If you are already a legal associate, you will be very familiar with the billable hour system. But if you are a law student, this might be something you have heard about but do not know the details yet. Essentially, the billable hour system is used by many law firms, and it is a way for an associate to record the time spent working for a client. The hours they complete is the amount they are going to bill the client for their work. Every legal associate will have a different rate, which the client agrees to beforehand.
Often, law firms will have an electronic time-recording system. This system will monitor the work the associate is completing on their computer. All the time is tracked, and it can be reviewed. But it does mean that there will be some non-chargeable activities or administrative tasks—for example, printing documents and filing for that client.