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Announcing Ajax's PracticePanther Integration

Every hour a lawyer works but doesn't bill is revenue that vanishes. The culprit is almost never laziness - it's the five-minute reply to opposing counsel, the quick case law search between calls, the ten-minute client check-in before lunch. 

None of it gets logged because none of it feels worth stopping to record. We built our PracticePanther integration to close that gap. 

Ajax captures your work as it happens, drafts time entries in your voice, and syncs them directly into PracticePanther. You review and release - that's it.

What Is Ajax?

Ajax is a native desktop application, supplemented by integrations, that reads the words on your screen in real time, pixel by pixel. From there, it:

  • Automatically generates time entries across every application - no separate integration needed for each one

  • Writes client-ready narratives in your firm's style

  • Groups related tasks into coherent entries instead of a chronological list

  • Attributes work to the correct matter, even when key people aren't in your CRM

The first question we get from lawyers is usually about privacy, so let's cover that upfront:

  • Rolling, automatic data deletion. Screen content is processed, used to generate entries, and deleted. We don't hang onto your data.

  • No model training. We don't use your data to train our models.

  • No downstream vendor retention. Our infrastructure vendors (including AI providers) are contractually prohibited from retaining or training on any data that passes through our system.

  • SOC 2 compliance.

  • Individual silos. Nobody else can see what's in your Ajax - not even managing partners.

The screen-reading approach is different from integration-based AI timekeepers, which pull metadata from specific apps via APIs. Integration-based tools have a real advantage in simplicity - they're lighter-weight and easier to deploy. 

But if you're working in an application they haven't built a connector for, that work doesn't get captured. We read the screen itself, so we capture work across any application. Our blind spot is anything that never touches a screen - handwritten notes, in-person conversations, pen-and-paper brainstorming.

What Is PracticePanther?

PracticePanther is a cloud-based practice management platform, and if you're reading this, you're probably already using it to manage your cases and send invoices. It consolidates the core of a firm's operations into one system:

  • Case management and matter tracking

  • Billing and invoicing

  • Calendaring and deadlines

  • Client communication and document storage

PracticePanther also includes built-in time tracking - manual timers and after-the-fact entry. These work fine if you remember to use them. The problem is that most lawyers don't, consistently. 

The gap between doing the work and logging the work is where firms lose billable hours, and that's the gap this integration closes.

What the Ajax + PracticePanther Integration Does

We built a deep, two-way sync between Ajax and PracticePanther:

  • When you release an entry from Ajax, it appears in PracticePanther.

  • When you edit an entry in PracticePanther, the change reflects in Ajax.

  • When you add a new entry in PracticePanther, it shows up in Ajax.

  • When you change a matter name or activity code in PracticePanther, Ajax updates accordingly.

Here's what syncs: matters, time entries, activity codes (both Custom and UTBMS), users, narratives, and calendar events. Changes flow in both directions.

Many AI timekeeping integrations use a one-way sync - entries push into your billing system, and that's the end of the data flow. 

One-way integrations are simpler to build and maintain, which is a genuine advantage. The tradeoff is that if you edit an entry afterward in your billing system, the change doesn't flow back, and the two systems can drift apart. Our integration syncs in both directions, so edits in either Ajax or PracticePanther stay consistent.

We also built a side-by-side view that shows your PracticePanther entries alongside your Ajax drafts in a two-column layout. From there, you can:

  • Merge an Ajax draft directly into an existing PracticePanther entry

  • Edit PracticePanther entries from inside Ajax

  • Release new entries to PracticePanther

All without switching tabs.

Ajax doesn't replace PracticePanther. It handles the capture-and-draft stage so that by the time entries reach PracticePanther, they're already written, attributed to the correct matter, and coded with the right activity codes.

How the Integration Works - Step by Step Guide

There are four stages: data pull, real-time drafting, attorney review, and sync back to PracticePanther. Three of them are fully automated. The only step that requires your attention is the review, which typically takes a few minutes per day.

Step 1 - Ajax Pulls Your Matter Data From PracticePanther

When you connect Ajax to PracticePanther, we import:

  • Your matters and case data

  • Time entries (existing history)

  • Activity codes (Custom and UTBMS)

  • Users across the firm

  • Narratives and calendar events

This gives us the full picture of your billing structure. We also read your prior entries to customize our narrative output to match your style - if you always write "Review and respond to correspondence from Opposing Counsel re: discovery deadlines" rather than "Reviewed email from John Smith about discovery," we pick up that pattern and apply it.

To be clear: we don't train models on your data. We build a set of plain-English rules that describe your preferences, then delete the source data under our rolling deletion policy.

Once setup is complete, Ajax runs in the background for approximately two days before your firm's official kickoff. That way, your first experience isn't a blank tool - it's real entries already waiting for you.

Step 2 - Ajax Drafts Entries as You Work

As you work throughout the day - switching between email, documents, calls, research - Ajax captures your screen activity, calendar events, and emails in real time. Two things make this different from a timer or activity tracker:

  • Intelligent grouping. If you spend 20 minutes reviewing a motion before your 10 AM call, 45 minutes after lunch researching that motion, and a final 15-minute editing pass before end of day, we combine that into a single 1-hour-and-20-minute entry with a coherent narrative. You don't have to piece it together yourself.

  • Matter attribution. Our attribution system identifies relevant names, addresses, and case-specific keywords from your screen content. Even if opposing counsel's name or a property address isn't in your PracticePanther contacts, we pick it up from the documents and emails you're working with.

When we can't attribute something confidently, we flag it for you to assign - and then learn from that correction for next time.

Step 3 - Review and Approve Entries in Ajax

We surface your draft entries in a side-by-side view: Ajax drafts on the left, your existing PracticePanther entries on the right. From here, you can:

  • Merge an Ajax draft directly into an existing PracticePanther entry

  • Edit narratives in place

  • Approve and release with a click

Instead of reconstructing your entire day from memory, you're reviewing entries that are already written. Most of our users spend a few minutes on this step.

Step 4 - Approved Entries Sync to PracticePanther

Once you release an entry, it appears in PracticePanther ready for invoicing. Any edits you make afterward - in either Ajax or PracticePanther - stay in sync. You won't end up with duplicate entries or need to copy-paste between systems.

What Doesn't Sync

PracticePanther contacts and CRM records don't get pulled into Ajax. We build our own case-specific dictionaries from your screen content instead - names, addresses, and keywords that help us attribute work to the correct matter.

This approach catches people and details that are in your emails and documents but often aren't in your CRM:

  • Judges and court staff

  • Opposing counsel's associates

  • Property addresses and case-specific locations

  • Jurors, witnesses, and peripheral parties

Troubleshoot Common Integration Issues

Most issues fall into four categories.

  • Authentication timeouts. OAuth tokens can expire after extended inactivity. If Ajax stops syncing, re-authenticate from Ajax's settings - your draft entries are stored in Ajax and won't be lost.

  • Duplicate entries. Usually caused by manually creating an entry in PracticePanther before Ajax synced. Use the side-by-side view to spot the overlap and merge the Ajax draft into the existing entry.

  • Sync delays. Entries typically sync within seconds. Occasional delays happen during PracticePanther maintenance windows - you can force a manual sync from Ajax's settings.

If something isn't covered here, our support team handles integration issues directly - you don't need to contact PracticePanther separately for problems on our side. We take integration support seriously.

Keep Your Client Data Secure

The privacy protections we outlined above - rolling deletion, no model training, no downstream vendor retention, SOC 2 compliance, individual silos - all apply equally to data flowing through the PracticePanther integration. Connecting the two systems doesn't create new exposure.

A few PracticePanther-specific details worth noting:

  • Entries you release from Ajax to PracticePanther travel over encrypted connections. Once they're in PracticePanther, they're governed by PracticePanther's own security policies.

  • The OAuth connection between Ajax and PracticePanther can be revoked at any time from either side.

ABA Model Rules 1.1 and 1.6. Lawyers have a duty of competence with technology (Rule 1.1, Comment [8]) and a duty to safeguard confidential client information (Rule 1.6). Our architecture - encryption in transit and at rest, automatic deletion, no third-party retention - is designed to support both obligations. If your firm requires a Business Associate Agreement, reach out to our team during onboarding.

Final Thoughts

For firms, the core promise is straightforward: the gap between doing your work and billing for it gets smaller. Our integration runs in both directions, stays in sync in real time, and handles the narrative writing and matter attribution that make manual timekeeping such a grind.

The firms that recover the most billable time aren't the ones with the best intentions about timekeeping - they're the ones that remove friction from the process entirely. Two-way sync with your existing billing system is what makes that possible.

If you want to see what it looks like with your own work, book a demo and we'll walk you through it.

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