Industry Solution · Law Firms
Tax and law firms face the same challenges every day: activity reports for each client, complete documentation under § 6 ArbZG, audit-proof billing records — all without Excel chaos eating up valuable professional time. Temporalis EMS is the time tracking and law firm software that not only meets these requirements but saves real minutes every day: book time to mandates, export activity reports with one click, prepare DATEV handover — all in one system that scales with your firm.
The status quo in many law firms
Four problems we encounter in law firms every day — and all of them are solvable.
In a 10-person law firm, an average of 40 hours of pure administrative effort accumulates every week: typing times, merging spreadsheets, correcting errors, creating reports manually. That is time you need for mandates — not for your own bookkeeping.
Those who only enter times retrospectively in the evening or on Friday afternoon lose an average of 15–20% of hours actually worked. At an hourly rate of €200 and a team of 10, that quickly adds up to €30,000 in lost fee income per month — silent losses that never show up in the P&L.
Since the Federal Labour Court ruling 1 ABR 22/21 of 13 September 2022, it is clear: employers are obliged to systematically record all working hours of their employees. This applies to law firms too. Missing or incomplete records can lead to fines and back-payment claims during audits — regardless of company size.
Client fees are calculated based on time spent. If hours are not recorded immediately and assigned to the correct mandate, allocation problems arise that must be laboriously reconstructed at billing time. Switching between mandates during the day, joint meetings with multiple parties, proportional activities — without digital time tracking software, these are daily headaches.
How Temporalis EMS helps
Six features that tax consultancies and law firms need every day — ready to use immediately, without setup effort, without extra modules.
Project = Mandate
Each mandate is created as a project. Time entries are booked directly to the mandate via timer or manual entry — including activity type (e.g. "audit", "brief writing", "client meeting"), hourly rate and the responsible employee. Time tracking is fully transparent per client. No more guesswork at monthly billing.
No billable hour goes unrecorded
The auto-timer runs in the background as soon as you open a mandate. When you switch to the next mandate it stops automatically and suggests the booking for confirmation. Holiday cover, emergency work at 10 pm, brief phone calls in between — all time is captured without you actively thinking about it. The result: up to 20% more billable hours, from the very first month of use.
Billing-ready in seconds
Every activity report for a mandate can be exported as a professional PDF with one click: period, employee, activity descriptions, hours, hourly rates, total. The document is billing-ready and can be handed directly to the client or to DATEV. No manual preparation, no copying from Excel spreadsheets. See all available export functions in the features overview.
Structured DATEV export
The export from Temporalis EMS generates structured files in DATEV-compatible format — payroll, project hours and cost centres, ready for handover. For tax consultancy firms that use DATEV themselves or for passing on to client accounting departments. The Trust & Security section explains all data formats and integration paths in detail.
Confidentiality maintained
Partners and managing directors see all mandates, all employee hours and the firm-wide utilisation. Associates see only their own time entries and the mandates they are assigned to. Permission assignment is granular: per user, per project role, per reporting level. This keeps internal transparency where it belongs — and confidentiality where it is needed.
Completely documented
Every change to time entries — whether initial recording, correction or deletion — is stored in the audit log with timestamp, user ID and previous value. The log is immutable and exportable on request. In the event of tax audits, employment law disputes or client complaints, you have a complete, court-admissible record that meets the requirements of the ArbZG and GDPR.
Concrete cost calculation
Figures for a 10-person law firm — conservatively calculated, without including fee losses from forgotten hours.
Status quo: Excel
40 hrs/week
10 employees × 4 hours/week administrative effort
€3,200/week
With Temporalis EMS
~10 min/week
Per employee — auto-timer, mandate booking, export with one click
Invest: €140/month
Admin savings
~€12,500/month
In recovered professional time alone — without forgotten billable hours
Additionally: +15–20% more billable hours through complete tracking
All figures are based on industry averages. Your actual ROI depends on firm size, hourly rate and current process maturity. We are happy to calculate it together in a free demo session.
Legal security & data protection
The Federal Labour Court ruling 1 ABR 22/21 of 13 September 2022 clarified the legal situation: employers in Germany are obliged to introduce a system for recording the daily working hours of their employees. This applies to law firms without exception — and with particular requirements for audit-proofness, since authorities and courts may request access if necessary.
Added to this is data protection: client data is particularly worthy of protection under the GDPR. Time entries containing client names, activity descriptions and communication content may not be stored on servers outside the EU and must be secured against unauthorised access.
"Temporalis EMS was built from the ground up for the requirements of the DACH market — with servers in Germany, AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit and a standard data processing agreement (DPA) pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR."
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Temporalis EMS provides a structured DATEV export that prepares client hours, activities and cost centres in DATEV-readable format. The interface is optimised for tax consultancy and law firms — with direct handover to DATEV Unternehmen online and DATEV LODAS.
Yes. In Temporalis EMS every project is assigned to a client. Time entries are booked directly to the mandate — including activity type, hourly rate and employee. The client-specific evaluation is available as a PDF activity report at the push of a button. You can also create any number of activity types (consulting, brief, audit, client meeting) and assign them per mandate.
Each time entry is booked to exactly one mandate. If an employee switches between several mandates during the day, they simply create multiple entries. The auto-timer stops automatically when switching, so no double-booking can occur. The daily overview shows all mandate bookings chronologically at a glance — including a gap warning for unrecorded periods.
Yes. Temporalis EMS meets the requirements of § 3 ff. ArbZG and the Federal Labour Court ruling 1 ABR 22/21 of 13 September 2022. All time entries are stored audit-proof in the audit log with timestamp, user ID and change history if applicable. For Austria and Switzerland the respective national working time laws apply — these are also covered. Law firms with locations in multiple DACH countries are protected accordingly.
Yes. The role model in Temporalis EMS explicitly separates the partner view (all mandates visible) from the associate view (only own time entries and assigned mandates). Permission assignment is granularly configurable — per user, per project role and per reporting level. This keeps internal transparency where it belongs and confidentiality where it is needed.
No. Client-based time tracking is not a separate module and costs no extra. It is part of the core time tracking module, which is included from €14 per user per month. Activity reports, PDF export, DATEV preparation and audit log are all in the same package.
We offer a structured Excel and CSV import. Your onboarding contact accompanies the migration process and checks data quality in advance. As a rule, a firm with up to 20 employees is migrated within one working day. The first mandates and time entries can already be imported during the 14-day free trial.
Yes. Temporalis EMS has a native mobile app for iOS and Android. Time can be recorded via timer or manual entry, even offline. Synchronisation takes place automatically at the next connection. Ideal for external appointments, court hearings or client visits — law firm time tracking is always with you.
All client data is stored exclusively on servers in Germany (Hetzner, Frankfurt and Nuremberg). Transmission is secured with TLS 1.3, storage is encrypted with AES-256. Each law firm has its own fully isolated database — no mixing with other client instances. A DPA pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR is a standard component of every contract. All details can be found in the Trust section.
Yes, of course. Temporalis EMS offers a 14-day free trial without a credit card and without automatic renewal. For firms with 5 or more users we also offer a free live demo with a personal onboarding conversation — including law firm-specific configuration and first mandate import. Simply book a demo and we will take care of the rest.
Ready to serve clients more efficiently?
14 days free, full features, direct support during law firm onboarding. Or book a personal demo and we will show you in 30 minutes how Temporalis EMS takes your client-based time tracking to the next level.
From €14/user/month · All details on the pricing page