AI in Legal Practice: how Lawcloud and Fonzer truly make the difference

Law firms struggle daily with time-consuming administration (including telephony and billing), but smart AI integrations finally offer relief. Lawcloud and Fonzer have been working exclusively as partners for the legal sector for years and have therefore been able to realize deep integrations. We asked Joeri Maes (CEO Lawcloud), Kristof Dedeyne (founder Fonzer), Ben Holemans (founder Fonzer) and Filip Muylle (Customer Experience Manager Fonzer) how their partnership, practical benefits and the crucial role of Peppol towards 2026 deliver more billable hours without compromising privacy or ethics.

The Partnership: seamless tools for the legal sector

Lawcloud offers a digital management suite specifically for lawyers, focusing on case management, billing and workflow, while Fonzer provides advanced telephony with AI integrations such as transcription and virtual assistants. Lawcloud focuses on custom solutions for Belgian legal practice: from boutique firms and niche teams to mid-sized and large firms. Fonzer serves a broader business market, but integrates seamlessly with the specific needs of law firms through the integration.

The collaboration emerged from the need to fully incorporate telephony into the legal workflow and automate it as much as possible. Calls are automatically timed, linked to the correct case file and recorded according to any minimum time units, so even short calls or calls while traveling – which are often forgotten in time tracking and subsequent billing – are captured.

"With Lawcloud and Fonzer, we give lawyers precious time back every day: fewer manual tasks, more billable hours."

This combination is unique because it gives lawyers at least 15 minutes per day back. On Lawcloud's website, a ROI calculator shows how these 15 minutes of extra recorded time per day is enough to earn back many times the cost of your entire telephony and software costs. Unlike generic tools with standard tracking and limited integrations, Lawcloud and Fonzer build or customize features to measure, with API connections for a true all-in-one experience that works on laptop, tablet and smartphone.

AI in Practice: less chaos, more focus

Typical challenges in law firms regarding telephony usually revolve around (forgotten or decentralized) tracking and follow-up of any actions arising from conversations. With Lawcloud and Fonzer, a typical working day looks much more structured: legal assistants and lawyers receive pop-ups on incoming calls with direct case file links, call history and automatic tasks such as 'call back', resulting in less fragmentation and more billable hours.

Automatic transcription of calls will make a world of difference for the legal profession very soon. Telephony tracking in Lawcloud from the Fonzer platform happens automatically and flawlessly based on the metadata of the phone call (including the actual call duration).

Users especially appreciate how everything comes together around one central case file. Integrated telephony with caller identification provides instant context for every call, with quick insights into the case file, automatic time tracking and a complete, chronological history on one screen.

From that same environment, firms go one step further: time-consuming copy-and-paste work disappears because registered letters are automatically generated, sent via bpost and digitally signed via an integrated API, without separate uploads or extra tools. To-do lists with deadlines and responsible parties also provide clear follow-up, even when someone unexpectedly becomes unavailable – telephony, documents and tasks become one digital ecosystem.

Humans and Machines: ethics first

AI supports lawyers by automating repetitive tasks without replacing human judgment. Lawcloud regularly holds webinars advising on safe use, for example how to use AI without data retention within your own domain, so data is not reused for external models.

"AI should never replace the lawyer, only enhance them. Lawcloud and Nexa AI give legal professionals a digital sparring partner, but humans always remain the final decision maker."

The boundary lies in strategic tasks. The recent collaboration between Lawcloud and Nexa AI is an intriguing development in this regard: by integrating Nexa AI into the Lawcloud environment, lawyers get a digital sparring partner that helps them reason and argue, completely securely and from a legal perspective. This way ethical decisions and client contact remain with people, while AI helps to analyze case files faster and sharpen conclusions. Trends in the sector emphasize that AI reduces errors and strengthens compliance, as long as it remains within carefully managed tools.

Peppol and Compliance: ready for 2026

From January 1, 2026, all Belgian VAT-liable companies, including law firms, must exchange structured electronic invoices via the Peppol network for their B2B and B2G transactions. This forces firms to digitalize their invoicing process and send it securely, so they avoid fines and at the same time maximize protection of their attorney-client privilege.

"Invoices contain privileged information. Via Peppol and Lawcloud's invoicing module, you send that data encrypted, structured and with respect for every recipient."

Lawcloud's Peppol integration provides a secure connection that differs from PDF or email invoices through standardized, encrypted exchange between systems. For international clients, for example in France or Italy, it remains a challenge, as different e-invoicing systems (such as Peppol) are sometimes used there, but Peppol fully covers Belgian requirements. Lawcloud's system automatically splits recipients (for example client and legal aid), filters sensitive information from invoices and integrates draft approval with PO numbers for better accounting tracking. This way you can work in a structured and controlled manner even for international clients, even when other formats are involved outside Peppol.

The key argument for lawyers is the combination of compliance and efficiency: Peppol provides a standardized, secure channel for exchanging invoices and accelerates cash flow through automatic reminders. Lawcloud is already Peppol-ready today and structures the processes so that sensitive case information doesn't end up in the Peppol message: strictly necessary invoice data goes via Peppol, any additional details are shared in parallel and in another, appropriate way with the client.

Privacy and Future: returns with confidence

Lawyers often have doubts about cloud and AI, but Lawcloud and Fonzer offer GDPR-compliant processing and storage on secure servers within the EU, encryption and clear agreements through data processing agreements and an external security policy. Frequently asked questions concern data security and attorney-client privilege; the answers emphasize trusted partnerships, no unauthorized data sharing outside the EEA and transparent documentation of their security measures.

The next step is not a new tool, but an ecosystem that quietly captures everything that today still leaks away: time, information and billing. In that ecosystem, Lawcloud and Fonzer are not separate vendors, but a tandem – a "good marriage" that allows lawyers to once again focus fully on clients and case files. Ask for more information via Fonzer and experience for yourself how it feels when your telephony, workflow and billing finally work in the same direction and deliver measurably more returns.