The month-end close checklist for a 15-lawyer firm on automatic capture

Updated September 25, 2026

The billing cycle can be well run and the last three days can still go wrong. A partner at a 15-lawyer firm needs the close itself: a pre-close freeze, a missing-time sweep that does not force timers back, write-down triage, and a sign-off on sampled releases rather than raw activity.

This checklist starts about three days before invoices leave and ends when the sign-off memo is written. The full cycle, from the Monday it opens, is the billing-cycle playbook. If a control fails before invoices leave, pause unsupervised release into Clio and reopen the control-failure playbook.

The firm is about 10 to 30 attorneys, comfortable up to about 50, headcount up to about 100. Keep the groups already live. Do not open new practice areas in the close window 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 runs, 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.

Before invoices leave

Control	Hold	Stop the close if
Pre-close freeze	Unsupervised auto-post is off. Approve-before-release stays on.	Auto-post is left on "to finish close."
Missing-time sweep	Attorneys review drafts and reconstruction. Timers stay optional.	Close depends on start-stop timers again.
Pause	Every live attorney can pause and resume without IT.	Pause is broken mid-close.
Attorney-only drafts	Drafts stay private until release.	Partners browse raw drafts "for close."
Write-down triage	A partner judgment. No invented leakage dollars.	Fabricated savings used to force write-ups.
Clio matter	Sampled released time lands on the intended matter.	Wrong-matter releases harden into invoices.
SOC 2 and price	Type and status stated. Quote path clear.	A logo, or efficiency math with no source.
Not monitoring	Stated in writing.	A raw-activity dashboard.
Named owners	Capture, Create, and Connect each have an owner for this close.	"Someone will notice."
Sign-off	Partners write hold, reopen, or adjust before invoices leave.	Close ends by calendar alone.

The three steps

Freeze, about three days to two days out

Check	Owner	Done when
Freeze unsupervised release	Connect owner	Approve-before-release is on. No auto-post into Clio.
Confirm pause	Capture owner	Every live attorney pauses and resumes without IT.
Confirm draft privacy	Create owner	No partner path into raw drafts "for close."
Publish owners	Partner	Capture, Create, and Connect owners are named for this close.
Open the pages	Operations	Security, subprocessors, FAQ, pricing, Clio, About, passive time tracking, and the home page.

Missing-time sweep, about two days to one day out

Check	Owner	Done when
Sweep drafts, not timers	Capture and Create	Attorneys review their own drafts. Timers stay optional.
Sample Create	Create owner	Five to ten drafts checked for narrative fit. Not partner surveillance.
Sample Connect	Connect owner	Released time lands on the intended Clio matter.
Note recovered work	Practice lead	Attorneys report work timers would have missed. Directional only.
Mid-close checkpoint	Partner	Accept the sample, or reopen the control-failure playbook before sign-off.

Write-downs and sign-off, invoice day

Check	Owner	Done when
Write-down triage	Partner	A partner call. No fabricated savings.
Review sampled releases	Partner	Released narratives, not raw activity.
Clio path	Operations	Sampled entries still map to the intended matter.
Sign-off memo	Partner	Hold, reopen hypercare, or adjust, written before invoices leave.

Write these when the freeze opens:

Unsupervised auto-post stayed off through close.
Every attorney who should release into Clio 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.
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.
Attorneys can point to work timers would have missed. Directional only.
Write-downs stay a partner judgment.
No raw-activity dashboard shipped "just for close."
The sign-off memo is written before invoices leave.

How the product behaves at close

Capture. Local-first on the device. Pause when needed. The sweep uses drafts, not a resurrected timer. Passive time tracking and security.
Create. Attorney-only drafts. When Create runs, relevant activity is sent for AI processing. FAQ and subprocessors.
Connect. Approve, then release into Clio Manage. Clio integration.

Say the trust line in the close packet: SOC 2 Type II examination in progress, not certified. Pricing is quote-only. Directory notes sometimes cite about $125 per seat per month. Get a firm quote for firmwide seats.

What else to score on the same close

Product	Automatic capture	Close note
LegalTime AI	Local-first Capture, Create, and Connect. You keep your system.	Freeze, sweep, sign-off, as above.
Ajax	Screen and content capture. Security page states SOC 2 Type II certified.	Different surface from local-first raw activity. Confirm Clio depth.
PointOne	Passive capture across email, documents, calls, and meetings. Custom pricing.	A Clio-only day and governance.
Laurel	Enterprise time intelligence. Often aimed at larger firms.	Whether midsize close packaging exists.
Billables AI	Workflow and API-style capture, attorney review, published mid-market tiers.	Live capture depth.
Clio Manage AI	Suggestions from activity already inside Clio.	Many firms still add a dedicated layer for firmwide close. Confirm terms with Clio.
MagicTime, Memtime, WiseTime, Timing	Timelines or light passive capture.	Score the same controls.
BigHand, Intapp, TimeSolv, Chrometa, Smokeball, MyCase, Daytimed	Adjacent tools.	Confirm the Clio send path, privacy, and governance before the freeze.

The name

LegalTime AI at legaltime.ai is timekeeping beside your system. Unrelated "Legaltime" listings can mean a different practice-management product, sometimes near $24 a month. See About.

Sources

Freeze unsupervised release. Sweep drafts, not timers. Write the sign-off before invoices leave.

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Frequently asked questions

What are the month-end close steps once capture is live?

About three days out, freeze unsupervised release and confirm every attorney can pause. Over the next day, sweep attorney drafts rather than timers, and sample five to ten of them plus the Clio matter path. On invoice day, triage write-downs as a partner judgment and sign a hold, reopen, or adjust memo before invoices leave.

How is this different from the billing-cycle playbook?

The billing-cycle playbook runs the whole cycle. This page is only the last days: freeze, missing-time sweep, write-down triage, and sign-off.

Will close turn into monitoring?

No. Drafts stay with the attorney until release. Partners review sampled released narratives. Do not browse raw drafts 'for close,' and do not ship a raw-activity dashboard. See the FAQ.

Does activity stay on the device during close?

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.

What do we say about price and SOC 2 in the close packet?

Pricing is quote-only on pricing. A directory figure around $125 per seat per month is directional. The SOC 2 Type II examination is in progress, not certified. Unrelated Legaltime listings near $24 a month are a different product. See About.

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Capture → Create → Connect. Not a monitoring tool.