How Lawyers are Losing Billable Time
Tracking and billing time is important for lawyers. This is what decides how much they get paid for the legal services that they render. However, in many instances, lawyers are losing their billable hours, such as in the situations we’ll break down in the rest of this post.
Failure to Use Technology
Lawyers are losing billable hours when they do not embrace technology. It is time to recognize the fact that technology is changing the delivery of legal services. Legal professionals need to keep up by using such tools such as billing and cloud case management software. It delivers a plethora of benefits to law firms, such as better customer service, reduced overhead costs, and improved billing management.
If you want to use technology to prevent losing billable hours, take advantage of the legal billing software that Rocket Matter provides.
Doing Administrative Tasks
When lawyers complete administrative tasks that are not supposed to be a part of their job, they are losing billable hours. The easy solution is to hire support staff who will handle the non-billable tasks. This frees up the lawyers’ time, making it possible to dedicate it to more important tasks that will earn the firm more profit.
Being Unfit to Work
Like in other professions, if lawyers are unwell, they will lose billable time. The problem becomes more serious if the health issue becomes more pressing. This makes it important to practice self-care to have a healthy, happy, and successful career. Pay attention to your physical and mental health. Find a way to effectively manage stress. Learn how to balance your career and your personal life. When you are fit and healthy, you can render more billable hours.
Doing One Thing at a Time
This may sound like an unpopular opinion, but it is a good way to not lose billable hours. It is important to pay attention to the needs of the clients and focus on the task at hand. However, this does not mean that there is no room for multitasking. By learning how to do several things at a time without losing your focus and in the absence of compromising the quality of the outcomes, you will record more billable hours and accomplish more.
Presence of Interruptions
Lawyers need to learn how to successfully deal with interruptions to avoid a negative impact on their billable hours. Aside from effects on the billable hours, interruptions also cause lawyers to lose concentration and lead to work-related stress. Legal professionals need a way to fight interruptions and become more productive. Whether you’re on your phone or computer, turn off notifications so that you can focus on what you are doing. Find a place to work where there will be no distractions. Organize your workday and stick to your schedule.
Never have an empty timesheet again! Make the most out of your time and make sure to never lose any billable hour again! Take note of our suggestions above for a more profitable legal practice.