Across the thousands of timekeepers Laurel serves, one message is clear: the manual model of timekeeping and time governance is unsustainable. 

Timekeepers need workflows that are modern and intuitive. Administrators need clear controls and automation for compliance. And firm leaders need tools that reduce risk, strengthen oversight, and protect margins in an increasingly demanding market.

In 2025, Laurel answered this call. We accelerated the AI-native future we’ve been building toward: timekeeping that’s more automated, more intelligent, and dramatically less manual. Powered by our $100M Series C (led by IVP, with participation from GV and 01.a), we moved quickly to ship experiences that make timekeeping simpler for users and more reliable for firms.

This was the year Laurel rewrote timekeeping. Here’s how.

Timekeeping, Faster: The Experience Timekeepers Asked For

Timekeepers sit at the center of everything we build, and this year we focused on eliminating friction wherever it showed up. Our goal was simple: make the timekeeping experience faster, more accurate, and more intuitive, so timekeepers can spend less energy on the mechanics of timekeeping and more time on meaningful work. 

Here’s a look at what we delivered for them in 2025.

Accuracy enhancements 

‍Overlapping time reconciliation

Laurel now automatically reconciles activities that occurred at the same time when an entry is created. Instead of manually resolving overlaps or rebuilding an entry from scratch, timekeepers can rely on Laurel to clean up time entries instantly, reducing friction and eliminating one of the highest-volume sources of manual adjustment.

‍Bi-directional sync (with Aderant)

For Aderant customers that have enabled it, Laurel now automatically ingests edits made in the PMS and syncs them back to the Timesheet. Timekeepers see these edits reflected in their UI, and Laurel’s AI learns from both pre- and post-release billing adjustments, strengthening predictions and improving accuracy over time.

‍Zero-duration entry release

For firms with more complex billing requirements, timekeepers can now release 0.0-hour entries (if enabled by firm admins). This allows for crucial corrections or true-up workflows, which are now fully supported in Laurel.

‍Add & edit activities within entries

For the time that Laurel can’t automatically capture — hallway conversations, quick phone calls, offline work — timekeepers can now manually add or edit activities directly inside a time entry. This allows timekeepers to get credit for all of the important work they’re doing. 

‍Timer improvements: persistence, nudge & direct edit

Timers can now carry over from day to day, be nudged up or down for precision, and be directly edited. These enhancements support cleaner, more accurate capture for the many timekeepers who rely heavily on timers.

‍Workflow and speed enhancements

Edit entries post-release (with Aderant)

Aderant REST API customers can now allow timekeepers to edit entries after release and re-post them with updates. This gives timekeepers more accuracy, control, and autonomy when preparing their time.

Kim Wasielewski, Director of IT at Cassiday Schade, LLP, said this about the edit post-release feature:

“The edit and re-release capability in Laurel has been a big win for our attorneys. Unlike iTimekeep, our attorneys can correct their own entries on the spot instead of sending them to accounting for edits. They also feel comfortable releasing their time daily rather than holding it until month-end in case changes are needed. The reduction in administrative noise for attorneys and accounting has been dramatic.”

‍Time Control enhancements (export, filter, delegate access)

Timekeepers can now use Laurel’s Time Control feature to filter entries by client and export up to 5 weeks of data (as a CSV or PDF). Additionally, delegates can now access their delegators’ Time Control instance. These improvements give timekeepers and support staff more flexibility, transparency, and self-service capability.

‍Smarter code search with suggested, recent & common labels

We improved the initiative and work code search experience by introducing “chips” (labels) to highlight suggested, recent, and common codes. In addition to “chipping” the codes, we moved suggested, recent, and common codes to the top of the drop-down search menu in the entry modal. 

This enhancement is powered by timekeepers’ usage patterns, drastically cutting down on scrolling time. As Joanna Haugh, Director in Executive Management at Ernst & Young LLP, noted:

“Being able to quickly and easily find the right code has made it so simple to record my time. This means I can be much more accurate and properly account for even small amounts of time.”

‍Save & duplicate with code preservation

When timekeepers duplicate an existing entry and switch initiatives, Laurel now preserves the existing work codes if they’re within the code range for the new initiative. This removes unnecessary re-prediction and reduces editing and other rework.

‍Duplicate a released entry

A highly-requested quality-of-life improvement for timekeepers, released time entries can now be directly duplicated without rebuilding them from scratch. This saves time and simplifies timesheet creation workflows.

‍Narrative dictation

Timekeepers can speak their narratives aloud and Laurel will transcribe them directly — a faster and more natural way to complete entry descriptions. 

‍Grouped codes

Code ranges can now be displayed exactly as they are in a firm’s PMS, grouped and sorted so timekeepers can find the right code instantly. This small change dramatically improves the accuracy of coding and reduces confusion across large, complex engagements.

‍Narrative shortcut improvements (firm & user levels)

Narrative shortcuts now support firm-level and user-level versions of the same text, with clear icons, preview text, and improved keyboard navigation. This allows the right balance between enterprise control and personal flexibility in narrative shortcut creation and utilization. 

Visibility and insights enhancements

New global header with daily & weekly totals

One of our most anticipated improvements for 2025 was the redesigned Timesheet header. It provides a streamlined, at-a-glance summary of progress toward daily and weekly billable goals, addressing a critical need for timekeepers.

We heard from users across the industry about how important this visibility is. Sean Moorhead, an attorney at Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP, highlights the immediate value:

“I really like having daily and weekly billable totals viewable in the header (in addition to all tracked time). Billable hours are critical in a law firm, and it is so convenient seeing at a glance where I am for the day and for the week.”

The goal of the redesign was simple: make it effortless for timekeepers to understand what has been billed, what time is left to release, and where they stand against their weekly objectives. Sam Holly, a Paralegal Training & Workflow Coordinator at Tonkon Torp LLP, confirmed this result:

“I love how the new header puts weekly billable hours front and center. It’s a simple change that makes it much easier to manage your time without extra clicks.”

Ultimately, this increased visibility empowers timekeepers to manage their workload proactively and meet internal targets. Richard Lidstone, a Manager in People Advisory Services Tax at Ernst & Young LLP, noted the direct impact on goal tracking:

"The addition of the weekly total and chargeable hours has been a really helpful improvement which allows me to track my chargeable hours to meet service line targets as well as better manage my overall weekly time."

Delegate privacy controls

Timekeepers can now choose whether their delegates see their timesheet only, or both their timesheet and underlying activities. Firm-level policies and super-delegate permissions ensure the right balance between privacy and operational support.

Insights tab

A new tab in the Work Activity panel, Insights offers a clear, at-a-glance breakdown of time spent on specific categories of work—such as meetings, document work, email, or research. It provides timekeepers with instant visibility into their time usage patterns, helping them quickly understand where the day went across major activities and easily identify trends for better time management.

Compliance, Automated: The Intelligent Control Firms Need

Firms are under more pressure than ever to meet client expectations, enforce Outside Counsel Guidelines, and maintain audit-ready records, all without burying their teams in more reviews. This year, Laurel transformed compliance from a manual afterthought into a best-in-class, automated engine.

Here’s what we introduced in 2025 to strengthen compliance, reduce manual oversight, and give firms more confidence in every entry.

Four-tier compliance rule enforcement

Firm administrators now have precise control over how compliance rules are enforced with block, acknowledge, warn, and off options. These enforcement levels can be applied at the customer, client, or matter level,  giving firms the flexibility to honor every requirement without disrupting workflows.

Sync from Intapp Terms

Laurel now pulls compliance rules from Intapp Terms automatically, maps them to awareness or warn-only rules, and stays up-to-date on a configurable cadence. Firms get continuous alignment with their clients’ requirements without any manual maintenance.

OCG upload with AI rule extraction

Admins can upload OCG documents directly into Laurel to allow our AI to extract, structure, and apply the rules that govern compliance and narrative generation (with admin control over the whole process). The manual work of creating and maintaining large rule sets is now automated, entries are compliant from the moment they’re created, and bills get sent and paid in record time. Learn more about Laurel's compliance offering here.

Administration, Effortless: More Control With Less Overhead

For firm administrators, 2025 was a year of meaningful simplification. We focused on giving firms more control over the configuration, governance, and day-to-day operations of Laurel, while reducing the manual effort required to maintain those systems. The result is an experience that’s clearer, more intuitive, and far more scalable for firms of all sizes.

Here’s a look at the administrative improvements we delivered in 2025 to give firms more control with far less overhead.

One-click user disable

Super Customer Admins can now easily disable users, bringing true, enterprise-grade lifecycle management to Laurel. This helps firms keep their environments clean, secure, and easy to maintain as teams grow and change.

Bulk entry release

With bulk entry release, Super Customer Admins can release all ready-to-release entries across a five-week period in just a few clicks, dramatically reducing the administrative load during month-end and billing crunch periods.

Narrative shortcut management

Narrative libraries are now easier to set up and keep consistent. Firm-level narratives can sync automatically from Aderant or be created directly in Laurel, and the system manages conflicts and hierarchy behind the scenes. Admins can provide cleaner, more reliable narrative sets to timekeepers without the complexity of manual oversight.

Localization: Dutch, French, German, Portuguese & Nordic languages

Laurel is now available in a broader range of languages (with more coming soon), configurable at both the firm and user level. This enables global firms to support timekeepers in their preferred language and deploy Laurel consistently across international offices.

Optional codes toggle

Admins can now hide an optional codes field entirely for timekeepers who don’t need it, improving accuracy and keeping the entry experience focused and simple across different practice groups and billing structures.

Looking Ahead

The innovations we released this year are only the start. Laurel is accelerating its roadmap across three pillars: intelligent capture & timekeeping, automated compliance, and enterprise-scale administration. We’re continuing to expand our integrations, strengthen our AI models, and unlock new workflows that let timekeepers focus on the work that matters. 

To every customer, partner, and timekeeper who shaped this year’s progress: thank you. Your insight continues to guide our roadmap, and together, we’re building the future of timekeeping.

Here’s to the year we rewrote timekeeping, and to everything we’ll build together next.

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