Hourglass
Hourglass captures attorneys’ work across email, documents, calls and research, then drafts time entries with matter details, billing codes and AI-written na…
What Hourglass is
Hourglass captures attorneys’ work across email, documents, calls and research, then drafts time entries with matter details, billing codes and AI-written narratives. Before an entry reaches a bill, it checks the entry against the client’s outside counsel guidelines to help prevent deductions. Firms can upload guidelines as PDF, Word or email files; Hourglass extracts requirements into rules linked to their source paragraphs. Every entry needs timekeeper approval, and Hourglass says it never submits entries on anyone’s behalf. For deductions, it connects them to time entries, attaches work evidence and prepares appeals for review and editing. Listed capture sources include Outlook, Word, Teams, Zoom, browsers and legal research tools; billing destinations include Elite 3E, Aderant, ProLaw, Litify and Clio. Each firm has a separate application deployment and database. Hourglass describes TLS protection, AES-256 encryption at rest and a readable audit record for each firm. Deployments and customer data are hosted and processed in the United States. The web product is aimed at litigation and insurance-defense firms; implementation typically takes about a month, starting with a small pilot group. Pricing is on request.
Good
- Checks entries against client outside counsel guidelines
- Requires timekeeper approval before billing
- Links deductions to evidence and draft appeals
- Provides separate application deployment and database per firm
- Lists major legal billing integrations
Watch out
- Pricing is on request
- Implementation typically takes about a month
- Every entry requires timekeeper approval
Who it suits
Hourglass is intended for litigation and insurance-defense firms that want to capture attorneys’ work, check entries against client guidelines and prepare deduction appeals. Firms should be ready for an implementation that typically takes about a month.
Verdict
Hourglass combines work capture, guideline checks and reviewable billing entries for litigation and insurance-defense firms. Pricing is available on request, and firms should account for its typical month-long rollout.
The facts
Each one read from Hourglass's own pages, with the date it was checked.
Where it runs
- Appeals
- Hourglass ties deductions to entries, attaches evidence of the work, and drafts appeals for the billing team to review and edit.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Human approval
- Every entry requires timekeeper approval before it reaches a bill, and Hourglass says it never submits on anyone’s behalf.checked 8 Oct 2026
What it does
- Assurance
- Hourglass states that it has a SOC 2 Type I report and that its report and commitment letter outlining its path to Type II are available on request.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Audience and onboarding
- Hourglass describes its customers as litigation and insurance-defense firms and says implementation typically takes about a month, beginning with a small pilot group.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Custom integrations
- Hourglass says it can build a custom integration in two weeks when a firm’s system is not listed.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Data location
- Firm deployments and customer data are hosted and processed in the United States.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Data location and retention
- The security page says firm deployments and customer data are hosted and processed in the United States; core records follow firm-configured retention and the enterprise agreement, while processing data and operational logs generally have a rolling retention period of no more than 30 days.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Data retention
- Core customer records follow the firm’s configured retention and enterprise agreement; processing data and operational logs generally have rolling retention of no more than thirty days.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Dedicated deployments
- Each firm runs in its own application deployment and database, with customer application data not pooled into a shared database.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- Each firm gets a separate application deployment and database, with customer application data not pooled into a shared firm database.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Encryption and audit
- Hourglass says requests are protected with TLS, data is encrypted at rest with AES-256, and each firm has an audit record it can read.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Guideline setup
- Firms can upload client guidelines as PDF, Word, or email files, and Hourglass extracts requirements into rules linked to their source paragraphs.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Human review
- Every entry requires timekeeper approval before it reaches a bill, and Hourglass says it never submits entries on anyone’s behalf.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Incident notice
- The security page says affected firms are notified within 72 hours of a security incident.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Incident notification
- The security page says affected firms are notified within 72 hours of a security incident.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The integrations page lists tools including Outlook, Word, Teams, Zoom, Chrome, Claude, Harvey AI, and billing systems such as Elite 3E, Aderant, Clio, and Filevine.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Pricing
- The maker’s pages opened during this research did not state plan prices; the homepage invites firms to book a demo or estimate return.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Privacy frameworks
- The site lists CCPA, GDPR, and HIPAA among its compliance and assurance topics.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Product
- Hourglass automates legal timekeeping and billing compliance for law firms.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Security
- The security page says data is encrypted in transit with TLS and at rest with AES-256, and each firm has an audit record it can read.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Setup
- Hourglass says firm rollout usually takes about a month, beginning with a small pilot group.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Time capture
- It records attorneys’ work across email, documents, calls, and research and drafts time entries with matter details, billing codes, and AI-written narratives.checked 9 Oct 2026
Money
- Billing compliance
- It checks time entries against client outside counsel guidelines before prebill to help prevent deductions.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Billing rules
- It checks time entries against each client’s outside counsel guidelines before submission to help prevent deductions.checked 9 Oct 2026
