Why do lawyers miss so much time in their records?
The hearing is on your calendar. The call afterward, the email from opposing counsel, and the evening review of a draft aren’t. The work is in the small stuff—and those are the things you’re least likely to write down.
Plus, you switch between matters all day. A quick procedural question from one client, a clause to check for another. ‘Just a quick look’ turns into half an hour, and a day later you can’t remember which matter it was for.
Ten unrecorded minutes a day, over about 200 workdays, adds up to more than 33 hours of work that never shows up on an invoice.
How do you organize clients, matters, and activities?
Start with one matter per case under each client. Include the matter number in the name, so invoices and reports make it clear what it’s for. Ongoing general advice for a regular client can go in a separate ‘General advice’ matter.
Use activities for the type of work. They also separate billable from non-billable work, like knowledge sessions, business development, or a matter with a fixed fee.
| Level | Example | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Client | Jansen Logistics Ltd | Invoice and overview by client |
| Matter (project) | 2026-0142 Jansen / lease dispute | Hours and budget by case |
| Activity | Correspondence, Drafting, Hearing, Meeting, Internal | Rate and billable or not |
Billing in units: how should you handle it?
Many firms bill in units. Six minutes (a tenth of an hour) is common, but it’s just an agreement within your firm or with your client—not a set standard. What matters is that everyone at your firm uses the same rule.
Record the actual time and round only according to that agreement. Your records stay accurate, and you can always explain how you got to a total. Rounding per task or per day gives different results; pick one and include it in your engagement letter.
| Actual time | 6-minute units (rounded up) | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| 4 minutes | 1 | 0.1 |
| 14 minutes | 3 | 0.3 |
| 50 minutes | 9 | 0.9 |
What goes on the fee detail?
Clients want to know what they’re paying for. A fee detail with the date, time, and a clear description for each line avoids most questions. What you need to include depends on your professional body’s rules and what you agreed with the client.
So write descriptions for the client from the start. Not ‘tel.’ or ‘misc. work’, but ‘call about deadline for statement of defense’.
- Date the work was done.
- Time or number of units.
- Description the client understands—no internal shorthand.
- Fee earner, if more than one lawyer worked on the matter.
- Rate per fee earner or activity, if they differ.
Confidentiality: who sees what?
Lawyers handle confidential information—even within their own firm. That includes time tracking. Tools that automatically track your work can see window titles, documents, and appointments.
So check where that data is stored. The safest setup keeps your daily trail on your own device only, and nothing about a client is shared with the firm until you save an entry. The same goes for AI assistants; see Privacy and AI context.
Never mention another client or case in a time entry’s description. The fee detail goes to the client who pays.
What else should you watch out for?
A few pitfalls show up at almost every firm:
- Reconstructing after the fact. At the end of the week, you remember the hearing—not the three short contacts around it.
- The wrong matter. With clients who have several cases, time can easily end up on the wrong matter. Check during approval.
- Hiding non-billable work. Record it anyway, on a non-billable activity. Otherwise, a matter looks more profitable than it really is.
- Skipping approval. A second look before invoicing catches mistakes a client might otherwise spot. See Approving hours.
How Half5 does it
In Half5, a matter is a project under the client, with its own hourly rate and optional budget in hours. Activities are ‘Billable’ or ‘Non-billable’ and can have their own rate. Half5 stores hours and minutes as you enter them; a rounding rule in units is something you agree on and apply consistently.
The timeline tracks your day on your own device (programs and windows via the desktop app, meetings from your connected Google or Outlook calendar) and prepares ‘Suggestions’. Programs and windows are end-to-end encrypted: only you can read your timeline, and Half5 can’t. Your calendar meetings are visible only to you as well. Half5 doesn’t capture phone calls; you log those yourself. The firm only sees the hours you save.
With ‘Approve hours before invoicing’ on, only approved hours are billed, and another approver reviews your own entries. Then you use ‘Create draft invoices from report’ and export the report to CSV, Excel, or PDF as a fee detail.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to record time in six-minute units?
No, it’s a common practice, not a rule. Log the actual time and round according to your firm’s or your client’s agreement.
How do I log a short phone call?
Right after the call, on the right matter, with a description like ‘call about settlement proposal’. If you wait until the end of the week, you’ll lose track of most short contacts.
What if I work on several matters for one client at once?
Split the time by matter. If that’s not possible, pick the matter where most of the work went and mention the other in the description.
Can my firm see what I work on all day?
Not in Half5. Your firm only sees the hours you log: client, matter, activity, duration, and description. The timeline with your programs and documents stays on your own devices and is end-to-end encrypted; your calendar meetings are visible only to you. Neither an admin nor Half5 can access them.
How do I handle a fixed-fee matter?
Log the hours on a non-billable activity. They won’t show up on the invoice, but you’ll see if the fee matches the work.
