Journals are the cornerstone of the billing system in ContactsLaw. They are the mechanism by which activities both within the software and external to it are timed and recorded against the name of the fee-earner(s) responsible. Journals replace timesheets in traditional paper-based systems.

 

A journal can be attached to any step of any activity in ContactsLaw; the time-recording policy is administered by the practice manager. Additionally, journals can be manually started for common activities such as reading a file, making a telephone call or attending a conference. Some activities offer special-purpose journals which record information relevant to that activity; for example, court appearance journals are tailored to the purpose of accurately recording the court, judiciary and proceedings in court.

 

Journals can be either billable or unbillable, depending on whether they are recorded against a file. Billable journals can be written down to $0 or removed entirely at the point of rendering a bill, should the need arise. When a file is added to a journal, it uses the member's rates (defined by the relevant billing scale) in order to calculate the charge for the time recorded.

 

ContactsLaw encourages transparency and honesty by recording time in one-minute units. (If desired, you can configure ContactsLaw to charge in 6-minute units; however journals will always show the exact number of minutes recorded.)