Your Time Entry Agent Writes the Narrative While You Argue the Motion
Attorneys spend the day on matters, not on memory, when the AgentWorks Time Entry Agent drafts each entry from the work itself. It carries time entry and capture for the associates and partners who reconstruct their day at night, and for the billing coordinator who sends narratives back at pre-bill, so the attorneys can stay with clients and matters while their time is recorded accurately.
What it takes off your plate
In most firms, time entry happens late in the evening or on Friday afternoon, from memory. The entries that do get recorded often say "review documents" or "call with client," which is not enough for a client organization whose billing guidelines require a narrative that shows what was done and why. The pre-bill review catches some of it, and the entries go back to the attorney for revision, which delays the invoice and pulls the attorney off the matter again.
The time that never gets recorded is worse. A short call, an email exchange with opposing counsel, a quick review of a draft between meetings. None of it reaches the bill, and it is the largest source of revenue the firm loses without anyone noticing.
What the Time Entry Agent does, step by step
The Time Entry Agent starts with the reminders attorneys never send themselves.
- Sends the end-of-day reminder. Before the attorney leaves, the agent emails or messages a list of the day's activity that has no entry yet: meetings on the calendar, calls, sent emails and documents worked on, each tied to a matter.
- Captures activity through the day. It reads calendar events, emails and document activity in the systems the firm already uses, such as Clio, Outlook and NetDocuments, and matches each item to the matter it belongs to.
- Drafts the entry. For each item, it prepares a draft time entry with the matter, the date, the duration and a descriptive narrative in the style the client's billing guidelines require.
- Flags problems early. It marks entries below the firm's minimum billing increment, block-billed descriptions, and tasks a client's guidelines do not allow, before they reach pre-bill.
- Waits for the attorney. The attorney reviews, edits and approves each draft. Nothing posts to the matter until the attorney confirms the time and the description are accurate.
- Follows up. Entries left unapproved get a second reminder the next morning, and the billing coordinator sees which attorneys still have open days.
Judgment about what is billable, how a task is described to the client and any write-down stays with the responsible attorney and the billing partner.
Where the work is recorded
Approved entries post to the matter in Clio, with the narrative attached. The source for each entry, whether a calendar event, an email or a document, is linked on the entry, so the billing coordinator can see where it came from without asking. The reminders and approvals are logged on the attorney's record in the CRM the firm already uses.
The next morning, each attorney sees one view: yesterday's approved entries, drafts waiting for review and activity still unrecorded. The billing coordinator sees the same view across the firm, which is how the monthly pre-bill starts clean instead of starting with revisions.
What your people do instead
Attorneys spend their time on the matter and the client: drafting the motion, preparing the witness, returning the client's call. They review entries in a few minutes instead of reconstructing a day. The billing coordinator works on client questions and collections instead of chasing narratives.
Accurate time also feeds the rest of the firm. Capturing each hour the same day is how law firms bill the work they actually do, and the calendar the agent reads is the same one the Deadline Agent keeps current with every court date. When hearings, depositions and filing dates are already on the calendar, the time spent preparing for them shows up as a draft entry instead of disappearing.
Clients notice, too. An invoice whose narratives explain the work draws fewer questions from the client organization's legal department, and the relationship partner spends the call on strategy rather than defending a line item.
The Time Entry Agent drafts, flags and reminds. Your attorneys approve the record and spend the rest of the day on the work.
One next step
If your pre-bill still starts with a stack of revisions, begin with the free Industry Assessment for legal. It shows which workflow an agent should take first in your firm. You can see every agent built for law firms on the AgentWorks legal page.
See where the Time Entry Agent would start in your legal business.
I'm Victoria, the Legal ambassador here. The free Industry Assessment reads your website and asks how calls, follow-ups and records happen today, then shows the first workflow worth handing to an agent like this one — and what your team gets back. Leave your email and I'll send the link.
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