How a Clio firm runs the first 30 days of AI time tracking
A Clio firm that has finished the first week still has a practical question: can the next 30 days run as a normal billing rhythm? The answer is a week-by-week cadence. Capture stays the workday default. Partners get a dated pulse. The Create rule stays in plain language. Approved entries go into Clio only after the attorney checks them. Pause and exceptions have names.
LegalTime AI sits beside Clio Manage. Matters, clients, billing, and reporting stay in Clio. LegalTime AI is a Clio Trusted Platform Developer. It is built for privacy-conscious Clio firms of about 10 to 30 lawyers. A 15-lawyer firm sits in the middle of that band. Capture is local-first on the attorney device by default. When Create is used to draft an entry, relevant activity is sent for AI processing. The attorney approves before Connect releases the entry into Clio. Drafts stay with that attorney until release. Pause exists. This is not a monitoring tool. A SOC 2 Type II examination is in progress. LegalTime AI is not SOC 2 certified. Pricing is quote-only.
Start this cadence only after week 1 is actually done. If install, pause, or the first Clio sends are still open, finish that week before you treat day 30 as a milestone. At day 30 the owners write continue, hold, or reopen. The calendar ending is not a decision.
The 30 days, week by week
Write down the cohort. At a 15-lawyer firm that is often the week-1 group, plus any named attorneys you add. Check each item before you expand.
Before week 2
Week 1 is cleared: install, Capture as the default, the Create rule restated, and the first approved sends into Clio. If a waiver exists, it has an owner and a date. Do not open a 30-day cadence on a broken install.
Week 2
Partners receive a dated pulse. It covers whether Capture was the workday default, whether drafts were reviewed, and whether released time matched open Clio matters. "We will look at month-end" is not a pulse.
In the same week, reviewers can say the Create rule in their own words. Capture stays local-first on the attorney device. When draft generation runs, relevant activity is sent for AI processing. Reopen the security page and the subprocessors page while you do that.
Week 3
Sample the entries that actually released into Clio. Each one in the sample should show attorney approval, a match to an open matter, and a narrative the attorney edited. Silent posting, a wrong matter, or an unedited AI narrative dropped into Clio means you reopen before you expand.
Pause is taught and used. Exceptions have named owners. If pause is still unknown, or exceptions sit with nobody, stop the expansion.
Week 4
Pause, held time, and guideline flags live on a dated exceptions log. They do not disappear into chat.
Partners do not get a default feed of raw activity. Shipping a dashboard so partners can watch the workday turns the tool into monitoring. Do not do that.
Trust language in the packet says a SOC 2 Type II examination is in progress. It does not say certified.
Links in the packet use legaltime.ai. The price path is a quote on the pricing page. legaltime.nl is a different site. An unrelated "Legaltime" practice-management directory is not this product.
Day 30
Owners write continue, hold, or reopen, with named next steps.
| Vote | When it fits | What you do next |
|---|---|---|
| Continue | The week 2 through day 30 checks hold, or a waiver has an owner | Keep the longer pilot review for the continue vote, and clean drafts before invoices |
| Hold | Capture is still thin on some desks, but the Create rule and Clio send hygiene hold | Finish Capture as the default for named attorneys. Do not go firmwide yet |
| Reopen | The Create rule, Clio send hygiene, or the weekly pulse failed | Fix that item. Do not expand on a broken approval path or a broken Clio path |
| Run the window again | The cohort was too small to judge | Use a shorter window with named owners and the same checks |
If the Create rule, Connect hygiene, or the weekly partner pulse fails, reopen before firmwide.
What to count
Write the numbers when the window opens. Do not fill a blank with a savings figure.
| What you count | Continue looks like |
|---|---|
| Days Capture was the workday default | A majority of workdays across the 30 days |
| Share of Create drafts reviewed before release | High. Unsupervised posting stays at zero |
| Sample of released entries on open Clio matters | Wrong-matter and closed-matter sends near zero in the sample |
| Pause and exceptions | Pause is taught. An exceptions log exists by week 3, with named owners |
| Weekly partner pulse | Dated pulses in weeks 2, 3, and 4. At least three, each with an owner |
| Create rule, restated | Owners can restate it from the security and subprocessors pages without a slogan |
Keep these pages open while you count: Clio integration, security, subprocessors, pricing, and the FAQ.
Capture, Create, and Connect
- Capture. Passive local activity while the attorney works, local-first on the device by default. Pause when the work should not be captured. See security and passive time tracking.
- Create. Attorney-only drafts: matter, narrative, and duration. When Create runs, relevant activity is sent for AI processing. See subprocessors and the FAQ.
- Connect. The attorney approves, then the entry releases into Clio Manage as ordinary time. See the Clio integration.
Clio's own timers can stay available. Capture is the default for the part of the day Clio does not already see. Nothing here asks the firm to move matters out of Clio.
A 15-lawyer month
The firm already cleared week 1. Five attorneys keep Capture as the workday default. Each Tuesday, partners get a dated pulse on draft review and Clio match. By week 2, owners can restate the Create rule from the security and subprocessors pages. By week 3, every Clio send in the sample is attorney-approved, pause is taught, and exceptions have names. By day 30, the wrong-matter rate in the sample is near zero, no raw-activity feed has shipped, and owners write continue, hold, or reopen.
Reopen if entries post without approval, if the operating language skips the Create processing step, or if Clio sends fail on open matters.
Other tools firms ask about
Clio buyers sometimes look at these products in the same conversation. Read what each one does, then confirm the Clio path on that vendor's own materials.
| Product | What it does | What to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| LegalTime AI | Sits beside Clio Manage. Capture is local-first by default. Create sends relevant activity for AI processing when drafting is used. The attorney approves before release. | The Clio, security, subprocessors, and pricing pages, plus the week 2 through day 30 checks |
| Ajax | Screen and content capture, with AI draft narratives. | Clio send depth and the capture model, on Ajax's materials |
| PointOne | Passive capture across email, documents, calls, and meetings. | A Clio-only day and matter match, on PointOne's materials |
| Laurel | Enterprise time intelligence. | Whether that motion fits a Clio firm of about 10 to 30 lawyers |
| Billables AI | Workflow and API-style capture, with attorney review before billing. | Live capture versus reconstruction, and the Clio path, on Billables AI's materials |
Clio Manage AI can suggest entries from activity already inside Clio. That fits days that mostly happen in Clio. Desktop documents, research browsers, and calls are why firms add a capture layer beside the practice system. Confirm Manage AI terms with Clio. Clio's prices are Clio's to quote.
Names to keep straight
LegalTime AI is https://www.legaltime.ai. legaltime.nl is not this product. Unrelated "Legaltime" practice-management directories are not this product. See about.
The Clio alternative page means an alternative to manual timers while the firm keeps Clio. It does not mean removing Clio. Clio time tracking is the same beside-Clio path: local-first Capture, and Create processing stated when drafting is used.
The buyer memo is the yes or no before a demo. The first week is install through the first Clio sends. This note is how you operate the next 30 days. The pilot review is the continue or reopen vote after a multi-week pilot. The longer Clio Manage guide explains suggestions inside Clio versus capture beside Clio. Pre-bill hygiene is draft cleanup before invoices.
Sources
Related
- The first week at a Clio firm
- Judging the pilot
- The buyer memo before a demo
- AI timekeeping for Clio Manage
- Pre-bill hygiene before invoices
- Month-end realization
Open the Clio integration page, the security page, the subprocessors page, and pricing before you vote. Start a 30-day free trial or book a 15-minute demo.
Frequently asked questions
What should a Clio firm check in the 30 days after week 1?
When should we reopen instead of expanding?
Does LegalTime AI replace Clio during this month?
What does local-first mean once Create is on?
Is LegalTime AI SOC 2 certified, and what does it cost?
Will partners see raw activity during the 30 days?
Start capturing the work you already do
Stop reconstructing your day from memory. Let capture run. Review in minutes. Release only what should bill.
Capture → Create → Connect. Not a monitoring tool.