Blog · Board and management reporting · Law firms
How a law firm measures lock-up per client from time entries, bills and receipts: work in progress days and debtor days, the total days between work done and cash received, the norm per practice from the firm's own book, the clients whose lock-up is well above it, the partners whose books carry the most, and the two levers, billing cadence and collection, that the split points to.
A firm's lock-up is 110 days and the finance partner reports it every quarter. It is made of clients, and some of them are at two hundred days because their partner bills twice a year, while others are at two hundred because they pay when chased. The time entries, bills and receipts say which. This guide sets out lock-up per client, the split, the norm, and the levers.
Per client, per period:
WIP days = unbilled work at value ÷ average daily billings Debtor days = outstanding debtors ÷ average daily billings Lock-up days = WIP days + debtor days Lock-up cash = unbilled WIP + outstanding debtors
Per practice: the median lock-up days as the norm. Per partner: lock-up cash across the book.
Client and partner identifiers only.
unbilled WIP = Σ time value − Σ billed value, per client, within write-off outstanding debtors = Σ billed − Σ received, per client
Where either fails beyond the tolerance, a bill or a receipt is unmatched, and the client's lock-up is marked unreconciled.
Practice norm: 95 days.
| Client | WIP days | Debtor days | Lock-up | Norm | Lock-up cash | Lever | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2207 | 140 | 45 | 185 | 95 | $410,000 | Billing: partner bills twice a year | P-031 |
| 4471 | 30 | 160 | 190 | 95 | $290,000 | Collection: client pays on chase | P-014 |
| 9034 | 60 | 40 | 100 | 95 | $60,000 | On norm | P-014 |
Two clients at similar lock-up with opposite causes. Client 2207's partner has not billed since the spring; the lever is monthly billing, and it is the partner's. Client 4471 is billed promptly and pays late; the lever is credit control, and it is the client's.
| Partner | Clients | Lock-up cash | Median lock-up days | Share of book above norm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P-031 | 18 | $2.1m | 160 | 72% |
| P-014 | 22 | $1.3m | 98 | 23% |
Partner P-031's book ties up two million dollars and most of it is billing cadence. That is a conversation about monthly bills, with the clients listed.
Firm-level lock-up. One number, no lever.
WIP and debtor days blended. The billing problem and the collection problem get the same fix.
Norm from a survey. The firm's own practices differ; use the book.
Cash figure missing. Days do not persuade; dollars do.
Mapped once, the time entries, bills, receipts and client master produce lock-up days, the split, the cash and the per-partner view every month. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The law firms page describes the setup, and the realisation guide covers the other per-client leak from the same three exports.
Unbilled work at value divided by the average daily billing over the trailing period, per client, or from matter-level dates as the average days between time entry and bill. Both are shown where the data allows; the first is the standard measure and the second explains it.
Because the firm's lock-up of 110 days is a few clients at 200 and most at 80. The clients at 200 are either billed late by their partner or pay late by habit, and the split says which, client by client, so the fix is specific.
Unbilled WIP plus outstanding debtors, per client, per partner, per practice. It is the balance sheet expression of lock-up, and it is the number the managing partner uses when the bank asks.