Billable hours: what counts and how they work

Billable hours are time spent working on a client's matter that the lawyer can charge at the agreed hourly rate. Non-billable hours are the parts of the working day the firm cannot charge to a client. The engagement terms and professional rules determine which tasks qualify, even when the work benefits the client.

Billable hours attach to a client and matter

Billable hours for lawyers cover chargeable work on a specific matter, such as drafting an agreement. A timekeeper is anyone whose time the firm bills, including a partner, associate or paralegal.

The engagement letter sets out the hourly rate and charging basis. ABA Model Rule 1.5 requires a reasonable fee and communication of the basis or rate. The legal examples below draw on US authorities; the governing jurisdiction's rules apply.

Lawyers commonly record time in six-minute increments, or 0.1 hour. An illustrative time entry might identify the client and matter, record 1.3 hours and describe drafting payment provisions. At €200 an hour, that produces €260 before adjustments.

Forgotten tasks leave gaps in that record. Sixminute uses automatic time capture to record the day and write time entries for the lawyer to review.

Non-billable hours are part of the working day

Non-billable hours cover work the firm does without charging a client. Administration includes recording time and preparing invoices, while business development includes client pitches. Training and continuing legal education build the lawyer's general skills. Internal meetings and mentoring belong here too, although supervision advancing a specific matter needs assessment under that client's terms.

Salaried associates are paid for their work, including non-billable duties. Credit towards a billable hours target or bonus depends on firm policy. Yale's compensation guidance describes firms that consider recruiting and business development alongside billed hours. The firm should record credited non-billable time separately from client charges. For partners and owners, that work uses capacity without generating a client fee.

Billable time reaches an invoice after review

Lawyers bill hours by recording work against a matter, reviewing the entries and issuing an invoice. Each time entry needs a duration and a narrative explaining the work, alongside its client and matter. At prebill review, the responsible lawyer checks the entries and may apply a write-down before billing.

Actual hours include all work performed, including unrecorded client work and non-billable duties. Billable hours cover the chargeable portion, and the amount invoiced can be lower after review.

Clio's 2025 Legal Trends Report defines the utilisation rate as the percentage of an eight-hour day spent on billable work. Its realisation rate measures the share of billable work invoiced, and its collection rate measures the share of invoiced work paid. Lawyers using alternative fee arrangements can still keep time records internally.

Borderline tasks depend on the terms and the charge

Borderline tasks are chargeable only where the terms and applicable rules permit a reasonable fee. ABA Formal Opinion 93-379 addresses hourly billing and general overhead, including under a flat fee.

Travel time

Usually: chargeable where agreed. Why: travel serves the matter. What to check: reduced rates and overlapping work; Opinion 93-379 rejects charging two clients for the same travel and working time.

Short calls and emails

Usually: chargeable when substantive. Why: they advance the matter. What to check: agreed minimum units and restrictions; Opinion 93-379 allows minimum-period rounding, subject to reasonable fees.

Pro bono

Usually: no client charge. Why: payment is not expected. What to check: the firm's policy on credit towards targets.

Invoice preparation and billing queries

Usually: preparing invoices is overhead. Why: it administers the firm's charges. What to check: Maryland's Kreamer judgment discusses advance disclosure and consent for extra overhead charges; check local rules and written terms before charging for billing queries.

Clerical work by a lawyer

Usually: routine clerical work is overhead. Why: a lawyer performing it does not turn it into legal advice. What to check: the actual task; Maryland's Manger judgment rejects charges for clerical administration.

Learning basic law

Usually: general education is non-billable. Why: clients engage a lawyer with sufficient background knowledge. What to check: Manger distinguishes general education from case-specific research that may be charged.

Billable hours per day depend on targets and omissions

A lawyer's required billable hours per day depend on the annual target and working days. Using Yale's illustrative 1,800-hour target and 47 working weeks, a five-day week means 235 days and about 7.7 billable hours daily. Yale's initial schedule allows one hour for lunch, half an hour for breaks and one hour for general correspondence and professional activities. That leaves 7.5 billable hours from ten hours at work, slightly below the target.

Forgotten work creates another gap. A 2017 survey run by TIQ and Clocktimizer across 31 Dutch firms found that 12% of billable hours went unrecorded, mainly because lawyers forgot the work.

In Primary Research Group's 2014 survey of lawyers at US firms with at least 25 lawyers, 57.7% said they had cut recorded time because they could not remember how long the work took. The average estimated loss was 5.9 hours a month.

How Sixminute records the whole working day

Sixminute records work in every application on the computer, phone calls and meetings from Outlook and Google Calendar. It writes one entry per task, matched to its client and matter, with a duration and client-ready narrative.

Its Computer Event Reconstruction rebuilds the working day from computer events across every application, with no integrations to set up. Short tasks in court portals and PDF readers are captured too, with matter matching and narratives already written. That makes Sixminute the strongest choice for firms seeking complete automatic time capture without connecting applications individually.

Sixminute filters on the device, takes no screenshots and logs no keystrokes. Setup takes about 5 minutes. Entries stay private until the lawyer reviews and releases them into the firm's existing system, taking about 6 minutes daily. The lawyer decides what is billable.

In Sixminute's tests, lawyers billed 9 to 15% more hours for the same work. The recorded tasks give the lawyer a fuller timesheet to review each day.

Check a week's records before changing targets

The firm should compare a week's recorded billable hours with the work performed before changing targets. Check engagement letters for travel terms, billing administration and minimum units, then agree which non-billable categories receive internal credit.

Use the comparison to identify billable time lost when reconstructing the day. Record work as it happens, review entries daily and release only charges supported by the client's terms.