Everhour connects legal time tracking to budgets and billing, giving firms a clearer path from recorded work to client-ready records.
Enter your time in and out for each day. Overtime and gross pay are calculated automatically.
| Day | Time In | Break Start | Break End | Break | Time Out | Total |
|---|
The calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
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Legal industry time tracking helps you record time against the right client, matter, task, and billing status. A useful record shows who did the work, the date, the time spent, the work category, and a short description that explains the service without overloading the invoice. The goal is a clean record that a billing reviewer, payroll reviewer, or project manager can understand later.
A law firm also needs separate views for billable and non-billable work. Client strategy, research, drafting, court preparation, and correspondence may feed invoices, while training, internal meetings, or firm administration may stay non-billable. The record still matters because non-billable time affects staffing, utilization, and matter profitability even when it does not appear on a client invoice.
Billable time and hours worked serve different purposes. A legal professional can work 8 hours in a day and bill only part of that time to clients. Payroll review needs hours actually worked, while client billing needs approved billable entries tied to the correct matter and rate. Treating the invoice total as the payroll total creates gaps.
For U.S. employees covered by the FLSA minimum wage or overtime provisions, employer records must include hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. The FLSA requires covered employers to keep accurate records for non-exempt workers, but it does not require one specific timekeeping system. A complete legal time process keeps both client billing detail and workweek totals available.
The biggest legal time tracking mistake is vague entry text. "Review file" gives a reviewer little context. "Review deposition transcript for summary judgment motion" is stronger because it names the work and matter purpose. Entries also need consistent task categories, client names, matter numbers, and billing status so reports do not require manual cleanup at month end.
Another mistake is treating weekend or late-night legal work as automatically premium time. The FLSA does not require overtime premium pay solely for Saturday, Sunday, holiday, or regular rest-day work unless the weekly overtime rule is triggered or another law or agreement applies. Unless exempt, covered employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a fixed 168-hour workweek at not less than 1.5 times the regular rate.
A simple weekly total works when you need a one-off summary of time by person or matter. It is enough for a quick internal check, a draft invoice, or a small matter with few entries. That approach breaks down when legal work spans multiple clients, mixed billing rates, budget caps, write-downs, and payroll review.
A managed workflow gives the firm a durable record. Tracked time can feed matter budgets, billing review, reports, and approved timesheets before invoices or payroll decisions move forward. Everhour Project Budgeting supports time and money budgets, recurring budget periods, budget alerts, and client-level budgets, which helps firms compare recorded work against fee limits as the matter progresses.
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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G2
Summer 2026
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Capterra
Summer 2026
Rated in the top time trackers across G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius — with consistent praise for ease of use, integrations, and support.
A useful legal time entry includes the client, matter, date, person, task or activity, time spent, billing status, rate or cost context, and a clear work description. Firms that review invoices before sending them also need approval status, write-down notes, and enough matter detail to connect the entry to the right client file.
Legal teams should track non-billable time when they need accurate utilization, staffing, matter profitability, or payroll review. Non-billable entries should stay separate from client charges, but they still show the full workload behind a matter or department. Training, administration, internal review, and business development time all affect capacity planning.
Weekly totals alone are weak for legal billing because they do not show the client, matter, task, or work description behind the time. U.S. wage-and-hour review also needs daily hours worked and total hours worked each workweek for employees covered by the FLSA minimum wage or overtime provisions. Detailed entries make both reviews cleaner.
Legal time tracking should limit collected data to what the firm needs, protect sensitive records, and dispose of data securely when retention no longer applies. U.S. privacy duties are sectoral and state-dependent. The FTC enforces unfair or deceptive practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act, and California employee time-tracking data may fall under CCPA obligations for covered businesses.
Covered employers must preserve payroll records for at least three years and basic time and earnings records, such as daily start and stop time cards or sheets, for at least two years. Legal billing records may need longer retention under firm policy, client agreement, insurance requirements, or jurisdiction-specific professional obligations.
Everhour Project Budgeting tracks time and money budgets as people log work, with recurring budget periods for ongoing matters or retainers. Firms can use threshold alerts, budget protection, expense inclusion controls, multiple billing methods, and client-level budgets to monitor matter spend before invoices are finalized.
Everhour Timesheets let team members submit weekly project hours or working hours for review, then managers can approve, reject, or partially approve submitted time. Submitted and approved time is protected from regular edits, which gives billing and payroll reviewers a cleaner approval trail.
Track matter work against time and money budgets, then review approved entries before billing. Everhour connects legal time records to budget control and clearer client billing.
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