If you have recently started working at an Australian law firm, you have probably discovered that law school taught you almost everything about the law — except how to get paid for practising it. Time billing is the financial engine of private practice, and mastering it early in your career will make you more valuable to your firm, more confident in your work, and significantly less stressed at the end of each day.
This guide covers everything a junior solicitor needs to know: how the six-minute unit system works, how to write billing descriptions that partners and clients will approve, the mistakes that get graduates in trouble, and the modern tools that can make the entire process far less painful.
Understanding the Six-Minute Unit System
Australian law firms almost universally bill in six-minute increments, commonly called "units." One hour contains ten units. This system creates a standardised way to measure and record legal work, and it is the foundation of every time entry you will ever write.
The conversion is straightforward. One unit equals six minutes, or 0.1 of an hour. Two units equal twelve minutes, or 0.2 of an hour. Five units equal thirty minutes, or 0.5 of an hour. Ten units equal sixty minutes, or 1.0 hour. When you record an entry, you express the time in these decimal fractions: a 15-minute phone call is recorded as 0.3 (three units), and a two-hour drafting session is recorded as 2.0 (twenty units).
A critical rule: you always round up to the next unit. If a task takes seven minutes, you record it as 0.2 (two units, or twelve minutes), not 0.1. If a phone call lasts exactly six minutes, it is 0.1. If it lasts six minutes and thirty seconds, it is 0.2. This rounding convention is industry-standard and accepted by clients, though you should never deliberately inflate time.
Writing Effective Billing Descriptions
The billing description is what the client sees on their invoice. It needs to communicate what you did, why it was necessary, and (implicitly) why it was worth the fee. A well-written description protects the firm against billing disputes, demonstrates value to the client, and helps the supervising partner understand the progress of the matter.
The golden rule is: be specific about the work, not vague about the effort. Every description should answer the question "What did you actually do?" in a way that a client who is not a lawyer could understand.
"Research re contract issues"
"Researching enforceability of restraint of trade clause in employment contract, including review of recent NSW Court of Appeal authority on reasonableness test"
Notice the difference. The weak version tells the client almost nothing. The strong version tells them exactly what legal issue was researched, what type of document was involved, and what level of authority was considered. If the client has a question about their bill, the strong description answers it before the question is even asked.
Here are the conventions that most Australian firms follow for billing descriptions:
- Start with a verb in the gerund form — "Reviewing," "Drafting," "Attending," "Researching," "Preparing," "Advising." This is the standard format across the industry.
- Name the specific document, party, or issue — "Reviewing the Share Purchase Agreement" is better than "Reviewing documents." "Telephone attendance on Mr Zhang" is better than "Phone call with client."
- Include the purpose when it is not obvious — "Reviewing plaintiff's affidavit to identify inconsistencies with documentary evidence" explains the reason for the task.
- Avoid internal jargon — The client does not know what "WIP review" or "matter housekeeping" means. If the task is administrative, describe it in client-facing language or consider whether it should be billed at all.
- Use "attendance" for meetings and calls — The correct format is "Attendance at conference with [person] regarding [topic]" or "Telephone attendance on [person] regarding [topic]." The preposition matters: you attend "at" a meeting and attend "on" a person by phone.
"Emails re matter" (too vague; which emails? about what?)
"Reviewing and responding to email from opposing solicitor regarding proposed amendments to consent orders"
The Seven Most Common Billing Mistakes Junior Lawyers Make
1. Billing at the end of the week instead of daily. This is the single biggest source of revenue leakage for junior lawyers. By Friday afternoon, you cannot accurately reconstruct what you did on Monday morning. Bill daily — ideally, immediately after each task.
2. Lumping multiple tasks into one entry. If you spent 18 minutes on a matter — six minutes reviewing an email, six minutes researching a point, and six minutes drafting a response — record three separate entries, not one entry for 0.3. Itemised entries are clearer for the client and easier for the partner to review.
3. Under-recording out of impostor syndrome. Junior lawyers frequently think "I should not bill for that because it took me longer than it should have." This instinct, while well-intentioned, is misguided. You are entitled to bill for time spent on legitimate legal work, even if a more experienced lawyer would have done it faster. The partner will adjust your time at billing review if necessary — that is their job, not yours. Your job is to record accurately.
4. Forgetting to record non-obvious billable work. Reading a document is billable. Thinking about a legal issue is billable. Preparing for a meeting is billable. Reviewing and responding to emails is billable. Travel time to court or client meetings may be billable depending on your firm's policy. If you are spending mental energy on a client's matter, it is probably billable.
5. Writing descriptions that are too short. "Drafting" is not a billing description. "Drafting revised clause 12.3 of the shareholders' agreement to address minority buyout mechanism" is a billing description. The extra 15 seconds it takes to write the longer version saves the partner time at review and reduces the chance of a client query.
6. Not recording time for interrupted work. You spend 15 minutes on Matter A, get pulled into Matter B for 30 minutes, then return to Matter A for another 20 minutes. Many juniors forget the first 15-minute block. If you use a timer or recording tool, these fragments are captured automatically.
7. Failing to use session context. When billing for meetings or calls, include who was present, what was discussed, and any key outcomes. "Telephone attendance on Ms Lee regarding settlement offer; advising client on strengths and weaknesses of plaintiff's position and recommending counter-offer" tells a complete story in one entry.
Billing Etiquette: Unwritten Rules
Every firm has its own culture around billing, and some of the most important rules are never written down. Here are the ones most junior lawyers learn through painful experience.
Record time in your own name only. Never record time under a partner's name or another solicitor's code, even if they ask you to. This is a professional conduct issue.
Do not pad time, but do not undercut yourself either. Recording 0.5 for a task that took 20 minutes is padding. Recording 0.2 for a task that took 20 minutes is undercutting. Record 0.4 — the accurate figure rounded up to the next unit.
Ask about write-off conventions. Some firms expect partners to handle all write-offs at billing review. Others expect solicitors to flag entries they think should be reduced. Know which approach your firm uses and follow it.
Understand the difference between billable and non-billable time. Most firms expect you to record all time, including non-billable activities like professional development, firm administration, and marketing. These entries use different activity codes and are not charged to clients, but they are tracked for performance reporting. Ask your practice manager which activity codes to use for non-billable work.
Building Good Habits From Day One
The single most effective habit you can develop is contemporaneous time recording — billing as you go, rather than reconstructing at the end of the day. There are several approaches that work well.
The timer method. Start a timer when you begin a task and stop it when you finish. Most practice management systems have built-in timers. This produces the most accurate time records but requires discipline to remember to start and stop the timer.
The block method. Every two hours, stop and record the work you have done. This is less precise than continuous timing but far better than end-of-day billing. Set a recurring reminder on your phone or calendar.
The recording method. For meetings and calls, record the audio and use a tool to convert it into billing entries after the fact. This is increasingly popular in Australian firms and solves the problem of forgotten meeting details. Tools like LexUnits can process a meeting recording and generate draft entries in minutes, which you then review and export to your practice management system.
Whichever method you choose, the key is consistency. A mediocre system used every day will produce better billing outcomes than a perfect system used sporadically.
Tools That Make Time Billing Easier
The legal technology market now offers several options for lawyers who want to reduce the administrative burden of time recording. These range from simple timer apps to AI-powered platforms that generate entries automatically.
Practice management timers. Actionstep, LEAP, Clio, and Smokeball all include built-in timers. These are convenient because they record directly into the system, but they still require you to write the description manually.
AI billing tools. A newer category of software uses artificial intelligence to generate billing entries from source materials — meeting recordings, email threads, documents, and transcripts. LexUnits is purpose-built for Australian firms, supporting the six-minute unit system, Australian billing conventions, and export formats for the major practice management platforms. The advantage of AI-assisted billing is not just speed; it is completeness. The AI identifies billable activities that a lawyer might overlook or forget, particularly in long meetings or complex documents.
Voice dictation. Some lawyers dictate their time entries using voice-to-text software. This is faster than typing but still relies on your memory of what happened. It works well for simple tasks but less well for reconstructing detailed meeting content.
The most efficient approach for most junior lawyers is a combination: use your practice management system's timer for routine tasks, and use an AI tool like LexUnits for meetings, calls, and document-heavy work where the AI can capture details you would otherwise miss.
A Note on Costs Disclosure
As a junior lawyer in Australia, you should be aware that the Legal Profession Uniform Law (which applies in NSW and Victoria, with equivalent provisions in other states) imposes obligations on firms to disclose costs to clients. While costs disclosure is typically handled by the supervising partner, your time entries form the basis of the invoices that are sent to clients. Poorly written or vague entries can make costs disclosure harder and expose the firm to challenges under the uniform law.
This is another reason to invest in writing good descriptions from the start. Every entry you write may eventually appear on a client invoice, be scrutinised in a costs assessment, or be reviewed by a costs assessor. Treat each description as a mini-record of the work performed.
Your First Week Checklist
If you are in your first week at a firm, here is a practical checklist to get your billing right from the start. Learn your firm's activity codes and matter numbering system. Set up your timer in the practice management system and test it. Ask your supervising partner how they prefer entries to be written — every partner has preferences. Record your time on the first day, even if you think you did nothing billable (you probably did more than you realise). At the end of each day, review your entries before you leave. Ask for feedback on your billing descriptions in your first month — most partners are happy to help juniors improve.
Time billing is a skill, and like any skill, it improves with practice. The solicitors who master it early in their careers are the ones who consistently meet their targets, avoid uncomfortable conversations about under-recording, and — perhaps most importantly — leave the office on time because they are not spending an hour at the end of every day trying to remember what they did.
FAQ: What does "billing in six-minute units" mean?
Australian law firms divide each hour into ten equal units of six minutes each. When recording time, you express it as a decimal fraction: 0.1 (6 minutes), 0.2 (12 minutes), 0.5 (30 minutes), 1.0 (60 minutes). You always round up to the next unit — so a task that takes 7 minutes is recorded as 0.2, not 0.1.
FAQ: How do I know if something is billable?
As a general rule, any time you spend thinking about, working on, or communicating about a client's matter is billable. This includes reading documents, conducting research, drafting correspondence, attending meetings, making phone calls, reviewing emails, and preparing for court appearances. Internal firm activities like professional development, marketing, and administration are usually recorded as non-billable time. When in doubt, ask your supervising partner.
FAQ: Should I use AI tools for billing as a junior lawyer?
AI billing tools like LexUnits can be particularly helpful for junior lawyers because they generate professional-quality descriptions that follow Australian billing conventions. This helps you learn the correct format and language while ensuring you do not miss billable activities. The AI handles the description writing, and you review and approve the entries before they are exported — maintaining your professional responsibility while reducing the administrative burden.