Legal Aid Alberta requires all lawyers to maintain proper time records, for a number of reasons: to enable us to respond to client billing inquires, for manual review of invoicing in specific situations, and to support post-payment random and complaint-based audits. Thorough and accurate maintenance of time reports helps us better serve our clients, and helps avoid billing delays for the roster.
As outlined in Administrative Policy 5, lawyers are required to provide a comprehensive and legible record of actual work completed and legal services performed that is inclusive from the date of certificate acceptance until the date of certificate closure.
Time records must be contemporaneous with the actual work done and performing legal services on the file, and must include:
- The day or days when the lawyer performed any such services and the timeframe of hours spent on that day or days; and,
- A reasonably descriptive and/or itemized list of specific tasks performed, identifying how much time was spent on each item; and,
- The place or courtroom where the service was performed; and,
- The total number of hours spent providing legal services that is inclusive from the date of certificate acceptance until the date of certificate closure; and,
- Any other information necessary to justify the lawyer’s charge under the tariff or discretionary authorization; and,
- Any other information required by LAA policy.
For further guidance on Best Practices in Timekeeping, for both criminal and family time keeping requirements, please refer to the Criminal Tariff Invoicing Guide. The Family Tariff Invoicing Guide is currently being updated as well to reflect these best practices.