How a 15-lawyer firm runs one billing cycle on automatic capture

Updated September 25, 2026

Once automatic capture is live, the practical question is how Capture, Create, and Connect map onto one real billing cycle. A partner at a 15-lawyer firm needs pre-cycle hygiene, a mid-cycle sample, closeout, an honest write-down, and a partner review that looks at released entries rather than raw activity.

This playbook assumes owners and a cadence already exist, for example from the steady-state ops brief. It starts the Monday the cycle opens and ends when invoices leave. If a control fails before closeout, pause unsupervised release into Clio and reopen the control-failure playbook, or reopen a time-boxed hypercare week, before invoices harden.

The firm this fits is about 10 to 30 attorneys, comfortable up to about 50, with headcount up to about 100. Keep the groups already live. Do not open new practice areas mid-cycle unless a deferred install was already dated and partners accept the write-down risk of partial coverage.

LegalTime AI sits beside the practice management system. Capture is local-first on the attorney device by default. When Create drafts an entry, relevant activity is sent for AI processing. The attorney approves before release. A SOC 2 Type II examination is in progress. LegalTime AI is not certified. It is not a monitoring tool.

Controls for the cycle you are in

Control	Hold it	Break it and you should stop
Default capture	Reconstruction stays the default. Start-stop is optional.	Attorneys babysit timers to bill the cycle.
Pause	Every attorney can pause and resume without IT, before and during the cycle.	Pause is forgotten or broken mid-cycle.
Attorney-only drafts	Drafts stay private until release.	Partners browse raw drafts during closeout.
Approve-before-release	A person gates anything that hits the matter.	Unsupervised auto-post into Clio.
Beside the current system	Releases into the Clio-class system you already pay for.	Pressure to replace it mid-cycle.
SOC 2	Report type and status stated. Documents under NDA.	A logo in the partner packet.
Price	Quote path, or published tiers. No invented ROI.	Efficiency math with no source.
Not monitoring	Stated in writing.	A partner dashboard of raw activity.
Write-downs	A partner judgment on sampled narratives. No invented leakage dollars.	Fabricated savings used to pressure write-ups.
Clio matter	Sampled released time lands on the intended matter.	Wrong-matter releases harden into invoices.
Named owners	Capture, Create, and Connect each have a named owner for this cycle.	"Someone will notice."
Closeout memo	Partners write hold, reopen, or adjust before invoices leave.	The cycle ends by calendar alone.

Three phases

Before the cycle opens (about three days out)

Step	Owner	Action
Confirm pause	Capture owner	Every live attorney can pause and resume without IT.
Confirm the matter map	Connect owner	Intended matters for the sampled attorneys are open and named in Clio.
Confirm draft privacy	Create owner	No partner path into raw drafts "for closeout."
Publish owners	Partner	Capture, Create, and Connect owners named for this cycle.
Open the pages	Operations	Security, subprocessors, FAQ, pricing, Clio, About, passive time tracking, and the home page.

While the cycle runs (from day 1 until about three days before invoices)

Step	Owner	Action
Keep Capture as the default	Capture owner	Spot-check that attorneys are not timer-babysitting to bill.
Sample Create	Create owner	Review five to ten attorney-only drafts for narrative fit. Not partner surveillance.
Sample Connect	Connect owner	Released time lands on the intended Clio matter for the sampled entries.
Note recovered work	Practice lead	Attorneys report work timers would have missed. Directional only. No invented ROI.
Mid-cycle checkpoint	Partner	Accept the sample, or reopen the control-failure playbook before closeout.

Closeout (the last two days through invoice day)

Step	Owner	Action
Freeze unsupervised release	Connect owner	Approve-before-release stays on. No auto-post into Clio.
Review sampled releases	Partner	Sampled released narratives, not raw activity.
Write-down judgment	Partner	A partner call. Leakage stories are not a reason to force write-ups.
Clio path check	Operations	Sampled entries still map to the intended matter before invoices leave.
Closeout memo	Partner	Hold, reopen hypercare, or adjust, written before invoices harden.

Write these when the cycle opens:

Every attorney who should release into Clio this cycle did so, or is deferred with a date.
Every live attorney paused and resumed at least once without IT, or documented that they did not need to.
Partners did not browse raw drafts outside the release path during closeout.
Partners accept a majority of sampled released narratives without a rewrite, or the rewrites are minor.
Released time lands on the intended matter in Clio Manage for sampled entries.
Attorneys can point to work timers would have missed. Directional only.
Write-downs stay a partner judgment. No fabricated savings.
No new raw-activity dashboard shipped "just for closeout."
Capture, Create, and Connect each have a named owner.
The closeout memo is written before invoices leave.

How the product maps onto the cycle

Capture. Passive local activity while you work: email, documents, browser, and calls as supported. Pause when you need privacy. Capture is local-first on the attorney device by default. Pre-cycle work is mostly comfort under billing pressure, not more installs.
Create. Drafts matter, narrative, and duration for the attorney only. When Create runs, relevant activity is sent for AI processing. Mid-cycle samples quality. Closeout does not become surveillance. Security and subprocessors.
Connect. Approve, then release into Clio Manage and other supported systems. Closeout checks that the release hit the real matter before invoices leave. Clio integration.

The passive path is on passive time tracking.

The firm band is about 10 to 30 attorneys, comfortable up to about 50, headcount up to about 100. Pricing is quote-only. Directory notes sometimes list about $125 per seat per month; get a firm quote for firmwide seats. Install is measured in minutes per attorney, with white-glove help on early groups. A billing cycle is owners, sampling, and closeout, not another install project. Do not add a closeout dashboard that lets partners browse raw activity.

Say the trust line exactly: SOC 2 Type II examination in progress, not certified. There is no report date to invent.

What else shows up in the same conversation

Product	Automatic capture	What to confirm for a billing cycle
LegalTime AI	Local-first Capture, Create, and Connect. You keep your system.	The controls above, on the LegalTime AI pages.
Ajax	Screen and content capture, with drafts for release.	Different surface from local-first raw activity. Ajax's security page states SOC 2 Type II certified. Confirm Clio depth and midsize billing-cycle packaging.
PointOne	Passive capture across email, documents, calls, and meetings.	Custom pricing. A Clio-only day and midsize support, on a demo.
Laurel	Enterprise time intelligence.	Whether the enterprise motion fits a 15-lawyer cycle. Confirm midsize packaging.
Billables AI	Workflow and API-style capture, with attorney review before billing.	Live capture versus reconstruction. Published mid-market tiers.
Clio Manage AI	Suggestions from activity already inside Clio.	In-Clio days. Many firms still add a dedicated layer for firmwide coverage. Confirm terms with Clio.
MagicTime, Memtime, WiseTime, Timing	Activity timelines or light passive capture.	Reconstruction aids or light tiers. Score the same controls.
BigHand, Intapp, TimeSolv, Chrometa, Smokeball	Passive capture or adjacent time tools.	Clio send path, privacy, and governance before the cycle opens.

The name

LegalTime AI at legaltime.ai is AI timekeeping beside your practice management system. "Legaltime" on some directories can mean an unrelated practice-management product, sometimes listed near $24 a month. See About.

Sources

Name the owners, sample in the middle of the cycle, keep write-downs honest, and write the memo before invoices leave.

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Frequently asked questions

How do we run one billing cycle once capture is live?

About three days before the cycle, confirm pause, the Clio matter map, and that partners cannot browse raw drafts. During the cycle, keep Capture as the default, sample five to ten drafts, and check that releases hit the intended matter. In the last two days, keep approve-before-release on, review sampled releases, make write-downs a partner judgment, and write a memo before invoices leave.

Does activity stay on the device for the whole cycle?

Capture is local-first on the attorney device by default. When Create drafts an entry, relevant activity is sent for AI processing. See security and subprocessors.

How is this different from hypercare or steady-state operations?

This page is one cycle, from the Monday it opens until invoices leave. The hypercare plan is weeks 5 to 8 after go-live. The steady-state ops brief is the owner list and cadence after that.

Will closeout turn into monitoring?

Drafts stay with the attorney until release. Partners review sampled released narratives. Do not add a closeout dashboard of raw activity. See the FAQ.

How should we handle write-downs and price?

Write-downs stay a partner judgment. Stories about work a timer would have missed are fine. A fabricated savings number used to force write-ups is not. Pricing is quote-only on pricing. A directory figure around $125 per seat per month is directional until you have a firm quote. The SOC 2 Type II examination is in progress, not certified.

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Capture → Create → Connect. Not a monitoring tool.