{"id":169,"date":"2020-07-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/?p=169"},"modified":"2026-03-13T07:40:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:40:41","slug":"why-law-firms-need-to-use-time-tracking-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/why-law-firms-need-to-use-time-tracking-software\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Your Law Firm Needs to Use Time Tracking Software"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1939.png?resize=150%2C150&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-175\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1939.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1939.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1939.png?w=512&amp;ssl=1 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Many lawyers aren\u2019t tracking their time like they should. It\u2019s all too common to scribble your time out on a Post-It note, or enter it into a spreadsheet. Sometimes you guess how long a task took. Even worse, you do some work and don\u2019t even account for it at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How much time are you forgetting, or miss-calculating? How much money are you leaving on the table? We were curious, and so we asked. And what we found was surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Comparing similar matters before and after implementing a time tracking strategy, <em>lawyers <strong>billed up to 35% more time<\/strong><\/em><strong> <\/strong>when using a timer like the one built into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/time.html\">TimeNet Law.<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>It turns out, humans aren\u2019t very good at estimating time. And <em>we\u2019re not overestimating. <\/em>We\u2019re coming up short. Psychologists have coined terms and written books on the phenomena (for example, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Planning_fallacy#Empirical_evidence\">\u201cthe planning fallacy\u201d<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Optimism_bias#Policy,_planning,_and_management\">\u201coptimism bias.\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Contractors often miss project completion dates by weeks. A common rule for programmers and video editors is to estimate how long a project will take, and then <strong>double it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That task you did that felt like 45 minutes could easily have been 2 hours. Maybe it took you \u201c10 minutes\u201d to read a document, but a timer would tell you 24 minutes. Those things all add up to significant increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">By not logging and timing your tasks as you go, you could be losing <em>thousands<\/em> of dollars in potential revenue for your law firm every single month!<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>Time tracking isn\u2019t particularly glamorous. It can be tedious or seem unnecessary. But it is absolutely critical that you start building good time tracking habits today. By using time tracking software and recording your time and tasks, <em>as you do them, <\/em>you will increase your billable hours. We guarantee it. And while time tracking itself may not be particularly exciting, it\u2019s fun to see the money ticking up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Your time is <em>valuable<\/em>. What you do is <em>important<\/em>. Don\u2019t shortchange yourself.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-background\" href=\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/time.html\" style=\"border-radius:18px;background-color:#2fadfd\" rel=\"\">See How TimeNet Law\u2019s Timer Works<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many lawyers aren\u2019t tracking their time like they should. It\u2019s all too common to scribble your time out on a Post-It note, or enter it into a spreadsheet. Sometimes you guess how long a task took. Even worse, you do some work and don\u2019t even account for it at all. How much time are you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practice-management","tag-tips-tricks"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Your Law Firm Needs to Use Time Tracking Software - TimeNet Law<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/why-law-firms-need-to-use-time-tracking-software\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Your Law Firm Needs to Use Time Tracking Software - TimeNet Law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many lawyers aren\u2019t tracking their time like they should. It\u2019s all too common to scribble your time out on a Post-It note, or enter it into a spreadsheet. Sometimes you guess how long a task took. Even worse, you do some work and don\u2019t even account for it at all. How much time are you [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/why-law-firms-need-to-use-time-tracking-software\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TimeNet Law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-21T09:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-13T14:40:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1939-150x150.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Perry\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@timenetlaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@timenetlaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Perry\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/why-law-firms-need-to-use-time-tracking-software\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/why-law-firms-need-to-use-time-tracking-software\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Perry\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/#\/schema\/person\/a71ed91bf4cfa3523663176203fb81d8\"},\"headline\":\"Why Your Law Firm Needs to Use Time Tracking Software\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-21T09:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-13T14:40:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/why-law-firms-need-to-use-time-tracking-software\/\"},\"wordCount\":343,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/why-law-firms-need-to-use-time-tracking-software\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.timenetlaw.com\/db\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/img_1939-150x150.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Tips &amp; 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