Each month, we share a summary of what’s new in Laurel, highlighting the product updates and workflow improvements we shipped to support fast, accurate, and compliant timekeeping.

Below is a look at what we released in January 2026.

⏳ For timekeepers

Feature update: Enhanced Timer Carryover

Laure’s Timer Carryover feature now automatically carries over all timers from your last active workday—not just timers that were actively used. This means every recurring task is ready to go when you start your day, without needing to manually recreate timers.

A new Timer Board Settings panel (located to the left of the "Create Timer" button) allows timekeepers to enable Daily Carryover and customize which details transfer with timers: narrative, codes, and notes. All carried-over timers start at 0.0 hours to ensure accurate billing for the current day.

Learn more about Timer Carryover here.

Feature update: Activity Threading Enhancements

Activity Threading was released in December 2025, and we’ve continued to improve this feature to make it even more useful and customizable.

There are now three Threading settings to choose from in your Work Activity Preferences:

• Threaded: Related activities are “stacked” together in your Work Activity panel, making it fast and easy to pull work done on the same task into a time entry.
• Linked: Related activities are visually “linked” in your Work Activity panel, making it easy to see which activities might belong in the same time entry.
• Off: Related activities are not surfaced in any way and appear individually in your Work Activity panel.

In addition, activities in Work Groups can now be threaded.

Learn more Activity Threading here.

💻 For firm administrators

New feature: Initiative Management

Laurel now includes a dedicated Initiatives tab (labeled "Matter Management" or "Project Management") in Customer Settings, where administrators can search for initiatives and view key configuration details synced from your practice management system. This includes initiative status, client association, billable/non-billable status, billing increment, available code types, complete code ranges, and sync dates.

This feature enables fast, self-serve access to initiative information.

Feature update: Restricted Words Enhancements

Administrators can now apply different enforcement levels—Warn, Acknowledge, or Block—to restricted word groups, giving firms more granular control over sensitive language in time entries. The Warn level flags language without blocking release (the current default behavior for all existing restricted word groups). Acknowledge requires timekeeper acknowledgment before release. Block prevents release until the language is corrected.

These enforcement levels help reduce non-compliant entries and downstream billing issues while providing clear guidance to timekeepers.

Learn more about Restricted Words here.

New feature: Delegate Mapping

Laurel can now automatically sync delegate relationships from your practice management system, eliminating the need to manually configure and maintain these relationships in Laurel. When enabled, delegate assignments are imported nightly, ensuring timekeepers and their delegates always have the correct access without administrator intervention. Administrators can configure whether delegates receive timesheet-only access or full timesheet and activities access.

This feature requires implementation by the Laurel team—contact your Customer Success Manager if you're interested in enabling it.

✍️ Requested & released

This important improvement was built and launched based on feedback from our customers.

New feature: Trainer role

Administrators can now assign a Trainer role to designated users who need to run internal training sessions about Laurel. The Trainer role is additive (users can be both a Trainer and hold another role like Customer Administrator).

Trainers can instantly populate their account with 60-100 realistic, industry-specific sample activities by choosing between External Legal or External Accounting data sets. This eliminates the need to use sensitive client data or spend hours manually creating training scenarios.

Check back next month for more updates from Laurel!

Each month, we share a summary of what’s new in Laurel, highlighting the product updates and workflow improvements we shipped to support fast, accurate, and compliant timekeeping.

Below is a look at what we released in December 2025.

🧵 New feature: Activity Threading

Activity Threading intelligently identifies related work activity – like work done in the same email thread, or on the same document – and pulls it into a single, “stacked” view in the Work Activity panel.

A major step forward in timekeeping automation, this feature eliminates the the need to search through a long list of activities to reconstruct the day. Timekeepers can now move from activity to entry in just a few clicks, ensuring more accurate and complete time entries with significantly less effort.

Learn more Activity Threading here.

☎️ New feature: RingCentral Call Capture

Once enabled at your firm, RingCentral calls are now automatically captured and surfaced as work activity, typically including participant names, call start time, and call duration. This eliminates the need to build manual entries for RingCentral calls.

Learn more about enabling RingCentral call capture here.

🌐 Feature update: Dutch language localization

Localization allows timekeepers to use Laurel in their preferred language, with translated interfaces and region-appropriate date and number formatting.

In addition to French, German, and Nordic languages, Laurel now supports Dutch. Spanish localization is coming soon.

Learn more about Localization here.

✍️ Requested & released

These small-but-important improvements were built and launched based feedback from our customers:

• Narrative template “quick add”: Timekeepers can create narrative templates (with shortcuts) directly from the Create Entry modal.
• Hide/show timers: Timekeepers can hide in-line timers to create more workspace in the Create Entry modal, and bring them back with one click.
• Refreshed activity filters: Clearer, cleaner work activity filters are now available for timekeepers in the All view, with new support for filtering by app.
• Code descriptions on hover: Timekeepers can now hover over a work code from the Timesheet view to instantly view the code’s full description.
• 24+ hour entry warning: Timekeepers now get a clear warning if they’ve created an entry that’s more than 24 hours long, which helps prevent billing errors.
• Codes displayed on timers: Timer “cards” (on the Timer Board) and in-line timers now show work codes at a glance, making it easier for timekeepers to identify their timers and create accurate entries.
• Sidebar upgrade: The sidebar in the Laurel web app now remains persistent and accessible for timekeepers, even when the third panel (the calendar) is collapsed.

Check back next month for more updates from Laurel!

We're excited to introduce OCG Compliance Extraction—a powerful new capability that transforms how you configure compliance rules from Outside Council Guidelines (OCGs). Instead of spending weeks manually transcribing compliance requirements from dense legal documents, you can now upload OCG PDFs, review AI-extracted rules, and deploy validated rules to your compliance engine in minutes.

What's Changing

Before: Manual OCG processing required extensive time to read through PDF documents, transcribe rules, and configure compliance settings—often taking 15+ minutes per document with no source traceability and high risk of transcription errors.

After: Upload all of your OCG PDFs, let AI extract time-based compliance rules ready for your review and validation in an intuitive side-by-side interface, and deploy approved rules to your compliance engine—reducing processing time significantly.

Key Benefits

⚡ Autonomous Configuration in Minutes Upload OCG documents and map them to the correct client or matter level, then let AI handle the heavy lifting of rule extraction. Process typical 20-50 page documents within 2 minutes while you focus on validation rather than manual transcription.

🎯 Human-Validated Accuracy Review every extracted rule alongside the original source document in a split-screen interface. Edit any rule property, add missing rules, remove incorrect extractions, and see clear visual indicators distinguishing AI-extracted rules from your modifications—all before deployment.

📊 Comprehensive Compliance Coverage AI automatically classifies extracted rules into three structured categories: Enforced rules (with Block, Acknowledge, Warn, or Off recommendations), Awareness rules (with titles and descriptions), and Restricted Word Groups (with associated warning messages).

🚀 Platform-Wide Improvements Deployed rules feed directly into your compliance engine, enriching Laurel with comprehensive rule datasets that power superior real-time compliance detection and more accurate GenAI narrative generation during the timekeeping process.

Getting Started

1. Navigate to the OCG Compliance section in your Laurel dashboard
2. Upload your OCG PDF documents (up to 50 at once)
3. Map each document to the appropriate client or matter
4. Initiate extraction and review AI-extracted rules
5. Edit, validate, and approve rules for deployment

Important Notes

• Supported formats: PDF documents only (up to 10MB per file)
• Mapping: Each document maps to a single client or matter (not both)
• Post-deployment: Rules become read-only after approval; edit them through your standard compliance settings if changes are needed
• Document management: Delete documents at any stage before approval; approved documents are preserved for audit integrity

Additional Resources

• Video Overview
• Documentation

Questions? Contact your Customer Success Manager or reach out to our support team.

We're excited to announce two new features designed to help you work more efficiently: the Insights tab for activity visibility and Voice Dictation for faster entry creation.

🎤 Voice Dictation for Entry Descriptions

What's new: Voice-to-text dictation capability for creating entry descriptions.

What's changing:

• Before: Manual typing required for all entry descriptions
• After: Option to speak your descriptions and have them automatically converted to text

Key benefits:

• Faster entry creation for verbal communicators
• Perfect for users who prefer speaking over typing
• Natural speech-to-text conversion

How to use: During entry creation, click the new dictate button 🎤 and speak your description. Your voice will be automatically converted to text. Traditional typing remains available for those who prefer it.

📊 Insights Tab

What's new: A new Insights tab in your work activity panel gives you an at-a-glance view of your day's captured activity.

What's changing:

• Before: Only available on a day with no entries
• After: Instant visibility into where you have spent your time with activity breakdowns by type (meetings, web research, phone calls, etc.)

Key benefits:

• Quick daily overview of where your time is being spent
• Visual breakdown by activity type for better time awareness
• Easy access directly from your work activity panel

How to access: Navigate to your work activity panel and click on the new Insights tab.

What's Changing

We're introducing five new productivity improvements that change how you interact with timers, view activity insights, select activities, save narratives, and export data.

New Features

Persistent Timers

• What's New: Timers from your last active workday now automatically transfer to the current day
• Previously: You had to manually recreate timers each day
• Now: Only actively used timers persist with initiative, narrative, and code information carrying forward (duration resets to zero)

Duplicate Entry

• What's New: New functionality to duplicate entries across multiple days
• Previously: Had to manually recreate similar entries for different days
• Now: Select any entry (including released ones) and duplicate across chosen date range - copies everything except underlying activities or timers

Enhanced Activity Selection

• What's New: Enhanced version of existing activity selection functionality
• Previously: Basic activity selection available
• Now: Improved shift+click range selection making activity selection faster and more intuitive

Narrative Auto-Save

• What's New: Streamlined saving process for narrative shortcuts at both customer and user level
• Previously: Required double-save action
• Now: Automatic single-save eliminates the double-save issue

PDF Export Options

• What's New: Two new export formats now available
• Previously: Limited export options
• Now: Single-day timesheet export to PDF from Timesheet, and a date range export from Time Control - making it easy to print and share your time tracking data

We're excited to announce several new features and improvements based on your feedback. These updates enhance compliance management, improve workflow efficiency, and provide greater flexibility in how you interact with our platform.

New Features

Time Management Improvements

Activity Sorting in All Tab

• Sort your time entries by start time in chronological or reverse chronological order

Multiple User Selection in Time Control

• For our Customer Admins, you can now select and view multiple users' time entries simultaneously from the dropdown

User Name Display Enhancement

• Time Control and Time Control Export now display user names instead of user IDs

Enhanced Compliance Management

Intapp Terms - Group ID Support

• Compliance integrations now support group-level rule mapping for complete coverage
• Automatically maps group rules to associated clients within multi-entity organizations

User Experience Enhancements

Optional Codes Configuration

• New customer setting allows firms to show or hide optional code fields

Enhanced Save & Duplicate Workflow

• When duplicating entries and changing initiatives, applicable codes are automatically preserved
• Codes persist when they're part of the new initiative's code range, eliminating re-prediction

Optimized Notification Positioning

• Toast notifications moved to center position to prevent blocking the Work Activity panel

We are excited to announce the launch of Intapp Terms: Auto Sync, a powerful new feature designed to streamline your compliance rule management and ensure your firm always operates with the most current guidelines.

What's New?

Intapp Terms: Auto Sync enables Laurel to automatically and regularly synchronize compliance rules directly from Intapp Terms. This eliminates the manual effort previously required to keep your rules up-to-date and significantly reduces the risk of non-compliance due to outdated information.

Key Benefits

• Automated Rule Synchronization: Laurel now automatically pulls your time-related compliance rules from Intapp Terms at configurable intervals, ensuring they are always current.
• Reduced Compliance Risk: By always enforcing the latest rules, Intapp Terms: Auto Sync helps mitigate the risk of non-compliance with client requirements, damaged client relationships, and potential financial penalties.
• Enhanced Operational Efficiency: Eliminate the administrative burden of manually updating rules. Your team can focus on their core work, confident that compliance rules are seamlessly maintained.
• Full Visibility and Control: Administrators gain a dedicated dashboard to monitor the integration status, including the last successful sync, next scheduled sync, and the count of active rules. You also have the flexibility to select which specific rule categories (TermTemplateKeys) are synchronized.
• Reliable Data Integrity: The system ensures that previous rule sets remain in effect until a successful sync occurs, and includes robust error handling with retry logic.

How it Works

1. Configuration: As an administrator, navigate to the new "Compliance Integrations" section in Laurel. Select "Intapp Terms" and securely connect your Intapp Terms account using an API key.
2. Customization: Choose your preferred synchronization frequency and select the specific TermTemplateKeys (rule categories) you wish to sync to Laurel.
3. Automatic Sync: Once configured, Laurel will automatically pull and apply the selected rules from Intapp Terms on your defined schedule.
4. Monitoring: The integration dashboard provides a clear overview of sync status, history, and active rule counts, ensuring you're always informed.

Important Notes

• Setting up an Intapp Terms integration will remove all previously created Laurel rules. Subsequent syncs from Intapp Terms will also remove any Laurel-created rules.
• This is a scheduled synchronization, not a real-time update.
• This feature focuses on mapping rules from Intapp Terms to Awareness rules in Laurel for this initial version.
• The source of truth for all rules remains Intapp Terms; new rules cannot be created directly within Laurel via this integration.

FAQs

Q: What is Intapp Terms: Auto Sync?

A: It's a new feature that automatically synchronizes your compliance rules from Intapp Terms directly into Laurel, ensuring your rules are always current without manual effort.

Q: How often does the sync occur?

A: The synchronization frequency can be configured by an administrator to meet your firm's operational cadence.

Q: Can I choose which rules to sync?

A: Yes, administrators have full control over which specific rule categories (TermTemplateKeys) are synchronized to Laurel.

Q: What happens if a sync fails?

A: The system handles errors with retry logic, and the previous rule set remains in effect until a successful sync occurs.

Q: Is this a real-time sync?

A: No, the sync will be scheduled at configurable intervals, not instantaneous. It's a scheduled approach over real-time updates.

Q: Will Laurel update Intapp Terms rules?

A: No, this is a one way push from Terms into Laurel

Q: When I setup the sync will existing Laurel rules be reset?

A: Yes, if you have rules setup already and then turn on the Terms sync, we will start from scratch and then update based on Terms. After then, you can increase the level of enforcement and have that persist.

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We're excited to introduce you to the updated Laurel interface, designed based on your feedback to make time tracking more intuitive and efficient. New Global Header & Timesheet Actions What's changing? You'll notice a new Global Header that keeps your time totals accessible at all times, along with redesigned Timesheet Entries that are easier to manage and perform better. Why it matters Your goals at a glance: Easily track progress toward daily and weekly targets and hover for detailed breakdowns Take care of your time in bulk: Time Control access and Export to CSV allow you to manage time entries at a high level. More robust timesheet sorting options: Increased personalization for timesheet sorting. More efficient entry actions: Increased visibility of key actions such as delete, re-assign and merge. Powerful on any screen: Better experience on laptops and standard monitors Faster with more entries: Improved performance for days with many time entries New Entry Status Colors for Clarity Yellow now indicates any entry that requires an action (Release or Missing Details) Green shows entry content (Released, Release Pending) that is completed This consistent color scheme helps you quickly identify outstanding actions across both days and entries Two Ways to Show/Hide Work Activity Expand / collapse Laurel’s Work Activity panel in two ways: Dropdown in the global header menu The expand/collapse control sitting in the right margin We've designed this update to be intuitive, but if you have any questions, our support team is ready to help. ​

We're excited to announce a significant upgrade to our compliance capabilities with the release of Compliance Rules: Block, Acknowledge, Warn!

This enhancement provides administrators with more granular control over time entry compliance, helping your firm reduce write-downs and improve time entry quality at the source.

This new feature replaces the previous binary "On/Off" toggle for compliance rules with a flexible four-tier enforcement model (Block, Acknowledge, Warn, Off) for each compliance rule.

Key Features & Enhancements

Four-Tier Enforcement Model: Each compliance rule can now be configured with one of four distinct enforcement levels:

• Block: Prevents timekeepers from releasing a time entry until all critical compliance issues are resolved. Clear, specific error messages guide timekeepers on what needs to be fixed.
• Acknowledge: Allows timekeepers to release entries with compliance issues after explicitly acknowledging the violation through a confirmation dialog. This applies to individual and batch releases on the Timesheet.
• Warn: Maintains current functionality, displaying visual indicators of compliance issues directly in the narrative box without preventing release.
• Off: Disables the specific rule, meaning it will not be checked during entry creation and no notifications or barriers will appear.

Granular Administrative Configuration: Administrators can now select the desired enforcement level for each compliance rule via a new dropdown menu in the compliance settings interface. Configuration options are available at the Customer, Client, or Matter level.

Hierarchical Control: Rules can be configured at Customer, Client, or Matter level, with more specific settings (e.g., Matter) overriding higher-level settings (e.g., Customer).

Seamless Rule Migration: All your existing compliance rules that were previously set to "On" will be automatically migrated to the "Warn" mode upon release, ensuring no disruption to your current workflows. Rules that were "Off" will remain "Off".

Why this matters to you

• Reduce Write-Downs: Proactively stop non-compliant time entries from affecting your firm's revenue by preventing their release from Laurel. This follows the same entry validation as missing codes.
• Enhance Time Entry Quality: Improve the accuracy and completeness of time entries directly at the point of creation, reducing downstream rework.
• Flexible Compliance: Tailor your compliance enforcement strategy to your firm's unique business needs, ensuring rules are applied with the appropriate level of strictness.
• Increased Administrator Control: Gain the precise control you need to manage your firm's billing policies effectively.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: What is changing with compliance rules? A: We are replacing the simple "on/off" toggle for compliance rules with a new four-tier enforcement model: Block, Acknowledge, Warn, and Off. This gives you much more control over how strictly each rule is enforced.

Q: What do the new enforcement levels mean? A:

• Block: Prevents timekeepers from releasing an entry until the compliance issue is fixed.
• Acknowledge: Allows release after the timekeeper explicitly acknowledges the violation through a confirmation dialog.
• Warn: Displays a visual indicator of the violation but allows the timekeeper to release the entry without additional steps (current behavior).
• Off: The rule is not checked, and no notifications or barriers appear.

Q: How will my existing rules be affected? A: All your existing "On" rules will automatically be migrated to "Warn" mode, ensuring no disruption to your current workflow. Rules that were "Off" will remain "Off".

Q: Can I set different enforcement levels for different clients or matters? A: Yes, you can configure enforcement levels at the Customer, Client, or Matter level, with more specific settings overriding higher-level settings.

Q: Will this make time entry more difficult for my timekeepers? A: While stricter enforcement (Block, Acknowledge) might introduce new steps for non-compliant entries, it also ensures timekeepers receive clear guidance at the point of creation, helping them create accurate, billable entries that will have a higher likelihood of being paid. It helps reduce downstream issues and rework.

We're excited to announce the following enhancements to Time Control designed to improve efficiency and flexibility in managing time entries:

Bulk Release All ‘Ready to Release’ Entries

Super Customer Admins only can now release all time entries in the 'Ready to Release' state within a selected date range (up to 5 weeks).

This feature significantly reduces the time required for billing administrators to process large volumes of time entries.

• A "Bulk Release" button initiates the process.
• A date range must be selected before the action can be taken.
• The date range is capped at 5 weeks.
• Entries will be processed, and their status will be updated accordingly. Note: The status won’t immediately change to "release pending" but will do so shortly after processing begins.
• Laurel restricts the running of multiple bulk release jobs simultaneously; users will be required to wait until the current process is finished (bulk release button will be inactive until it’s complete).

Export/Print Time Entries

Provides the option to export time entries within a specified date range, matching the applied filters, to a .csv file, which can then be printed if needed. This is available to all users.

• A date range is required to limit the number of entries in the export.
• The date range is capped at 5 weeks
• The export will include all entries that match the filters applied at the time of export.
• Once the export is ready, the system will send an email to the user containing the .csv file which they can then download.
• Multiple exports cannot be run concurrently, and users will be notified of this restriction.
• The .csv output will be formatted as: Date | User ID | Client Name | Initiative Name | Initiative ID | Duration Hours | Summary | Work Codes | Entry Status

Available to all users, but permissions will be different depending on role:

• Timekeepers can only be able to see and export their own entries
• Super Customer Admin will be able to create exports for all users
• Customer Admin: They will only be able to see and export their own entries that they can see on Time Control
• Delegate: They will be able to create exports for all timekeepers they have delegate access to
• Super Delegate: They will be able to create exports for all users

Client Filtering

• Enables users to filter time entries by client.
• Displays all entries associated with a particular client, regardless of the matter.

Time Control: Delegate <> Delegator Access

• Grants delegates access to their delegators' time entries via Time Control, including all available bulk actions such as re-assign, export, and multi-day release.
• Allows users with access to others' timesheets to view their entries in Time Control.
• Users can filter Time Control by user ID.

❓ FAQs

Bulk Release

Q: Who can use the Bulk Release feature?
A: The Bulk Release feature is available to Super Customer/Laurel Admins only.

Q: What is the maximum date range for Bulk Release and exporting time entries?
A: The maximum date range for both Bulk Release and exporting time entries is 5 weeks. This is due to the amount of data potentially being released, so we needed to cap this.

Q: What happens to the status of entries after they are bulk released?
A: After bulk release, the entries' status will be updated accordingly. They won’t immediately be placed into "release pending" state, but they will be very soon after.

Q: Can I run multiple Bulk Release jobs or exports at the same time?
A: No, Laurel restricts running multiple Bulk Release jobs or exports simultaneously to prevent performance issues. Users will be notified and required to wait until the current process is finished.

Export
Q: How do I receive my exported time entry data?

A: Laurel will send an email containing the exported .csv file once it's ready. Which they can then download.

Q: Does the time entry export respect filters?
A: Yes, the export will include all entries that match the filters applied at the time of export

Q: What is the maximum date range for Bulk Release and exporting time entries?
A: The maximum date range for both Bulk Release and exporting time entries is 5 weeks. This is due to the amount of data potentially being released, so we needed to cap this.

Q: What does the Client Filtering feature show?
A: The Client Filtering feature displays all time entries associated with a particular client, regardless of the matter

Delegate Access to Entries via TC

Q: Who can see delegators' time entries?
A: Delegates can access their delegators' time entries via Time Control. This also includes anyone with the Super Delegate role.

Q: What actions can delegates take on delegators' time entries in Time Control?
A: Delegates have access to all the bulk actions available in Time Control, such as re-assign, export, and multi-day release, for their delegators' time entries