Clio vs. Thomson Reuters Firm Central

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Clio
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Clio is web-based legal practice management software for solo practitioners and small firms. It is designed to replace multiple different systems (like document management, case management, and accounting software) to streamline the amount of technology that small firms need to manage.
$49
per user/per month
Firm Central
Score 5.0 out of 10
N/A
Thomson Reuters offers Firm Central, a law practice management, time management platform, and legal billing solution touting integration with Westlaw.N/A
Pricing
ClioThomson Reuters Firm Central
Editions & Modules
Starter
$49
per user/per month
Clio Grow
$59
per user/per month
Boutique
$69
per user/per month
Elite
$109
per user/per month
Enterprise
Contact sales team
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ClioFirm Central
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAll pricing tiers have a 7-day free trial.—
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ClioThomson Reuters Firm Central
Considered Both Products
Clio
Chose Clio
we switched from Firm Central to Clio for a better array of features and abilities, we did not like the look or appeal of the plug in form builder in Firm Central and did not need or want automated forms
Firm Central
Chose Thomson Reuters Firm Central
we actually switched to Clio for better document management and overall billing and accounting features which have worked out very well
Chose Thomson Reuters Firm Central
We moved away from Firm Central for document management and are considering these other platforms but have not made a decision yet and instead are using in-house options.
Top Pros
Top Cons
User Ratings
ClioThomson Reuters Firm Central
Likelihood to Recommend
1.2
(24 ratings)
5.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
2.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.6
(4 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
ClioThomson Reuters Firm Central
Likelihood to Recommend
Clio
Clio is a wonderful practice management solution for small firms that do billable work. The Clio manage software is excellent for tracking your time at different rates, tracking matter budgets, and tracking expenses. Clio is also great for firms that want to implement and use tech in their offices. If clients are at least somewhat tech-savvy (have and know how to use email), they will also benefit and enjoy the implementation of Clio.
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Thomson Reuters
ease of use is a plus but client secure portal alerts need to be made more clearly so that communication flows both ways without delay
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Pros
Clio
  • Provides an interface with NextChapter Bankruptcy.
  • Provides an interface with the forms on our website and landing pages to allow for easy transmission of potential clients into our Clio system from these sources with little human intervention.
  • Its billing, invoicing and payment integration makes the billing cycle for clients easier.
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Thomson Reuters
  • Time tracking.
  • Billing.
  • Easy access to Westlaw.
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Cons
Clio
  • Document management. It's still far easier for me to create Word templates and just use Word.
  • Centralized filing of client files. Like I said, I use Word. I work on a Mac and use Mac's tag structure. Clio should find a way to gather all files that have a certain tag and allow me to access them through Clio. Instead, I use Hazel and DropBox.
  • Case planning and budgeting. I use OmniFocus for project management, a self-created Excel spreadsheet for project budgeting and a cloud-based service for Gantt charts. How hard would it be to add robust project management tools to Clio?
  • Search feature for stored documents and information. Evernote has Clio beat hands-down, but I don't put client-sensitive information (only caselaw) on Evernote.
  • Case notes. This feature may be useful for high-volume practices, but I never use it.
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Thomson Reuters
  • ease of portal access
  • form bank being easier to modify
  • integrations with other programs
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Usability
Clio
You really have to get creative to make Clio work well. Support suggested tonight that I use other products instead since Clio can't even do simple things it promises like notify clients of their court dates. Insane.
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Thomson Reuters
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Clio
Rather than talk in generalities, I'll give two specific examples. First, after updating my OS, I got locked out of Clio. I was back in, up and running, with no loss of data, within an hour thanks to Clio customer support. Second, I made some specific recommendation for features that I thought would be useful. Those recommendations fell in a black hole, with the suggestion that I try a very buggy third party integration app. Clio is making lots of money from lawyers using its software. Why can't Clio create the integrations and test them if Clio is not willing to build them into its platform?
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Thomson Reuters
I have not had to use support
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Alternatives Considered
Clio
CLIO Grow is custom-tailored for law firms to use off the shelf with some advanced customization options. CLIO Grow has some superior API integration options that integrate with answering services, online chatbot, website contact forms to capture new leads and automatically include them in the intake pipeline. As mentioned previously it integrates with HelloSign for no additional costs. CLIO Grow also offers API integrations with Mailchimp to add prospects to email drip campaigns in addition to built-in automated email campaigns within its own software. These features make it far more user friendly, automated, and robust compared with MyCase's CRM feature, and Pipedrive (a non-legal specific CRM).
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Thomson Reuters
we actually switched to Clio for better document management and overall billing and accounting features which have worked out very well
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Return on Investment
Clio
  • Hard to judge ROI, but it saves us money compared to our old server based system (ProLaw)
  • More accessible from more places. I was able to continue working during a two week trip to the beach.
  • The Client Portal (Clio Connect) is a positive way to send clients document securely, avoids the forwarded email / forwarded attachment problem.
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Thomson Reuters
  • Tracking time was positive.
  • Cost us money to switch document management systems.
  • Loss of time/work product with document management functions.
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ScreenShots