How much of your time should be billable?
Asked by: Helena Kuphal | Last update: August 15, 2025Score: 4.6/5 (66 votes)
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What percentage of hours should be billable?
Billability is the percentage of time you spend on tasks or projects that can be billed to the client. Here's a simple formula: A good rule of thumb for most agencies is to aim for a maximum of 75% - 80% billable hours.
What is a reasonable billable hours requirement?
In Philadelphia, Orange County, CA, San Diego, and the San Jose area, most offices required either 1,900 or 1,950 hours; in Miami, most firms required either 1,900 or 2,000 hours.
Is 2000 billable hours a year a lot?
They also include time spent on research, drafting legal documents, and other non-billable activities that are crucial to case preparation. So, while 1,900-2,000 billable hours might seem like a lot, it's all part of the job description and vital to the successful operation of a law firm.
How many billable hours are realistic?
As we mentioned, many law firms require their lawyers to work between 1,700 and 2,300 billable hours per year, depending on their situation. This means working between 142 and 192 hours per month, or between seven and ten billable hours per day.
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What do 1800 billable hours look like?
To achieve 1,800 billable hours, an associate would work “regular” hours plus an extra 20 minutes Monday through Friday, or work one Saturday each month from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. The first option would give an attorney 1,832 billable hours, with a total of 2,430 hours spent “at work” (AKA: including performing ...
How many billable hours a day is 2000 a year?
For example, if you want to reach a goal of 2,000 hours annually, you would need to bill for roughly 40 hours each week, or eight billable hours a day. You may not work exactly eight hours each day, but this breaks down what you should average in a day, week, and month to reach your annual goal.
What is a good billable hour?
Thankfully, using a billable hours chart can help. Lawyers work hard, and they work a lot. Many firms expect attorneys to reach minimum billable hour requirements ranging between 1,700 and 2,300 hours per year. According to the latest Legal Trends Report, lawyers spend just 2.9 hours each workday on billable work.
How many 8 hour work days are 2000 hours?
2000 Hours is 83 Days 8 Hours. Try our Hours to Days Page!
Why do lawyers bill in 6 minute increments?
There are numerous methods and techniques lawyers can use for time tracking and billing. Some are more laborious and time-consuming than others. Among them, 6-minute increments are a great way to keep track of your time and tasks. A chart with 6-minute increments also helps with calculating and invoicing.
What professions use billable hours?
- Advertising agencies.
- Consultants.
- Contractors or temporary employees.
- Freelancers, such as web developers, writers or graphic designers.
- Legal professionals.
- Public accountants.
- Public relations agencies.
What is the average billable hours for attorneys reddit?
It ranges between 6.5 and 7 hours per day depending on the number of billable days in a month (between 20 and 23, usually). Admin time doesn't count, and I spend between 1 and 3 hours on file documentation, staff supervision, and other tasks each day. I have been busy lately so it hasn't been hard to get hours.
How to figure out billable hours?
For hours to be billable, they must be spent on tasks directly related to client projects. Non-billable hours are hours worked on non-client tasks such as business administration. Calculate billable hours by multiplying your hourly rate by billable hours worked.
Do paralegals get paid for billable hours?
Paralegals can bill for their substantive legal work similarly to attorneys, but typically at lower hourly rates than lawyers. In fact, most paralegals bill hourly and directly to clients. Paralegals billing hourly must know how to log portions of hours worked accurately.
What is a good billable utilization rate?
That's why it's important to aim for the sweet spot where billable utilization is neither too high nor too low and balances profitability, employee needs, and work quality equally. For most companies, an ideal utilization rate would be between 70% and 80%.
Do lawyers make $500 an hour?
For example, an attorney practicing in a small rural area in Kansas may earn $50 per hour for the same exact legal services performed by a lawyer in Los Angeles, Atlanta, or New York where hourly rates for the same legal service could be as high as $300 to $500 per hour.
Can you get a retainer fee back if nothing was done?
Any unearned retainer fees that are not used can be returned to the client. Earned retainer fees are the portion of the retainer that the lawyer is entitled to after work begins. Earned retainer fees may be granted to the lawyer bit by bit, depending on the number of hours worked.
What is the highest retainer fee for a lawyer?
Lawyers typically charge retainer fees ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, depending on their experience, location, and case complexity. For more complex cases, retainers can exceed $10,000. The specifics are outlined in a retainer agreement, which may be refundable or non-refundable.
How to charge billable hours?
- Set your agreed hourly rate.
- Start tracking your billable hours. ...
- Add your total billable hours (daily, weekly, monthly).
- Multiply your billable hours by your billing rate.
- Add applicable fees or taxes to the client's invoice.
Is 1650 billable hours a lot?
For example, if your target is 1650, divide it by 230; that's just under 7.2 hours/ day. It's still a lot of dedicated billable time. Still, it's manageable, and it factors in work-free holiday time, time for professional development and marketing events, and any time worked on weekends provides surplus hours.
What does 1800 billable hours look like?
So billing 1800 will take you no less than 2000 hours of actual work, and maybe closer to 2200. Divided by however many days in the year you plan to work. Hell, if you work every single calendar day, you'd only need to bill 5.5 hours daily to hit that target.
How much is 1400 billable hours?
By following the outlined calculations, we estimate that a professional with an 8-hour workday, working 250 days a year, and maintaining a 70% utilization rate would have approximately 1400 billable hours annually.