Of course, not all law firms use billable hours exclusively or at all. Most lawyers bill by 1/10th of an hour (or six-minute) increments. To quickly track and calculate hours without cutting yourself short or padding your time, lawyers (and paralegals) bill in standard time increments.
COMPARING LEGAL TIME AND BILLING SOFTWARE CLOUD BASED HOW TO
Paralegals billing hourly must know how to log portions of hours worked accurately. In fact, most paralegals bill hourly and directly to clients. Paralegals can bill for their substantive legal work similarly to attorneys, but typically at lower hourly rates than lawyers. For example, the ABA Guidelines also note that-in certain jurisdictions-courts have specific requirements for the type of billable paralegal work. However, law firms and supervising attorneys need to check with and refer to their jurisdiction and local state bar rules to determine what paralegals can bill for. In Guideline 8, the ABA states that a “lawyer may include a charge for the work performed by a paralegal in setting a charge and/or billing for legal services.” With this in mind, paralegals could potentially bill for certain tasks (which a lawyer would otherwise have to complete), which could include:Ĭonversely, administrative or clerical tasks that a paralegal completes (like filing or making copies) are considered non-billable.ĪBA Model Guidelines for the Utilization of Paralegals outlines the general guidance above. These are tasks that require legal skill, training, education, and experience-which paralegals complete on behalf of a supervising lawyer. In general, paralegals can only bill for substantive legal tasks. But-just as with attorneys-not everything that paralegals do is billable.
Paralegals take on a wide range of roles and responsibilities on behalf of lawyers.