Tracking Fixed Fee Profitability in LeanLaw

Fixed fee billing creates an inherent risk: if your attorneys spend more time than the flat fee covers, the matter loses money. LeanLaw's Fixed Fee Profitability report makes this visible — comparing the fee you charged against the time you spent, so you can price future work more accurately.

Accessing the Fixed Fee Profitability Report

Click Reports in the top navigation.
Select Fixed Fee Profitability from the available reports list.

Applying Filters

Use the filter panel on the left to focus the report:

Filter	Use It To
Time Period	Set the date range for fixed fees included in the report.
Timekeeper	View profitability for matters worked by a specific attorney or timekeeper.
Responsible Attorney	Filter to matters where a specific attorney is set as responsible.
Practice Area	Compare profitability across practice groups.
Show Matters	Expand the report to show individual matters under each client.
Show Fixed Fees	Expand further to show individual fixed fee charges under each matter — including completion-based fees marked 'Not Complete'.

💡 Tip: Enable both Show Matters and Show Fixed Fees to get the most granular view — especially useful when a single matter has multiple fixed fee charges at different phases.

Understanding the Report Columns

Column	What It Shows
Client / Matter	The client and matter the fixed fee is associated with.
Fixed Fee Amount	The total fixed fees billed for the selected client/matter in the period.
Billable Date	The date the fixed fee was billed. Completion-based fees show the completion date, or 'Not Complete' if still open.
Fixed Fee Hours Value	The dollar value of time tracked against the fixed fee, calculated using the billing rate stored on the fee. This is what the same work would have cost billed hourly.
Hours Worked	The total hours logged against the fixed fee by all timekeepers.
Effective Hourly Rate	Fixed Fee Amount ÷ Hours Worked. Shows what you effectively earned per hour on this engagement.
Profitability	The difference between the Fixed Fee Amount and the Fixed Fee Hours Value. Positive = the fee exceeded the hourly equivalent (profitable). Negative = hours exceeded what the fee covered (unprofitable).
Additional Billable Hours	Hours beyond the hourly limit set on the fixed fee, if applicable. These appear as additional billable time outside the flat fee.

Interpreting Profitability Results

The Profitability column is the headline metric:

Positive profitability: The flat fee was higher than what the work would have cost at hourly rates. The firm captured value from the fixed fee structure.
Negative profitability: The flat fee was lower than the hourly equivalent — the firm effectively under-charged for the time spent. This is a signal to revisit fee pricing for similar matters.
Near-zero: The flat fee and hourly value are roughly equivalent — the fixed fee had no pricing advantage or disadvantage.

📋 Note: The Fixed Fee Hours Value uses the billing rate stored on the fee — not necessarily the attorney's standard rate. If the rate stored on the fee differs from the timekeeper's actual rate, the profitability calculation will reflect that stored rate.

Fixed Fee Data in Other Reports

Fixed fee data also appears in several other LeanLaw reports, giving you additional dimensions for analysis:

Report	Fixed Fee Data Available
Billable by Client and Matter	Fixed fee hours shown in a dedicated column alongside hourly billable time.
Billable by Practice Area	Fixed fee performance broken down by practice group.
Productivity by Client and Matter	Hours tracked against fixed fees included alongside hourly productivity data.
Productivity by User	Each timekeeper's hours on fixed fee matters vs. hourly matters.
My Productivity	Individual timekeeper view including fixed fee hours.

💡 Best practice: Run the Fixed Fee Profitability report quarterly. Use negative-profitability patterns to identify which service types consistently under-perform as flat fees — then either raise the fee, add an hourly limit with overage billing, or switch to hourly billing for those matter types.