TimeNet Law
Keep that feedback coming. We’re listening! TimeNet Law 4.0.2 is here to make the main window client view a little more compact, refine some additional rough UI edges, add some new view options, and fix some bugs. Get it while it’s hot!
As a lawyer serving many different legal clients, it’s important to offer flexibility in how you bill all of them. We get asked a lot about how to charge different hourly rates for different clients. Luckily, TimeNet Law has you covered, no matter how you need to bill. Whether it’s a discounted rate, pro bono work, or an expedited case that requires special handling and extra work. Let’s go over the different ways to customize your rates.
The first option is to simply set a custom rate for a client. This is a good option if you want to charge that client the same hourly rate regardless of who is performing the work:
Keep in mind that setting a client’s custom rate will override all other timekeeper rate settings. New entries will default to the Client Rate, but can be changed manually.
Often, you’ll want to offer different hourly rates for every timekeeper in your office. TimeNet Law lets you assign hourly billing rates to each timekeeper, and timekeepers can have as many as they need:
But what if you want to charge different rates for different clients? No problem. After you’ve created billing rates for your timekeepers, you can assign those rates to specific clients or matters as well:
Now you can offer flexible billing rates for all of your clients, and all types of work. Just set up and assign your billing rates once, and TimeNet Law handles everything for you.
You can also offer your clients contingency billing. Simply set a matter to use Contingency Billing under Matter Settings, and TimeNet Law will take care of the rest.
Sometimes you may wish to split a client’s bill between two or more parties. TimeNet Law makes this easy.
Now when you create invoices from this matter, TimeNet Law will automatically create multiple invoices addressed to each party, showing their individual balance due. Payments can be applied and assigned to each party (using the From field in Payment Center).
TimeNet Law also handles evergreen retainers, automatic payments, late fees, automated invoice emailing, automated payment reminders, and much more.
Hot on the heels of our big 4.0 update, TimeNet Law 4.0.1 is dropping quickly to fix some bugs and smooth some edges.
Your feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and we’re so glad you’re enjoying the new version! This update fixes issues some users are reporting and is recommended for all users.
It’s the end of a long week. You’re ready to go home and relax — but you haven’t entered your time for the week yet. Maybe you have a notepad or a spreadsheet where you’ve entered some tasks throughout the week. Or, even worse, maybe you scribble out your tasks right then and try to remember how much time you spent on them. Does this sound familiar?
Time tracking is a frustrating chore — one that is often neglected. Attorneys dislike doing it because it is tedious, the technology available is difficult or cumbersome, and often they have to double or even triple-enter their work across multiple applications: task managers, time trackers, invoicing systems, etc.
Every single how-to article and “case study” about attorneys and time tracking says the same thing: the best way to take notes or record events is contemporaneously. As a lawyer, you already know this.
You wouldn’t wait until Friday to write down every important detail from a deposition last Monday. Why do that with your timekeeping?
Reconstructive time entry is a recipe for disaster. It is dangerously easy to under-bill or over-bill your client. Both can harm your law firm.
What if your task manager was your time tracker and your invoicing system? Imagine sitting down at your desk, seeing all of your tasks and events laid out in front of you, and as you progress through them, your time is automatically tracked and assigned to your client, ready to bill. Now it’s Friday afternoon, and it’s already done.
You need a system that integrates everything. You already have to manage deadlines, events, and tasks for your clients. Why shouldn’t that system also track your time, and automatically bill that time to your clients? And why shouldn’t that system easily create invoices from your schedule? Suddenly, time tracking becomes a handy side-effect of simply managing your calendar and to-do list.
There’s really only one way to truly boost time tracking:
Remove Friction.
Every extra step between you and tracking your time is one more reason why you won’t. But if you can:
Implement a system in your law firm that integrates your task management, scheduling, time tracking, and invoicing all in one.
One system that does this is TimeNet Law. Built from the ground up for attorneys, TimeNet Law will help you bill more accurately — guaranteed. We made time tracking so good, you’ll actually use it.
We’re thrilled to announce that TimeNet Law 4 is here! Our biggest update in 20 years, TimeNet Law 4 is a major overhaul of the entire system. We’ve poured over every detail to make sure TimeNet Law is easier to use and more powerful than ever!
20 years is a long time, and in that time, TimeNet Law has grown from a simple time tracking app into a full-blown law firm management suite. We’ve added hundreds of features over the years, and inevitably that comes with complexity.
While TimeNet Law 4 brings some huge new features, the behind-the-scenes story is one of refinement. We’ve re-thought the interface of practically every window, to make it less cluttered, more focused, and easier to navigate.
The first thing you’ll notice is the new icon. It feels right at home on macOS Big Sur.
The main window’s toolbar has been refined. Creating new clients, matters, timers and slips is now done under one unified Create New button. Your client and matter list has been given more room to breathe, and you can now see important matter details in each row.
The main window also has the brand new Dashboard, which gives you access to your tasks for the day and week, and the all new Launchpad with intelligent task surfacing. You can now create tasks and run timers right from the main window, too.
Settings windows have been decluttered. QuickHelp now lets you hover over any item to get details about how that feature works. This allowed us to remove explainer labels and make buttons and checkboxes more concise. The end result is easier to navigate and understand.
There’s a lot more: Timers now share a unified design. They can be directly interacted with by clicking on them to start or stop them. Entry windows now share a unified design with larger text fields and easily recognizable visual labels. And different areas of the program are color-coordinated, so you’ll always know if you’re in a report, a matter, the payment center, or your task manager.
TimeNet Law 4 is also loaded with new features. Let’s dig in to some of those now.
Mange tasks, events, and deadlines all in one place. Stay on top of everything with reminders, and bill tasks to your client with one click. Search for tasks and organize them with tags. Run the timer or mark them off right from the task manager. Now you can plan your day and do your timekeeping in one step. Easy.
The brand new Calendar View lets you see all tasks, events, and document deadlines in one place. Create, edit and delete tasks, and log your time faster than ever right from the calendar. Your time never looked so good.
As you create tasks, events and deadlines, Launchpad tames the chaos. Always know what’s coming up, and what to work on next. We’ll surface the things that matter most, when they matter, so you can stay focused and rocket through your day.
TimeNet Law 4 has a brand new sync engine. Now you and your team can work together in the same matter with no risk of data conflicts. And larger database will load and run reports even faster. This new sync engine paves the way for new things we’re excited to bring to TimeNet Law in the coming months.
A search bar in matter windows to quickly find entries, smart groups for clients and tasks, new report features, a refined Payment Center that makes it easier than ever to enter new payments and find and filter your client payment history, compatibility improvements for M1 Macs, and numerous other fixes and improvements.
We’ve been rolling out TimeNet Law 4 Beta 1 this week and the feedback has been great. We expect to have Beta 2 available in the next 1-2 weeks, and the final TimeNet Law 4 release will follow shortly thereafter!
Giving a discount to your client can go a long way towards boosting client satisfaction and ensuring repeat business. It’s a small gesture that can have a big impact, both for your law firm and for your client.
TimeNet Law offers several ways to provide a discount to your client. Take a couple minutes to learn about them, and be sure to use them to increase client satisfaction at your law firm.
They all achieve the same end result — your client gets a discount. The difference is on the accounting side. If you’re not familiar with these terms, it can be confusing, but it all boils down to this:
If you want to give your client a 10% discount on their next invoice, use a discount. If you want to give your client a $50 discount on one specific task, use a markdown. If you want to give your client a $100 discount on a balance they already owe, use a write-off.
One of the simplest ways to provide a discount is to set one or more tasks to No Charge before invoicing. This will show the task on the invoice, along with the normal billing rate, but show that this task was performed free of charge.
Remember — dealing with the legal system can be a very scary and stressful time for your client. Giving them a discount is a powerful way to build trust and client satisfaction for your law firm.
We’ve created a new profile on Twitter just for TimeNet Law. Get the latest on TimeNet Law’s development, TimeNet Law tips and tricks, interesting news in the legal tech world, and even get support right from our profile.
TimeNet Law 4 Beta 1 is nearing completion, but while we wrap that up, we’ve got a great update to TimeNet Law 3 for you! There’s a lot of Good Stuff™ inside, so be sure to peruse the full release notes. But first, let’s take a look at a few highlights.
Now you can get access to all of TimeNet Law’s modules, priority support, early access betas, and all future updates for one great low price! No more modules to purchase or renewals and updates to manage.
If you prefer to use legacy pricing, you can still purchase TimeNet Law, add modules as needed, and pay for renewals manually. However, some TimeNet Law 4 features will require the new Plan pricing. More details will be announced as we get closer to releasing TimeNet Law 4.
If you’ve purchased the Control Center module, or signed up for the new Plan pricing, you can now access the Control Center right inside TimeNet Law. No separate application to install or manage. Just select Window > Control Center from the menubar, or access it from the Control Center button in the Preferences window.
You’ll be able to configure user permissions and view the audit log of all changes, who made them, and when. Even control manual lockouts, scheduled lockouts, and much more.
Now you can get a list of all matters, organized by client, in one window. The report will show your matter names, matter numbers, time spent, and current A/R for each individual matter. The report can be easily printed or exported into a spreadsheet.
We’ve been hard at work squashing bugs and polishing up the UI all over. More QuickHelp items have been added, improvements have been made to invoices, and windows have been cleaned up to make managing your law firm better than ever with TimeNet Law 3.6!
We are super excited to show you what we’ve been working: TimeNet Law 4! This huge update is coming soon, and it’s loaded with fantastic new features and a gorgeous new smart dashboard. Soon we’ll also be offering some really exciting new services that you’re going to love. Let’s dive in!
TimeNet Law 4 gives you an entire scheduling and task management system that fully integrates with your billing. It’s a killer way to keep yourself and your team on task. Track deadlines and always know what meetings and tasks are coming up. And of course, because it’s integrated into your billing system, every task, meeting, and deadline can be automatically billed with one click.
TimeNet Law 4 has all the features you expect from a great task management system:
The new Smart Dashboard will quickly become an indispensable tool for your law firm. Be greeted every morning with critical insights about your law firm, an overview of your day or week, and a fantastic launchpad that keeps you focused and moving smoothly from one task to the next. You’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.
TimeNet Law 4 manages all of your documents for you. Store them in your database so they’re always available to everyone, anywhere. Documents can be linked to clients and timers, assigned to timekeepers, and organized with tags and categories. Now all of your important firm and client files are right at your fingertips.
TimeNet Law 4 is just the start of something new and special. The items listed above are planned for the 4.0 release, but we are already hard at work creating even more great features. Coming shortly after 4.0, we have two more big updates planned.
An iOS app has been in development and promised for years now, and it’s still not here. There’s no excuse – this is our fault and we feel awful about it. While we have hit roadblock after roadblock creating an iOS app that lives up to our sky high standards of simplicity, power, and privacy, the simple fact is we haven’t delivered. And for that, we apologize.
We are committed to bringing TimeNet Law to your iPhone and iPad in early 2021, and have revamped our development timeline to do so, no matter what. It will roll out in incremental stages, but we know the #1 requested feature is simply to time tasks and log expenses while on the go, and that’s what we’re starting with.
We’re also creating a brand new system that will allow you to send and receive documents to and from your clients with paranoid encryption – because email is inherently insecure and inadequate. This system will let you message securely with your clients, share documents back and forth, and integrate directly with TimeNet Law’s new Document Management system.
This system will also give you customizable online client intake forms for your law firm, the ability to accept credit card payments from your clients, and a lot of other exciting new features. We’re calling it TimeNet Law Portal and it will be launching next year, after our iOS app is available.
We can’t wait for you to get your hands on TimeNet Law 4 and let us know what you think! We will be releasing more screenshots and details as we get closer to the final release, so be sure to check back here and follow us on Twitter!
We’d love to hear your feedback! If you have any comments or questions, or want to sign up for early access to the TimeNet Law 4 beta, please get in touch using the button below. You’ll be signed up to receive it as soon as it’s ready.