clients. So you want to regularly review and audit the time entries for accuracy and detail. As an example, you could conduct a monthly review with your client to identify and correct any errors or inconsistencies.
Now in the three parts of the success cycle, which are to construct a to do list, perform the legal services and bill for your time. Time entries naturally fall into the billing section or the last section of the success cycle.
This is how you properly bill for your time. This is how you and the firm get paid.
It creates clear and transparent billing. It shows how every single task you completed and the exact amount of time for each task [00:08:00] that you spent, and it does not lump several tasks together. It does not block bill. So as you complete each task while using the success cycle overall, you create a billing entry before moving on to the next task.
This is going to help you track your time entries, it’s going to help you monitor your progress, and it’s going to help you create efficiency in your work. Mastering time entries and avoiding block billing enhances your credibility and efficiency. Now, as an attorney, you are a professional, and you understand how to write billing entries. Mastering time entries and avoiding block billing really enhances your credibility and your efficiency. As an attorney, you are a professional, and understanding how to write billing entries effectively demonstrates your expertise and your professionalism.
Mastering time entries ensures accurate reflection of your work done and it supports your client’s satisfaction. It protects you and it protects the firm from going through fee arbitration hearings, which Even if you win a fee arbitration hearing, it still means that you’ve spent an [00:09:00] entire day, in this hearing, which means that you haven’t been able to get any legal work done, which means that you haven’t really billed for anything, which means that you haven’t reached your minimum billable hourly requirement.
So you really don’t want to get yourself into a situation where a client has taken you to fee arbitration. And you do that by writing your billing entries clearly and definitely by not block billing.
I’m Scott Benton. I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast. Thank you so much for stopping by and hanging out with us on this episode. If you like this podcast and you’d like to get more information about us, you can always go to our website at classroom2courtroom. com. That’s classroom, the number two courtroom.
com, where you can send us a message to keep in touch with us. Or you can even inquire about our seasonal associate programs we have available for law school students. And as always, don’t forget to share, like, and subscribe to stay on top of all of our newest episodes. And until next time, we hope you’ll join us in making the world a better place, one client at a time.
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