Free Tool for Lawyers
How Much Billable Revenue Is Your Firm Losing?
Enter your hourly rate, target hours, and current capture rate to see the exact dollar amount your firm loses each year to untracked billable time.
Calculate my revenue leakageWhat this tool does
- ✓Shows annual revenue leakage in dollars at your specific billing rate
- ✓Models the recovery opportunity if you improve capture to 90% or 95%
- ✓Scales across multiple lawyers to show firm-wide impact
- ✓Benchmarks your current capture rate against industry averages
How to use this tool
- 1
Enter your average hourly billing rate
Use your standard billing rate in CAD or USD. If you have multiple billing rates, use your average across matters.
- 2
Enter your target billable hours per day
How many billable hours do you aim to log on a typical working day? Most full-time lawyers target 5–8 hours.
- 3
Enter your current time-capture rate
What percentage of your actual billable time do you currently track and bill? Research suggests most lawyers without dedicated tracking software capture only 70–80% of their billable time.
- 4
See your annual revenue leakage
The calculator shows your annual revenue leakage per lawyer, the recovery opportunity if you reach 95% capture, and the firm-wide impact across your team.
The math behind the leakage
Even a small improvement in time-capture rate compounds to a significant revenue recovery. Here is what the numbers look like for a typical Canadian lawyer.
| Hourly Rate | Hours Lost / Day | Annual Loss / Lawyer |
|---|---|---|
| $200/hr | 1 hr | $50,000 |
| $200/hr | 1.5 hrs | $75,000 |
| $300/hr | 1 hr | $75,000 |
| $300/hr | 1.5 hrs | $112,500 |
| $400/hr | 1 hr | $100,000 |
| $400/hr | 1.5 hrs | $150,000 |
Assumes 250 working days per year.
Frequently asked questions
What is revenue leakage in a law firm?
Revenue leakage is billable time that was worked but never invoiced — because it was forgotten, deemed too small to record, or simply never logged. Studies suggest lawyers lose 1–2 hours of billable time per day on average, purely because of inadequate tracking, not because they worked fewer hours.
How much billable time do Canadian lawyers typically lose?
Industry research consistently finds that lawyers without automated time-capture tools lose between 1 and 2 hours of billable time per working day. At a $300/hr rate, that is $75,000–$150,000 per lawyer per year in unrecovered revenue.
What is the average billable hour target for Canadian lawyers?
Targets vary by firm size and practice area, but most Canadian law firms expect associates to bill between 1,600 and 2,200 hours per year — roughly 6–8 hours per working day. Partners often bill less due to business development and management obligations.
How do I improve my billable hour capture rate?
The most effective methods are: (1) capturing time in real time rather than reconstructing it at the end of the day, (2) using AI tools that automatically detect and suggest time entries from your email, documents, and calls, and (3) reviewing unbilled time alerts regularly so nothing slips through the end of a file.
What is a good billable hour capture rate for a law firm?
Best-in-class firms using automated time-capture tools report capture rates of 90–95% or higher. Firms relying on manual entry alone typically achieve 70–80%. The gap — 15–20% of all billable time — is pure revenue leakage.
Does this calculator account for write-offs and non-billable time?
The calculator focuses specifically on time that was billable and worked but never recorded. It does not model write-offs (time recorded but written off at billing) or non-billable time (e.g. admin work). Both are additional sources of revenue loss not captured here.
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