For chambers and law firms alike, time is money. Which is why it is so important to be able to record time quickly and easily. And let’s be honest, it isn’t barristers’ favourite task to do either.
We often ask chambers, what is it about time recording that is such a challenge? 9 times out of 10, their response is that due to barristers working on multiple cases at any given time, it is both difficult and time consuming to reconstruct what time they have spent on each case at the end of a long day. The problem lies with when they delay entering their time, till they have a free period to record it.
As we probably all know, when you’re busy, it’s hard to remember what you’ve had for breakfast, let alone recollect precise tasks to the minute, over multiple cases. So understandably, billable time can be forgotten about. It makes sense then that the key is to give barristers an easy-to-use tool that is quick to use to input or find time, above all else.
There are intelligent time recording tools on the market right now, specifically designed for barristers, like Advanced MLC, that captures every second worked on a document or email which are synchronised across multiple devices. Barristers can create multiple timers that allow all activity to be tracked when a barrister is moving through numerous tasks to ensure no billable time is missed. They can also choose to display time records in their diary for an easy view of where time has been spent.
It might also be worth considering a tool that keeps your billing on track by allowing you to monitor your performance against daily time and fee budgets and to review your billed time for the day, week, month or year. For management, accurate time recording and billing should be coupled with an intelligent reporting tool for data analysis and individual performance reviews.
So why should chambers revisit their time recording tools? Long story short, time and money; the upside of an efficient time recording tool is an increase in revenue and profits, and more time freed up for case work, further driving revenues.
Why Advanced?
MLC offers a true commercial advantage with management tools that maximise barrister and clerk efficiency by streamlining processes and monitoring real-time progress. Our cutting-edge technology was developed to meet the changing requirements of modern chambers. By utilising mobile tools that reduce reliance on physical premises, barristers, clerks, solicitor firms and additional third parties can work together seamlessly.
Every second you are working on documents or emails can be captured by our intelligent time recording tools that synchronise across multiple devices. Mobile MLC also allows you to create, edit or view time entries. Barristers can create multiple timers that allow all activity to be tracked when a barrister is moving through numerous tasks to ensure no billable time is missed. They can also choose to display time records in their diary for an easy view of where time has been spent. Draft time records can be produced, and time events can also be marked as non-billable. Chambers can add and customise new time fields for barristers to fill in when they’re submitting time records. This provides clerks with the additional information, such as case type or the size of a bundle, that may be required to correctly process time records. Watch our video to see time recording in action or get in touch with us to find out more.