Capturing billable time on mobile devices helps lawyers regain lost revenue

17
Aug
2011

Don Joyce

Tips on selecting the best application

Today’s lawyers are constantly on the go, working from home and the office and everywhere in between. This flexibility means greater productivity and better levels of client service but it also poses a challenge in capturing all possible billable time. In fact, it’s estimated that three to four billable hours per timekeeper go unrecorded and unbilled every month. This adds up to billions of dollars industry wide every year.

Lawyers reclaim this lost revenue and prevent this loss from happening by selecting and deploying an effective mobile-time-capture application for their mobile device.

Lawyers at large firms usually have IT decisions made for them. After a lengthy and exhaustive procurement process, the IT department selects an enterprise-grade time-capture platform that lets the firm’s lawyers record and submit all billable time. All lawyers within the firm use the selected platform, which runs not only on their computers but also on their mobile devices.

But what about lawyers in small practices or on their own who don’t have IT departments to put such tools in place for them? There is a broad array of time-capture applications available in the app stores of each of the major mobile platforms and it can be  both liberating and daunting to pick the one that suits you best. Solo practitioners have the freedom to select and purchase apps without the oversight of an IT department and so can assess, download and begin using whatever apps they feel will meet their needs. But how to decide which application to use?

In many ways, solo practitioners and lawyers in small practices can look to their enterprise counterparts to see what’s working at that level. Large firms select billing software packages that are built for the legal industry, have a proven time-keeping engine under the hood, and effectively capture all billable time, regardless of the conduit – desktop computer, laptop or mobile device. Those are all important traits to seek in a mobile-time-capture application, regardless of a firm’s size.

Rather than accept an industry-agnostic productivity app, lawyers should select something that was purpose-built for the legal industry. In so doing, they are assured that the app recognizes the nuances of working on multiple cases at once, as well as the mechanics of the legal billing structure. Whether working on a flat-fee basis, billing against a retainer or charging an hourly rate, a mobile-time-capture application based on a proven and trusted time-keeping engine will provide dramatic insight into project management and effectively capture time that was previously slipping through the cracks.

Legal professionals seeking a mobile-time-capture application can also take cues from their mobile device itself. Whether using iPhone, Android or Blackberry, sanctioned apps available in the official app stores of these platforms are most likely to integrate well with the functions of that mobile device. This integration is important because, unlike apps available elsewhere online, it’s likely that these sanctioned apps will not require any change in how the lawyer works, nor any training. The fact that the official stores have authorized their sale is, in its own way, an endorsement of their capabilities and functionality.

It also makes sense to keep pace with the latest in technology developments when selecting an application to purchase. For example, seek out an app that offers the benefits of cloud computing, which will provide the user with the luxury of having their data housed in a secure repository from which they can pull down data at a time of their choosing, in the format that makes it easiest to input into their overall accounting system.

In a marketplace where there are literally hundreds of thousands of apps available, it can be overwhelming to determine which ones will improve productivity and are worth the money, even if it’s only a little bit of money. By following the guidelines above, lawyers can be assured of selecting an app that helps them capture previously unbilled time and recapture the associated lost revenue.