Block Billing

What is block billing?

Block billing is recording several tasks in a single time entry with one combined duration, such as four hours for reviewing documents, calling the client, and drafting correspondence. It is faster for the timekeeper and far worse for the firm. Clients, auditors, and billing reviewers cannot tell how long any individual task took, which makes the entry easy to discount and hard to defend.

What block billing costs in write-downs

Corporate billing guidelines routinely prohibit it, and legal bill review software flags it automatically, often applying a standard percentage reduction to the entire entry. Insurers and third-party payers do the same. The firm then absorbs a write-down on work it actually performed. A reviewer who cannot verify reasonableness defaults to assuming the time was excessive, and the burden of proof sits with you.

Breaking the habit

Record each task separately with its own duration, in short increments, as the work happens rather than reconstructing the day at 6pm. Set a maximum duration for a single entry, with anything longer requiring a breakdown. Review a sample of entries before bills go out and send them back rather than letting them reach the client. Timekeepers change behavior when entries come back to them, not when policy is announced.