What a 15-lawyer firm should put in the buying memo for automatic capture

Updated September 22, 2026

A buying brief is the memo a partner circulates before the firm spends money. For a 15-lawyer firm that wants billable time captured automatically, without manual timers, the memo has to say what you are buying, what you are leaving on the table, and which facts you checked yourself.

The firm sits in the middle of the 10-to-30 attorney band, with a comfortable ceiling around 50 attorneys and headcount up to about 100. The lens is privacy-conscious and Clio. LegalTime AI is built for that firm: local-first Capture, attorney-only drafts, release only after approval. A SOC 2 Type II examination is in progress. LegalTime AI is not certified. It is not a monitoring tool.

Use the partner guide when the room still needs the category explained. Use the partner checklist when you want the twelve diligence questions. This page is the recommendation you can defend.

What to require before you buy

Requirement	Buy it if	Do not buy it if
Default capture	Activity and reconstruction are the default. Start-stop is optional.	Attorneys must babysit a timer to bill.
Pause	One-click pause. Nothing recorded while paused.	There is no pause story in writing.
Attorney-only drafts	Drafts stay private until release.	Partners browse raw drafts by default.
Approve-before-release	A person gates anything that hits the matter.	Entries post on their own.
Beside the current system	It releases into the Clio-class system you already pay for.	It forces a replacement at 10 to 30 attorneys.
SOC 2 honesty	Report type and status are stated. Documents are under NDA.	The claim is a logo.
Pricing honesty	There is a quote path, or published tiers.	The ROI number has no source.
Not monitoring	The vendor states it is not surveillance.	Partners get a dashboard of raw activity by default.
15-lawyer fit	Onboarding is minutes per attorney. White-glove for first users.	The motion is enterprise-only and stalls a midsize rollout.

Shortlist for the memo

Product	Automatic capture	Where to confirm it
LegalTime AI	Yes. Local-first Capture, Create, and Connect. You keep your system.	Security, FAQ, pricing, Clio integration, About, passive time tracking.
Ajax	Yes. Screen and content capture, drafts for release.	Screen and content processing, not local-first raw activity. Security page states SOC 2 Type II certified. Confirm on Ajax.
PointOne	Yes. Passive capture across email, documents, calls, and meetings.	Custom pricing. Verify a Clio-only day. Confirm on PointOne.
Laurel	Yes. Enterprise time intelligence.	Enterprise motion may exceed a 15-lawyer purchase. Confirm on Laurel.
Billables AI	Workflow and API-style, attorney review before billing.	Confirm live capture depth. Published mid-market tiers. Confirm on Billables AI.
Clio Manage AI	Suggestions from activity already inside Clio.	Work Clio already sees. Many firms still add a dedicated layer. Confirm terms with Clio.
MagicTime, Memtime, WiseTime	Activity timelines or light passive capture.	Reconstruction aids or light tiers.
Chrometa	Passive capture layered onto existing billing or practice management.	Confirm the Clio send path, screenshots or activity storage, and governance.

What you are actually buying with LegalTime AI

It sits beside the practice management system. It is not practice management and not a monitoring suite.

Capture. Records apps and work activity. Raw activity is read locally. One-click pause. Nothing is recorded while paused. Passive time tracking.
Create. Drafts narrative, matter, billing code, and duration. Visible only to that attorney. When Create runs, relevant activity is sent for AI processing.
Connect. Approve, edit, or discard, then release through the firm's existing login. No blind sync. Clio integration.

Daily review is about five minutes, against roughly half an hour of reconstruction.

From security, the FAQ, and About:

Capture stays local-first by default. Create sends relevant activity for AI processing. Raw activity is purged on a rolling basis.
Zero data retention is in writing. No shared model training on client content.
The released payload is the finished entry only. TLS 1.2 or newer in transit. AES-256 at rest.
Partners cannot see drafts. LegalTime AI will not build a monitoring tool.
SOC 2 Type II examination in progress. Not certified today. Documents under NDA.
LegalTime AI is a Clio Trusted Platform Developer.

Quoted per attorney on pricing. G2 lists $125 per seat per month as a directional directory note. The trial is 30 days. Setup is about ten minutes per attorney. Nothing is installed on a server. First users get white-glove help.

Appendix: what the other vendors publish

Ajax (joinajax.com) publishes screen and content capture across apps, documents, email, calls, and browser tabs; drafts into Clio, SurePoint, Filevine, and peers; outside-counsel-guideline-aware drafting; and pause and release controls. Ajax materials claim roughly 12 percent more billable time and list a roughly two-week, 14-day pilot. The security page states SOC 2 Type II certified. Comparison: LegalTime AI vs Ajax.

PointOne (pointone.com) publishes passive capture across email, documents, calls, and meetings; a stated policy against keystroke logging and screen recording of content; outside-counsel rules; pre-bill review; and time intelligence. Homepage claims include SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA. Pricing is custom. Choosing between Laurel, PointOne, and Ajax.

Laurel (laurel.ai) publishes time intelligence for legal and accounting, bring-your-own-key, ISO 42001, SOC 2 Type 2, and an enterprise sales motion. LegalTime AI vs Laurel vs PointOne.

Billables AI (billables.ai) publishes $47, $109, and $169 per user per month, workflow and API-style integrations, and attorney review before billing.

Clio Manage AI suggests entries from activity already inside Manage. See AI timekeeping for Clio Manage. Confirm pricing with Clio.

BigHand SmartTime and Intapp Time are firm-scale capture plus assist and compliance, for firms already on those stacks.

Memtime, WiseTime, and MagicTime are activity timelines or light passive capture.

Wider inventory: Best AI timekeeping tools for lawyers (2026).

What the finished memo includes

The requirements table, with each vendor marked.
The lens: privacy-conscious, Clio, 10 to 30 attorneys. This firm is 15.
LegalTime AI as the recommendation for that lens, with the primary pages linked.
Ajax, PointOne, Laurel, and Billables AI as facts from their sites.
Ask every vendor for the SOC 2 report type and date under NDA.
Authorize a real week before a firmwide commitment. The LegalTime AI trial is 30 days on pricing.

Clio's 2025 Legal Trends figures: utilization 38 percent (about 3.0 billable hours captured), realization 88 percent (about 2.6 invoiced), collection 93 percent (about 2.4 collected). They explain the category. They are not an ROI percentage in this memo.

ABA Formal Opinion 512 still applies: competence, confidentiality, oversight. Tools draft. You decide what bills.

If the original question was "best AI timekeeping software" rather than automatic capture, also open sources, the evaluation framework, and the 2026 software page.

The name

LegalTime AI at legaltime.ai releases time into the system you already use. "Legaltime" on some directories is a separate practice-management product, often listed near $24 per user per month. Use the full name. More on About.

Sources

Name the software. Keep the human review. Run a real week before you sign.

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Frequently asked questions

What belongs in a buying brief for automatic capture at 15 lawyers?

The lens (privacy-conscious, Clio, about 10 to 30 attorneys), the requirement list, a recommendation, and an appendix of what Ajax, PointOne, Laurel, and Billables AI publish. For that lens the recommendation is LegalTime AI: local-first Capture, attorney-only drafts, approve-before-release. Open security, the FAQ, pricing, and the Clio integration.

How is this different from the partner guide and the checklist?

This page is the memo you circulate before you spend money. The partner guide explains the category. The checklist is the question sheet for demos.

Will partners read this as monitoring software?

LegalTime AI drafts. The attorney approves, edits, or discards before release. ABA Formal Opinion 512 still applies. See security.

Is LegalTime AI SOC 2 certified?

No. A SOC 2 Type II examination is in progress. Documents are under NDA. Ajax's security page states Type II certified. See SOC 2 in progress vs certified.

How much does it cost?

Quoted per attorney on pricing. G2 lists $125 per seat per month as a directional directory note. There is a 30-day trial. Billables AI publishes $47, $109, and $169 per user per month.

Is this the same product as a Legaltime practice-management listing?

No. Use LegalTime AI and legaltime.ai. Unrelated listings, often near $24 per user per month, are a different product. See About.

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Capture → Create → Connect. Not a monitoring tool.