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I know this has been talked about before, but just wanted to ask some general question. When you guys bill do you use timers or estimate? Do you stop the timer for small things like answering a quick e-mail, TLS, and bathroom breaks? Do you usually bill .1 for each e-mail involving the matter? Any other tips and tricks concerning billing?

Bump.

No one wants to answer this because there's a "right" way and there's the way everyone actually does it.

Anonymous User wrote:I know this has been talked about before, but just wanted to ask some general question. When you guys bill do you use timers or estimate? Do you stop the timer for small things like answering a quick e-mail, TLS, and bathroom breaks? Do you usually bill .1 for each e-mail involving the matter? Any other tips and tricks concerning billing?

what do you mean stop the timer for bathroom breaks? you better be thinking about that contract dispute or clause 9.2 and the way it works with 7.6 while dropping a deuce.

Guess I am not getting a serious reply on this one. TLS is usually more helpful.

Anonymous User wrote:Guess I am not getting a serious reply on this one. TLS is usually more helpful.

I mean, the only ethical answer to your question is that you should record the time you spend working on each matter as precisely as possible. Is answering an email working on your client's matter? Yes! Bill it! Is taking a leak? No! Don't bill it!

In practice, people have varying degrees of adherence to that ideal.

dixiecupdrinking wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Guess I am not getting a serious reply on this one. TLS is usually more helpful.

I mean, the only ethical answer to your question is that you should record the time you spend working on each matter as precisely as possible. Is answering an email working on your client's matter? Yes! Bill it! Is taking a leak? No! Don't bill it!

In practice, people have varying degrees of adherence to that ideal.

My general practice:

Quick pee in the middle of something - don't stop time. I'm usually still thinking ab matter

Pee break between tasks - don't bill

#2 - don't bill unless u bring reading materials or are doing emails (or taking calls str8 savage)

P much each email no matter how small gets a .1 unless literally the only thing I have to do is read a sentence and write "yes" or "no". I won't double bill though ie I will subtract .1 from what I was in the middle of

Anonymous User wrote:I know this has been talked about before, but just wanted to ask some general question. When you guys bill do you use timers or estimate? Do you stop the timer for small things like answering a quick e-mail, TLS, and bathroom breaks? Do you usually bill .1 for each e-mail involving the matter? Any other tips and tricks concerning billing?

Tips and tricks:

1. Know whether you can block bill or whether you need to separate out each task by action, ABA code, etc.

2. Ask a superior who regularly works with the client if there's anything you can do in your time entries or anything to be aware of that you should do on the front end to avoid surprises when the partner reviews the bills later. Stuff as small as periods at the end of entries and "re" vs. "re:" may matter, as a secretary will likely need to correct them later.

3. Use verbs and nouns.

4. Entries should show how you added value or responded to client requests.

I try to use a smart timer but when you're on 2 things at once you're always guesstimating because you are constantly having to go back and forth between cases/deals. someone gets lucky and someone gets unlucky.

Mola Ram wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I know this has been talked about before, but just wanted to ask some general question. When you guys bill do you use timers or estimate? Do you stop the timer for small things like answering a quick e-mail, TLS, and bathroom breaks? Do you usually bill .1 for each e-mail involving the matter? Any other tips and tricks concerning billing?

Tips and tricks:

1. Know whether you can block bill or whether you need to separate out each task by action, ABA code, etc.

2. Ask a superior who regularly works with the client if there's anything you can do in your time entries or anything to be aware of that you should do on the front end to avoid surprises when the partner reviews the bills later. Stuff as small as periods at the end of entries and "re" vs. "re:" may matter, as a secretary will likely need to correct them later.

3. Use verbs and nouns.

4. Entries should show how you added value or responded to client requests.

Thank you for the helpful insight.

One thing I used to do that the partners always appreciated is that at the end of each month I would print off all my entries, make changes and edits, and then have my secretary put them in

That way, my bills were always pristine by the time they reached the partner

baal hadad wrote:One thing I used to do that the partners always appreciated is that at the end of each month I would print off all my entries, make changes and edits, and then have my secretary put them in

That way, my bills were always pristine by the time they reached the partner

Ah, the joys of working at a large firm. I have to edit my time every month so that it's pristine when it goes to the partners, because it then gets sent straight to the client. I miss having a secretary to edit my time.

Not op.

I am a junior and never had a secretary before. I did not know secretaries punch in the billing for you. I dont think mine does. She is an older lady who is kind of scary.

On another note, do ppl just estimate their hours overtime and write something down reasonable? I see associates take long breaks and go home early and still meet the daily. Wth.

Offline wrote:Not op.

I am a junior and never had a secretary before. I did not know secretaries punch in the billing for you. I dont think mine does. She is an older lady who is kind of scary.

On another note, do ppl just estimate their hours overtime and write something down reasonable? I see associates take long breaks and go home early and still meet the daily. Wth.

they're probably billing at home

Abbie Doobie wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I know this has been talked about before, but just wanted to ask some general question. When you guys bill do you use timers or estimate? Do you stop the timer for small things like answering a quick e-mail, TLS, and bathroom breaks? Do you usually bill .1 for each e-mail involving the matter? Any other tips and tricks concerning billing?

what do you mean stop the timer for bathroom breaks? you better be thinking about that contract dispute or clause 9.2 and the way it works with 7.6 while dropping a deuce.

damn this went unappreciated. fondest memories of being an associate.

as another poster said, people generally have to find a middle ground that they're comfortable with. i almost always use timers, because otherwise (a) i am prone to underestimating my time and (b) it's a pain in the ass to go back and reconstruct a day. i bill for time i spend thinking about a matter, but i write off a portion of it if i'm also doing something else that makes me less efficient, like eating, hitting the head, or riding the train. i still enter the remaining time, because otherwise the firm is losing revenue and i am screwing myself on hours. sometimes it's a hard call on whether to enter any time at all, e.g. if i'm reading a few emails but the client is billed in .25 increments instead of .1. in that case, i usually won't enter any time until i hit about 5 minutes of actual reading/writing.

i make an effort to accurately record what i did so that my entries reflect real value, but i don't go back to proofread/edit time entries. secretaries do that, and they get paid by the hour; i don't, and that time doesn't count toward my hours requirement. i generally don't give a shit if it's more inconvenient for a partner to do extra work on time entries, because my actual work product is good (as far as i know) and they don't pay me to care about what my time entries look like (i.e., no billable hours credit).