MATTER-LEVEL PROFITABILITY TRACKING
Do You Know Which
Making You Money?
Most law firms know their total revenue. Very few know which clients, cases, and practice areas are actually profitable once time and costs are accounted for. We fix that.
See What We Offer →
MATTER PROFITABILITY — Q2 2025
Profitability by Client Matter
Davis Employment (flat)
-$3K
Anderson v. State
+$24K
Martinez Estate
+$18K
Chen Corp Formation
+$14K
Williams Divorce
+$9K
+$62k
NET PROFIT
+68%
NET PROFIT
Actually
Clients Are
THE PROBLEM
Your P&L Shows Revenue. It Doesn’t Show
A standard profit and loss statement tells you what your law firm made and spent in total. What it doesn’t tell you is which clients drove that profit and which ones quietly ate into it.
A flat-fee matter that ran twice as long as expected. A contingency case with months of costs and no guarantee of recovery. A long-term client whose volume looks impressive but whose margins are razor-thin. These situations are invisible on a standard P&L.
Matter-level profitability tracking makes the invisible visible, so you can make decisions based on reality, not assumptions.
Truth
?
Your biggest client might not be your most profitable
High volume doesn’t always mean high margin. Hours invested vs. fees collected tells the real story.
?
Flat-fee matters can bleed time quietly
When a flat-fee case runs over, you’re absorbing the cost. Without tracking, you’ll never know how often it happens.
?
One practice area may be subsidizing another
If you handle multiple practice areas, some may be significantly more profitable than others, but you’d never know without the data.
?
Case acceptance decisions are made blind
Without profitability data, you’re guessing which case types to pursue. Data-driven case acceptance is a competitive advantage.
WHAT YOUR LAW FIRM GETS
Three Views That Change How You Run Your Law Firm
Matter-Level View
See the true profit or loss on every individual matter. Revenue collected, time invested, costs allocated, and net margin. Know which cases were worth it after you close the file.
📁
Client-Level View
Roll up all matters by client to see your firm's relationship profitability. Your highest-revenue client may not be your most valuable one once the full picture is clear.
👤
Practice Area View
Compare profitability across practice areas — PI vs. estate planning vs. corporate, for example. Data that tells you where to focus growth and where to reconsider pricing.
⚖️
Why it matters FOR YOUR LAW FIRM
The Decisions This Data Makes Possible
Smarter Case Acceptance
Know which case types generate real profit so you can be intentional about the matters you take on and the ones you refer out.
1
Better Flat-Fee Pricing
If flat-fee matters are regularly running over, your pricing is wrong. Profitability data gives you the evidence to adjust rates with confidence.
2
Practice Area Strategy
Invest resources in the practice areas with the best margins. Pull back from the ones that look busy but aren’t contributing to your law firm's profitability.
3
Attorney Performance Visibility
See which attorneys are generating profitable matters. Helpful for compensation decisions, mentoring, and identifying billing efficiency issues.
4
Client Relationship Decisions
If a long-term client’s profitability has declined over time, you’ll see it before it becomes a problem and you can address pricing proactively.
5
Growth Planning
Data-driven decisions about hiring, marketing spend, and practice expansion because you know exactly which parts of your law firm are worth growing.
6
WHAT YOUR LAW FIRM RECEIVES
A Sample Matter Profitability Report
Every month you receive a report like this organized by matter, showing revenue, costs, and true profit margin for every active case. No accounting degree required to read it.
Matter
Revenue
Costs
Net Profit
Margin
Anderson v. State
63%
Personal Injury — Contingency
$38,500
$14,200
+$24,300
Martinez Estate
75%
Estate Planning — Hourly
$24,000
$6,100
+$17,900
Chen Corp Formation
49%
Corporate — Flat Fee
$8,500
$4,300
+$4,200
Davis Employment
64%
Employment — Flat Fee
$5,000
$8,200
-$3,200
Williams Divorce
59%
Family Law — Hourly
$19,200
$7,800
+$11,400
WHAT YOUR LAW FIRM RECEIVES
A Sample Matter Profitability Report
Every month you receive a report like this organized by matter, showing revenue, costs, and true profit margin for every active case. No accounting degree required to read it.
Matter
Anderson v. State
Personal Injury — Contingency
Margin
63%
Net Profit
+$24,300
Costs
$14,200
Revenue
$38,500
Martinez Estate
Estate Planning — Hourly
Net Profit
+$17,900
Costs
$6,100
Revenue
$24,000
Margin
75%
Chen Corp Formation
Corporate — Flat Fee
Net Profit
+$4,200
Costs
$4,300
Revenue
$8,500
Margin
49%
Davis Employment
Employment — Flat Fee
Net Profit
-$3,200
Costs
$8,200
Revenue
$5,000
Margin
-64%
Williams Divorce
Family Law — Hourly
Net Profit
+$11,400
Costs
$7,800
Revenue
$19,200
Margin
59%
common questions FROM LAW FIRMS
Matter Profitability Questions We Hear Most
No. We work with the time tracking and billing data you already have in your practice management software. As long as your team is tracking time by matter in Clio, MyCase, or a similar platform, we can pull that data and build your profitability reports without changing any of your existing workflows.
Yes. Contingency matters are tracked differently than hourly or flat-fee matters. We track costs and time invested as they accumulate so you can see the running investment in each contingency case. When a case settles, we calculate the full profitability including the recovery. This gives you a clear picture of your contingency portfolio at any point in time.
We track direct costs associated with each matter, such as filing fees, court costs, expert witness fees, and other case-related expenses. Combined with revenue collected, this gives you a clear picture of what each matter actually made after direct costs are accounted for.
Yes. Matter-level profitability tracking can be added to any existing GROWTH accounting engagement. Because we already have access to your accounting data, adding profitability tracking is a natural extension. It can also be set up as a standalone service if your accounting is handled elsewhere, though the integration is tighter when we handle both.
Practice management software tracks billing and time data and what was billed and collected per matter. It doesn't track your actual direct costs against that revenue or calculate true net profit per matter. We combine your billing data with your actual matter costs to show you what each case truly made. Something practice management software alone cannot show you.