Legal billing depends on matter terms, rate rules, and trust handling. Everhour keeps billable work tied to those details.
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Use this page to prepare an invoice for legal work without losing the details that clients, accounting staff, and matter owners need. A useful legal invoice names the client, matter, invoice date, invoice number, fee arrangement, payment terms, line items, reimbursable expenses, and any tax treatment that applies under state and local rules.
Legal invoices commonly reflect hourly fees, fixed fees, contingent fees, or advance payments. The scope of representation and the basis or rate of fees and expenses should be communicated before or within a reasonable time after representation starts, preferably in writing. The invoice should follow that agreement instead of introducing a new fee structure at billing time.
Hourly legal billing usually needs matter-based entries with date, timekeeper, task description, rate, and amount. A sample line can read: March 5, 2026, A. Rivera, associate, contract review for Vendor Agreement, 1.4 hours at $275 per hour. Fixed-fee matters usually need a clear phase or deliverable line, such as trademark application preparation, fixed fee, $1,200.
Contingent-fee matters need special care. Under ABA Model Rule 1.5, a contingent-fee agreement must be signed by the client and state the percentage, whether expenses are deducted before or after the fee is calculated, and any expenses the client remains liable for regardless of outcome. Contingent fees are prohibited for specified divorce-related domestic relations matters and criminal defense representation under that rule.
Advance legal fees and expenses must be deposited into a client trust account and withdrawn only as fees are earned or expenses are incurred. An invoice should avoid treating an unearned advance as ordinary paid revenue. Show earned fees, reimbursable expenses, trust transfers, and remaining retainer balance according to the firm's trust-account process and the client engagement terms.
Client billing guidelines may also require LEDES or UTBMS details. LEDES 1998B is a 24-field ASCII pipe-delimited legal e-billing format used in the United States. UTBMS codes classify legal work and expenses through task, activity, and expense codes. A legal invoice app is more useful when it keeps those codes aligned with the narrative, timekeeper, matter, and expense record.
A free invoice tool is enough for a one-off bill, a small fixed-fee matter, or a simple hourly invoice where the time entries are already reviewed. It should give you a finished document with client details, matter references, itemized fees, expenses, payment terms, and a clear total. Save the source records with the invoice because invoices are supporting documents for business transactions.
A managed workflow fits better when several timekeepers bill the same matter, rates change by person or project, or accounting needs profit detail. Everhour separates cost and billable rates, supports per-person defaults and per-project overrides, preserves dated rate history, and prices billable work by project, member, or task before invoices are created.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
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A usable legal invoice includes the firm and client details, matter name or number, invoice date, invoice number, fee arrangement, payment terms, timekeeper or role, date of service, description, quantity, rate, expenses, credits, tax line if applicable, and amount due. Client billing guidelines may add UTBMS codes, LEDES formatting, or required matter references.
Yes. Advance legal fees and expenses belong in a client trust account until earned or incurred under ABA Model Rule 1.15. The invoice should show earned fees and approved expenses separately from any trust balance, transfer, or remaining advance. That separation reduces confusion between client funds and firm revenue.
Yes, when the amount is reasonable and agreed in advance or reasonably reflects the cost incurred. Legal invoices should describe reimbursable expenses plainly, such as filing fees, transcript costs, postage, or copy charges. Avoid vague expense labels because clients and billing reviewers need to see the connection between the matter and the charge.
No. The United States does not use a national VAT or GST invoice regime, and there is no single national sales tax rate. State and local sales and use tax rules control whether a charge is taxable. Service taxability varies by state and service type, so firms should review the applicable jurisdiction before adding a tax line.
A legal invoice app can support LEDES billing only if it captures the required fields and exports them in the client-required format. LEDES 1998B uses 24 pipe-delimited fields. UTBMS task, activity, and expense codes also need to match the client's billing guidelines, matter type, and invoice review rules.
Everhour separates internal cost rates from client-facing billable rates, so a firm can report labor cost, revenue, and profit without mixing the two. Members can have default rates, projects can override them, rate changes can apply from a chosen date, and billable work can be priced by project, member, or custom task rate.
Everhour turns tracked billable time and expenses into client invoices while excluding non-billable work. Invoice data can be grouped by project, task, person, date, or other available breakdowns, so a legal team can shape the invoice around matter review and client billing expectations.
Track rates, billable work, and dated rate changes before billing starts. Everhour connects legal time records to invoice amounts, reporting, and billing workflows with clearer rate control.
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