An Introduction to Time Recording
Accurately recording the time spent working on a case is essential for all law firm practices and, since the majority of our clients are law firms, as a firm we have adopted the same consistent approach. This ensures that, should our fees come under scrutiny, we can provide clear evidence of the work completed. This includes details on:
- The duration of the work
- The specific work completed
- Justifications for any time that exceeded the average expected completion time
As a company, we utilise a six-minute unit billing system, accounting for ten units per hour of work. Additionally, we can also offer services on a fixed fee basis for those clients wishing to recover our fees as disbursements as opposed to on an agency fee basis.
However, even with our fixed fee projects, precise time tracking is essential to document the specific specialised work completed in our collation & analysis of medical records, and to ensure that our fixed fees remain representative of the likely average time spent working on a matter.
Why Does Time Recording Matter?
By accuracy recording work completion times this ensures DMR Collation can:
- Provide accurate Estimates.
- Issue accurate Invoices.
- Correctly differentiate between chargeable and non chargeable time.
- Effectively breakdown the time spent on each component of the client’s instructions.
- Monitor our fee earners’ development and efficiency.
How do we Accurately Time Record?
Our case management system features integrated time recording tools which include timers that can be started, paused, and stopped whilst a fee earner works on a matter. This ensures precise logging of the time dedicated to each aspect of the completed instructions.
The timers we employ come with a description box, allowing fee earners to provide accurate narratives of the tasks performed. This guarantees that a comprehensive account of the time spent on the matter is captured.
We use these time recording tools to provide our clients with a comprehensive file note, in addition to our normal invoice, which offers a detailed breakdown of all work undertaken on the matter. This includes a separate account of time spent on each key component of the instructions such as collation of medical records, chronology preparation, and additional tasks such as preparing a schedule of radiology or digital booklet.
The Importance of Accurate Narratives
At DMR Collation we understand the importance of using concise and descriptive time entry narratives when our fee earners record their time completing tasks. Our narratives precisely capture the work we carry out and the value we provide to our clients. Each narrative not only serves as a record of the time invested but also highlights the expertise and skill required to accomplish each task. They provide a clear, detailed account that can be relied upon to explain the necessity and complexity of the tasks undertaken, which can be referenced to during detailed assessments to ensure you recover our fees in full.
Accurate and comprehensive time recording, complemented by well-crafted narratives, is not just a procedural necessity at DMR Collation, but a cornerstone of our commitment to excellence and transparency in all our client engagements.
If you are interested in finding out more about our time recording methods and how they can align with your own business requirements, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
