For decades, timesheets have been the bane of junior lawyers, as law firms almost uniformly use them to track productivity. But recent moves are seeking to make them less burdensome – as well as incentivise lawyers to complete them.
You’ve just gotten into a cab home after 12 long hours at your law firm, a day that’s included three calls with clients that have gone on way longer than they needed to and collaboration with two other law firms, including one in a different time zone. This is all over transaction documents that need to go out “as of yesterday,” that you quickly modify after the said calls, and then pushing clients to approve. But just as you sit back to take a breath, you hear the dreaded ding of an email alert. You’ve been avoiding your timesheets, the subject line tells you.
The often-cruel nature of law firm life as an associate begs one to question the need for time tracking. When the work is getting done, and the client is “happy” and your partner is happy, why does one need to be put through this mind-numbing ordeal?
Well, timesheets are for much more than putting together a bill for an hourly mandate, or just to show your clients how many hours you’ve put into their mat-ter. Law firms are investing a significant amount of money in building technology and infrastructure to collect this valuable data, that links directly to their profit-ability, attorney productivity, hiring and client development.
Tracking time is directly linked to resource allocation, workload management, and calculating the profitability of mandates, say Legal League Consulting’s founder, Bithka Anand, and CEO, Nipun Bhatiaa.
Sabiana Anandraj, founder of professional services aggregator Cuerate and former chief operating officer at top Indian law firm Trilegal, explains that it is next to impossible to calculate profit-ability without tracking the hours their attorneys are spending on mandates, particularly to check for scope creep – going beyond the original scope of work and time agreed with a client.
Time tracking becomes more relevant as law firms get larger. Firms depend on their attorney productivity data to determine where hiring is required, both in terms of practice areas and the level at which a legal resource needs to be brought in, Bhatiaa explains.
INCENTIVISING LAWYERS
It then becomes crucial to incentivise your attorneys to fill in their timesheets, without it becoming too much of a bur-den on their fully-packed workdays. Bhatiaa explains that some attorneys feel tracking measures can be intrusive and create a sense of being micromanaged, leading to decreased morale and job satisfaction. So, what is the right way to go about ensuring law firms collect accurate and timely timesheet data?
The practice of placing the burden on partners to ensure their team’s timesheets are complete does not work anymore, and building firmwide discipline is key, notes Anandraj. “Most law firms have a major problem with ensuring that lawyers fill in time, because they don’t. So law firms put in different processes to inculcate a discipline among its attorneys when it comes to time sheets,” she says.
One way is to link the timely and accurate filling of timesheets to compensation, Anandraj says. Usually, firms may link timesheet consistency to a lawyer’s performance-linked incentives, but a better way may be to link it to fixed pay. A lawyer’s rating maybe reduced if they fail to submit billing information in a timely manner,” she explains. An impact on promotion and increment inculcates the firmwide discipline needed, especially in larger firms, she adds. Incentivising the lawyer by highlighting and rewarding examples of proper timesheet submissions across the firm is also a good way to bring in the culture a firm wants, Anandraj adds.
Bhatiaa and Anand of Legal League believe that increasing awareness among the ranks about the significance of timesheets is crucial to inculcate good practices.
“Attorneys may sometimes exhibit resistance to productivity tracking measures, viewing them as intrusive or overly bureaucratic. Many argue that current metrics often fail to capture the full scope of an attorney’s work, overlooking crucial aspects like client relationships, strategic thinking, and pro bono work. However, it’s crucial for them to recognise that these measures are integral to the business processes of law firms,” Anand says. “However, it’s crucial for law firms to strike a balance. While implementing productivity tracking measures is essential, firms should avoid overkill. The emphasis should be on creating streamlined processes that support attorneys in their work rather than burdening them with excessive administrative tasks. Processes can’t be above people!” Anand adds. Notes Bhatiaa: “Attorneys must understand that the sheer volume of work, diverse cases, and the need for effective resource allocation make it challenging to operate without established processes. These measures are in place not to hinder their work but to enhance overall efficiency and productivity. The unique demands of legal practice have to be balanced while acknowledging the opera-tional requirements of growing firms.”
STRIKING A BALANCE
Contrary to popular belief among associates, law firms do invest resources to find better ways to track their attorney’s times without burdening them. Anandraj, who has also served as commercial director at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, has consulted with a few timesheet software creators that have build AI-based models that can simply be plugged into a work computer that will automatically track and input information into timesheets based on the documents, calls, emails and research an attorney does on their system. This significantly reduces the burden on attorneys to fill in detailed timesheets, reducing their job to a mere check and approval.
Anand also notes that mobile applications and cloud-based solutions enable attorneys to log their time and access productivity data on-the-go, ensuring that tracking remains accurate and effective irrespective of location.
“Future tracking systems may prioritise metrics that directly tie legal work to client outcomes. Firms could focus on quantifiable measures of client satisfaction, case resolution times, and the impact of legal services on clients’ overall objectives,” Anand says.
“Modern productivity tracking tools offer customisable metrics and dashboards. Attorneys can tailor the tracking parameters to align with the specific needs of their practice areas,” she adds. In the coming years, artificial intelligence will play a key role in time-tracking, as more firms rush to adopt new-age technologies to increase efficiencies across the board.
“Future tracking systems may prioritise metrics that directly tie legal work to client outcomes. Firms could focus on quantifiable measures of client satisfaction, case resolution times, and the impact of legal services on clients’ overall objectives,” Anand says.
“Advanced AI tools can automate time tracking, analyse vast amounts of data to identify patterns and trends, and predict workloads. The shift towards continuous monitoring and real-time feed-back may also be expected. Attorneys may receive instant feedback on their productivity, enabling them to make adjustments promptly,” she adds. Bhatiaa also believes that the intro-duction of real-time tracking, through AI and wearables, will help improve attorney well-being.
“In terms of convenience, this could be as advanced as adoption of wearable technology, which could play a role in tracking attorney productivity, providing real-time data on movement, stress levels, and activity,” Bhatiaa says.
“In terms of work-life balance, future tracking systems may prevent burnouts. Metrics can monitor workload stress and identify attorneys at risk of burn-out, prompting firms to intervene with proactive support and workload adjustments,” he adds.
