Billable Hours Calculator for Lawyers and Law Firms

Enter a time entry, choose a billing increment, and add an hourly rate if you want an estimated value. The calculator also helps you plan an annual billable target and model common law firm performance metrics.

How the Calculator Works

The Time Entry tool converts minutes to decimal hours, then applies the billing increment and rounding method you choose. It always shows the exact time beside the rounded result, so you can see what rounding changed. Add an hourly rate to see the exact value, the rounded estimated value, and the difference between them.

The Target Planner turns an annual billable target into monthly, weekly, and daily averages. It also uses your hours and weeks completed so far to show the pace you need for the rest of the year.

The Law Firm Metrics tool calculates utilization from hours alone, or follows a revenue estimate from recorded value to billed value to collected value. The Increment Chart lists 1 to 60 minutes under 6-, 10-, and 15-minute increments, plus one custom increment.

Every calculation runs in your browser. Verdict Point does not receive, store, or log the hours, rates, or amounts you enter.

Formula Definitions

• Decimal hours: minutes ÷ 60. For example, 37 minutes is 0.6167 hours.
• Rounded minutes (round up): the next multiple of the increment at or above the entry. With a 6-minute increment, 37 minutes becomes 42 minutes.
• Rounded minutes (round to nearest): the closest multiple of the increment, with an exact halfway point rounded up.
• Rounded minutes (round down): the multiple of the increment at or below the entry.
• Estimated value: billable hours × hourly rate.
• Weekly target: annual target ÷ working weeks. Daily target: weekly target ÷ working days per week.
• Required weekly pace: hours remaining ÷ working weeks remaining.
• Utilization rate: billable hours ÷ total work hours × 100.
• Realization rate: the share of recorded value that is billed. Billed value = recorded value × realization rate.
• Collection rate: the share of billed value that is collected. Collected value = billed value × collection rate.
• Effective collected rate: collected value ÷ billable hours.
• Overall yield: collected value ÷ recorded value × 100.

Firms define realization and collection in different ways. Some measure realization against standard rates, others against budgets, and some combine both stages into one figure. Use the definitions above when you compare results from this calculator.

Six-Minute Billing Chart

A six-minute increment divides each hour into ten units of 0.1 hour. The chart below rounds up, which matches the conversion chart published by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for appointed counsel. A court chart applies to the people it governs; your engagement agreement and firm policy control your own bills.

For exact and rounded conversions side by side, with worked fee comparisons, see the legal billing chart for minutes and tenths.

Worked Examples

Time entry. A 37-minute task at $350 per hour is 0.6167 hours exactly, worth $215.83. Under a six-minute round-up rule it becomes 42 minutes, or 0.7 hours, worth $245.00. The difference is 5 minutes and $29.17. This is a hypothetical example, not a statement that rounding up is permitted for every client.

Billable target. An 1,800-hour annual target across 48 working weeks and five workdays per week averages 150 hours per month, 37.5 hours per working week, and 7.5 hours per workday. A timekeeper with 900 hours completed after 24 weeks still needs 37.5 hours per week for the remaining 24 weeks.

Firm metrics. Thirty billable hours in a 40-hour period is 75% utilization. At $350 per hour, the recorded value is $10,500. At 92% realization, the billed value is $9,660. At 95% collection, the collected value is $9,177. That works out to an effective collected rate of $305.90 per billable hour and an overall yield of 87.4%.

Accuracy and Ethical Use

This calculator does arithmetic. It does not decide whether a time entry is reasonable, permitted, or collectible. Billing increments and rounding rules depend on the engagement agreement, client requirements, firm policy, and applicable professional rules.

Courts and clients can set their own limits. The Ninth Circuit CJA Compensability Handbook, for example, tells appointed counsel to combine tasks that take less than 0.1 hour each into one block, so billable time does not exceed the hours actually worked. Two 3-minute calls in one day, under that rule, are billed at no more than 0.1 hour in total.

A time-entry estimate also does not show what remains of a client's advance payment. That depends on the trust ledger and the fee agreement, explained in how a retainer fee works.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Convert Minutes to Billable Hours?

Divide the minutes by 60 to get exact decimal hours. If your agreement uses an increment, round the minutes to that increment first, then divide by 60. For example, 37 minutes rounded up to six-minute units is 42 minutes, or 0.7 hours.

What Is a Six-Minute Billing Increment?

It is a unit of 0.1 hour. Time is recorded in tenths of an hour, so an entry is expressed as 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and so on.

How Many Six-Minute Units Are in One Hour?

Ten. Sixty minutes divided by six minutes equals ten units of 0.1 hour each.

How Do You Calculate a Weekly Billable-Hours Target?

Divide the annual target by the number of working weeks. An 1,800-hour target over 48 working weeks is 37.5 hours per week. Divide by working days per week to get a daily figure.

What Is the Difference Between Utilization, Realization, and Collection Rates?

Utilization compares billable hours with total work hours. Realization compares the value billed with the value recorded. Collection compares the value collected with the value billed. Each measures a different stage, so a firm can be strong on one and weak on another.

Does the Calculator Store My Billing Information?

No. The calculator runs in your browser and does not send, save, or log what you enter. A shared link contains only the numbers and settings you chose, and the page never records it.

Should Law Firms Always Round Time Entries Up?

No. Whether rounding is allowed, and in which direction, depends on the engagement agreement, client billing guidelines, firm policy, and the professional rules that apply. Many clients and courts set their own requirements. The calculator offers exact, up, nearest, and down so you can match the rule that governs the bill.

Sources and Methodology

The formulas on this page are standard arithmetic, written out in full above. The chart and rounding guidance come from the sources below, opened and checked on October 26, 2026. The worked examples are hypothetical.

• Billing Increment Chart: Minutes to Tenths of an Hour, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
• Ninth Circuit CJA Compensability Handbook, Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit