Actionstep unveils AI time capture tool Trace for firms

Actionstep has announced Trace, a new time capture module that uses AI and passive activity tracking for law firms that bill by the hour.

The company said Trace will sit alongside its existing cloud-based law firm management platform, which Actionstep said supports nearly 5,000 law firms globally and around 50,000 users. Actionstep plans to offer Trace as a premium add-on module.

Actionstep positions Trace as a response to the longstanding difficulty of recording billable work accurately and promptly. The company said many legal teams still rely on manual timesheets and memory to recreate work at the end of the day or week.

Trace records activity as work happens, according to Actionstep. The product tracks work across tools such as Outlook, Word, PDFs and websites. It also tracks activity within Actionstep.

Actionstep said Trace detects activity automatically and generates draft time entries. The company said the system maps activity to clients and matters and produces time narratives for review and approval.

Actionstep said it aims to keep "human judgement" in the process. It said Trace automates administrative steps and presents draft entries for users to approve.

"For modern law firms, time capture should no longer depend on painful end-of-day guesswork or end-of-week catch-up. With Trace, time capture happens seamlessly in the background, helping firms maximize revenue realization while dramatically reducing timekeeper administration," said Triona Buckley, Chief Product Officer, Actionstep.

Acquisition move

Actionstep also disclosed an acquisition tied to the Trace launch. It said it recently acquired Traced, an early-stage passive time capture startup.

The company said Traced Founder Aiden Bub has joined Actionstep's in-house Time Capture team. Actionstep described Bub as an experienced AI product leader.

Actionstep said the acquisition influences its product roadmap and strengthens its ability to develop workflow-focused AI products for law firms. The company framed the move as a way to build time capture features aimed at midsize firms.

"Time and billing is one of the most strategic pillars of practice management," said Buckley.

"We've been closely watching the market for truly innovative, AI-powered approaches to time capture that have proven the benefits for midmarket customers. We identified Traced as the best option for Actionstep to add to our broader advanced time capture capabilities given its midmarket focus, depth of features and product maturity. We loved the name, but modified it to Trace, as modern time capture happens in the present tense, not in retrospect!" said Buckley.

Feature set

Actionstep listed several features for Trace. They include passive, AI-enabled activity capture across applications and precision time tracking "down to the second". Actionstep also said Trace includes AI-powered matter mapping that assigns work to matters and billing codes.

The company said Trace generates narratives for bill-ready entries. It said the system uses "firm-approved language and preferences".

Actionstep also highlighted "off-platform capture" that tracks billable work in third-party tools. The company also cited "flexible rate card improvements" that "decouples time from rates" and supports different billing structures.

"Trace uses AI to ensure work is captured accurately, coded correctly, and presented using firm-approved language and preferences," said Buckley. "Trace fast-tracks billing and supports more flexible rate models. It's a win for law firm management, a win for everyone who tracks time at law firms, and a meaningful leap forward for our customers who already rely and love our core time capture features today," said Buckley.

Demand signals

Actionstep pointed to its own survey work as evidence of demand for improvements in time capture. The company cited its 2025 US Midsize Law Firm Priorities Report.

Actionstep said the report found that 35% of midsize firms rank time tracking among their top technology investment priorities. The company linked the issue to financial performance and client service.

The timing of the launch comes as legal technology suppliers increase their focus on AI features that sit inside daily workflows. In the legal sector, suppliers have targeted billing, document work and matter management as areas for automation and analysis.

Rollout plans

Actionstep said it will make Trace available to select customers from February 2026. It plans a full release in April 2026. It said existing customers will continue to use the current time tracking features as part of the core platform.

The company said Trace will form part of a broader product roadmap that includes Acumen, which it described as an advanced business intelligence module, and Capture, which it described as a data collection module. Actionstep said it plans demonstrations of Trace at Legalweek 2026 in March.