TLDR:
For full-time mandates and secondments
- You must log time in the Fractional App weekly at a minimum, but detailed descriptions aren't needed. Simply docket full-time hours (ie. 8/day, 40/week) with broad work details, as the client is reserving your full capacity.
- Docket time on Goodlawyer daily (or every day you work on a Goodlawyer mandate).
- Focus on value creation over task details (ie. avoid “correspondence with…” and replace instead with “advising and strategizing with….”).
- Boost your productivity with CoDocket—your AI-powered docketing assistant.
For Fractional Mandates
Our docketing tools allow you to record your time to track against target, invoice overages, and demonstrate your contribution to the client’s business.
Why Do I Have to Docket?
- Ensuring your utilization is up to date reduces communications and increases both of our respective efficiencies (yours and Goodlawyer’s) — remember, we are managing hundreds of mandates!
- Utilization is one of the best indicators we have for the health of mandate and it prompts us to reach out and proactively support you and your mandates.
- Invoicing will be delayed if you have not reported hours — this affects your cash flow. We need up-to-date utilization to issue accurate invoices (including overages) to your clients. Goodlawyer will not invoice clients for overages that are not reported in a timely manner.
- Goodlawyer reserves the right to share your utilization with your clients, should they ask us for it.
Approach to Fractional Docketing
You will get the most efficiency out of our tools if you make them part of your daily work flow—we require utilization reporting on all mandates at least once per week. If you do not have any hours to report, please submit a sentiment score instead.
- Ensure that your client’s docketing and reporting expectations are clearly understood. Different clients have different expectations that you will need to manage.
- We strongly recommend a general docketing style over a highly detailed one—tracking too many 0.1s can reduce efficiency and perceived value (0.5s or greater is encouraged).
- Put yourself in your client’s shoes and describe the work in a way that demonstrates your contribution to the business. Avoid generic descriptions like “Correspondence” and “Emails.”
For Full-Time and High Volume Mandates
If you are on a full-time (FTE) or high-volume fractional in-house mandate (sometimes referred to as secondments), you are still required to log your time in the Goodlawyer App, but the approach to docketing is different from traditional hourly work.
Utilization Should Always Reflect 100%
- As an FTE, your capacity is reserved for the client, not tracked in billable hours—just like in-house lawyers.
- Your utilization should always reflect 100% utilization for your committed hours (8hrs/day), regardless of whether you have billable assignments to work on every single minute.
- If you work beyond your contracted availability (e.g., an emergency project requires 50 hours in a week instead of your standard 40), docket those overages.
For example:
- If you are contracted for 3 days per week, your utilization should be 24 hours per week (3 × 8 hours).
- If you are on a full-time equivalent (FTE) mandate, your utilization should be 40 hours per week / 160 hours per month.
Approach to Full-Time Docketing
- Your dockets do not need to be granular or task-based like traditional hourly billing. Instead, use broad docket entries that summarize key projects and business units you supported.
- Do not log internal meetings and phone calls separately as you would in an external counsel docket. Instead, roll them into broader docket descriptions.
Example dockets:
✅ 8 hours Vendor contract negotiations for Finance team, including risk assessment and compliance review.
✅ 4 hours Drafting and revising corporate governance policy for Legal team.
✅ 3 hours OVERAGE Urgent review of revised licensing terms for time sensitive client request.
❌ 0.3 hours Call with Procurement team about NDA terms clause 2. (Too detailed)
❌ 1.2 hours Responded to emails and reviewed invoices. (Not outcome-driven)
General Best Practices
✅ Report time daily (get rid of spreadsheet or notepad).
✅ Use value-driven descriptions rather than detailed 0.1s.
✅ Always log 100% utilization for committed hours.
✅ Submit time in increments of 0.5 hours or greater.
✅ Do not docket internal meetings—include them in project-based dockets.
✅ Use CoDocket to streamline and standardize your entries.
By following these guidelines, you ensure clarity, accuracy, and efficiency in your docketing while maintaining visibility for both your client and Goodlawyer.
If you encounter any issues or want a demo, please email tom@goodlawyer.ca