Keep Your Clients Happy Through Better Billing Descriptions

Of all the things everyone has to work with, nothing is more precious than time. For lawyers who bill hourly, accurately capturing and accurately describing your billable time is a crucial function. Accurately capturing your billable time directly effects the total time you must spend reaching your billable goals, leaving more time for other activities in and out of the office. By accurately describing your time, you can present more persuasive bills to your clients, who will be more willing to pay them in full and on time. Instead of spending time on disputed charges and collections, you can spend more time on why you put in long hours at law school, practicing law.
Writing more accurate and clearer descriptions of your billable time will also lead to greater client satisfaction. Clients will be more willing to use your services again or refer someone to you, if they feel they got their money’s worth.
So, with all that at stake, here are some ideas to help you more accurately describe your billable time:

Craft Descriptions That Are Thorough and Complete- It may take more time up front to write a detailed description, but the payoff comes in the likelihood of less editing needed by the attorneys preparing the bills, fewer client questions about bills, and ultimately, more prompt payments. For example, instead of simply "Review documents," say, "Review documents, including [then list the documents reviewed]." Avoid using "etc." Instead of "organize file" or "review file," describe the reason for such organizing or reviewing. The length of the description should reflect the duration of time worked. Demonstrate to the client that the time was well spent.
Use Active, Results-oriented Verbs to Convey Action- The actions you take on your client's behalf is the service you provide. Use the present tense which results in a more active, “live” description than using the past tense. Writing in present tense also shows the client that his attorney is presently involved in his case, not that they were involved last month or sometime in the past, but now.
Avoid Abbreviations- Spell out the full name of agencies and acronyms. Use "memorandum" instead of "memo," "facsimile" instead of "fax," and "telephone conference" instead of "telephone call" or "phone call."
Avoid Needless Detail If Such Specificity Tends to Devalue The Work- Instead of "e-mail" or "fax," use "correspondence," or at least "e-mail correspondence" or "facsimile correspondence." Instead of "dictate" or "draft," use "prepare." Instead of "revise," use "further prepare."

Clients expect value for the money they spend on lawyer fees. By accurately recording your time and then translating that into a bill that accurately shows the work done, clients feel they are getting value for their money. This leads to timely payment and less disputes, which helps the bottom line cash flow of your law firm.