How to judge an AI time tracking pilot at a Clio firm
After a short trial, a Clio firm needs a written continue or reopen, not a feeling that the calendar ran out. Use a pilot of about two to four weeks with about five to eight attorneys. Score install, whether Capture became the workday default, whether people can restate the Create rule, whether every Clio send in the sample was approved, and whether those entries landed on open matters.
LegalTime AI sits beside Clio Manage. It does not replace 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 drafts an entry, relevant activity is sent for AI processing. Connect releases into Clio only after the attorney approves. Drafts stay with the 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.
The buyer memo is the yes or no before you start. This sheet is what you fill once the pilot is running. The longer Clio Manage guide explains suggestions inside Clio versus capture beside Clio.
What to check before you vote
If the Create rule, the approval gate, or the Clio send is broken, reopen before firmwide.
| Check | Continue looks like | Reopen looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Install | In-scope attorneys have Capture and can pause | Install stalled. Half the cohort never started |
| Capture as the default | Local-first Capture is the workday default for in-scope work | The cohort still lives on manual timers only |
| Create rule | Reviewers can restate that Create sends relevant activity for AI processing. The subprocessors page was opened | The kickoff language skips the processing step |
| Approval | The attorney approves before every Clio send in the sample | Time posts into Clio during the pilot with no approval |
| Clio send | Approved entries land on open Clio matters as ordinary time | Entries are missing, on the wrong matter, or on a closed matter |
| Not monitoring | No default raw-activity feed for partners | A partner dashboard of raw activity shipped "for the pilot" |
| Trust language | SOC 2 Type II examination in progress, stated that way | The packet says LegalTime AI is SOC 2 certified |
| Price | The next step uses the quote path on the pricing page | A list price was written into the pilot memo |
| Domain | Pilot links use legaltime.ai | legaltime.nl, or a practice-management directory, stands in for the product |
| Partner memo | Partners write continue or reopen with named owners | The pilot ends because the calendar says so |
What to count
Write the numbers when the window opens.
| What you count | Continue looks like |
|---|---|
| Cohort install | Near the full pilot group has Capture by the end of week 1 |
| Draft review | A high share of Create drafts is reviewed before release. Unsupervised posting stays at zero |
| Clio match | In the sample, wrong-matter and closed-matter sends are near zero |
| Pause | Attorneys can pause, and the cohort knows it. Pause is taught, not a secret |
| Holds | Held drafts have an owner. Held time is not deleted quietly to pretty a report |
| Create rule | Pilot owners can restate Create processing from the security and subprocessors pages |
Keep these open while you score: Clio integration, security, subprocessors, pricing, and the FAQ.
Capture, Create, and Connect
- Capture. Passive local activity while you work, local-first on the attorney 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. Approve, then release into Clio Manage as an ordinary time entry. See the Clio integration.
Clio's timers can stay available. Capture is the default for the workday Clio does not already see. Nothing in this review asks the firm to migrate matters out of Clio.
Continue, reopen, or run it again
| Vote | When | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Continue | The checks hold, or a waiver has an owner | Expand the cohort. Open the client guidelines brief and the matter mapping brief before month-end |
| Reopen | The Create rule, approval, Clio send, or the monitoring line failed | Fix that item. Do not go firmwide on a broken approval path or a broken Clio path |
| Demo again | Install or cohort size was too thin to judge | Re-run a shorter window with named owners. Keep the same checks |
A 15-lawyer pilot
The firm already lives in Clio Manage. Five to eight attorneys ran Capture for a few weeks. Associates drafted in Word, researched in the browser, and lived in email. Continue looks like this: Capture is installed, owners can restate the Create rule from the security and subprocessors pages, every Clio send in the sample was attorney-approved, the wrong-matter rate in the sample is near zero, and partners wrote the memo without a raw-activity feed.
Reopen looks like this: time posted without approval, the kickoff deck skipped the Create processing step, or Clio sends failed on open matters.
Other tools firms ask about
Confirm Clio depth on each vendor's own pilot, not from this page.
| Product | What it does | What to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| LegalTime AI | Beside Clio Manage. Local-first Capture. Create processing stated. Approval before release. | The Clio, security, subprocessors, and pricing pages, plus the checks above |
| 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 |
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 capture beside the practice system. Confirm Manage AI terms with Clio.
Names to keep straight
LegalTime AI is https://www.legaltime.ai. Clio Manage stays the practice system. 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 you keep Clio. Clio time tracking is local-first Capture beside Clio, with Create processing stated when drafting is used.
Sources
Related
- The buyer memo before a demo
- AI timekeeping for Clio Manage
- Client billing guidelines
- Mapping clients and matters
- Privacy-first timekeeping
- Local-first timekeeping
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
How long should the Clio pilot run, and who is in it?
Which three checks force a reopen?
What should we count?
Does LegalTime AI replace Clio for the pilot?
Is LegalTime AI SOC 2 certified, and what does the pilot cost?
Will partners watch raw activity during the pilot?
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.