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
TyMetrix 360°
Score 1.0 out of 10
N/A
TyMetrix® 360° is a SaaS-based e-Billing and Legal Matter Management software
solution that allows users to manage all of their matters and legal invoices in one
place. It is designed to be intuitive and simple to learn to help legal staff manage matters with
ease, streamline daily activities, strengthen internal and external collaboration, and improve the management of outside counsel
billing costs. Easy to use reporting gives teams visibility into their department’s performance, while…
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.
This product has no redeeming features that I have found in comparison to the many other eBilling "solutions" I have used. They have no incentive to improve it because they offer law firms a very expensive monthly subscription service to assist them in using the system. So, they are being paid by the insurance companies to force law firms to use TyMetrix and then TyMetrix turns around and collects a second fee from the law firms to do what should be easy to do in the first place.
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.
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.
Let's start with a basic one: When you click on the "My Matters" tab, you should get to see your matters. Instead, you have to click on "all matters" and then search for your matters. The "My Matters" tab is useless.
The help section is abysmal. It has improved slightly over the past three years, but they don't seem to understand the areas where users need help.
It should be easy to submit invoices in an eBilling program. The program already has all of the matter data (client ID, Matter ID, tax ID, billing rates for each attorney etc.) associated with the matter. That should not need to be included in the LEDES file submission. You should be able to submit an invoice that has only the time duration, attorney initials, Phase and Task Codes, expense or time identification, and description of work for each line item with the program then assigning the rest of the info: billing rate (based upon attorney initials) , timeslip total (duration times billing rate), total for invoice, attorney tax id , client ID, matter ID, etc.
The program only works with Internet Explorer or Chrome. Both are major security risks for a law firm and should not be used for submission of confidential information. The program needs to be updated to work with other browsers.
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.
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?
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).
In addition to ASCENT and TyMetrix, I've used LegalExchange, BottomLine, Advocator, CounselLink and Allegient. TyMetrix is, by far, the worst of the bunch. Although none of them are great, the others are far more user friendly than TyMetrix.
The impact of this program on my law firm is entirely negative. I spend inordinate amounts of otherwise valuable billable time submitting my invoices. (I refuse to pay the exorbitant monthly subscription that will theoretically eliminate the user-unfriendly-ness of the product.
If you ae with an insurance company that is thinking of using this product, remember that we lawyers are your partners in defending your insureds. We don't object to you reviewing our bills and making sure that you are getting charged appropriately; but there are other eBilling solutions out there that won't be major headaches for the law firms on your panels. Get some lawyers to evaluate the eBilling programs you are considering and choose one that meets your needs without frustrating your law firms.
