Activities
A chronological record of every billable and non-billable event on every matter.
Overview
The Activities module is the work journal of your practice. Every phone call made, email sent, meeting attended, court appearance completed, document reviewed, and research hour spent can be logged as an Activity. Activities serve three purposes simultaneously: they form the time-tracking record that drives billing, they build the communication history visible on each matter and contact, and they create an auditable trail of the legal work performed.
Activities are always linked to a Matter and optionally to a Contact. The time spent on an activity can be marked billable or non-billable. Billable activities automatically populate the matter's unbilled time ledger (WIP), ready to be included in the next invoice. Non-billable activities (e.g., firm admin, pro bono obligations, internal meetings) are still logged so you have a complete picture of how time is spent, even when it is not charged.
Activity Types
Time Entry
Billable or non-billable time worked on a matter. The core input for invoicing. Records duration, billing rate, and a description of the work done.
Phone Call
Logs an inbound or outbound call with a contact. Records duration, participants, and call notes. Can be marked billable.
Records an email sent to or received from a contact in the context of a matter. Integrates with connected email accounts to auto-log correspondence.
Meeting / Conference
A meeting, video call, or in-person conference. Supports multiple attendees and produces a meeting note.
Document Review
Logs time spent reviewing a document. Can be linked directly to a document in the matter's document library.
Court Appearance
Attendance at a hearing, trial, mention, or conference. Links to a docket entry and records the outcome.
Research
Legal research sessions — whether manual, using the AI Terminal, or via AI Web Search — logged against a matter for billing and reference.
Note / Memo
Internal notes that don't represent a discrete time event. Useful for capturing instructions, client preferences, or matter strategy.
Logging an Activity
Open the activity entry panel
From anywhere in FRITH, click + Log Activity in the Quick Actions bar, or open a matter and click + Activity from the Activities tab. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Cmd/Ctrl+T to open a quick time-entry dialog.
Select the activity type
Choose from Time Entry, Phone Call, Email, Meeting, Court Appearance, Research, or Note. The fields available change based on the type selected.
Link to a matter
If you opened the activity from within a matter, it is pre-linked. Otherwise, search for the matter by name or file number. An activity must always be linked to a matter.
Enter duration and description
Enter the time spent (hours and minutes) and a clear description of the work done. Descriptions appear on invoices if the activity is billable — write them as if the client will read them, because they will.
Set billable status and rate
Toggle the Billable switch. FRITH pre-fills the billing rate from the matter's billing arrangement, but you can override it for this specific entry (e.g., a discounted rate for a specific task). Non-billable entries are logged but do not affect invoicing.
Set the date
Activity dates default to today. If you are logging work done on a previous date (backfilling), change the date to the correct date. Accurate dates matter for billing periods and court records.
Save
Click Save. Billable activities appear immediately in the matter's WIP (unbilled time) and are included when you generate the next invoice for this matter.
The Timer
For real-time time tracking, FRITH includes a built-in timer accessible from the header bar. Click the stopwatch icon to start tracking. The timer runs in the background while you work in other modules. When you stop it, FRITH pre-fills a new time entry with the elapsed duration, and you just need to add the matter and description.
You can run up to three concurrent timers if you are splitting time between matters (for example, briefly attending to an urgent call mid-task). Each timer is associated with a different matter and creates a separate time entry.
Viewing and Editing Activities
The Activities module at the top level shows all activities across all matters, filterable by date range, activity type, attorney, and billable status. This gives firm managers a cross-matter view of all work logged.
Within a matter, the Activities tab shows only activities for that matter, in chronological order. You can edit any activity by clicking it, provided the billing period it falls in has not been locked (locked periods prevent retroactive edits to protect billing integrity). Administrators can unlock periods if a correction is genuinely needed.
Bulk Time Entry
At the end of the week, attorneys who prefer to batch their time logging can use the Weekly Timesheet view. Navigate to Activities → Timesheet. The view shows a grid with all open matters on the left and days of the week across the top. Enter hours for each matter/day combination directly in the grid. FRITH creates individual time entries for each cell you fill in and pre-fills descriptions based on recent activity on those matters.
Time recording discipline
- • Record time contemporaneously — studies show that end-of-week reconstruction typically underestimates time by 20–30%. Use the timer for anything over 10 minutes.
- • Write descriptions for clients, not yourself. "Reviewed file" is not a billable description. "Reviewed correspondence from opposing counsel and drafted response to discovery request" is.
- • If a task spans multiple matters, split the time entry — do not log all time to the largest matter.
- • Non-billable time still matters: log it so your profitability reports reflect true cost of service delivery.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I edit a time entry after it has been invoiced?
No — once a time entry has been included in a sent invoice, it is locked. This protects billing integrity. If an error was made, you can issue a credit note for the invoice and re-invoice with the corrected entry. Contact your firm administrator if a correction is genuinely required.
Does FRITH integrate with my email to auto-log emails as activities?
Yes. If you connect your Gmail or Outlook account under App Integrations, FRITH can auto-log emails to and from contacts as activity entries against linked matters. You can set this to happen automatically or require manual approval for each email.
Can I log activities on behalf of another attorney?
Administrators and paralegals with appropriate permissions can log activities on behalf of an attorney. The entry will show the actual attorney as the responsible party but will record who created the entry for audit purposes.
How do I see my total billable hours for the month?
Go to Activities and filter by date range (this month) and Billable = Yes. The total hours appear in the header of the filtered list. For a more detailed breakdown, use the Reports module → Attorney Productivity Report.