Processed on your device
Spectator records and processes on the computer it runs on. BetterDocket stores and displays what you choose to send.
Meeting notes
The meeting ends. The notes are already on the file.
The client call happened, the decisions were made, and the notes are in a legal pad or a laptop file nobody else can find. Spectator is BetterDocket's free, standalone desktop app for recording meetings on your own computer. Connect your BetterDocket account and the summary, action items, transcript, and notes it produces are backed up and filed to the Case, where the whole team can read them without anyone retyping.
The problem
Where the time goes today.
Notes that never reach the file
What was agreed on the call lives in one person's notebook. The colleague who picks up the matter next week starts from the email thread.
Retyping after every meeting
Turning a recording or a page of notes into something the file can use is another twenty minutes of unbillable work per meeting.
Recording tools that phone home
Many meeting recorders send audio to a vendor's cloud. For a law firm, where the recording goes matters as much as what it captures.
How it works
Meeting notes in BetterDocket.
Step by step. Each one is something the product does today.
Install Spectator for free
Spectator is a desktop app for Mac and Windows that records and processes meetings on your own device. It is free, needs no account, and is fully usable on its own.
See howRecord the meeting
Start Spectator for a client call, a team huddle, or a consultation. The transcript, summary, action items, and your typed notes are produced locally.
Connect your BetterDocket account
Sign in once from Spectator. From then on, what Spectator produces can be backed up to BetterDocket.
File it to the Case
Choose the matter and the meeting's summary, action items, transcript, and notes land on the Case for every Firm Member on it to read.
Act on the action items
The items are on the Case where the team already works. Turn them into tasks, requests, or a Status Update as the matter needs.
What you get
Included from the first Case.
Free and standalone
Spectator stays free and fully usable without a BetterDocket account. The account adds the backup to the Case.
Firm-only, always
Meeting records are visible to the case team. They never reach the Client Portal.
Nothing retyped
Summary, action items, transcript, and notes arrive on the Case as Spectator produced them.
In your practice
Where this matters most.
Estate planning
From intake questionnaire to signing, without the email chase.
See the fitCivil litigation
Litigation your client can actually follow.
See the fitFamily law
Fewer “any news?” calls in every divorce and custody matter.
See the fitEmployment law
Keep first-time clients oriented through the agency wait.
See the fitDeliberately focused
What meeting notes does not do.
BetterDocket organizes the administrative work around a matter. The legal work, and the tools you already use for it, stay where they are.
- BetterDocket performs no summarization or legal analysis. It stores and displays what Spectator sent from your device.
- Meeting records never appear in the Client Portal.
- Spectator does not join video calls as a bot. It records on the computer where it runs.
Keep reading
Related guides
How small firms decide which matters need attention today
Stop reconstructing priorities from inboxes. An attention queue built from four signals — unread, pending, stale, upcoming — tells you where to look.
Read the guideHow to keep legal clients updated without spending hours on the phone
Post one visible status update per milestone in a place clients can check themselves — a portal — instead of returning each call. Here is the playbook.
Read the guideWhat is a client portal for law firms — and what it isn't
A client portal is a private page where a client sees their case: status, next steps, messages, and requests. What it does, what it isn't, what to look for.
Read the guideQuestions.
Is Spectator really free?
Yes. Spectator is a free desktop app for Mac and Windows and is fully usable without a BetterDocket account. Connecting an account adds the backup of meeting records to the Case.
Where does the recording go?
Spectator records and processes the meeting on your own device. Only what you choose to back up is sent to BetterDocket, where it is filed to the Case you pick.
Can clients see meeting notes?
No. Meeting records are Firm-only. They are visible to the Firm Members on the Case and never reach the Client Portal.
Does BetterDocket analyze the transcript?
No. BetterDocket stores and displays the summary, action items, transcript, and notes exactly as Spectator produced them. It performs no summarization or legal analysis of its own.
What does this cost?
It is included. BetterDocket is $10 per Firm plus $1 per open Case each month, prorated by day, with unlimited team members and every capability on this site. There is no add-on, module, or per-seat fee for any of it.
Put the last meeting on the file before the next one starts.
Free Spectator app. Notes backed up to the Case. Nothing retyped.
14 days. No card.