Clio Is The Best

I have not had a single issue with Clio. I have used it now for three years. My bills look sharp and the time/activity record keeping is flawless, which helps when I have to push to get paid. The trust accounting is redundant and airtight. I am looking forward to developing my practice and I know that Clio is expanding its range of functions at a rate faster than any of my needs. Clio is leading the industry in coordinating with third party vendors (Lawpay, Outlook etc) to make Clio even more functional and efficient.

Pros

There is much to like about Clio. Their customer support is first rate and comprehensive. For example, learning to manage trust accounting and the creation of regular client invoices are critical and time sensitive activities. During my first year with Clio, I would call customer service at the end of each month as I encountered small mistakes I made in billing or accounting. Clio was always there willing to patiently walk me through my steps to help me fix my errors. The billing and accounting features are redundant and it is almost impossible to make a mistake that cannot be fixed. Time entry is simple and efficient.

Cons

I love the ease of use with respect to creating bills and managing trust accounting. On a different level, I have confidence that Clio is on the cutting edge of technology and software developments. As is evidenced by their annual conference, Clio is a leader in the industry. My investment in time learning this platform will continue to pay dividends as I mature as a solo practitioner. I am a veteran litigator but I recently opened my own practice. Clio has been the one indispensable tool to my new practice.

I have been so impressed with Clio. There is so much it can do and the customer service is amazing.

There are too many to mention. I was only looking for conflict management software and didn't know if I needed a case management software because I am a solo attorney that is just starting out. It turns out that Clio does so much more. The timer feature lets you track work on different matters and easily switch to a different matter when a phone rings or interruption happens. You don't lost time. The billing is clean, neat and easy. After that you can move on to so many other options -- document automation, cloud storage, phone logs, email logs, quick and easy email drop. I have been here less than a year and I wouldn't switch. I am so pleased with Clio and how it makes the business end of practicing so much easier.

Pros

What is best? There is so much. The Dashboard (to see instantly how the I am doing, and for each client so I can see how much time and billing has occurred on each matter and easily find the information I need); Time keeping, invoicing, secured email, email drop (to easily put emails into client matters in Clio and free up inbox space, ) and DOCUMENT TEMPLATES with Custom Fields -- I have automated my engagement letter, a basic client letter, will forms, POAs, etc. It saves so much time. To write a letter and not have to look up an address or block/copy it is so nice. You generate the document and edit to start typing the body right away. It requires work on the front end but in the end it is worth it. Also, the customer service being one click on a chat icon away is great. They are so friendly and talked me through invoicing each month for the first few months.

Cons

The customer service and training videos are great but sometimes it feels like an Easter egg hunt to find out what all it can do. I spent the first 8 months just keeping time and doing invoicing. I knew it did other things but wasn't sure what and how. Once I started digging around I have been amazed at what all I have found. It has saved so much time and made things for a solo attorney so much easier. I am sold.

Best all-in-one solution out there

It's a major time saver. It's great for billing, keeping tabs of your time, costs associated with a file, trust money for each file, docketing, contact lists, and all the rest. It feels a bit short/incomplete in some areas, but they keep improving it so hopefully that will happen soon. It's still the best damn law practice software out there, and I've searched high and low!

Pros

- Easy to use and learn
- Easy to show others to use
- Really easy billing features
- Great organization
- The Notes feature is fantastic and replaces any need for docketing and memos to file
- The "add time" feature makes it easy to keep track of billings and what's to go on the next invoice
- The linking of contacts to files is a time saver
- The Calendar is easy to use and does what you need it to
- The accounting that exists is great for keeping track of the movement of money directly connected with a file. It has helped keep my trust accounting immaculate. IT also helps me keep track of expenses associated with each file.

Cons

Clio is fantastic and the best solution I've been able to find, and I've done a lot of searching both before and after buying Clio. That said, Clio seems half finished in some areas and I'm hoping more work will come.

- The accounting is adequate, but should go a lot further than it does. I would love an integrated cheque writing program, for example.

- I don't know why you can't have more than one client per file. It's a small thing, but it bugs me. I put additional clients in the "contact" list associated with the file, and just pick one as a primary client to list. It doesn't matter, but again, it's a weird oversight.

- The firm metrics is a great idea, but it seems half finished. I don't know why, but it doesn't save stuff year to year and just dumps the information. There's also a dramatic lack of ability to customize things. This is frequent in some of Clio's features, such as how to list matters or client names. It's not a deal breaker, but it's a weird thing to not make more usable.

Overall, Clio is a fantastic program and I don't know how I'd run my practice without it. It's a lot better than everything else I've tried. I just wish the damn thing integrated with more programs and capabilities, and that they just expanded on it. I think the reason why it's frustrating is because it's so close to being sort of perfect, and they just don't go far enough. Hopefully they'll keep adding to it and raise it to that level!

It's definitely worth the buy.

Customer service makes all the difference.

All the information you need at your fingertips, anywhere in the world. Hassle-free and comprehensive customer service.

Pros

Packed with features. There is just so much that can be done with this software that a firm might not have thought to do with some of the older software platforms. Everything is secure and designed from a legal professional's viewpoint. Every person in our firm can handle a case from start to finish without leaving the Clio platform -- anywhere, anytime.

Also, the customer service should not be overlooked. When we were researching various platforms to take over for Time Matters (Practice Panther, Rocket Matter, MyCase, etc.) Clio was the only company that had a knowledgable onboarding professional at the ready. They were incredibly flexible with letting us extend our demo phase and spent many hours running through different functions with us. They even held a full-scale training session with our entire staff BEFORE we had signed up. Even after we purchased Clio, they continued to hold our hand through the entire implementation process. That sort of service made our transition into the cloud seamless and allowed us to really take advantage of cost-savings that we were aiming for.

Cons

The only issue that we've had so far is personalizing the goals on the dashboard page. It would be nice to have a more granular and specific revenue analysis for each attorney. Granted, we are still implementing other more important features firm-wide, so this hasn't been the highest priority, and it's more of a luxury anyway.

Fantastic value, modern software, steadily improving features

I've been using Clio since 2011 to help me run my solo practice. I use it primarily for calendaring , time tracking, and billing. Those features are fantastic. Almost all of my billable time is calendared, and Clio lets me add time right to those events and assign it to a matter right from the calendar. I cut my administrative time to bill clients by 40% the first time I used Clio, and it's now down roughly 90%. I love that Clio lets me use third-party software with it rather than forcing users to rely on less convenient built-in solutions. For instance, Clio creates a folder for each client and matter for me in Box.com where I can work on my clients' documents using the rich feature set of Box. Clio Documents is okay for sharing with Clients, but there's no way they could replicate Box. There are two things I really wish Clio would improve. First is the ability to natively support joint representation. I do some consumer bankruptcy work, and many of my cases are joint petitions. The Clio solution is to add one of the joint parties as a 'related party'. Strictly speaking, this is not a related party, but my actual client. I can note the relationship type, so it works okay for conflict checks, but I'd rather the software reflect the real legal relationship. The other has to do with transaction tracking and integration with bookkeeping software. Maybe I just need to learn how to do this better, but I end up doing double work in Clio and Quickbooks for expenses and trust accounting. Bills and payments integrate, but the details, which are important for accounting disclosures, are manual in Clio. All in all, Clio continues to be the best option for me. I'm very mobile, so a SaaS/Cloud solution is absolutely required. The features were very basic when I started using it, but the folks at Clio are constantly releasing new functionality, improving existing functionality, and integrating new useful apps. Oh yeah, I'm a bit of a tech geek, so having access to an open API is extremely tempting to me. I've done one integration with Zapier, and I have some ideas for other things I might do directly with the API. Highly recommended.

Pros

SaaS platform, integrations with useful software like Box.com and NextChapter (bankruptcy service), comprehensive workflow features

Cons

Detailed expense accounting is cumbersome, joint representation is not natively supported

Really great!

My firm has been using Clio for just under 4 years. I have watched Clio grow a great deal in that amount of time. I am very pleased that Clio has regularly updated its service and added new features. Although the changeover was a challenge (what software migration isn't?), everyone in my firm now uses Clio quite happily. Of course, there are always things that I would like to see improved, but I have no major gripes. Reporting options could be more robust. It would be nice to see some sort of feature that would help to avoid duplication of contacts (a common problem for us). It is also disappointing that Clio chose to tier its services such that we no longer have access to all of the features. We would have to pay more to get access to all of the features, which we have deemed not worth the investment at this time. I can't say enough good things about their customer support. They have always been quick to answer and are ready to help us with any problems we have had. Fortunately, once we got everything converted over, the issues or questions we have had since then have been few and far between. In my opinion, Clio should be on everyone's short list for a web-based practice management system!

Pros

The features that are offered by Clio are second to none. The system is easy to use. The interface is nicely designed. They offer mobile applications, which I use frequently. Can handle firms of any size.

Cons

I would like to see Clio offer more reporting options. Clio doesn't have an attorney-centric view. It would be nice to have Clio "lock in" on the fact that I always want to see reports, bills, etc. for only my matters. I don't ever need to see matters, reports, bills, etc. that don't belong to me.

Simple, flexible and user-friendly

Right from the outset I have found the support at Clio to be fantastically helpful. It's a big decision working out which product is right for your particular business. Clio, as you expect from most companies in the beginning, were great at informing us what Clio could do and answering our initial questions. However, what I am really impressed about it the continued support from Clio. It does not matter who you speak to, they are friendly, knowledgeable and will do all they can to help you. And if they don't know, which is rare, they will find out and get back to you. And they do get back to you! Plus every phone call is followed up with an email. With regard to the product itself, it is pretty easy to use. Most things are quite logical and therefore you can work it out fairly simply. I am of the view that no product is perfect as every business will have different requirements. In the case of Clio, there are a few very minor things we would like to see available. Clio are continuously developing and improving the product and, I think, everything we have enquired about that is not already a function of Clio, is in the pipeline. However, it is still great for us as it is but we always strive for perfection!

Pros

I love the simplicity and flexibility of Clio. It is very user friendly and the way it looks is very neat. It does not take long to work out exactly what you are looking at and what it all means. For me personally, I do a lot of billing and compared with a previous software package, Clio has saved me a lot of time and it's really easy to keep track of where you are as it automatically incorporates a workflow. Also, setting up new cases is easy and flexible. You are easily able to incorporate your own requirements and information.

Cons

This is quite specific but for us, the biggest drawback is not being able to present the invoice in exactly the way we want (i.e. a front cover summary of figures without the time description wording). There is a lot of flexibility on the invoices which is great but the one thing we can't do is take the wording away from the first page. Our company like to keep the first page of the invoice very simple and clear and then have the narrative on the following pages. We understand, however, that this is being developed by Clio and should be rolled out some time in the next couple of months or so.

Great Bang for Your Buck

Clio offers a ton of features for a very, affordable price. No need for hefty servers or IT departments, simply utilize their unlimited document storage and secure client portal to easily store and share documents, invoices, etc. While a huge fan of cloud-based practice management, Clio earns high marks from me as one of the easiest to learn. Whether you use Clio for the basics or customize it to its fullest - Clio adds not only efficiency to your practice - it's like adding a staff member. Conflict checking, matter specific info at your fingertips, document automation and integrations with over 50 third-party apps means you can easily build Clio to meet your firm's specific needs. But just to prove I am a real person giving real feedback - I gave a 4 on the features and functionality section simply because there are minimal reporting features in Clio. Basic reports are available (Work in Progress, Productivity and Accounts Receivables) but for more intensive reporting options, additional work is required utilizing exporting options. I also don't love the current option for entering contacts, however, I simply connected my Clio account to a Google account and import my contacts from Google. Works like a dream and keeps me from doing tons of data entry when entering new contacts. Clio is well worth the money at any level! I always suggest at least the Boutique level (well worth the additional funds) and see lots of value in the Elite level (marketing/CRM module that will help you actually track what is working and what isn't)!

Pros

Ease of use, fantastic customer support (including building of features based on client feedback), document automation and custom task lists.

Cons

Minimal reporting options and contact entry.

Clio will never be perfect, but continuously improving is all we can hope for in software anyway

Over five years ago, while still in my first year of solo practice (6 years after first bar admission), I tried another product advertised to work for Mac users and it was a nightmare, so I resolved to try Rocketmatter and Clio; for whatever reason, I found I preferred the look and feel of Clio, and have been with it since. It's the first program I open every day and the last program I shut down when I go home. I am a true solo with no staff support still, and am just now tip-toeing into hiring some staff support - Clio makes it easy for me to use remote support, work-from-home assistants, etc., which is great for keeping the overhead low and the ROI on it high.

Pros

The integrated suite of functions

Cons

1) There are some known glitches that result from the cloud exchange of data that don't seem to be getting corrected.
2) The UI should be more customizable within the total Clio palette of functions and features. I'm very oriented towards being able to do everything with keystrokes as efficiently as possible, and Clio isn't there yet in its usability.
3) I'm growing increasingly concerned about my inability to access my data following a big natural disaster (such as the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake). Clio needs to offer a function that will allow lawyers to use Clio in "isolated/local only" mode (i.e., with no internet connection to the mothership) and then sync all the changes once the internet is restored. If I ever leave Clio it will be because of this concern. In the event of a big disaster recovery, I should be able to keep practicing as much as possible just like I am now, even if Clio and the Internet are not available.

Clio - not perfect, but a great start

We've been using Clio for just over a year now in our firm. We've added several new people and consolidated a number of software programs into a much smaller number of programs. The contacts management and documents management features of Clio are not as robust as the other solutions we're using, and we'd like to see some improvements in the contacts system and the ways bills are run and sent. However, the time entry is MUCH easier now, it's overall fairly easy to learn the system and set up new users, and the ability to link contacts to matters is vastly helpful for our conflicts checking (assuming you use it). Clio is not going to magically make your life better; you still have to learn to use it and then make sure it gets used correctly (we have some attorneys here who haven't been as good about that as the staff and some of the other attorneys have been), but it's so worth the effort. And, if you have a problem, their support staff is fantastic. Quick to respond, very helpful and polite, and if they have to tell you that the requested fix isn't available yet they'll at least assure you that it's being put on the list for future improvements. We looked at a lot of practice management solutions, and I think we made the right choice in going with Clio.

Pros

Time tracking is very easy, and it handles multiple matters for the same client very well. Reports are useful, most of them. Tasks and the system allowing you to make records of phone conversations are great. Clio Connect and the ability to share documents with clients and others is fantastic.

Cons

Billing system is clunky; contacts management is only okay at best. It's not a cheap solution.

Clio is a fantastic practice management software!

Pros

The user interface is intuitive and easy to use. You feel like everything is at your fingertips. This is particularly true if you use the customs matter and client fields to record data you want to have easy access to.

As well, Clio's customer support is great and the software is always improving.

Cons

Accounting and bookkeeping needs cannot be fully satisfied by Clio alone. I use Xero in conjunction with Clio and this combination works well, though the export of data from Clio to Xero is not seamless, particularly with respect to trust accounting. That being said, this solution is workable and can be fully compliant with Law Society of Upper Canada bookkeeping requirements. I have been through a spot audit and a full practice review and passed with flying colours.

The other main issue I have is that there is nothing in place to warn the user that there is no future court date diarized for a matter that is making its way through the courts. Without this check and balance, there is a risk of missing a court date if you forgot to put a new one in after the last one. The only way to make sure this isn't happening is to manually go through each open matter and confirm that it has a future court date input.

Clio Brings Me Peace Of Mind

When one is a solo practitioner, there never seems to be enough time in the day to both practice law and manage the day-to-day operations of the business. In addition to the role of lawyer, I also wear the hats of accountant, human resources manager, marketing professional, IT manager, and the go-to person in charge of handling all problems. Clio makes my job(s) much easier by ensuring that I've got practice management covered. Initially moving to the cloud with Clio was much easier than expected, and any questions I had were quickly and efficiently answered by Clio's excellent customer support department. I love learning on my own time, at my own pace, and Clio has a plethora of on-demand training webinars for beginning users which enabled me to quickly get up to speed. The data entry process for both financial transactions and time/cost entries is simple and quick, and there is a wide range of reporting options available to the user. I love having the ability to add extra functionality by integrating with other service applications made available by Clio partners think Dropbox and Fastcase. Further, Clio's mobile app fits in perfectly with my busy lifestyle! If you are deciding on a practice management solution for your law firm, make sure to give Clio a trial run so you can experience its many advantages for yourself.

Pros

Ease of use - even non-tech savvy individuals pick it up quickly.

Cons

I wish it had full accounting capabilities.

Couldn't practice without it. Excellent customer online and telephone customer support.

Pros

Can practice anywhere, anytime, with anyone. Super easy to use. Has the features needed most in a law practice - ticklers, deadline management, meeting management, timekeeping, trust accounting, integrated invoicing system. The automated document management system allows makes many of our back office functions and production systems much more efficient. Really appreciate how Clio integrates with major cloud software such as Box, Zapier, Quickbooks, etc.

Cons

Old code and an architecture that feels like it was built 10 years ago - which it was. Constantly needing to refresh the screen to get up-to-date information. User pathing for many common tasks are not intuitive. Project management is terrible - a poor cousin to other software such as Smartsheet. Their "Tasks Chains" is a weak substitute. Most of all, as my firm grows beyond 2 lawyers, Clio's solo-centricity is becoming a problem as it lacks the more sophisticated user-access controls and archiving features found in sofware built for larger firms. I AM told that the #NewClio will fix many of this. Would like to update this review once that new platform is released.

Worklife Balance with Mobility

I signed up for CLIO back in 2011. I had recently left an in-house counsel job where I had over 17 years of transactional experience and entering into private practice. I had no clue of practice management software, but needed the best value and an intuitively easy system to grasp, as I had to also balance learning about the "practice" of law. CLIO was so easy to use and build upon. Additionally, through the years, CLIO partnered with many other providers that CLIO serves as the foundation for my practice and the integration of other services makes CLIO undeniably an innovator. I can literally practice with true Mobility and my clients have been able to easily rely on accessing CLIO for document review, payments into trusts or operating accounts. Tracking time, research and phone calls have also become seamless. I count on CLIO as the total practice management tool. Trust accounting ledgers are easy to create by just a few clicks of the mouse. CLIO truly gives lawyers and legal staff freedom to perform client related services from their tablet and smartphone. It has enhanced my staff's performance and permitted me to implement tele work benefits as a result. I am more than happy to talk to anyone who has an interest in implementing a reliable, functional tool such as CLIO to regain or maintain control of their practice.

Pros

Ease of use, accessibility, reliability and functionality.

Cons

Accounting

Great, Simple Cloud Practice Management

Clio allows us to be more efficient. It is not cheap, but remember that you are not spending money on a server or an IT company. And it allows our team to work from anywhere - car, home, coffee shop, ...

Pros

The interface is simple. Non-computer folks are able to use it quickly. Integration with Outlook (contacts, tasks and calendar) great for us. They also make constant updates that are great to see. They are now integrating with Office 365 directly instead of a desktop app. I understand that integration with gMail is even better (but we like O365). Time keeping is also easy. There are also lots more features than we are using, but we have them on our roadmap to implement (like document automation).

Cons

Would like to be able forward Clio notes via email by just clicking a button. We used Clio notes to keep a running update on the case between team members. Also, when there were some significant tech support issues , Clio was slow to react (keeping in mind that an impaired Clio impacts my business). But once they acted (Twitter was a great way to get their attention), they fixed the issues promptly.

CLIO is a great program

What I like most about CLIO is that it is constantly evolving and getting better. Every time I have run into an issue, whether it's something that I just don't know how to do, or an issue that I think needs fixing or something that I think needs to be added to make the program be even better, the CLIO support team has always been right there, ready & willing to help. They are the friendliest team ever and are super quick to respond to issues and they even let me know that sometimes my ideas are shared by other customers and have been added to the list of things to be discussed by the team to hopefully be added to CLIO in the near future. At first CLIO seemed overwhelming, but after 3.5 years, me and my boss are still coming across features that are new to us all the time. I tell everyone about CLIO, especially other local attorneys.

Pros

The Support Team is the best. I love that I can use it for keeping track of clients, matters, notes, and billing all in one place. I also like all of the reports that I can run off for our CPA.

Cons

The "back" button on some of the tabs, especially under Bills doesn't take you back only one screen. I also wish that CLIO had a true accounting feature.

I am very happy with Clio. It is my office assistant.

It makes my job easier in finding documents, identifying which attorneys or staff is working on the cases, I can record all activities for payments, and can check to see if a bill has been paid, if I cannot understand a voicemail, I can easily use the filter feature using only the phone number to identify the person who left me the voicemail. I can set reminders for me in the tasks to keep me organized, which is very useful. And, Clio makes billing a heck of a lot easier. I could not do my job without Clio. Well, I guess I could do my job without Clio, but why bother when Clio makes my job easier.

Pros

1) I can check to see which attorneys or paralegals are working on this case by going to activities, 2) If I cannot understand a voicemail message, they don't leave a name, or only have the phone number, I can search contacts using the filter for the phone number which will bring up the client's name, 3) I can look at the progress of a case, 4) Clio just makes my job easier because of these features.

Cons

However, I do not understand why when creating a folder in Clio, I input the name of the folder, but then I have to go back into edits to designate what type of folder it is, i.e., correspondence, pleadings, statements, notes, etc. Why this second step. It would be more convenient if I could designate what type of folder it is when I am creating it.

Clio really helped me in my startup law corporation, I felt like I hit the ground running.

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Pros

The best part for me is how easy it is to track clients trust funds, bill for time and get paid. I didn't need to know much as it was all very straight forward and quite easy to use. The graphic user interface is a huge bonus, it just looks great. I especially like the performance tracking and you can see if you are meeting your goals or monthly quota for billable hours. Also, it tells you from the dashboard when you are owed or what is becoming due. The reports is a must and makes trust account reconcilliation very easy to do. Moreover, the matter and client tracking features are fantastic. I like that I could set who can see what and customize my experience with others in the firm. If I had to say in two words what I thought, I would say, "It Good!"

Cons

I suppose getting invited to New Orleans for the conferences and stuff. I mean, its just way too far for me to travel for a conference, maybe if there was something local here in Greater Vancouver, I might be inclined to attend . Also, I hate filling out surveys for companies that get my information for free, so that is why I only gave two words on the feedback survey.

Excellent Platform for Solos

I have had excellent experience with this software and constantly recommend it to others, especially solo practitioners because I believe it gives a small office the same abilities of time and matter tracking that much larger firms have always enjoyed.

Pros

This software has made managing my solo practice a breeze. I love that I can track client bills and trust balances at a glance and can set and track goals for myself with billable time. The note-taking and correspondence tracking functions are essential with divorce clients who often claim they did not receive information; the program can track what documents were exchanged or accessed. The invoicing is simple and pairing billing with LawPay makes it easy to get paid online via credit card. Addition of payment plans has also been a boon.

Cons

I wish that the software had an accounting function, but it does work seamlessly with Xero, my accounting software. I also would change some minor details like adding more user-controlled functions to the reporting capabilities; for instance, I would like to be able to customize exactly what data my reports generate (such as trust ledger reports that included the last action on an individual account).

Clio is an awesome cloud based practice management software!

Clio saves our firm time and money every day. We use it for just about everything!

Pros

Clio is great because it puts everything in one place and it integrates with tons of other apps to make life at the firm easier. It's a one stop shop for keeping track of the calendar, contacts, billable time, expenses, notes, and for saving and sharing correspondence and court documents with our clients. You can filter for just about anything and there are plenty of reports available as well. We also use Clio for billing and keeping track of client trust accounts. Overall, Clio is a great program and it saves our firm a ton of time and money!

Cons

My least favorite thing about Clio is the billing software. For our purposes, it just isn't very user-friendly. We have many clients with multiple matters that need to be billed separately and there's no way to compile all of the invoices for the same client and email them with a single payment link, which leaves us to download and email them separately with a payment link for LawPay (and then we have to individually record each payment). I think for most firms this wouldn't be a problem, but in our case, it takes extra time.