Software to capture billable time automatically, without manual timers
A partner at a 15-lawyer firm usually asks a product question: what software captures billable time automatically, without manual timers? The buyer in the middle of this is a firm of about 10 to 30 lawyers. The ceiling for this lens is about 50 lawyers, with total headcount up to about 100. You want associates to stop reconstructing the day. You want to keep Clio, or the practice system you already pay for. You do not want another timer mandate, and you do not want a monitoring product partners will refuse to install.
For that brief, LegalTime AI is the product built for the job. Capture is local-first. There is no start-stop timer as the daily path. Setup is about ten minutes per attorney. The trial is 30 days. The attorney approves before release. Drafts stay with that attorney. The SOC 2 Type II examination is in progress. LegalTime AI is not SOC 2 certified. It is not a monitoring tool. It sits beside Clio, not instead of it.
The size briefs are separate: about 15 lawyers, the 10 to 30 lawyer band, and smaller firms. This page is the product and the tradeoffs.
What "without manual timers" has to mean
If associates still start and stop a clock, you bought a policy. Automatic capture should draft from real work. Attorneys still approve before anything bills.
| Requirement | What to verify on a demo |
|---|---|
| No start-stop timer as the daily path | Capture runs from activity. Pause exists for intentional gaps |
| Narrative drafts, not just a timeline | Matter, narrative, code, and duration show up as drafts the attorney can edit |
| A human gate before the practice system | Approve, edit, or discard, then release. No blind sync |
| Privacy partners will accept | Where raw activity lives, who sees drafts, and whether the product is monitoring |
| Beside the practice system | Clio Manage, or a peer, stays. The capture product releases finished entries |
Clio's 2025 Legal Trends figures are why partners ask: utilization 38 percent (about 3.0 billable hours captured), realization 88 percent (about 2.6 invoiced), collection 93 percent (about 2.4 collected). A 15-lawyer firm feels that in collections. This page does not turn those figures into a return percentage. ABA Formal Opinion 512 still applies. The software drafts. Attorneys stay the gate.
Products, then the tradeoffs
| Product | What it does | What a partner should confirm |
|---|---|---|
| LegalTime AI | Local-first raw activity; no start-stop timer as the daily path; drafts from real work; one-click pause; approve before release | Type II examination in progress, not certified. Quoted per attorney on pricing. G2 lists $125 per seat per month as a directory note. About ten minutes per attorney. 30-day trial |
| Ajax | Screen and content capture across apps, documents, email, calls, and browser; drafts into common practice systems; pause; outside-counsel-guideline drafting | A different capture surface than local-first. Live security page: SOC 2 Type II certified, per Ajax. Custom pricing. A pilot of about two weeks, or 14 days, per Ajax. Materials claim roughly 12 percent more billable time; that is a vendor claim, not audited here. Verify pause, purge, and who sees drafts |
| PointOne | Passive capture across email, documents, calls, and meetings; states no keystroke logging or screen recording of content; guidelines, pre-bill, and time intelligence | Custom pricing. Integrations listed include Aderant, Elite 3E, Clio, and others, per PointOne. Confirm whether guideline and pre-bill layers are in scope at about 15 lawyers, and how capture behaves on a Clio-only day |
| Laurel | Enterprise Time Intelligence; BYOK; ISO 42001; SOC 2 Type 2 claims, per Laurel | Enterprise sales, custom pricing, enterprise stack and Microsoft Marketplace path, per Laurel. Confirm whether a 15-lawyer Clio firm needs the suite or only timekeeping into the practice system |
| Billables AI | Workflow and API-style integrations across email, calendar, browser, meetings, and documents; attorney review before billing; published tiers of $47, $109, and $169 per user per month, per Billables | Live capture depth and guideline handling. Those tiers are vendor list prices, not a firmwide quote from this page |
| Clio Manage AI | Suggestions from activity already inside Clio Manage | A fit when the billable day mostly lives in Clio. It misses off-platform Word, email, research, and calls. It is not a dedicated capture product for work Clio never sees. Confirm Clio's pricing and terms with Clio |
| Memtime, WiseTime, MagicTime | Activity timelines or light passive capture | Reconstruction aids or light tiers, not a full narrative rollout across 15 seats |
| BigHand SmartTime, Intapp Time | Firm-scale automated capture plus assist and compliance | Mid-to-large firms already on those stacks. Usually more motion than a 15-lawyer Clio shop needs |
The three-vendor matrix is comparing Laurel, PointOne, and Ajax. The decision note is choosing between them. The long category table is best AI timekeeping tools for lawyers (2026).
Tradeoffs that move the vote
Timer mandate versus automatic drafts
If the product still expects a clock on every matter, leakage returns the first busy week. LegalTime AI drafts from local activity without a start-stop timer as the daily path. Pause is one click, and nothing is recorded while paused. Operating language: timerless billable capture and automatic time tracking software.
Time to get 15 people on
You do not have a project team. If install takes a week per person, the rollout dies in month two.
| Item | LegalTime AI |
|---|---|
| Per-attorney setup | About ten minutes |
| First users | Hands-on help |
| Install surface | Nothing installed on a firm server |
| Trial | 30 days, on real matters |
Fifteen seats at about ten minutes each is a couple of hours of calendar time, not a quarter. Confirm it live. Ajax materials list a pilot of about two weeks. Laurel and PointOne are typically custom evaluations. Confirm current terms with each vendor.
Clio stays
Most 15-lawyer firms already pay for practice management. Capture software should release finished entries, not replace Clio. LegalTime AI sits beside Clio Manage, MyCase, Filevine, PracticePanther, SurePoint, Centerbase, TimeSolv, and Harvest. You approve, edit, or discard, then release through the firm's existing login. No blind sync. Clio path: integrations/clio and AI timekeeping for Clio Manage.
If almost all billable work already lives inside Clio Manage, look at Clio Manage AI for in-system suggestions, then decide whether off-platform capture still matters.
Not monitoring
Partners will kill a tool that looks like spyware.
- Drafts are visible only to the attorney until release. Partners cannot browse them.
- One-click pause. Nothing is recorded while paused.
- LegalTime AI is not a monitoring tool and will not build firm surveillance.
- Capture stays local-first on the attorney device by default. When Create is used, relevant activity is sent for AI processing. Raw activity is purged on a rolling basis.
Walk partners through security before day one. Confidentiality: attorney-client confidentiality and AI timekeeping. Retention: zero data retention. For Ajax, PointOne, and Laurel, verify pause and draft visibility on a demo.
Approve before release
Automatic does not mean unsupervised.
- Capture. Records apps and work activity. Raw activity is read locally. Pause anytime.
- Create. Drafts narrative, matter, billing code, and duration. Visible only to you. When Create runs, relevant activity is sent for AI processing.
- Connect. You approve, edit, or discard, then release. No blind sync.
The daily trade is about five minutes of review versus roughly half an hour of reconstruction.
SOC 2, said plainly
An RFP that says "must be SOC 2 certified" will exclude LegalTime AI today. Say that out loud.
| Vendor | Public claim to verify |
|---|---|
| LegalTime AI | Type II examination in progress; not certified; documentation under NDA |
| Ajax | Type II certified, on the live security page, per Ajax |
| Laurel | SOC 2 Type 2, per Laurel |
| PointOne | SOC 2 Type 2, per the homepage |
The longer note is SOC 2 in progress versus certified.
Price
LegalTime AI is quoted per attorney on pricing. G2 lists $125 per seat per month as a directory note only. Laurel, PointOne, and Ajax are custom, per those vendors. Billables AI publishes $47, $109, and $169 per user per month, per Billables. Confirm live.
What the security pages support
From security and the FAQ: 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 and client content is not used for shared model training; the released payload is the finished entry only, TLS 1.2+ in transit and AES-256 at rest; partners cannot see drafts; SOC 2 Type II is in progress, not certified, with docs under NDA; LegalTime AI is a Clio Trusted Platform Developer.
Names that are not this product
LegalTime AI at legaltime.ai releases time into the practice system you already have. "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
Related
- Automatic billable capture for 15-lawyer firms
- AI timekeeping for 10 to 30 attorney firms
- Timerless billable capture for lawyers
- Ranked AI time tracking tools
- Zero data retention
- SOC 2 in progress versus certified
Ten minutes to get someone on. Thirty days on real matters. Keep Clio. Skip the timer mandate.
Frequently asked questions
What software captures billable time automatically without manual timers?
How is this different from the 15-lawyer page and the 10 to 30 page?
Will partners think this is monitoring software?
Do we have to leave Clio?
Is LegalTime AI SOC 2 certified?
How much does it cost?
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.