Rates and how an hour is valued

Rate cards

A rate card holds rates in one currency, changing from a day. The firm's own cards are under Settings, Rates, Charge rates; a client's are on the party's Rates tab. The firm keeps them at four levels:

• The firm, a rate per grade.
• A fee earner, a default rate and a rate per practice area.
• A client, for the rates agreed with them.
• A matter, for a rate agreed on that file alone, for everyone on it or for one member of its team.

Within a level, a rate for a particular activity comes before the general one.

The order the system looks

For each entry, the system takes the first rate it finds in this order:

1. The fee earner's own rate on the matter.
2. The matter's rate.
3. The client's rate.
4. The fee earner's rate for the matter's practice area.
5. The fee earner's default rate.
6. The firm's rate for the fee earner's grade.

It looks for the rate in force on the day the work was done, in the matter's currency, never today's.

A team member's rate on one matter

Open the matter, then Team. Rates on this matter lists everyone on the team with the rate their work there is valued at today and where it comes from. From a person's menu choose Set their rate on this matter, enter the rate and the day it applies from, check what it changes, and save. The first such rate makes the matter's own rate card. The rest of the team keeps the matter's rate, or whatever applies to them below it.

Changing a rate

Adding a new rate ends the current one the day before, in the same step, so two rates never apply on the same day.

No rate

Time recorded where no rate applies is saved at no value and flagged, so it is found and fixed rather than billed at nothing.