Creating a Time Entry Using the Legal Accounting and Practice Management Integration

By tracking time spent on various tasks, you can ensure you are compensated fairly for your work while also providing your clients with transparent billing practices.  

When using both Legal Accounting and Practice Management to manage your firm and its finances, you can enter your time in either product and have the information available across the platform. For example, if you record your time while moving a specific matter forward in Practice Management, the recorded time will automatically be updated in the same matter (or file) in Legal Accounting. 

Additionally, time entry settings, billing rates, task codes, and activity codes can all be entered in Legal Accounting so you don’t need to manage them in both systems.  When recording a new Time Entry, the resulting rate will be calculated using the matter configuration in Legal Accounting. 

To create a time entry:

1. In Practice Management, click the global Create button and choose Time Entry from the list of options. The Create Time Entry window appears.
   TIP:  See the Note below for a complete list of other ways you can create a time entry. 
2. Enter the following details: 
   • Date: Enter the date the task was completed. By default, today's date will be suggested. 
   • Fee Earner: Choose the timekeeper. If you are a fee earner, your name will be suggested by default. 
   • Matter: Choose the matter or file the task is associated with.  
   • Activity Code: Select the code that categorizes the type of work you performed.  
   • Task Code: Select the code that categorizes the task you performed (e.g., administrative work, billable, non-billable, etc.) If a default task code is assigned to the matter, it will be suggested here. If available for your firm, this may include LEDES codes. 
   • Explanation: Enter a description of the task.  
   • Working: Enter how many hours you worked. (This field is only displayed if working hours is enabled in Legal Accounting.) 
   • Billable: Enter the number of hours that are billable. 
   • Rate: Enter the hourly rate for the entry. The default is based on fee earner, task, and the matter’s rate group. (This option will be displayed if a fee earner, matter, and task code have been selected.) 
   • Amount: Review the total fee (which is hours × rate). You can leave the calculated amount or manually enter a different amount. 
   • Internal Notes: Enter private billing notes on the time entry for staff to review. 
3. Click either Save and create new (which saves your work and allows you to add another time entry) or Save and close (which saves the time entry and closes the window). 

Once you click Save, timesheet data will be available in both Practice Management and Legal Accounting.