The Hidden Costs of Manual Timekeeping in Law Firms

Why sticking with traditional time tracking could be costing you thousands every month.

Every law firm knows that accurate timekeeping is essential to profitability. But what most firms don’t realize is just how expensive manual time tracking really is.

It’s not just about paying someone to do a repetitive task—it’s about the money that never gets billed, the hours that never get recovered, and the time that could have been spent practicing law instead of tracking it.

Let’s take a closer look at the hidden costs of manual timekeeping—and why automating one key area (like email billing) can have a massive impact on your bottom line.

1. Unbilled Time = Lost Revenue

Emails are billable. Most firms log them at 0.1 hours apiece. But how many emails go unbilled each week?

If an attorney sends and receives 100 emails a week but only logs 70, that’s 3 billable hours lost—every week. Multiply that across 10 attorneys and you’re looking at 120 unbilled hours per month.

At an average rate of $250/hour, that’s $30,000 per month of unrealized revenue. Gone. Missed. Forgotten.

Manual tracking makes these gaps inevitable.

2. Staff Overhead Adds Up Fast

Many firms assign time tracking duties to legal aides or junior staff. While it might seem efficient, it’s expensive.

A paralegal making $40/hour spends 10 hours a month tracking emails = $400
Multiply by 5 staff members = $2,000/month
That’s $24,000/year spent on just email billing admin

And let’s not forget: lawyers doing it themselves are losing billable hours in the process.

3. Errors Lead to Disputes and Write-Offs

Manual time tracking isn’t just slow—it’s flawed. Misbilled entries, incorrect client codes, and missing time entries create downstream billing issues:

Client disputes
Invoice write-offs
Internal corrections and wasted time

These issues damage trust with clients and reduce realization rates—another quiet killer of law firm revenue.

4. Opportunity Cost: Time Not Spent on Clients

Time is your most valuable asset. Every hour spent on billing is an hour not spent on:

Client calls
Strategy sessions
Legal research
Business development

The opportunity cost is huge—and it’s often overlooked.

The Better Way: Automate Where It Counts

Manual time tracking was fine when email volume was low and admin time was cheap. Today, it’s a major operational liability.

Tempello automates email billing so firms can recover more time, more revenue, and more sanity.

No more missed emails
No more tedious logging
No more end-of-month stress

Just accurate billing, automatically entered, for $0.39 per email.

How Much Are You Losing Each Month?

If your attorneys send 100 billable emails a week, you’re potentially missing $4,000+ in revenue every month per person.

Why let that go?

Get Started For Free

One of our experts will reach out to you for a personalized demo for your law firm.