What Should a Law Firm Time Clock Track?
A law firm time clock should track payroll hours, not replace billable-time software.
Track the payroll record
A law firm time clock should track:
- Clock-in and clock-out times.
- Missed punches.
- Manual edits and edit reasons.
- Role, office, or department when it helps review.
- Manager approval.
- Payroll export or summary status.
- Searchable records after payroll closes.
Keep billable time separate
Billable time supports clients, matters, invoices, and legal work. Payroll time supports a different record: when employees worked, what changed, who approved it, and what payroll received.
For more detail, read time clock app for law firms. If you need a starting policy, use the law firm time tracking policy template.
Keep reading
- Quick-read1 min
When Do You Owe Overtime?
When employers owe overtime, which states add daily or 7th-day rules, and why salaried misclassification creates the biggest exposure.
- Quick-read1 min
Why Overtime Isn't Just the Base Rate
Why overtime isn't just 1.5× base pay, the 'discretionary' bonus trap, and the math that compounds into back-pay liability.
- Quick-read1 min
Do Salaried Employees Get Overtime?
Why paying a salary doesn't make an employee exempt from overtime, what counts as 'exempt' under federal law, and the tracking that keeps you defensible.
About this guide
Clockspot has been making time-tracking software for small businesses since 2007. Every quick-read article we publish is fact-checked. Each claim is verified against the underlying laws and court cases, with a dated report published alongside the piece so any reader can audit it.