Best practices in timekeeping for criminal lawyers

Best practices in timekeeping for criminal lawyers

August 17, 2023

When the files of our criminal lawyers require to provide timesheets upon request through Lawyer Portal or use them to access extra hours under tariff item 11.19, it is important that these timesheets are legible and contain enough information for our Certificate & Tariff Officers (CTOs). 

Here are some quick tips on what CTOs are looking at: 

• Timesheets should be detailed and specific. 
• Timesheets need to be made contemporaneously, as the file evolves – not created or recreated after the fact. 
• Time entries shouldn’t be blocked for multiple tasks (i.e., use a separate time entry for each individual task). 
• Non-billable time should be either excluded from the timesheet submitted to LAA or identified as non-billable time. 
• Non-billable time includes “waiting time” and “travel time”.

Further tips and examples can be found on pages 6-8 of the Criminal Tariff Invoicing Guide. 

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