Release 26.09 (September)

Thomas van Gemert
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Verbal time entry and other timekeepers in the mobile app

Verbal time entry is now available in the Legalsense mobile app for iOS and Android! Dictate a time entry on your phone between appointments. Use the microphone icon in the top-right corner to start a new verbal time entry. Press the icon to start and pause recording, then press Submit to send the entry: it appears as a draft, tinted orange, on the main screen for review. Swipe a draft to approve or delete it. Don't see the icon? Ask your Legalsense administrator to enable this feature.

The app also carries the Other timekeepers field, a long-standing request from firms whose fee earners sit in the same meeting: one entry covers you and the colleagues you select. Update the app from the App Store or Google Play to pick this up.

See also Mobile apps and Using verbal time entry.

Two screens from the Legalsense mobile app, side by side. On the left, the Verbal time entry screen with a large microphone button, a recording timer, Submit and Reset buttons, and a tip to mention the matter name or number. On the right, the New time entry screen with fields for date, time, billable time, matter, activity and description, and the Other timekeepers section expanded to show a Choose timekeepers field.
Dictating a time entry in the app, and the Other timekeepers field on the time entry form.

Matters, clients, and contacts

Matter and billing supervisors can be changed in bulk, with the Change supervisor action on the matter list. Select the matters to reassign, pick a name in New matter supervisor or New billing supervisor, and apply the change to the whole selection at once; Clear matter supervisor and Clear billing supervisor empty one or both fields instead.

The matter list with several matters selected and the Change supervisor dialog open over it. The dialog holds a New matter supervisor field with a Clear matter supervisor checkbox below it, a New billing supervisor field with a Clear billing supervisor checkbox, and a Change supervisor button. An arrow points at the supervisor icon in the bulk actions bar above the list.
Select the matters, then open Change supervisor from the bulk actions above the list.

A missing contact can be created on the spot. When you add a contact to a matter and the person or organization is not in Legalsense yet, use the New contact dropdown in the Add contact dialog: choose Organization or Natural person, fill in the contact, and save. You return to the matter with a confirmation, ready to add the contact person.

The Add contact dialog on a matter, with fields for contact, kind, their reference and address. At the bottom left the New contact dropdown is open, showing the options Organization and Natural person.
The New contact dropdown in the Add contact dialog, offering Organization and Natural person.

Matters and clients can be filtered on billable status, with the Is billable filter under More filters on the matter list and the client list. Use it to see all your billable or non-billable matters at once. See also Matter search and Client search.

The matter list in Legalsense with the filter panel expanded. A red box highlights the Is billable filter, its dropdown open on the options Yes and No below the empty default. Below the filters is the list of matters, with columns for number, name, date and supervisor.
The Is billable filter under More filters on the matter list, with the choice between Yes and No.

Invoices

The invoice template can be chosen per debtor, where a debtor's UBL e-invoice carries a PDF copy of the invoice. Set it on the debtor under Debtor information: PDF template for embedded invoice picks the layout, and UBL output content decides whether a copy is included at all. Each field has a Use system default checkbox that names the firm-wide value, so debtors you leave alone keep following the setting under Settings → General → System → UBL, and a change applies to invoices sent from that point on. See also Invoices in UBL.

The UBL output content and PDF template for embedded invoice fields on a debtor. Each field has a Use system default checkbox naming the firm-wide value, above a dropdown. Here the output content is set to UBL XML with embedded PDF and the template to First page only.
Setting the embedded invoice template for one debtor.

The invoice edit page has an updated layout, in the styling of the rest of the application. An action bar now stays in view at the bottom of the page while you scroll, so you can save your changes sooner. When you open several invoices from the invoice list, Previous and Next in that bar move you through the selection, and the save actions read Save as draft and next and Save as final and next until the last invoice: you edit, save, and move on without going back to the list each time.

The invoice edit page in its updated styling, showing the invoice details card with tags, address, number, dates, language and invoice template, and the header text editor below it. The action bar at the bottom of the page holds Next on the left and Save as draft and next and Save as final and next on the right.
The action bar stays in view at the bottom of the invoice edit page, with the batch navigation on the left and the save actions on the right.

Other changes

Users are easier to tell apart at a glance, because a user without a profile picture is shown as their initials in a colored circle, wherever avatars appear. Everyone can pick their own color or picture on their own user page, and admin users can set it for someone else.

A list of users in Legalsense. Each row shows a circular avatar beside the name and role. Most are initials on a colored background, in dark blue, olive, purple, magenta, dark red, navy and teal, and one user has an uploaded photo.
Initials in distinct colors make a list of people easier to scan.
The top of a user's page, with the breadcrumb Home, Users, Jan 't Hart, General. The user's initials avatar sits beside their name and role, with an edit icon over the avatar and a tooltip reading Change profile image.
Select the avatar on your own user page to upload a picture or pick a background color.

Improvements and reliability

Alongside the changes above, release 26.09 includes more than 50 small and technical improvements you may notice, including:

  • On a phone or a narrow window, the timesheet search results scroll sideways, so you can read every column.
  • The timekeeper and supervisor fields on the timesheet search page search as you type, so the suggestions load faster at firms with hundreds of users.
  • Invoice pages are held up less often while draft amounts are recalculated in the background.
  • A debtor number you type yourself is kept when you save an organization contact.
  • Choosing a different contact on a matter or debtor form updates the contact person list to match it.
  • The matter list filter for blocked billables also finds matters blocked through their matter status.
  • Improved NetDocuments integration reliability when a repository listing comes back incomplete.

The changes in the API can be viewed here: API changelog release 26.09 (September).

For more information about Legalsense features, visit our knowledge base.

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