Case Study

58x ROI Replaced two competitors with a single platform - despite investing in one of them

• Firm Name
  Pines Federal
• Location
  Houston / Baltimore / Atlanta
• Practice Area
  Federal Employment Law
• Firm Size
  17 Employees

vs WiseTime + Tempello
Federal Employment Law
58x
Return on Investment
$42K
Monthly Revenue Recovered
+1.2
Extra Billable Hrs/Day
2 → 1
Tools Consolidated

The Practice

Federal Employment Law, Nationwide

Pines Federal was founded in 1997 by Eric Pines and exclusively represents federal employees in EEO claims, MSPB appeals, Title 38, OWCP, and OPM disability matters. The firm operates from Houston, Baltimore, and Atlanta with 5 attorneys and 12 support staff. Eric is not a typical managing partner - he built his own GPT for the firm, created custom Clio integrations, and even tried to build an automated timekeeping system through Upwork.

The Evaluation

Two Tools Running. Invested in a Third. Still Missing Time.

Before Ajax, Pines Federal was paying for two separate tools simultaneously: WiseTime for time tracking and Tempello for email filing. Eric is also a financial investor in Tempello - he put real money into the company. Even with both running, neither captured the full picture. WiseTime tracked at the application level but couldn't see document content. Tempello filed emails but didn't handle comprehensive timekeeping.

Head-to-Head Comparison

"WiseTime, for sure, we're going to get rid of. Tempello, we're deciding."

Eric Pines - Founder, Pines Federal

The Results

58x ROI Across the Firm

The ROI report confirmed what Eric already knew from watching the entries come in. The firm's baseline was low (0.9 hrs/day) because federal employment law involves significant work that's hard to track manually. Ajax captures all of it.

• Billable Hours/Day
  0.9
  2.1
  +1.2
• Billable $/Day
  $361
  $818
  +$457
• Extra Revenue/User/Month
  $10,522
• Firm-Wide Monthly Recovery
  $42,089
• ROI
  58x

"I want my money back for my investment [in Tempello] now. This is too cool."

Eric Pines - Founder, Pines Federal

Standout Performers

Individual Impact

1.3 → 3.8 hrs/day (+192%) - 108x personal ROI
Trinity Buchanan
Attorney

1.3 → 2.8 hrs/day (+115%) - 83x personal ROI
Michael Kleinman
Attorney

Trinity's 192% increase is one of the most dramatic individual improvements across all Ajax customers. As a newer attorney, billing was a significant challenge - Ajax eliminated the friction entirely.

"I tried to create something like this on my own using Upwork. The email part - forever I wanted that. I couldn't do it."

Eric Pines - Founder, Pines Federal

What The Team Says

From Skeptic to Advocate

"I'm so confident in your product that I wanted to invest. If you could add [email filing] in, I would beg you once again to invest in you, but you won't let me invest."

Eric Pines - Founder, Pines Federal

"I really like it. I'm a pretty young attorney who's only worked at charities before, so billing was really hard for me. So I personally really like it."

Trinity Buchanan - Attorney, Pines Federal

About Customer

About Pines Federal

Pines Federal (Law Offices of Eric L. Pines, PLLC) was founded in 1997 by Eric Pines in Houston, Texas. The firm exclusively represents federal employees in EEO, MSPB, Title 38, OWCP, and OPM disability matters, with offices in Houston, Baltimore, and Atlanta. With over 60 years of combined team experience, Pines Federal is nationally recognized in federal employment law and has helped thousands of federal employees protect their careers and benefits.

About Ajax

Ajax is AI-powered timekeeping automation for law firms. Ajax captures attorneys' billable work from their screens and generates polished, client-ready time entries automatically. Hundreds of law firms and thousands of users rely on Ajax to find revenue they'd otherwise miss. Fourteen customers have invested in the company alongside venture capital partners Fika Ventures and Bloomberg Beta. SOC 2 certified. Learn more at joinajax.com.

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See more of the results.

Clean Energy Counsel
Renewable Energy Law
San Francisco, CA
117X
Return on Investment
+1.3
Extra Hours Per Day

"This program is incredible! I'm reviewing my captured time from yesterday and am blown away! The accuracy of capturing the time, the narratives, finding the corresponding matters... I'm so impressed."
Kami Calderon
COO

Almazan Law
Workers' Comp & Insurance Defense
Florida
+1.1
Extra Billable Hrs / Day
+$366
Extra $ / Day / Per User

"I'm very skeptical of this AI stuff, but far it's been great. It's been pretty accurate, and I like that it populates the phrases for me so I don't have to type them. That's amazing. I'm really pleasantly surprised so far."
Megan Griffin
Senior Attorney

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