The rule
The Assigned Counsel Manual says to bill in tenth-hour increments, rounding the time you actually worked to the nearest tenth. You may not automatically round each separate task up to the next tenth. You take the combined time for all your CPCS work for a client in one day and round that total to the nearest tenth (Assigned Counsel Manual, Chapter 5, page 420).
Nearest tenth means what it says. When the total is closer to the lower tenth, you round down.
Worked examples
5 minutes of work rounds to 0.1 (5 minutes is 0.083 of an hour, nearest tenth is 0.1).
8 minutes still rounds to 0.1 (8 minutes is 0.133 of an hour, which rounds down). This is the one that surprises people. Eight minutes is not 0.2.
A 20-minute call is 0.3 (0.333 rounds to 0.3).
Three 4-minute calls to the same client on the same day come to 12 minutes total. You add them up first, then round once, and 12 minutes is 0.2.
Minutes to tenths, a chart for your desk
This is the nearest-tenth rule worked out in minutes. Add up your minutes for one client on one day, find the row, and bill that number. Eight minutes is still 0.1, which is where it differs from the round-up charts floating around.
| Minutes worked | Bill as |
|---|---|
| Up to 8 | 0.1 |
| 9 to 14 | 0.2 |
| 15 to 20 | 0.3 |
| 21 to 26 | 0.4 |
| 27 to 32 | 0.5 |
| 33 to 38 | 0.6 |
| 39 to 44 | 0.7 |
| 45 to 50 | 0.8 |
| 51 to 56 | 0.9 |
| 57 to 60 | 1.0 |
Over an hour, add 1.0 for each full hour and read the leftover minutes off the same chart.
Why rounding each task up gets you in trouble
Round every small task up to 0.1 and a day of six quick calls becomes 0.6 when the real total was closer to 0.3. Do that across a full caseload and it compounds into hours you did not actually work. On audit the burden is on you to justify the hours billed, and rounded-up padding is the first thing an auditor reduces. Round the way the Manual says and you never have to explain it.
The "under six minutes" myth
You will hear that anything under six minutes is a tenth. That is close enough to sound right and wrong enough to cost you. The rule is nearest tenth of the day's total, not a per-task floor. One isolated 3-minute call rounds to 0.1. A second 3-minute call to the same client that day does not add another 0.1, because the day's total is 6 minutes, still 0.1.
How Plani does it
Plani rounds the way the Manual requires. It adds up each client's work across the day and rounds the total to the nearest tenth, so you are never rounding tasks up by hand or guessing at the math. Ask it why a number came out the way it did and it will cite the page.