AI Legal Billing Software for New Zealand Law Firms

New Zealand lawyers face a familiar end-of-day challenge: reconstructing what happened in three client meetings, two phone calls, and a dozen emails — then translating it all into properly formatted time entries. The billing descriptions need to be professional. The units need to be in six-minute increments. And the entries need to flow into Clio, LEAP, or whatever practice management system the firm uses.

It is tedious work that consumes anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour each day. And it is work that AI can now handle in about ninety seconds.

LexUnits is an AI-powered legal billing platform built for law firms in Australia and New Zealand. It converts meeting recordings, transcripts, emails, and documents into structured, professional time billing entries — formatted in the 6-minute units that New Zealand firms use, with GST-exclusive amounts, ready to push directly into Clio or export to LEAP, Actionstep, and Smokeball.

Why New Zealand firms fit perfectly

New Zealand and Australian law firms share almost identical billing conventions. Both jurisdictions use 6-minute (0.1-hour) increments. Both use the same formal billing language — "attending upon," "perusing correspondence," "engrossing deed." Both charge on a GST-exclusive basis with tax handled separately. And both rely on the same practice management platforms.

This means LexUnits works for NZ firms without compromise. There is no awkward localisation. The billing output reads exactly the way a New Zealand solicitor would write it, because the professional conventions are the same.

Where NZ and Australia do differ — legislation, case law databases, GST rates, professional conduct rules — LexUnits handles those differences natively. When you select New Zealand as your jurisdiction, case law searches link to NZLII instead of AustLII, and AI prompts reference the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act rather than the ASCR.

Three ways to capture billable time

LexUnits offers three input methods, each designed for a different moment in a lawyer's day:

Record and bill. Upload an audio or video recording of a client meeting, phone call, or conference. AI transcribes the audio, identifies the billable work, extracts matter references and client names, and generates structured entries. A 45-minute meeting recording typically produces complete billing entries in about 90 seconds.

Email and document billing. Upload a client email, a contract, a set of instructions, or any legal document. AI analyses the content, determines the type of legal work involved, and creates entries with appropriate descriptions and time estimates. Upload multiple files at once — each file is analysed separately.

Quick summary billing. Simply type a rough summary of your day: "2hrs reviewing the Morrison settlement deed, 30min call with client about completion timeline, 15min emailing agent re inspection." AI converts your shorthand into properly formatted professional billing entries.

What the output looks like

Every entry LexUnits generates includes the fields your practice management system expects:

• Description — Professional billing language (e.g., "Attending upon client John Morrison regarding settlement deed for property at 14 Queen Street, Auckland; reviewing completion timeline and advising on outstanding conditions")
• Time — In 0.1-hour increments, rounded up to the nearest six minutes
• Date — Extracted from the source material or defaulting to today
• Matter reference — Extracted from any mention of client names, file numbers, or case references
• Timekeeper — Identified from the transcript or set via Session Context
• Confidence level — High, medium, or low, indicating how certain the AI is about each entry

You review and edit everything before exporting. Every entry is editable inline. You can polish individual descriptions with one click, adjust times, split or merge entries, and toggle between Conservative and Thorough views to filter by confidence level.

Exporting to your practice management system

LexUnits supports the practice management platforms NZ firms actually use:

Clio — Direct API integration. Connect your Clio account via OAuth, and push billing entries directly into Clio with one click. Matters are auto-matched by reference number. No file downloads, no manual imports.

LEAP — XLSX export. Download entries in LEAP's import format with the correct column headers, date formatting, and GST-exclusive rates.

Actionstep — XLSX export. Formatted with Actionstep's required fields including the YYYY-MM-DD date format.

Smokeball — XLSX export. Compatible export with Smokeball's expected column structure.

Generic CSV/XLSX. For any other system, a clean spreadsheet export you can adapt as needed.

Beyond billing: AI legal tools for NZ lawyers

LexUnits is not just a billing tool. Every plan includes a suite of AI legal tools that NZ lawyers can use immediately:

Meeting Minutes. Upload a recording or paste a transcript, and receive structured professional minutes with speaker identification, key decisions, and action items. Useful for any meeting, not just legal ones.

Contract Review. Upload a contract — lease, employment agreement, service agreement, sale and purchase — and receive an instant risk analysis identifying key clauses, missing protections, unusual terms, and plain-language recommendations.

Document Summary. Drop in a lengthy document and get a structured summary with key points, parties, dates, and obligations extracted automatically.

Case Law Search. Describe a legal issue and receive relevant NZ case law with direct NZLII links. Select New Zealand as your jurisdiction and the results focus on NZ authorities.

Legislation Lookup. Search for relevant New Zealand Acts and Regulations with key sections, plain-language explanations, and NZLII links.

Additional tools include legal letter drafting, contract comparison, research memo generation, witness statement drafting (affidavits, statutory declarations), attendance note conversion, and precedent document generation — all with New Zealand jurisdiction support.

Compliance and the Rules of Conduct

Under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008, New Zealand lawyers are required to charge fees that are fair and reasonable. Rule 9.1 sets out the factors to be considered, and the NZ Law Society has made clear in disciplinary decisions that accurate time recording is essential to demonstrating fee reasonableness.

A 2024 Standards Committee decision highlighted a case where a lawyer was found to have overcharged by $70,000 in part because adequate time records did not exist. The Committee noted that the absence of reliable time records made it impossible to justify the fees charged.

AI-assisted billing helps with this in two ways. First, it captures work as it happens — reducing the gap between performing work and recording it. Second, it generates detailed, specific descriptions rather than the vague entries ("research," "emails") that tend to result from end-of-day reconstruction.

Pricing

LexUnits charges in AUD, which is straightforward for NZ firms (your bank handles the conversion at the prevailing rate). Plans start at AUD $19 per month for 50 credits, with a free trial of 10 credits — no credit card required.

One credit equals one AI operation: generating billing from a transcript, reviewing a contract, producing meeting minutes, and so on. The free polish feature (improving billing descriptions) costs no credits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does LexUnits work for New Zealand law firms?

Yes. LexUnits fully supports New Zealand law firms. It uses the same 6-minute billing units and formal legal billing descriptions used throughout New Zealand. Jurisdiction dropdowns include New Zealand for case law search, legislation lookup, witness statements, precedent generation, and research memos. Case law links go to NZLII for NZ matters.

How does LexUnits handle GST for New Zealand?

LexUnits generates all billing entries as GST-exclusive amounts. Since New Zealand GST is 15% (compared to Australia's 10%), the actual GST calculation is handled by your practice management software when you import the entries. LexUnits focuses on generating the time entries themselves — your PMS handles tax.

Can LexUnits search New Zealand case law and legislation?

Yes. When you select New Zealand as your jurisdiction in the Case Law Search or Legislation Lookup tools, LexUnits identifies relevant NZ cases and legislation with direct links to NZLII (New Zealand Legal Information Institute). For Australian matters, it links to AustLII. The Research Memo tool also adapts its citations and analysis based on the jurisdiction you select.