Activity categories and rates

Activity categories are the reusable billing items your firm logs work against. Each one carries a default rate, a pricing model (hourly or fixed), and a type (time or expense), so when someone records a time entry or expense, picking a category fills in the rate automatically. Categories save your team from re-typing rates, keep your billing consistent, and feed straight onto invoices.

This page explains how categories drive default rates, how to manage your firm's master list, and how to set rate overrides for a specific member or a specific matter.

Before you begin

• Activity categories live in firm settings, so you reach them through Settings. You will see them only if your role includes View access for activity categories (firm owners always have access).
• To add, edit, archive, or delete categories you need the matching Create, Update, or Delete permission. If your role does not include a given permission, the related button (Add activity category, Edit, Archive, Delete) does not appear.
• Rates are shown in your firm's currency. Your firm currency is set on your firm profile. See Your firm profile and details.
• Member-level rate overrides are managed on each member's detail page, which requires access to member settings. See Managing firm members.
• Matter-level rate overrides are set while creating or editing a matter. See Creating a matter.

What activity categories are and how they drive default rates

An activity category is a saved billing item with four parts:

• Description: the name that appears on time entries, expenses, and invoice lines (for example, Court appearance, Filing fee, or Phone consultation).
• Rate: the default amount charged, in your firm currency.
• Pricing: whether the rate is Hourly (multiplied by the hours you log) or Fixed (a flat amount per entry).
• Type: whether the category is a Time entry (work you spend time on) or an Expense (a cost you pass through).

Esqase supports three layers of categories, and they all show up together when you record an entry:

• Firm categories are your master list, available across every matter. You manage them in Settings.
• Member categories are per-person overrides. Use them when a particular attorney or paralegal bills at a different rate than the firm default.
• Matter categories are per-case overrides. Use them when a specific matter has negotiated or custom rates that differ from your firm or member rates.

When you record a time entry or expense, the category picker groups available categories under Matter, Member, and Firm headings, and each option shows its rate. Choosing a category copies that category's rate into the Rate field of the entry, where you can still adjust it before saving. This is what "categories drive default rates" means: the category supplies the starting rate, and the entry remembers which category it came from.

For the full entry workflow, see Time and expense tracking.

Create a firm-level activity category

Firm categories are your master list. Build it once and your whole team can log against it.

1. In the sidebar, open Settings.
2. Open Activity categories. You will land on the Activity categories page, which lists every category with its rate, type, status, who last changed it, and when.
3. Click Add activity category in the top right. The Create activity category dialog opens.
4. Fill in the fields:
   • Description (required): a clear, billable name such as Court appearance. Up to 128 characters.
   • Rate (required): the default amount, in your firm currency. Must be 0 or greater.
   • Pricing (required): choose Hourly (the rate is per hour) or Fixed (the rate is a flat amount). The default is Hourly.
   • Type (required): choose Time entry or Expense. The default is Time entry.
5. Click Create activity category.

On save, the category appears in your Active list and becomes immediately available in the category picker on every new time entry and expense. You will see a confirmation message.

Finding and filtering categories

The Activity categories page gives you a few ways to find what you need:

• The All categories, Time, and Expense tabs filter by type.
• The Search categories box filters by description.
• The Status filter narrows to Active or Archived categories. By default the list shows Active only.
• The Pricing filter narrows to Hourly or Fixed.
• Click Clear filters to reset back to the default view.

Edit, archive, restore, and delete a category

Categories change over time: rates go up, names get tidier, and old items fall out of use. Each row in the Activity categories table has an Edit button and a More menu (the three-dot button) for these actions.

Edit a category

1. On the Activity categories page, find the category and click Edit on its row. The Edit activity category dialog opens with the current values.
2. Change the Description, Rate, Pricing, or Type as needed.
3. Click Save changes.

Archive a category

Archiving hides a category from everyday use without deleting its history. Archived categories no longer clutter the active picker, but you can restore them later.

1. Find the category and click the More menu (three dots) on its row.
2. Click Archive.
3. The category moves to the Archived status. You can confirm by switching the Status filter to Archived.

You can also archive several at once: tick the checkboxes on the rows you want, then choose Archive from the batch actions. You will be asked to confirm before the change is applied.

Restore a category

1. Set the Status filter to Archived so the archived categories show.
2. Find the category, open the More menu, and click Restore (or select multiple rows and use the batch Restore action).

The category returns to the Active list and becomes available in the picker again.

Delete a category

Deleting is permanent and cannot be undone. A category must be archived first before it can be deleted.

1. Set the Status filter to Archived.
2. Open the More menu on the archived category and click Delete.
3. In the Delete activity category? confirmation, click Delete activity category.

You can also delete several archived categories at once with the batch Delete action, which asks you to confirm first.

Set member-level category rate overrides

Member categories let a specific person bill at their own rate. They are useful when a senior partner, an associate, and a paralegal all charge different hourly rates for similar work. You set these on the member's detail page.

1. In the sidebar, open Settings, then open Members.
2. Click the member you want to set rates for. Their detail page opens.
3. Scroll to the Activity categories section, headed by the note "Billing rates this member can log time and expenses against."
4. Click Add activity category. A dialog opens with the same fields as a firm category:
   • Description (required): the name of this member-specific rate item.
   • Rate (required): this member's rate, in your firm currency.
   • Pricing (required): Hourly or Fixed.
   • Type (required): Time entry or Expense.
5. Click Create activity category to save.

Each member category you add appears in this member's list, and from then on it shows up under the Member group in the category picker whenever this member records time or expenses. You can Edit, Archive, Restore, and Delete member categories the same way as firm categories, including the batch actions and the Search categories, Status, and Pricing filters.

Set matter-level category rate overrides

Matter categories let one case carry its own rates, separate from your firm or member defaults. This is common when a client has negotiated special rates or when a matter is billed on a flat fee. You set matter rates while creating or editing the matter, in the Billing step.

1. Start a new matter (New matter) or edit an existing one, and go to the Billing step of the wizard. See Creating a matter.
2. Make sure This matter is billable is ticked, then choose a Billing method:
   • Hourly: time is billed at the rates you log against.
   • Flat rate: the matter is billed a single flat fee.
   • Contingency fee: the firm takes a percentage of the recovery.
3. For an Hourly matter, find the Custom billing rates section, described as "Override firm or member rates with rates unique to this matter." Click Add rate to add a custom row, then fill in:
   • Description: the name of this matter-specific rate item.
   • Rate: the amount, in your firm currency.
   • Type: Time or Expense. Add as many rows as the matter needs. Use the trash icon on a row to remove it.
4. For a Flat rate matter, pick a Flat fee category (a fixed-rate category) and an Amount, plus the Fee recipient (the member who earns the fee). Choosing a flat fee category fills in the Amount for you.
5. Finish the wizard and save the matter.

After you save, each custom rate you added becomes a matter category. From then on, when anyone logs time or an expense against that matter, those rates appear at the top of the category picker under the Matter group, so the case's own rates are the most prominent choice.

How categories and rates flow onto time entries and invoices

Understanding the path from category to invoice helps you bill the right amount.

1. Pick a category on an entry. When you record a time entry or expense, the category picker lists everything available, grouped by Matter, Member, and Firm. Each option shows its rate. Selecting one copies that rate into the entry's Rate field.
2. The entry remembers its rate. For a time entry, the line Total is the hours you log multiplied by the rate. For an expense, the Total is the quantity multiplied by the rate. You can adjust the Rate on the entry before saving if this one piece of work is an exception.
3. The entry waits to be billed. A saved entry that is attached to a matter and a member is ready to bill. (An entry with no matter or no member is held as a draft until you fill those in.)
4. The entry becomes an invoice line. When you create an invoice for the matter, eligible unbilled, billable time entries and expenses are pulled in as line items, carrying their description, rate, quantity, and total. See Creating and sending invoices.
5. Billed entries lock. Once an entry is on an invoice it is marked as billed and can no longer be edited, timed, or deleted, so your invoice totals stay trustworthy.

Common questions

Why does the same category appear more than once in the picker? You are seeing the three layers at once. A category named the same way can exist at the Firm, Member, and Matter level, each with its own rate. The group heading tells you which one you are choosing, and the most specific match (matter, then member, then firm) is listed first.

I changed a category's rate but an old invoice still shows the old amount. Is that a bug? No. Invoices capture the rate at the time the entry was billed. Updating a category does not rewrite past entries or invoices, by design, so your billing history stays accurate.

Can I bill different rates for the same task on the same matter? Yes. Pick the category to set a starting rate, then adjust the Rate on that individual entry before saving. The category gives you a default; the entry can override it.

A category I need is missing from the picker. Where did it go? It may be archived. Archived categories do not appear in the picker. Ask someone with access to restore it from the relevant Activity categories list (firm, member, or matter), or recreate it.

Related

• Time and expense tracking
• Creating and sending invoices
• Tax rates
• Creating a matter
• Managing firm members
• The billing overview dashboard