Clio

Pros

this practice management system is pretty robust overall for tracking and organizing docs

Cons

It isnt the most user friendly and isnt the most cost effective for smaller firms and companies

Pros

Clio is a fantastic information-gathering tool and is close to being a one-stop-shop for everything we need pertaining to our clients. the upcoming rollout of a new communications tab should help to sort this information further.

Cons

Client intake is a tedious process. Something as simple as being about to mark clients as spouses/life partners and copying over address and other basic information would go a long way to help speed things up. as of now, we make three contacts for every matter (the married couple as well as each spouse).

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Clio

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Clio

Pros

Clio is always innovating, but they do not hesitate to pass along the cost for such innovation to the customer. There is a whole suite of "add-ons" to choose from. But it feels like nickel-and-diming users for features and enhancements. Imagine if Google or Microsoft charged a fee every time there was a software update. That is how it seems to work at Clio. Don't believe the advertised price. If you want a fully-functional practice management platform (i.e., Clio Manage + Clio Grow), the price is going to be closer to $200 per month. That does not include Drafting and Duo (AI).

Cons

The machines are in control at Clio, not the humans. Certain functions, once entered and/or executed by the user, cannot be undone--even by the software developers and engineers. So you have to be triply trepidatious when entering data. If you get something wrong, your whole organizational scheme can fall into chaos.

Support is outsourced, largely to India. When you call in, you get that call-center vibe, including and especially the "I'm sorry, sir, but..." mantra (the "I'm sorry routine"). They will not go the extra mile to problem-solve and come up with creative solutions to fix what is a very common issue.

Clio is a captive sales scheme. They want you to invest time and money in a closed subscription-model ecosystem that, over time, will get more and more expensive--yet commensurately more difficult to disinvest from given all the time it takes to build your processes and workflows that will not be cross-compatible to other platforms. The lifetime investment in Clio will be huge.

The company is based in Canada. They have no offices in the United States.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Clio

Pros

Efficient for case management, designed for easy use and the most responsive team I’ve ever seen for management application.

Cons

I would like to have more options for my calendar (more like a daytimer feel) with a calendar view that supports tasks management and notes.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Clio

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Clio

Pros

Very easy to navigate. The resource center gives lots of information when you don't know how to do something. Very happy with how user friendly it is. The document management and use of docusign has been excellent

Cons

Not being able to mark invoices as sent via USPS. Not all of our clients use email. Not being able to pay multiple invoices via the matter, and having to navigate to the billing page. On the billing page, not being able to search via the client/matter number. Only can search by name. Not being able to search clients by balance when someone other than the client pays the invoice with no identifiable reference. Less third party crossovers would be nice as well. I would like to see a more developed Clio for clients desktop app/website/portal. I think our clients would really utilize communicating with the attorney more through a portal then an app on the phone.

Pros

Ease of use and so many options
Document storage client connecting trust and more

Cons

The cost per user is high and is based and billed in Us funds.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Clio

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Clio

Pros

The user interface is very intuitive and easy to use.

Cons

The Tasks and Messaging could be more robust in Clio Manage and the phone app needs to better resemble the desktop version.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Clio

Reasons for Switching to Clio

Pros

Clio gets the job done. Document uploading, e-signing documents, and a client communication portal, you name it.

Cons

Pricey service as you add more licenses within the firm.

Pros

Being able to manage time, billing, documents, and client communication in one platform.

Cons

The price -- it's really expensive, and it just keeps going up.

Pros

What I like most is how versatile the program is and that you can customize and build it out to your needs

Cons

What I like least is that some of the features are not as intuitive as the competitors.

Pros

Clio is very user friendly. The company is extremely responsive to client input with regards to product enhancements.

Cons

I honestly cannot think of anything I don’t like.

Pros

The ease of use and the integrations with third party software

Cons

The cost per user compared to other legal case management software.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Clio

Pros

Very accurate and reliable software. Customer service is very responsive. they appear to take suggestions well for enhancements.

Cons

Minor complaints about user access/authorizations. However, software roadmap contemplates fixes.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Clio

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Clio

Pros

For a reasonable price, Clio includes a number of useful features in one package: DocuSign capacity, billing, trust accounting, document creation, hourly billing tracking, and of course management of cases and case loads.

Cons

Clio's method of running credit card or ACH fees and then tracking them is a bit frustrating. I do appreciate the fact that the fees are not taken from the trust fund.

Pros

I like the interface and I like that Clio focuses on profitability and showing you your earnings. I love the ease of billing and the preset feature for reports.

Cons

Clio tends to have latency issues. I would also like it if Clio would automatically add time entries for completed tasks with estimated times on them.

Pros

Integration of payment, invoicing and CRM

I used to love the customer service but now....NO

Cons

Difficult to customize. Customer Service has gone from knowledgeable Canadian staff to foreign people not familiar with the program. You are often on your own to try to resolve questions - or make multiple queries.

Pros

Clio is so easy to use, and definitely a great value. I love that Clio can grow with my practice - and help my practice grow! I'm looking forward to getting other products I use to interface with Clio (like QuickBooks, etc). I'm also thrilled that I have the ability to quickly and easily get clients signed up directly through Clio, rather than having to use a third party electronic signature system.

Cons

The self-help isn't fabulous, but fortunately I've been able to get help through online chat.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Clio

Reasons for Switching to Clio

Pros

Clio has been great to track billable time and expenses, and sharing documents (including LARGE attachments like videos.). Calendaring is great as you can link the event to a matter and invite users, including clients and other parties. Setting reminders is also great to help you take on task and meet your deadlines. Customer support is very responsive, and helpful. Clio Grow has also been great to use, wish the editing of the documents and forms was more user friendly--it has already gotten better since we started using Clio (there is now the ability to add a table!)

Cons

There have been bugs that have taken some time to correct. Timer issues (starting and stopping, you need to really pay attention that it is properly recorded this); additionally, the Clio calendar becomes un-synced with out Outlook calendar(s) and that is a huge issue (currently) as we have to double record.

Pros

I like that it is a comprehensive CRM system that is geared towards legal. I can invoice with it, add new clients, retain documents, generate documents, you name it.

Cons

I think some features could be a little more user-friendly, but I think they are constantly working on that. It takes time to get all the bugs out of any technology.

Pros

Clio used to have responsive and helpful customer support, but that was years ago! It was once easy to track and link payments to client matters, run useful reports, and handle cloud-based documents, but recently the software has seen nothing but bugs.

Cons

Clio is plagued with bugs and its cloud-based document system stops working entirely every few weeks or so, requiring a complete reinstallation of the desktop launcher. Clio also, without any notice at all, removed certain features that allowed for the linking of card payments from Clio Scheduler (a sister program), retroactively recharacterizing ALL prior card payments in a completely different manner and ruining my firm's entire accounting system overnight. Clio tech support is worthless and is never aware of any issues brought up to them about the software, no matter how debilitating the issue may be, and they endlessly put you on hold to "talk ton their team" while stalling and asking for more screenshots of the issue, only to tell you a week later that they can't help you. The software has fallen far from grace and serves only to be a very expensive patchwork of buggy integrations, paired with tech support that doesn't understand any of the details of their own program.

Pros

We like the integrations and ease of use.

Cons

Automation with the custom fields is lacking and we have to use secondary programming that still does not meet our needs. The reporting mechanisms could be better as well. We would also prefer some better integrations with Clio Grow and the inbox with the Quick Intake form.

Pros

Clio makes it so easy to track of all the things that are important to me: potential clients, active clients, attorney time, billing, firm financial goals, etc. Even when my solo practice was just a side-hustle, Clio Manage more than paid for itself in time-savings and ease of use. Clio customer service has been excellent - the live help is really easily accessible for setup and problem-solving; the online articles and videos are great for on-demand help.

Cons

There is a lot of functionality in Clio that I don't use yet - there is so much that I could be doing with it, but it is hard to make time for the next new thing when I am also running a law firm. There are some add-ons that are marketed as having connectivity to/ compatibility with Clio that are redundant and don't make sense for my practice: for, example, QuickBooks will talk to Clio but the billing and tracking were redundant with what was already happening in Clio (I already billed through clio and I didn't need to do it through QB; and I can categorize spending through my actual bank accounts, so I didn't need it to do that, either). The only thing QB did that Clio didn't *already do* was deal with (part of) payroll for my one assistant (then I found out QB was incorrectly calculating my state worker comp amounts and I dumped QB and got a bookkeeper to help with my employee needs).

Pros

I love how easy Clio makes it to do nearly all of my day-to-day practice management from invoicing to trust accounting. The calendaring / court rules and document automation is also great.

Cons

I didn't love that they increased the processing fee for Clio Payments not very long after I signed up for it. They did agree to freeze the rate for a few months until it goes up, but I was disappointed they increased it in the first place.

Pros

What is not to LOVE about Clio? The platform itself is intuitive, efficient, and has become essential to effectively running my organization. Even features that have not been particularly relevant to my practice (non-profit sector) have either already been updated to be more relevant (Clio for Legal Aid) or are in the process of being updated.

Beyond the practicalness of the product itself, Clio is a company that is visably devoted to their staff, clients, and mission. Passion for the practice of law is one thing, passion for the humans who choose to practice law is another. Clio's client-centered approach sets them apart from their competition in this regard.

Cons

We have been using an ACCESS Database to process our claims (non-profit sector) for more than two decades. I would love to use the billing/invoice features offered through Clio but, they are not yet granular enough to fully transition us out of ACCESS.

Pros

Ease of use and reliability. Entering time is the bane of every lawyers existence. This makes it about as easy as it’s going to get.

Cons

No real downsides. The only area I can think of which might be improved is the ease of entering contact information for multiple clients on the same matter.