Make lawyers keep their own time – Rip off the band-aid now!

As appeared in LegalITInsider on July 8, 2022

By Kerri Lawrence, Traub Lieberman, and Samantha Chopus, Gordon & Rees

Though people routinely refer to attorneys as “timekeepers”, this is often a misnomer because not all lawyers actually keep their own time. In reality, many so-called timekeepers are jotting down handwritten notes and handing them to a secretary or legal assistant to enter their time for them. This model is neither convenient nor efficient.

We were together on stage at Aderant’s Momentum 2022 conference in Austin, Texas this past May.  During a session entitled “Timekeepers, a Misnomer”?” we both stated that our lawyers were entering their own time, and a ripple of shock permeated the audience. Even though these legal professionals had shown their dedication to efficiency and technology solutions by attending the conference, it was clear their firm’s lawyers were still relying on secretaries to enter their time, at least in part.

Fortunately, this old-fashioned approach is quickly going out of style as more firms – like both of ours – rip off the proverbial band-aid and require lawyers to enter their own time. We have learned that lawyers are perfectly capable of entering their time independently without assistance from support staff and without writing it down on paper. Of course, there will be certain more “old school” partners who will not be willing to enter time into an app, but don’t let the exception become the rule. It’s time to rip off the band-aid and give up the crutch of secretaries helping lawyers with timekeeping. But how?