Time & Billing Operations

Log billable time and expenses against a matter, then turn them into a client invoice in a guided three-step wizard.

How this group of screens works

This group covers the firm's billing cycle end to end: Timesheets & Billable for logging time, Expense Tracking for reimbursable costs, and Legal Invoicing for turning both into a client invoice. What sets this group apart from the rest of the Legal add-on is that issuing an invoice writes back to the other two screens — it doesn't just read from them.

                        At a glance
                        Timesheets & Billable — a stopwatch-driven time log tied to a matter and lawyer
Expense Tracking — a ledger of matter-related costs (court fees, notary, travel, translation) with a receipt attachment
Legal Invoicing — a three-step wizard that pulls unbilled time and expenses into a client invoice, with retainer balances

                    

1. Timesheets & Billable

Time is logged either with a live stopwatch (start, pause, stop, reset — the elapsed time fills the entry form automatically when you stop) or entered directly. Each entry records the matter, the lawyer, an activity type (court hearing, client meeting, legal research, document drafting, consultation, or administrative), and a billable status. The KPI row at the top shows total hours logged, the billable amount, and the ratio of non-billable time, so a lawyer or partner can see utilization at a glance.

2. Expense Tracking

Matter-related costs — court fees, notary charges, expert fees, travel and lodging, translation, courier — are logged here with an attached receipt. Each expense can be marked as rebillable to the client, and moves through an approval status before it's eligible to appear on an invoice.

3. Legal Invoicing

Invoicing follows a guided three-step flow: pick the matter (the client fills in automatically), then select which unbilled billable time entries and rebillable expenses to include as line items, set the tax rate and optionally apply a retainer balance, and finally review before saving as a draft or issuing the invoice. The KPI row shows collections this month, overdue amounts, and total retainer balance across clients.

What happens when you issue an invoice

Issuing an invoice does more than just change its own status. Every time entry included on it is marked Billed back in Timesheets & Billable, and every expense included is marked Billed to Client back in Expense Tracking — so neither can be pulled into a second invoice by mistake. If a retainer was applied, the amount is deducted from the client's retainer balance, never going below zero. An invoice whose due date has passed shows as "Overdue" on screen, but this is a live, calculated label — the invoice's underlying status doesn't change to overdue in storage.

Working together

From	To	What happens
Timesheets & Billable	Legal Invoicing	Unbilled time entries for the selected matter are offered as line-item suggestions in the invoice wizard.
Expense Tracking	Legal Invoicing	Approved, rebillable, unbilled expenses for the selected matter are offered the same way.
Legal Invoicing	Timesheets & Billable, Expense Tracking	Issuing the invoice marks every included time entry and expense as billed, so they can't be double-invoiced.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I include the same time entry on two invoices?

No — once an invoice that includes it is issued, the time entry is marked Billed and won't appear as an unbilled option the next time you build an invoice for that matter.

Why does an invoice still show "Issued" in some views but "Overdue" in others?

Overdue is a display-only label calculated from today's date against the due date — it never overwrites the invoice's actual stored status, which stays Issued (or Partially Paid) until it's paid or cancelled.

Can a retainer balance go negative?

No — applying a retainer to an invoice deducts from the client's balance but never takes it below zero.