Billable Hour

Definition

The holy grail of law firm accounting—a 60-minute block of attorney time that clients pay for, regardless of whether the lawyer spent it productively or just refreshing email.

Example Usage

The partner demanded we track every billable hour, even the time we spent arguing about whether lunch counted as work.

Origin

Emerged in mid-20th century law firms as a time-tracking mechanism

Fun Fact

Lawyers are notorious for rounding up billable hours; studies suggest the average attorney pads their timesheet by 10-15%.

Source: Standard law firm accounting terminology

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