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The market is chock full of software and tools that can help you minimise your manual efforts and manage your legal practice proficiently. One such lawyer practice management tool is Clio, which claims to offer ‘more than just law software’. However, is it really worth your time and investment? We, at Indian Legal Tech, have taken it upon ourselves to answer this for you. In this article, we’re examining the Clio software features, pricing, pros and cons so that you can decide more confidently whether to invest in it or not. Let’s begin!


Contents

Clio Software

How safe is Clio?

Who can use Clio software?

How much does Clio cost?

Clio’s usability

Customer support

Final verdict about Clio software

Clio Software

Clio was founded by Jack Newton and Rian Gauvreau in 2008. It is a cloud-based law practice management software for sole practitioners, small, mid-sized and even large law firms. The software offers three products – Clio Manage, Clio Grow and Clio Suite (a combination of Clio Manager and Clio Grow).

Clio Manage

It is a collection of different cloud-based legal practice management tools that allows you to manage your legal practice digitally. The tool comes with the following solutions:

  • Case Management: It comes with a user dashboard and matter categorisation. The tool allows users to organise their cases, assign and manage tasks and receive real-time updates.

  • Document Management: The tools allow you to store, manage, share, edit and attest legal documents digitally. It also offers document automation with pre-defined templates and comes with unlimited storage.

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  • Billing: You can manage your invoices,  send bills, automate interest on delayed payments, record reimbursement expenses,  and create branded invoices for each client.

  • Time Tracking: You can also track your billable activities and automatically create bills for the work done.

  • Online Payments: Clio Payments accepts credit card payments from clients, and allows you to send bill emails and modify account balances.

  • Accounting and Finance: Clio’s Legal and Trust Accounting Software allows you to reconcile your accounts, manage books and records, and follow compliance deadlines.

  • Calendaring: You can also schedule meetings, set up deadlines for tasks, and organise your calendar remotely.

Clio Grow

Clio Grow is a lawyer CRM software that allows you to manage, track and update new leads. It also comes with the functionalities of providing support services to your existing clients. This Clio software comes with the following solutions:

  • Client relationship management

  • Document automation and e-signing

  • Workflow automation and management

  • Email and response automation

  • Appointment booking

  • Client intake insights and analytics

Clio Suite

The Clio Suite is a blend of Clio Manage and Clio Grow, offering a combined solution for your legal practice and client relationship management.

How safe is Clio?

The platform claims to incorporate best-in-industry security standards for end-to-end client information and firm data protection. Clio uses in-transit and at-rest encryption such as TLS and HTTPS for secure data transfer and storage. The web interface also comes with verification by DigiCert.

The software also comes with automatic backups and uses geo-redundant servers. It also uses TLS 1.2 protocol along with AES 256-bit encryption for data protection. With such a decorated security portfolio, it is safe to assume that Clio is a reliable and secure LPMS option.

ALSO READ: Our review of Matters.Cloud (Law Practice Management Software)

Who can use Clio software?

Initially, Clio focused on individual lawyers and small law firms only. However, it has now broadened its services for law firms of all sizes. Clio also works well for all legal practice areas –  whether you specialise in business law, bankruptcy law, civil matters, criminal law, employment/labour law, family matters, immigration cases, IPR cases, real estate law or any other area.

How much does Clio cost?

Clio offers five pricing plans: Starter, Boutique, Elite, Suite and Enterprise.

The Starter plan is the basic plan that comes with solutions like time tracking, hourly and flat-fee billing, calendar management and reporting. The plan costs $39 per month per user for an annually-billed plan and $49 for a monthly-billed plan.

The Boutique plan costs $59 per user per month for an annually billed plan and $69 for a monthly-billed plan. It includes all the features offered in the Starter plan along with additional tools. These include custom fields for matters, e-Signature, online card payments, dashboard, and 200+ additional integrations.

The Elite plan offers everything that comes in the Boutique plan along with additional solutions like matter budgets, court calendaring rules, advanced reporting and tasks, full-text search, priority support and live training. This plan is priced at $99 per user per month when billed annually, and $109 when billed monthly.

Mid- and large-sized law firms can opt for the Enterprise plan with custom pricing and priority tech support, dedicated CSM and advanced data services.

However, if you do not want to invest in the tool without a test drive, the company offers a 7-day trial along with a demo. In our opinion, it is a sweet deal as you can cancel your trial whenever before the trial period’s expiry if the software does not work for you.

Clio’s usability

At the first glance, Clio has an easy-to-use interface, which you can navigate easily even if you don’t hold experience in using an LPMS before. Being a cloud-based software, Clio is also accessible from smartphones and tablets. Its mobile app for users is also an added benefit for remote access and practice management.

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One user also wrote about Clio on a software directory that, “the software is a web browser and does not need any installation on your desktop. The tool works well with a fast internet connection. The interface is modern, visually attractive and user-friendly. Clio is also highly customizable, and can be easily integrated with other platforms such as Lawpay, Quickbooks, and Zipwhip.”

However, another user pointed out the user’s inability to access Clio for Clients and Clio Connect at the same time.

Customer support

Clio offers 356-days, 24-hour support to its users worldwide. The software’s Elite plan also comes with priority support and live training to make it easier for the user to understand the nooks and crannies of the tool. The website also offers various tips and guides on using the platform effectively. However, one user posted online that the team took some time to figure out their trial cancellation.

Final verdict about Clio software

Clio software is one of the most popular lawyer practice management tools that offers quite a good collection of features and integrations. While there are some areas of improvement, the experience has been extremely positive for the majority. With its wide variety of practice management solutions and easy-to-use interface, we surely recommend you to give it a try. If the price is a worry for you, you can always check out its free trial to know if the tool is worth the investment or not.

 

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