Automatic Time Entry from Calendar for Lawyers
Firms bill only about 2.4 hours of an 8-hour day. Unlogged work never becomes revenue. This workflow turns each calendar event into a suggested time entry you approve in one tap. Free n8n workflow, yours to keep.
Import it into n8n
- The button above downloads the workflow as a .json file — that is the whole download.
- In n8n, open the workflows list, choose Import from File, and select the file you just downloaded.
- Open each node flagged with a warning and connect your own credentials — none of ours are in the file.
- Run it once manually before you activate it, and check the output is what you expect.
How it works
- Runs every morning at 7am to build yesterday’s UTC date range and fetch events from Google Calendar.
- Filters to timed calendar events whose titles contain a bracketed matter reference (for example, “[2026-CH-042] …”) and calculates duration and metadata for each billable event.
- Searches Clio for a matching matter and either flags the event for manual handling if no exact display number match is found or prepares an Anthropic Claude prompt from the event’s metadata.
- Sends the prompt to Anthropic Claude to generate a short billing narrative, then validates the response with a safety self-check, keyword scanning, and a 200-character limit.
- Builds a single digest email that groups ready-to-approve drafts (with approval links) and items needing attention, logs the digest via an external compliance sub-workflow, and sends it via SMTP.
- When an attorney clicks an approval link, serves a review page via webhook and requires a POST confirmation before creating the time entry in Clio.
Compliance: assisted draft, always reviewed
This uses AI to draft from your own records, then sends the drafts only to attorneys at your firm for review. It never contacts clients or courts, and nothing is billed or posted until an attorney approves it.
What’s inside
- The time-entry workflowImport one JSON file. Each calendar event produces a suggested draft time entry.
- One-tap approvalYou review and approve. Nothing is billed without your say-so.
- Suggested narrativesA starting draft of the entry text, so you edit instead of writing from scratch.
- 20-minute deploy guide + LoomConnect your calendar. No developer needed.
✓ Works great when
- You lose billable time because logging entries is tedious
- Your day is already on your calendar
- You want a draft entry to approve, not a blank timesheet
✗ What breaks at scale
- You want entries drafted from email threads too, not just calendar
- You need it synced straight into your billing software
- You want firm-wide capture and reporting on realization
Frequently asked
What platform does this run on?
It runs on n8n, a free open-source automation tool you host yourself. Import one workflow file and connect your calendar. Nothing is locked to us.
Does it bill time automatically?
No. It drafts a suggested entry from a calendar event. You review, edit, and approve every entry before it becomes billable. Nothing bills without you.
Is this compliant for billing?
Yes. It is a drafting aid, not legal work. It suggests a time-entry narrative from your own calendar. You confirm accuracy and the time increment before anything is billed.
Can you sync it to my billing software?
Yes. The free version drafts entries. Direct sync into Clio, MyCase, or your billing tool is a Quick-Win Build, from $1,500, typically live within a week.
Want the version built for your firm?
Done-for-You Build.
The free workflow drafts entries from your calendar. When you want email-based capture, direct billing-software sync, and realization reporting, that is a Quick-Win Build. We wire it into your stack and hand it back tested.
What you get
- Time entries drafted from calendar and email threads
- Synced straight into Clio, MyCase, or your billing tool
- Firm-wide capture with realization reporting
- Narrative drafting tuned to your billing codes
