Professional services
Law Firm Legal Billing Calculator
Builds a bill across timekeepers and matters, where the detail determines whether it gets paid.
Result
Business arithmetic for running a practice, not legal advice. Fee agreements, contingency limits, trust accounting and fee splitting are governed by the rules of professional conduct in your jurisdiction, and several of them are strict. Check the applicable rules before any of this affects a client agreement. Disbursements are normally passed through at cost and shown separately from fees, and marking them up is restricted or prohibited in many jurisdictions. Delegating work to the appropriate level is what moves the blended rate, and it is the main lever on matter profitability.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Hours by timekeeper at their rates, plus disbursements, less any agreed discount, giving the bill and the expected receipt after realisation and collection. The bill has to be accurate, meaning the time recorded reflects work actually performed, which is a professional obligation rather than a commercial preference.
What moves the number
- Hours by timekeeper and the rate each carries.
- Disbursements and whether they are recoverable.
- Narrative detail, which affects whether it is questioned.
- Billing frequency.
Where this one goes wrong
Entries that describe the task rather than the activity get paid; entries reading as generic blocks get questioned, and a questioned bill collects later and shorter. Writing the narrative for a reader who was not there is the cheapest realisation improvement available. On the obligation side, the fee must be reasonable and the bill accurate under the conduct rules your state has adopted, which rules out block entries that conceal what was done as well as time not actually worked.
Before you quote
- Write narratives a client who was not there can follow.
- Bill promptly and regularly rather than in large late bills.
- Keep entries accurate and specific, as the rules require.
Where the rules come from
Questions
About this calculator
Why do bills get questioned?
Usually the narrative. Entries describing the task specifically get paid; generic blocks get queried, and a queried bill collects later and shorter. Writing for a reader who was not present is the cheapest realisation improvement a firm can make.
How often should a firm bill?
Monthly and without exception, because the client's sense of the value fades faster than the balance does. Large bills sent late collect worse than the same amount billed in increments, and the ageing starts from the invoice date rather than the work.
What are the rules on billing?
The fee must be reasonable and the bill accurate under the conduct rules your state has adopted. That rules out time not actually worked, and it also bears on block entries that make it impossible for a client to see what was done.
The formula
fees = sum of hours x rate by fee earner, less any discount, plus disbursements
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Please keep the attribution line. It is the only thing we ask in return.
How to use this calculator
- Partner hours. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 6.
- Partner rate ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $450.
- Associate hours. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 22.
- Associate rate ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $265.
- Paralegal hours. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 14.
- Paralegal rate ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $125.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to invoice total, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Partner hours | 6 |
| Partner rate | $450 |
| Associate hours | 22 |
| Associate rate | $265 |
| Paralegal hours | 14 |
| Paralegal rate | $125 |
| Disbursements | $780 |
| Discount applied | 0% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Invoice total main result | $11,060 |
| Professional fees | $10,280 |
| Total hours | 42.0 |
| Blended rate | $244.76 |
| Discount given | $0 |
The invoice totals $11,060: $10,280 of fees across 42.0 hours, a blended rate of $244.76, plus $780 of disbursements.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only partner rate, this is what happens to invoice total. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Partner rate ($) | Invoice total |
|---|---|
| $225 | $9,710 |
| $338 | $10,388 |
| $450 example above | $11,060 |
| $675 | $12,410 |
| $900 | $13,760 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Partner hours
- A number, between 0 and 2000, starting at 6.
- Partner rate ($)
- A money amount, starting at $450.
- Associate hours
- A number, between 0 and 2000, starting at 22.
- Associate rate ($)
- A money amount, starting at $265.
- Paralegal hours
- A number, between 0 and 2000, starting at 14.
- Paralegal rate ($)
- A money amount, starting at $125.
- Disbursements ($)
- Court fees, experts, travel, filing.
- Discount applied (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 50, starting at 0%.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Invoice total | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Professional fees | A money figure. |
| Total hours | A decimal figure. |
| Blended rate | A money figure. |
| Discount given | A money figure. |
Keep going
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