Mastering the Billable Hour: Estimating, Billing and Collection Strategies for New and Experienced Lawyers (2026 Edition)

Every billable hour travels a route most attorneys never map—from the moment work begins to the day payment clears—and the leaks along that route determine whether a practice survives. Lawyers quote fees on instinct, then face the client who balks at overages or the partner who questions written-off time, and neither conversation goes well. The pressure has only sharpened: clients demand estimates upfront, alternative fee arrangements compete with the hourly model, and write-downs quietly erode realization rates firm-wide.

This class equips attorneys to calculate the right amount of time for any matter, quote and manage fees to land on target, absorb scope surprises without eating the cost, and move each hour cleanly from worked to billed to collected—covering time-tracking tools, billing guidelines, write-down monitoring, engagement-agreement collection terms, and retainer structures.

Attendees leave able to price a matter defensibly, defend a bill that holds up to scrutiny, and convert completed work into collected revenue rather than receivables that age into losses.