Clio Reviews

Pros

Clio's intuitive design is easy to use for anyone from the tech savy to the "how do I turn this thing on" person. They are constantly adding features and functionality to the software solution making the administrative side of practicing law much easier and less time consuming. Clio's support team is always quick to respond and is always friendly and helpful. The growing list of integrations is definite plus and gives us the ability to extend the already great functionality to the next level. And if you are into coding, you can always create a custom integration to suit your needs.

Cons

Really the only complaint I have about Clio is the reporting capabilities. While it has some great canned reports within the interface, there is no ability to customize reports to massage out information that would be useful to my practice. We make do, of course, but this has been my complaint for some time now. Last time I checked there was a pay integration that allowed for more robust reporting but adding yet another subscription isn't appealing when it would be relatively easy for Clio to add this capability to their platform.

Pros

There is no such thing as a perfect legal case management software. There is nothing that is going to do everything the way you want it and Clio is no different. However, clio has numerous thrid party integrations. If this software doesn't do something there is probably something else out there that will fill in the gaps. However, what really makes clio great is its easy to use Open API. I have a saying with automation. Where there is a will there is a way and this API makes that possible. If there is something you want to have done or want to automate Clio's open API makes it possible.

Cons

There reporting could use some work although they have made some improvements. Some of their bigger improvements can take a lot of time. However, there are always making consistent and regular improvements. It does seem like at times they will make a partial release but complete release or complete functionality can take a back seat.

Alternatives Considered

CosmoLex, MyCase, Actionstep, Tabs3 and Centerbase

Reasons for Choosing Clio

Amicus Attorney got bought by Abacus Next and service went downhill. There were MANY improvements that were needed to the product but they were slow to update and there were a lot of integrations and features missing. I switched to clio because I knew I could get it to do what I wanted within reason by use of integrations and their open API.

Switched From

Amicus Attorney

Reasons for Switching to Clio

The easy to use open api and robust list of thrid party integrations

Pros

Clio is so user friendly in every aspect. It is visually nice. The calendar works fantastic. The case management is also very easy to use.

Cons

I would like more options to customize reporting.

Pros

Billing and Invoice integration is good once you get used to it.

Cons

Clio has poor representatives that can not communication effectively. Furthermore, supervisors are out of reach and make it impossible to address any concerns you have. I would not recommend this service.

Pros

Clio is always adapting to improve and take feature requests into consideration while balancing innovation with consistency of interface and only incremental changes so as to not frustrate the user experience with too many changes all the ones. Beyond the tech, right from the beginning many years ago Clio stood out in customer service in terms of being very responsive, striving to find a solution to every problem where available, and being straight up in simply admitting that they don't have certain features developed yet and it's not available rather than trying to do a sales job or sugarcoat the fact that there will always be limitations in software meeting everyone's different needs perfectly. It's a very stable platform, secure, and the developers are even aware to do any sort of systemwide updates during times of low usage.

Cons

Maybe not so much a specific Clio issue, but rather mostly us as a user limited capacity challenge, there are many integrations and improvements which we could be adapting into our system but have just become stalled in locking the bandwidth. Quarterly or semiannually review (soft audit) of how each business such as ours is using the software would be beneficial with a systems person from Clio providing a couple recommendations of next steps that our group could take that would have a significant impact on better utilizing the tools.

Alternatives Considered

Amicus Cloud and PCLaw

Reasons for Choosing Clio

Customer Service #1 for Clio and Amicus had very poor customer service, constantly just providing the same solution (clear our cache lol) and the problems were so much greater. PCLaw was expensive and too resource intensive to make remote work impossible. Both had challenges trying to be desktop solutions moving into the Cloud whereas Clio was born and created in the Cloud, right when I was moving my practice into the Cloud and had previous poor experiences. In 2012 the Law Society of Alberta advised at that time I was the most cloud computing law practice in Canada and when I came across Clio in 2013/14ish I recognized its superiority compared to past experiences.

Switched From

Amicus Cloud and PCLaw

Reasons for Switching to Clio

Contemporary, ease of interface, intuitive and I could identify that they were just getting warmed up with more features coming.

Pros

The service is wonderful, easy to use and very intuitive! The customer service department is always available to assist with any issues and love Clio Con!

Cons

There are intermittent service access issues.

Alternatives Considered

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Reasons for Choosing Clio

It was an administrative decision.

Reasons for Switching to Clio

Best possible customer service experience and support from Clio!

Pros

I love the ease of use. The program is fairly straightforward, the staff is always quick to assist and pleasant

Cons

I wish that Clio Manage could communicate with Clio Grow. I also wish there was a way to see deleted or recover documents, forms and other items.

Pros

I am a developer and also try to understand law management so I found Clio for this, here are some features about Clio, Clio is basically a law practice tool which use to understand law management and grow your knowledge about Clio, it is very easy to use and also has time tracking and document management which make it different and also has a mobile app so we can use this any time and get some drop of knowledge about the law that it

Cons

It does not have to make dislikes and has a very wide range of knowledge about the law so definitely recommended, it is not free but has a trial version for understanding how this tool is

Pros

The features are intuitive. Its so easy to use, and even a "new" task is easy to figure out.

Cons

Still trying to find a dislike. I honestly have no criticisms.

Pros

The billing and invoicing options are great

Cons

Time management - tedious to keep up with

Pros

The software is easy to use and understand. The transition to Clio from our previous system was relatively seamless and the customer service is fantastic. I like that we can share documents with our clients and are able to see what date and time a client viewed each document. It is also extremely convenient to have our documents stored in Clio so that they can be viewed when we are not physically in the office.

Cons

It would be nice if you could integrate notes from a contact directly into a new matter as you are opening one. Currently, I have to copy and paste each note from the contact into the matter notes. Also, when I put in messages for Mr. Chefalo on people he needs to call back I make a task for him. When he views the tasks on his cell phone, it would be nice if he could simple tap on the phone number in the task and have it directly call the number as opposed to him having to type the number in on his cell phone to make the call. Finally, a client suggested that it would be nice if he had the option to opt in to receiving text messages from Clio any time we share a document with him or generate a bill on his matter.

Pros

Clio has been a game changer for my practice. Before I would write my time on a sheet of paper (sometimes any paper within reach) and hope it got entered at some point before the end of the month. Now, I immediately enter my time either on my computer or iPhone. A phone call, client conversations, anytime I work on a file it immediately gets entered into Clio.
At the end of the month, Billing is a breeze. I am able to see all of my Billable Clients for the month and with a few clicks, they are all sent out by either email or Clio Connect. My clients can pay with their credit cards, and many times they have paid overnight before I even get to the office the next day. I remember when I first switched to Clio about 80% of my accounts receivable paid within the first week.
My clients also like the billing detail with separate time, attorneys, and expenses. I have been able to create custom invoices to comply with some of my government contracts, which require invoices to look a certain way.
We are also big fans on the integration with Office365. The software automatically creates a client folder on OneDrive when a new matter is opened. This has been a huge help in keeping everyone working on the same files and storing documents in the correct client folder. Also, the Outlook plugin has been great to keep all emails received and sent copied to the client's matter. I do not know how many times I have easily found an email related to a client matter.

Cons

I wish there was better integration with Infusionsoft (now Keap). There is a way to connect using third parties, but it would be nice to only enter client information once.

Pros

Our firm had used Timeslips for timekeeping and billing in the past before switching to Clio a few years ago. Timeslips was simply outdated and cumbersome, not to mention that we had no tech support. After having switched to using Clio, I was able to use the software to email clients directly and have the emails come from our firm email account via Clio without always having to involve the office manager for billing my invoices. If the clients have questions, they will know to direct their questions to the office manager, who is otherwise in charge of general accounting matters. Additionally, I love that I can always reach out to Clio's tech support for answers as to user issues or questions, and the services have always been pretty prompt and spot-on.

Cons

I remember there were some data migration issues when we transitioned from Timeslips to Clio. It has been a while, but I recall that at least some of the client data like their addresses didn't look quite right when it was pulled over, and I basically had to start over with entering the information in Clio.

Pros

The single best part about Clio is the user interface. You can't overestimate the drain on your organization and your end-users by poor UX design. Clio is intuitive to use, and easy to customize. Their chat support is the best of any product I've used, in any category.

Cons

The in-app document management isn't great. It's good enough, but most users will want to integrate with an existing DMS.

Alternatives Considered

CosmoLex and Actionstep

Reasons for Choosing Clio

Cosmolex had a less intuitive UI and didn't allow for batch changes, which makes it hard to iterate and improve. Actionstep has great automation potential, but didn't allow me to charge a second sales tax which is mandatory in my jurisdiction.

Switched From

CosmoLex and Actionstep

Pros

Functionality is nearly universal while specially and jusisdiction costomization is great.
Easy law firm branding and pre sale marketing is brilliant.
Support is outstanding and the Premium Support even better for speedy, live agent help.
Cost is reasonable and many available plans on their menu of options.
Clio grows nicely with solid feature burstsoften free to it's users.
Excellent and often updated/enlarged mobile App across all usual platforms: Appke, Android, Windows...
Superior online instant pay clientbinvoucing, and client trust account requests
The wide assortment of excellent and Rock solid 3rd party software affiliations is very impresdive.

Cons

I was fortunate to have free help migrating my existing, Timeslips database compiled over many years but it ain't quite so free today...Also, I'm still not a fan of the communications tools for clients and othes not subscribed to Clio.

Pros

The Clio platform was very easy to implement with our firm's daily usage. The onboarding process was smooth and the learning and transition for staff were easy. The software is meeting our firm's needs on a daily basis. I also appreciate that they listen to suggestions and continue to improve and add features throughout the year. Clio has allowed our monthly billing process to go from a day-long process to an hour process.

Cons

Some of the reporting features need to be fine-tuned or added to. My biggest pet peeve is the limit of 50 items to a page, so you update to 200 but it defaults back to 50 every time you move around between pages.

Pros

I really do believe that Clio is the future of legal cloud computing and practice/file management. It's a functional piece of software that allows attorneys and legal staff to manage cases with ease. There are a few things that I find to be useful with Clio:
1. Clio integrates with tons of other software options, including Grow (a CRM management tool). Keeping things "in the family" is really useful and speeds up management.
2. Clio's billing functionality is really nice. It's one of the more functional back end management tools I've seen, and I really like the way it works. You can integrate it with Quickbooks for easy accounting, which we really appreciate and which looks great on the user end (for clients, when they receive bills).
3. Clio sports a really professional interface, which just looks nice when you're working. It looks grown up and sleek, so if someone peeks over your shoulder or you're working while in the vicinity of clients, it doesn't have a preschool feeling to it.
4. Most important - Clio's customer support is incredible. Have an issue? There are videos you can watch, or people you can talk to. They will literally stay on the phone with you for hours as you troubleshoot issues together, or learn something new. Top notch, seriously.

Cons

I do have a few gripes about Clio. If these were addressed, it would get a 5-star rating from me:
1. Mouseclicks. Clio requires so. many. mouseclicks. It is infuriating at times. I realize this sounds stupid, but over time, they add up. I am a huge fan of efficiency, and Clio is one of the most inefficient programs I've used.
2. Workflows. I really enjoy using workflows to track various projects. Clio sucks at workflows. A complete rework of how they approach them, and how they look for interface with the staff who are responsible for executing, would go a LONG WAY toward making Clio a more useful application. I think workflows are really the topic that causes Clio to lag behind other software out on the market. I would like to see something in place that allows a user to create a workflow, move tasks around in the list, add subtasks to tasks, and assign triggering dates, secondary dates, etc. It would also be useful to be able to assign various tasks to various users. Until that's in place, I'll be sad about using Clio.
3. A central location for performing various functions. Clio does have a left-hand toolbar that allows you to do SOME things, but not ALL things. It would be good if, from the left-hand menu, I could do each discrete thing that I can do in Clio by clicking a mouse a zillion times. Once that happens, I'll be happier.
4. Document management. I'm out of room, but it is not idea. Too much downloading/uploading. Dropbox is better (for collaborati

Alternatives Considered

MyCase

Reasons for Switching to Clio

Clio came recommended by another practitioner who had gone solo and had a great experience.

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

Pros

Clio is quite robust with many functions geared for law offices. Much of the thrust is for multiple lawyer offices ( which makes sense) and some also work for solo firms (my office is a solo office). There is a forms component which is poorly integrated with Clio. It does allow you to create an online fillable form - but the steps to have that information fed into your database for the practice is cumbersome and not intuitive. Yo are using two independent programs - which is unlike both Practicve Panther and My Case. In the other two the feed into the database is direct - no two programs - no multiple steps to move rom one database to another.

Cons

As mentioned, the multiple step s needed to use the forms - and the cost for that portion of the platform - make this a terrible choice. If you want to use forms as questionares and to populate your database - and update the database - by client input - this is definitely NOT the platform to use.

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.

Pros

Clio could be, and indeed was for a long time, a fairly good and overall well featured application. As with any application, it did not have everything covered, but was slowly improving and adding features. In other words, it was a decent application that was getting better.

Cons

As of few months ago, Clio, put simply, started going backwards, and fast. Features that existed for years and worked perfectly, were either intentionally removed or broken and no longer worked. The number of bugs has increased exponentially. I used to discover a bug once every few months in the past. These days, almost every day I have to report new bugs or follow up on the existing and unresolved ones. In the past, any reported issues were addressed and resolved quickly. Now, you still get emails in response, but the emails are more of the scripted/lip service type and most issues do not get resolved at all, including critical issues relating to basic features that used to work fine in the past.

As I am not an insider to Clio, I am not sure what the reason is, but from many recent interactions with Clio support and their answer, it seems to me that there is no one at Clio who has their hand on the pulse or any control over the "technical team" or the "development team". From responses I get, it sounds like the "developers" run the place and if they do not think that something is important, it will not get done or fixed. To give you a concrete example, an important financial report was working fine in the past and, as one would expect, it was showing the period to which the report relates. Some months ago, when "updating" that report to a "new" report, they removed the period of the report field, so, believe it or not, the report now does not show which period it relates to

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.

Pros

Thought was put into the billing and time capture capabilities of the software. Great implementation with Google Drive and the advertising tracking is a brilliant idea. Actually, the entire software package is well designed and has tremendous potential. But...

Cons

But the implementation of all this is not good. The click flow of the user interface is very cumbersome. Basic tasks require far too many user interactions and it is not streamlined. Reporting is basic and requires .CSV dumps of data to recover meaningful information such as a summary of collections in a month for all staff broken down by time keepers.

The Quickbooks implementation is a disaster. Trust Account sync creates a journal entry for each debit/credit to your trust bank account whenever you add funds to trust or use trust account to pay a bill. This is all well and good except that in Quickbooks, journal entries are a separate line in the ledger. That results in two lines in the ledger for each transaction. My firm deposits thousands of dollars into our trust account daily and this quickly generates a maze of transactions in our accounts. Where this is more problematic when we do batch deposits because well we don't have just one client a day. So now when I need to reconcile my accounts I need to then go sum up all journal entries and ensure the accounting is correct.

Even worse is when writing a disbursement from Trust it seems that the same journal entry process is used to create the draft. The problem is that I cannot print a journal entry from Quickbooks, so we need to hand write the check. Support tells me the work around for this is to deactivate the sync feature and enter the check in Quickbooks manually.

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.

Pros

It being cloud-based and the app for my phone

Cons

Clio Payments is very problematic. CLIO Payments has been holding client payments that the clients authorized to be deposited into an attorney trust account. When the bank that the deposits were directed to refused to received them - CLIO did not refund them. I requested that the refund the clients since the money cannot go into that trust account b/c of issues with the bank. CLIO Payments says that it cannot refund money deposited to a trust account despite the fact that they have never deposited those funds into any trust account. CLIO Payments has taken possession of the client funds and will not release them or refund them back to the clients. This is a HUGE professional ethics problem for an attorney. They are oblivious and do not care about the impossible situation they are perpetuating for my business. Maybe they are making money on that money while they are holding it where it cannot be accessed and used for the client's benefit. DO NOT USE CLIO Payments - use LAWPAY.