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

Diane Camacho | CLM DLC Consulting Services, LLC

Diane has spent more than 30 years as a legal manager in firms of various sizes. She started DLCCS in 2013 and has consulted with  small firms nationwide on a multitude of management and operational issues including law firm startups. She speaks in the legal community on issues such as operations, IOLTA accounting, legal software and starting new firms. In addition, she teaches law office management at the San Francisco State University. Diane is a Certified Legal Manager and holds a degree in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from the University of San Francisco.

She has a passion to help attorneys and their staff become more efficient. She believes attorneys should practice law, not spend their time in the weeds of running their businesses. Her experience ranges from office build-outs and moves to new technology implementations and law firm start-ups.

Cliff Ennico | Law Offices of Clifford R. Ennico

Clifford R. Ennico is widely considered to be one of America’s leading experts on the legal and tax problems facing entrepreneurs and privately-owned businesses.

A native of Yonkers, New York, Ennico is best known as the former host of MoneyHunt®, a fast-paced reality TV show for entrepreneurs that aired on PBS nationwide from 1994 to 2003. His weekly syndicated newspaper column, Succeeding in Your Business™, known as the “Ann Landers of the business world”, appears in dozens of major newspapers and business Websites throughout North America (www.succeedinginyourbusiness.com). He also hosts his own small business legal channel on YouTube (www.youtube.com, search for “Cliff Ennico”), and is a frequent contributor to Entrepreneur and other small business magazines.

Ennico is the author of several books on entrepreneurship and small business management, including Small Business Survival Guide (Adams Media, $12.95) and The eBay Tax and Legal Answer Book (AMACOM, $19.95), and speaks nationwide on the legal and tax issues facing early stage startups (www.succeedinginyourbusiness.com). His newest book, The Crowdfunding Handbook (AMACOM, $19.95), advises small businesses and early stage companies on the benefits and risks of launching a crowdfunded offering of securities under Title III of the federal Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012. He is currently working on a book on the impact of technology on the capital raising process for technology startups.

As a lawyer, Ennico has represented over 15,000 entrepreneurial companies and small businesses in his 37-year career. Formerly associated with the New York City law firms of Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Thacher Proffitt & Wood, Ennico currently practices small business law in his own practice in Fairfield, Connecticut.

I. Calculating the “right amount of time” for any legal project | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

II. Estimating and quoting fees to a potential client | 2:10pm – 2:20pm

III. Managing your time so the bill comes in “on target” | 2:20pm – 2:30pm

IV. Managing multiple priorities in a large or medium sized law firm | 2:30pm – 2:40pm

V. Dealing with surprises that change your original estimate | 2:40pm – 2:50pm

VI. What to do if you overestimate or underestimate your time | 2:50pm – 3:00pm

Break | 3:00pm – 3:10pm

VII. The journey of the billable hour (from worked to collected) | 3:10pm – 3:20pm

VIII. The billing process | 3:20pm – 3:30pm

IX. Using tools for time tracking | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

X. Billing guidelines | 3:40pm – 3:50pm

XI. Write down monitoring | 3:50pm – 4:00pm

XII. Collections and the engagement agreement | 4:00pm – 4:05pm

XIII. Working with retainers | 4:05pm – 4:10pm