Overview
What is Clio?
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…
In my experience, zero integration with accounting software
Terrible On-Boarding & Integration Experience
Document Search Functionality Lacking
Incredibly expensive for software that fails so miserably at so many fundamental core functions.
Clio makes big promises to small firms. Don't fall for it.
Overpromise, under deliver, and make it hard to get out
Clio - great for small business, lousy for larger
Clio Clio Clio
Clio is Easy but Powerful
Clio is a solid foundation, but is missing some features for contingency fee based worked.
Comprehensive Practice Management Software for Tomorrow's Law Firm
Clio provides an intuitive case management and marketing platform for solo and small law firms
CLIO Grow offers an excellent solution for law firm client intake
Specifically, CLIO Grow is used by the intake department …
Clio - Your one stop shop for law office management
Clio - from an accounting admin's perspective
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
Starter
$49
Clio Grow
$59
Boutique
$69
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Product Demos
FULL FACE of CLIO | DEMO ( yes peripera is included )
NEW STREET PASTEL S/S 2020 EYESHADOW PALETTE by CLIO | review + mini demo
DUPES? CLIO RUSTED ROSE vs ROMAND ROSEBUD GARDEN
Review Of Clio Law Firm Practice Management Software - Best Legal Billing Software? (New 2020)
Renault Clio Seat Belt Problem - Demo 1
Clio Kill Cover Cushion Demo
Product Details
- About
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Clio?
Clio Video
Clio Technical Details
Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
---|---|
Operating Systems | Unspecified |
Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(84)Community Insights
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
Clio is a powerful practice management software that has attracted users who were dissatisfied with their previous software, such as MyCase. Users have migrated to Clio due to its robustness and ability to solve issues with case management and client development tracking. It serves as a central tool for managing client contact and document databases, integrating with calendaring, sorting matters, recording time, and preparing bills. The software's ability to manage new leads and potential clients through Clio Grow has been particularly useful for the intake department, allowing them to track contact information, notes, and even offer electronic document signing and automated intake forms. Clio Grow's Kanban style board provides a visual representation of each prospective client's status in the intake system, facilitating efficient lead management.
Clio's versatility makes it suitable for various types of legal practices, ranging from small 2-lawyer firms to mid-large firms. It handles a wide range of functionalities like case management, calendars, document signing, time tracking, billing, and payment acceptance. Users appreciate its scalability and consider it a reliable solution that grows with their firms. However, some users have found certain basic features lacking in Clio, such as calendar functionality, appointment notification, and usable client note capabilities. As a result, they have resorted to using alternative software like Google Docs.
For specialized legal practices like mortgage servicer's in-house counsel groups or immigration law firms, Clio has proven valuable in managing matters, documents, case notes, contacts, tasks, reminders, and calendared events. It streamlines administrative tasks such as integrations and billing processes for immigration cases while ensuring professionalism throughout the billing process. With over 200 clients relying on Clio for accounting and billing purposes alone and others using it for comprehensive case management needs within the firm, it has become an integral tool that supports efficient client communication and document storage.
Clio's appeal extends beyond individual lawyers or teams; it serves as a central software that entire organizations can utilize to manage cases, scheduling, document automation and storage, client communication, and more. Its accessibility and easy information retrieval have proven valuable for distributed organizations where telecommuting employees or those in different office locations can access necessary data effortlessly.
While Clio has received praise from many users, there have been instances where users faced challenges. Some users expressed disappointment with Clio Grow, mentioning issues with form integrations and limited form customization options. Additionally, there have been concerns raised about the search function, particularly content search within documents. Users have experienced issues with documents not populating in searches, leading to inefficiency in finding relevant information. Users have reached out to Clio for support through chat and phone calls but have had challenges in getting their issues resolved promptly. They have even resorted to performing screen shares to demonstrate glitches in Clio's system and provide examples of weak search functionality. Unfortunately, support from Clio has been slow in assisting and responding to users' concerns. As a result, some users are considering exploring other document management systems that can offer more effective and timely support.
Despite these challenges, many users have praised the mobile app of Clio, finding it user-friendly and convenient for accessing important information on the go. The ability to search for specific content within documents has also been highlighted as an important feature for users when choosing a document management system. However, the aforementioned issues with document search functionality have caused frustration and inefficiency in locating specific documents.
In conclusion, Clio has proven itself as a robust practice management software that addresses a wide range of needs for legal professionals. From case management and client development tracking to lead management and billing processes, it offers valuable features for solo practitioners, small firms, and mid-large firms alike. However, there are areas where the software falls short, such as calendar functionality, appointment notification, client note capabilities, and document search efficiency. These drawbacks have led some users to seek alternative solutions or explore other document management systems that can better meet their specific needs. Additionally, improvements in customer support response times would enhance the overall user experience with Clio.
Convenient Timekeeping: Several users have found Clio's timekeeping feature to be convenient and easy to use, allowing them to track their billable hours effortlessly by simply pressing a button.
Intuitive Interface and Billing: Many reviewers have praised the new interface of Clio for being user-friendly. They specifically mentioned that the billing feature is intuitive and makes the billing cycle for clients easier, ensuring bills get paid and retainers get replenished with ease.
Extensive API Integrations: Users appreciate Clio's extensive API software integrations, which allow for robust customization of the practice management solution. The developer partnership program has been highlighted as very good by many customers.
Difficulty in Document Management: Some users have expressed difficulty in using the software for document management, stating that it is easier to create Word templates and use Word instead. They find the process cumbersome and inefficient.
Limited File Management Capabilities: There are suggestions from users to improve the software's file management capabilities by allowing easy access to files with certain tags, similar to Mac's tag structure. This would enhance organization and streamline file retrieval.
Lack of Robust Project Management Tools: Users desire the addition of more advanced project management tools to enhance their workflow within the software. They feel that current features are lacking in terms of task tracking, collaboration, and overall project organization.
Users recommend the following actions when using Clio:
- Utilize the onboarding team to fully understand the benefits of Clio and ensure a smooth transition. Get buy-in from the entire team and manage expectations accordingly.
- Take advantage of the free trial, request a demonstration, and talk to current users to evaluate Clio's interface and features. Consider alternatives if not technologically inclined.
- Make use of Clio's one-on-one tutorials for a comprehensive understanding of the software. Create demos and explore its various features to unlock its massive time-saving potential.
By following these recommendations, users believe that Clio can effectively meet their legal practice needs, improve organizational efficiency, and provide valuable support through its online help staff.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-24 of 24)In my experience, zero integration with accounting software
- In my opinion, easy to navigate
- In my experience, extremely poor integration with accounting software (Quickbooks)
- In my opinion, extremely poor customer service and onboarding
In my experience, the advertised "integration" with accounting software is completely nonexistent. As a result, in my opinion, Clio will not simplify processes for a small firm. In most instances, I think it adds an extra step.
Terrible On-Boarding & Integration Experience
- Texting Function
- Nice Interface
- Good on-line help videos
- Sales people over promised and underdelivered
- Communication w/ support has been difficult (empathizing with no concrete solutions)
Document Search Functionality Lacking
As I have used the product for nearly 16 months, I was noting that many of my documents were not populating in various searches I was running. I initially excused this as user error. When it became clear to me that I was spending far too much time looking for documents, I began to explore this further. (Here is one example: I was sitting in a mediation with a client and began looking for a document in Clio. My client found the document faster from her cell phone than I could using Clio because the document search I was running would not populate my document. I had to dig around through folders in my client file to find it, which is incredibly inefficient).
As I became increasingly frustrated with my inability to find documents, I finally reached out to Clio, first through the chat function. I explained my issue and was told that they could not help me through chat and that I would need to call them. I called them (5/22/23), and referenced my ticket number, but was forced to go explain everything again. I was placed on hold for at least 25 minutes, only for the support person to come back on the line and make it clear to me that she still did not understand the issue.
I performed a screen share to show her that what was going on was not user error. There is a glitch in Clio's system. It is not how I saved the documents. I was able to show her several examples. I also told her various ways the search functionality was far weaker than what was promised when I was sold the product. She could not assist me, but assured me that she would get back to me by the end of the day after connecting with backend support.
The email I received from her was that she still did not know what was going on. She asked for me to provide her with dates and times we could connect to do another screen share. I sent her those dates and times and she was not available and offered no alternative dates. She again tried to claim that this was user error and explained some of the most rudimentary things about document searches. Days later, and much time wasted, I have no resolution and nothing scheduled to correct this issue. Support takes too long to assist and get back to you.
Looking into other DMS now.
- Document templates
- E-sign feature
- Document content searching
- Narrowing document name searching
Incredibly expensive for software that fails so miserably at so many fundamental core functions.
- Clio has an extensive API that allows for very robust customization. If you are looking for a practice management solution that can be adapted to your practice, Clio is very adaptable, and their developer partnership program is very good.
- Clio's billing and payment systems are well executed. It is very easy to ensure that bills get paid and retainers get replenished.
- Clio has an extensive documentation database and good support.
- I have not noticed any significant bugs in their system. Everything functions as expected without any significant outages.
- Clio's security features and systems are well thought out executed.
- Clio's user interface is intuitive and easy to use.
- It is easy to find expert setup and customization assistance.
- There are multiple existing 3rd party integrations to choose from.
- Clio's trust account management system does not allow for sub accounts. For instance, if your firm wished to separately account for your general retainer and a settlement check as being separate sub accounts held in the main trust account for that matter, Clio does not have a way to do that.
- Clio does not allow a "User" custom field. If you wished to be able to assign a team of users to particular types of files, there is no way to do this. For instance, if you wanted to add a custom field for "Billing Manager" to denote which of your multiple billing clerks was assigned to that file, there is no way to do this.
- Clio does not allow you to create custom fields that are "lists" or "collections". For instance, if you wanted to add a custom field called "heirs" that was a list of contacts, there is no way to do this, other than to add in a series of single contact custom fields. (Heir1, Heir2, Heir3, Heir4).
- Clio Grow, the Clio CRM pipeline tool, has a online intake tool, does not have an API to allow customization like Clio Manage does.
- Although clio does have a document template generation module, the lack of any ability to handle lists or collections of items limits its functionality.
Clio makes big promises to small firms. Don't fall for it.
- Document Merge
- Big Promises
- Simple processes become complex
- Basic calendar notification customization
- Multiple client calendar event support
- Return contact from account manager within a reasonable timeframe
- Flexibility for small practices
- Honest sales promises about the limitations of the software
- Client file basic note documents: I can either put every note in a different document (useless since I'll have to open every one to read the case history) or I can use a "note" which inexplicably opens over like 1/6th of the screen. It's like trying to do a survey through a periscope.
- Use Google Drive instead. It's free and it's so much better.
Overpromise, under deliver, and make it hard to get out
- Logging in
- bating you to spend more money and time
- Horrible customer services
- dishonest representation of what their system does
- useless forms
- poor integration
- Integration with LawPay
- 24 hour customer service
- customization of bill layout
- No ability to apply payments or credits unless previously billed, even if earned
- No ability to print client NOTES (I have used post-its and more recently Excel worksheets)
- Difficulty in correcting matter names
- Inflexible bill formatting, our bills show history back to 2020 when we opened and go for pages
- Reports are lousy. Customization limited. Have to export to Excel to sort.
- Tech writers completely uninterested in improving, unlike TimeSlips & TimeMatters.
Clio Clio Clio
- client managment
- document managment
- electronic billing
- trust accounting
- operating account for nonrefundable retainer
- inclusion of intake ability without adding on Clio Grow
- texting to clients without having to add on other programs
Clio is Easy but Powerful
- Billing
- Matter management
- Information in a single location
- Communications between users.
- Auto email integration
- Better views for the to do list like Kanban board or timeline views.
Clio is a solid foundation, but is missing some features for contingency fee based worked.
- Time Tracking
- Document Automation - Microsoft Word
- Task Tracking
- Calendar management
- Electronic Signatures
- Document Management - It doesn't do PDFs
- Notes can be a bit disorganized
- Doesn't track some things I need for certain case types (such as medical bills in Personal Injury cases)
- Time-tracking for billable work.
- Issuing client bills.
- [Client] intake.
- Customization of the dashboard in Clio Manage Matters.
Clio provides an intuitive case management and marketing platform for solo and small law firms
- 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.
- The level of spam protection on the forms interface for websites needs to be improved, as of late we have been getting a lot of spam forms from individuals either trying to scam the firm or sell the firm services.
- It would be nice if there was just one log in for Clio Manage and Clio Grow instead of having to log into both.
- It would be nice to have more control of the format of the invoices.
CLIO Grow offers an excellent solution for law firm client intake
Specifically, CLIO Grow is used by the intake department to manage new leads and potential new clients that contact our office. We have used CLIO Grow for several years when the software was first called Lexicata and then later acquired by CLIO and added to their suite of products.
CLIO Grow helps us manage our intake department by keeping track of new leads, their contact information, and notes made by the intake staff. This is basically the "SalesForce" of legal intake software. In addition, the software offers electronic document signing with a "HelloSign" integration and automatic email templates and delivery. There are also automated intake forms to send to prospective clients.
The software arranges leads in a Kanban style board to see how leads are processed in the "pipeline" of your intake system and procedures allowing the team to easily visualize the status of each new prospective client.
- "Kanban" style board
- Automated Documents and Electronic Signatures
- New Lead Contact Database
- API software integrations
- More Advanced Reporting and Data Statistics
- Better Contact List Management and Export Options
New case leads can be categorized by case type, court location, and case value. Contact information can be easily gathered and intake forms and follow-up emails can be sent. CLIO Grow integrates with HelloSign to gather electronic signatures and fee agreements.
A complete intake system can be created with CLIO Grow which also includes an automated checklist for onboarding procedures.
CLIO Grow is ideal for larger intake teams with three or more users. It is far superior to a spreadsheet to keep track of leads because of its automated follow-up features.
Clio - Your one stop shop for law office management
- Integrates easily with lots of other software applications.
- Clio support has been extremely responsive and helpful in both resolving issues and just explaining different applications of the software.
- There are regular (but short) issues that cause delays in load time and document creation.
Clio - from an accounting admin's perspective
- Clio's customer service is prompt and always helpful.
- Tracking client fees and expenses is easy in Clio.
- Most any financial report desired can be found within Clio.
- Sometimes find a matter within a client is unnecessarily difficult - all matters associated with a client should be easily discoverable.
- A minor issue - but I would like the ability to move calendar items around or reduce the box size surrounding appointments.
Clio is Growing, But is it in a Good Way?
- Integrations. Without integrations, Clio does not stand out much from other platforms.
- Document Management. Clio has a robust and easy to use document generation and storage system.
- Support. Clio has easy to access and helpful customer support during normal business hours.
- Integrative Partners. Clio has 116 integrative partners presently. However, Clio does very little to promote those "partners."
- Finances. Clio's financial features (trust and operating) are due for an overhaul.
- Reception to User Feedback. Clio needs to pay more attention to user feedback. Clio, like Google, is growing to a point where it feels like the users' voice is not heard.
- Professional and efficient invoice creation
- Secure platform
- Integrations with other applications
- The interface is a little clunky
- Could do better on how matter views look, while you can create as many fields as you want, the way it looks makes it hard to see the info easily
- Document integration with Google Drive could be better
Clio- an overview
- Matter generation
- Client bases
- Bill creation
- Simplicity
- Making communication easier
- Allowing for the uploading of documents
Clio, an honest revievw
- Clio is easy to use.
- It meets all of the security requirements.
- It makes billing very easy.
- The one drive integration is not functional for a large organization. The shared folder has limitations that are only avoided through the local sync.
- There is no good Outlook integration. The software itself has a secure communication portal, but nothing beats standard of Outlook.
- I'd like to see Clio develop its own integration with Word and Outlook. Right now saving documents to Clio, without OneDrive, involves an upload process. You can not save directly to Clio from Word.
- Need a better way to sort and managed matters with lots of custom data in the matter view. Right now this data is organized as it is entered, but it is not sortable.
The "gold standard" cloud based law practice management software
- Timekeeping. All I have to do is open Clio in the morning and press the "start timekeeping" button if I am too lazy to type in a few words.
- Billing. The new interface is really easy to use.
- Calendar. I use two calendars for deadlines, etc. My G-Suites calendar and 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?
- Case notes. This feature may be useful for high-volume practices, but I never use it.
Love Clio
- Access the calendars of everyone in the firm. We can schedule remotely and share with the entire team.
- Manage tasks. We have our task lists, we can assign tasks, notify via email and get notified when a task is complete. We also track the tasks by matter so we can instantly see what everyone is working on.
- Track contacts and conflicts. Everyone in the firm can access the full contact database anywhere, any time. We can instantly check for conflicts - even when out of the office
- I love the firm feed. It allows us to see the activities of anyone and everyone in the firm. Very helpful when trying to track down who made a change or added/removed items from the file. Now that they also have a firm feed my matter it is even more useful and dynamic.
- Clio's sync with One Drive makes it so much easier to access a document when working from home, at a client office or other remote location.
- I love that we can create cascading task lists, I just wish it would work backwards and create tasks working back from a closing date instead of working forward.
- I would love if there was an easy way to generate an invoice without detail for flat fee matters.
- We have had issues with then document sync breaking since the upgrade began and wish they could fix it and we would get back the reliability we used to have. Documents are still there, just takes more oversight and patience for the sync.
- Time Management
- Speed of use
- Ease of use
- UI
- Streamlining
- Analytics
Why I love Clio
- Clio allows me to drag and drop documents from emails without having to upload and save.
- Clio allows for extensive organization of all the different material associated with a litigated file.
- Clio has a massive space to store our documents. We have never experienced slowness, or a down day, or missing docs.
- Reporting features. Although Clio has made several recent adjustments, and additions --- the ability to pull only specific info for reporting purposes is still extremely basic and not very user-friendly.
- It would be nice to be able to change what is actually placed on the dashboard.
- Clio is great at being accessible in a lot of places - it's accessible anywhere.
- Clio does a good job at allowing time entry - it's particularly easy to enter time onto Clio.
- Clio does a good job at maintaining consistent access to client files and info related to them. I can count on one hand the number of times it's been slow to respond in the past year.
- The billing screen is serviceable but unwieldy. It is hard to get your bills to look the way that you want in many cases.
- The document management process could stand some improvement. In order to manipulate a document, you have to download it, work on it, then re-upload the new version. I'd like a local client or a seamless way to edit and then automatically see the update taken into Clio.
- The task entry is good but not great. I'd like to see a way to have it integrate into my iPhone's reminders list.
- The QuickBooks Online sync has been a constant source of frustration for our bookkeeper, who has to monitor daily and hardly ever goes a day without an item failing to sync.
The newer the practice, the better Clio is for you.
The tech-savvier the practice, the better Clio is for you.
For practices that involve a great deal of repetitive work, the document automation functions would be just wonderful.
Clio is lousy for debt collection practice - there just is no feasible way to make the collection process work, particularly from a billing and collection standpoint. There is no way to track the debtor's ledger effectively. Not well supported by Clio either.
The mobile app is super clunky. I keep it on my iPhone and iPad because it's the only way to move a file into Clio from those places. But otherwise, I just use the web interface from my mobile devices.