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About Clio

Ranked #1, Clio is the leading law practice management software with the most 5-star reviews. Schedule a live demo to learn more.

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Pros:

I love the notifications that offer support and training for new options and/or updates within Clio. I like being able to select certain calendars to see at one time or multiple at once if needed.

Cons:

There is no restore your organizations work if a rogue employee deletes it or an accidental deletion without nefarious intentions.

Clio ratings

Average score

Ease of Use
4.6
Customer Service
4.7
Features
4.5
Value for Money
4.5

Likelihood to recommend

9.1/10

Clio has an overall rating of 4.7 out 5 stars based on 1,629 user reviews on Capterra.

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Filter reviews (1,629)

J.P.
J.P.
Attorney in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Law Practice, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Clio is the best option for a solo or small firm law practice

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: After 3 years, I am still working at discarding habits and practices built up over 25 years as a practicing attorney to better incorporate Clio's feature into my daily work flow. One of Clio's driving philosophy's is to make lawyers more productive with their time, and make lawyers services more accessible to persons that need legal advice. Clio's focus on providing multiple access points, including mobile apps designed from the ground up with these two goals in mind, will pay off for both Clio and my practice in the long run.

Pros:

The Clio platform is not intended to be a closed, proprietary system. Instead, it forms the foundation for the day to day management of leads, clients, time, documents, and billing, supplemented by almost 200 third party integrations, with new offerings coming on line each month. Clio offers unlimited cloud storage and IOS/Android apps making all of your firm information, clients, and documents available 24/7. Clio continues to innovate and as the leading provider to small/medium law firms throughout the world, I don't worry about whether they will be in business a few years from now. Finally, all, yes all, of your data saved in Clio is easily exportable should you decide to change to a different vendor.

Cons:

Clio's growth means that feature changes must be more fully vetted as they are used by more than 150,000 legal professionals. As they broaden their perspective to encompass larger firms, the pace of change may continue to be more deliberate. The movement and management of files without a third party integration, such as FasterLaw, is cumbersome. Clio's own integrations with Office365 for emails and calendaring remain a work in progress.

Alternatives Considered: CosmoLex and Rocket Matter

Reasons for Choosing Clio: At the time I decided to look at alternatives, in 2017, the product was getting worse, not better.

Reasons for Switching to Clio: Largest user base and least likely to get assimilated or go out of business, forcing another vendor change.

Cassandra
Paralegal Office Admin in US
Legal Services, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Great Product!

5.0 9 months ago

Comments: I have used CLIO at two other firms and brought it on to Story Law. Was the best decision we ever made. Saves us administrative time which in turn promotes productivity and profit.

Pros:

We love that we have all data, participants, documents, contacts, email/communication journaling, calendaring all in one place. The mobile app is great for on the go use and tracking time when you are away from the office. The client portal is a great tool for tracking what the client has provided and what is still needed. The time Clio saves us in administrative work has been invaluable.

Cons:

Mapping with Quick Books does not match up the best. Some of the integrations are still work in progress. No integration with MyPleadings.

Alternatives Considered: MyCase

Reasons for Choosing Clio: Cost effective and all our case management, billing and firm administration can be done in one program.

Switched From: Sage Timeslips

Reasons for Switching to Clio: Ease of use. All-in-one solution. Timeslips is a completely separate systems resulting in double-entries and lost time. Clio is easy to navigate and understand.

Lee
Attorney in US
Law Practice, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

I shouldn't have to call support every time I use a feature of the product.

2.0 7 years ago

Comments: Once started I was committed to use it until I have time to find a better alternative. Capterra.com was the primary tool I used to find Clio. I have concerns that the positive reviews are all fake.

Pros:

Clio has the features I needed. I was fooled by the initial trial into thinking it would be a good fit for my firm. What use is a feature that is so complicated to find, use, and enable that I have to call support or Google how to make it work.

Cons:

Nothing is intuitive, at first it seems like everything is going to work. Clio has all the features I wanted, or at least it seemed like it did. Once I used it for more than just the trial period, using it to manage my trust account, client billing, client communication, it just does not work. After using it for any length of time, the navigation gets tiresome and then frustrating. At every turn I find myself having to Google how to make it work. Sharing a document with a client requires several steps including typing in the client's contact info; instead of just clicking a button for share. Now my client can't enter a partial payment. What the heck? Prior to becoming an attorney I was a software engineer; I would have been embarrassed to put my name on such a product. Frankly, I don't trust the myriad of positive reviews for this product, they can't be true.

Clio Response

7 years ago

Hi Lee, First of all, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to share your honest feedback with us. Hearing from our less-than-satisfied customers helps us determine what the best course of action is when improving our product. I wanted to let you know that in a little over a month we'll be launching the first ground-up redesign of Clio in the 8 years since launch. The redesign will aim to improve customer experience and app navigation as a whole, and introduce a design built almost entirely off of our customer feedback. Lastly, I wanted to assure you that all the reviews on this site are 100% accurate and come from real customers (such as yourself). Every customer's experience using Clio is bound to be different, but we encourage our customers to share honest and open feedback with us at every turn so that we can continue to evolve the world's most popular practice management software. Thanks again for your feedback! Derek Bolen Clio Community Manager

Concetta
Managing Attorney in US
Law Practice, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

I love Clio - it's already helping my practice grow

5.0 9 months ago

Comments: Really a great experience - great product! Sales was never too pushy, and also happy to answer my questions.

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: MyCase

Reasons for Choosing Clio: I used it at my prior firm, and swore I'd never use it again. Choosing Clio was the best decision I ever made.

Switched From: NuLaw

Reasons for Switching to Clio: Clio has great pricing, and I don't feel nickel-dimed - it's straightforward, easy to use, and no one in the sales process made me feel like I was buying a used car.

Galen
Owner in US
Law Practice, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Couldn't Live Without Clio Manage and Clio Grow

5.0 11 months ago

Comments: Excellent. I highly recommend Clio and it is worth the cost. I also appreciate the ongoing CLE opportunities, some of which are free.

Pros:

Clio helped me hit the ground running when I opened my solo practice. Nearly every feature is user intuitive, and I have already been delighted to see Clio continue to upgrade its services in the two years I have used them. I couldn't survive (i.e. stay organized) without all of its features, billing, document e-signature service, and access to its partner, Proof for service of process.

Cons:

Initially I was disappointed that Clio Grow and Clio Manage didn't "talk" to one another. I love Clio Grow to keep track of leads and potential clients, and I like the ability to transfer a file over to Clio Manage. I didn't like that they weren't truly in sync. However, Clio has worked to solve that pet peeve and is continuing to make improvements.

Alternatives Considered: MyCase

Reasons for Choosing Clio: No access to government system when opened own practice

Switched From: Odyssey Management System

Reasons for Switching to Clio: I was impressed by their sales presentation, the ability to track payments in the trust account and operating account, and it was highly recommended by a colleague I trust. She was not wrong. When another colleague opened her practice next door, I recommended Clio and she also loves it.

Anthony
Attorney in US
Legal Services, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Not a good product

1.0 3 months ago

Comments: I was misled in the sales call and they talked me into purchasing Grow. Boy, what a mistake! Grow is a product that promises to automate the intake experience but does not work as advertised at all. The tech support seems unable to figure out the problems I am having, and paying for premium support was one more waste of money.

Pros:

Manage makes it easy to send bills and get paid electronically. It can maintain files and track time.

Cons:

Grow is a useless product that doesn't really work, and premium tech support is a waste of money.

Alternatives Considered: MyCase

Reasons for Choosing Clio: I opened a new office and needed software

Switched From: Zola

Reasons for Switching to Clio: Clio seemed good for a solo practitioner. Boy was I wrong.

Sana
Solicitor Director in UK
Law Practice, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Clio Review

5.0 11 months ago

Comments: Very positive and I would highly recommend. I use Grow and Manage and would never change to anything else now because these platforms are customisable, easy to use and very comprehensive. I have previously used other platforms and systems but Clio is by far the best on ever my level. Customer support and service is also great.

Pros:

It’s easy to use and covers everything I need it to do. From letter/document creation to billing and invoices. Everything is centralised in one place for accurate record and ease of access.

Cons:

It’s very time intensive to set up all the features in the manner you need the system to function to align with your business and there’s not really a guided process for this which would be helpful as some of the set up features can be tricky. It would be helpful to be assigned someone when you first sign up and for them to help you actually set things up the way you need them to be. I also can’t link my emails to Clio as my email:outlook was purchased through a third part (Go Daddy) but I was not aware this was going to be a problem so it would have been helpful if that that was clarified from the outset when I first spoke to Clio so I would have known.

Alternatives Considered: Actionstep and SOS Legal

Reasons for Choosing Clio: LEAP had terrible customer service and although I had used them previously when I was employed, using them now as a firm manager, the customer relations and care was horrendous. Once they have you signed up they couldn’t care less about you and it was a nightmare dealing with them.

Switched From: LEAP

Reasons for Switching to Clio: Clio was practicle, affordable and comprehensive. It has everything I need for my firm currently as a start up business as has the ability to grow as my business grows with all the in built features.

Markell
Lawyer in US
Law Practice, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Easy Peasy

5.0 11 months ago

Comments: We really have benefitted from our switch to Clio: we are able to track files better, share calendars better, and invoices don't get forgotten anymore.

Pros:

We love the invoicing the most - we are sure we have re-captured getting paid for many files we used to not be able to track and get paid for. Now we can send an invoice online and get paid online too. Making a bill is quick and easy, and our staff even thinks fun!

Cons:

We were considering moving our document storage to Clio, but we couldn't preset files with our folder organization system and it seemed more difficult to attach files to emails, so we didn't end up doing this. Also, when sending an email from Clio, I would prefer that it auto-saves it to the Clio file.

Alternatives Considered: Zola and MyCase

Reasons for Choosing Clio: Amicus was "clunky" - it was not cloud based, didn't connect with our cell phones (so we couldn't see our calendar), and document management and billing was not easy.

Switched From: Amicus Attorney

Reasons for Switching to Clio: The look of the software was very clean and we loved the ability to code different types of events on our calendar by color, that is how we organize our files. It was intuitive and easy to use, while not offering an overwhelming number of services we didn't need.

Jeffrey
Principal in US
Law Practice, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Clio Meets My Firm's Needs

5.0 7 months ago

Comments: I'm still in the process of moving all my files from Firm Central to Clio. But so far, I'm very satisfied.

Pros:

I came to Clio because Thomson Reuters discontinued its Firm Central case-management product, and I needed a replacement. Clio has all the functionality that Firm Central did, but in a more logical, easier to use interface. I found that, with minimal instruction, I was able to get up and running. The Clio onboarding process was very effective.

Cons:

Clio was designated by Thomson Reuters as its preferred partner to replace Firm Central. In that role, I would have expected the Clio team to have been a little more up-to-speed on the best way to migrate from Firm Central to Clio. Clio's team does migrate your data, and that went very smoothly. But "data" doesn't include documents, which is the bulk of what we were storing in Firm Central. Clio has no advice on how to move those documents. They simply recommended three third-party vendors. I contacted the one that advertises that it specializes in migration to Clio. It was going to charge me $3,000 to upload my files into Clio. But I'd still have to figure out how to get them out of Firm Central, which was my major challenge. Once I had them downloaded, Clio makes it easy to upload. At any rate, Firm Central's instructions were helpful, and the process went fairly smoothly.

Taj
Lawyer in Canada
Law Practice, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Review from a Sole Practitioner

5.0 11 months ago

Pros:

It is user-friendly and helps me manage all the essential aspects of my law practice such as time tracking, billing, invoicing and file management. As a sole practitioner, Clio has been invaluable in saving me time on administrative tasks and allowing me to focus more on growing my practice.

Cons:

There is nothing that I didn’t like, all the components have made my life easier!

Alternatives Considered: PracticePanther Legal Software

Reasons for Choosing Clio: ESILAW 360 is not user-friendly and they provide minimal customer support.

Switched From: Unity Accounting

Reasons for Switching to Clio: Clio had a great customer support team that helped with on boarding and answered all of my questions and concerns.

Marie
Paralegal & Bookkeeper/Billing in US
Legal Services, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Clio Review

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: My overall experience has been positive. There are plenty of resources for day to day activities and for more complex matters the live support has been indispensable. I find it easy to navigate and learn.

Pros:

Initially it was a better system overall than the systems we were trying to make fit our needs (Timeslips and Sharepoint). Subsequently, the updates that are implemented by the development team when there is an obvious need or lack identified.

Cons:

I did not like that the billing of outstanding balances was not automated during billing runs to capture all outstanding balances so anyone who does not have a current bill still gets a bill when I do not enter a start time as a filter option. I also do not like that I have to clean up so much on the Quickbooks Online end of a Retainer transfer, especially after a billing run when its many clients at once, it creates a lot of work in the Retainer in Trust register in QBO.

Alternatives Considered: AbacusLaw

Reasons for Choosing Clio: In Timesplips we were having trouble with transfers and keeping track of the data that was not integrating into Quickbooks Desktop smoothly. We also wanted to switch to QBO but they do not integrate. There were system failures that created "broken AR's". The customer service was never immediate, I've spent many hours on hold or on the phone with someone who did not seem to care. It seemed like there was always something that would come up and the customer support was so bad that I would rather try to fix the problem myself or ignore the problem(unless it was timely) until I couldn't anymore. We only started using Sharepoint because Timeslips did not have an office management aspect of the software and it was not economical nor easy to set up, we ended up spending more money on a Sharepoint technician than a year subscription to Clio.

Switched From: Sage Timeslips

Reasons for Switching to Clio: Price difference I believe, but I honestly don't remember if there were other reasons as well.

Justin
Attorney in US
Legal Services, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

What I Like Most About Clio

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: Clio had a long learning curve. That said, any software that has wide capability will have a long learning curve. However, the support team has been very helpful. It does not work for me to try to read articles to learn how to use the system, I appreciate being able to get someone on the phone or on chat who can simply show me how to do what I want to do.

Pros:

As a solo practicing attorney for almost a quarter century, tracking time, preparing and sending out bills has been my least favorite activity, and the place where I have lost revenue and had upset clients. My experience is that clients don't appreciate it when bills are sent timely or when they receive billing after six to twelve months of work - they really prefer regular billing. Clio has revolutionized the billing and collection part of my solo practice environment. Now that I have learned how to create clients and matters and to input time, it is a simple once a month task to create professional monthly client bills which I can print and snail mail, email, or send with the LawPay connection and the client can "click through" the email bill to pay with credit card.

Cons:

I cannot figure out how to set up or use the form template function. When I have tried it does not really work and I have stopped trying to use this. I would very much like to create some form engagement letters. My work is mainly transaction, not so much litigation. At first it was difficult to figure out how to prepare a nice looking flat-fee for a project type bill. However, with the updates I have been able to customize bills to have both hourly fee bills and flat-fee bills.

Rosalinda
Legal Assistant/Paralegal/Bookkeeper in US
Law Practice, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Very easy to use

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: It makes part of my job easier.
1.Attorneys are much more comfortable going into Clio by themselves to enter their time or find information/reports instead of having to wait and rely on me to do it.
2.It's much easier and faster to quickly generate reports that split Time (by keeper) and Expenses.
3.Monthly billing goes by much smoother, invoices go out faster, payments are received much faster than if by mail. Attorney's are happier. : )
4.Clients like to be able to receive email with link to process payments online.

Pros:

Time entries can be imported by batch. Trust Requests and Bills can be emailed w/payment link directly from Clio. Past Due Bills can be "shared" with a coupled clicks versus printing out and mailing or using another app to email it.

Cons:

1. When looking at a past due bill (and additional bills have been issued and remain unpaid for that same matter) the Outstanding Balance on the Statement of Account section will update and include the balance due for that matter as of the current date + any open Trust Replenishment requests instead of the balance due for that invoice + the balance due of all invoices issued previously to that one. 2. Evergreen Retainers - I keep getting calls from clients saying they can't view the "Shared" invoice when I have applied Trust funds that covered the whole balance. They can see the Trust Request to replenish funds used/applied to an invoice, but they can't see the actual invoice and review what was billed. I have to print the invoice to PDF and go to my email app and send from there. 3. I would like to see a report that shows that various billing rates per timekeeper for each client/matter.

Peter
Principal in US
Law Practice, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

All I Need

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: Terrific, a true game changer!

Pros:

Clio provides an all in one suite of applications that are necessary for my law firm to operate. We used to rely on a stand-alone billing software program for our billing and time-tracking. Of course every computer or user we added cost us more money on top of the software itself. When the software became outdated and no longer supported, we had to purchase the latest version. We also relied upon emails to assign tasks, and give each other messages about the cases we were working on together- without a centralized location for the team to track and review each other's notes and progress, each member had to rely upon their own notes, memos, emails, etc. This was inefficient and time consuming. Another fun part of my day was searching for contact information of opposing counsel on particular matters. Often times I would search emails, review the documents on a case, or review documents in the file to get the contact information I needed. Calendaring was also an administrative hurdle. Entering dates in a separate software system led to disorganization, and required jumping around from one program to another to manage information and learn where attorneys were supposed to be. Clio puts all of these functions , and more, under one roof. It has made the work flow in my law firm seamless, efficient, easy, and organized. Clio does it all, and I am truly grateful for this product.

Cons:

I would like it to be easier to review the billing entries of other users in real time.

Margy
Legal Assistant/Executive Assistant in US
Legal Services, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

The Future of Cloud Computing in the Legal Industry

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: Clio has been really helpful organizing a small solo practice and getting that attorney up and running, and then expanding their practice accordingly. It's a great, central location for file management, and being able to use Quickbooks and Clio for billing is spectacular. Clio's client support is stellar, and that is worth a LOT when it comes to case management. Overall, Clio is an excellent choice, and even with my complaints, I do believe it is the standard for the future.

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.

Tanya Mitchell
Attorney in US
Law Practice, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Clio has changed my life!

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: My CFO's timed has been freed up tremendously because we now bill with Clio and she does not have to enter time from all users into a similar computer software. We all can work from anywhere and capture our time with the Clio app! Love it!

Pros:

I love the functionality of Clio, and how we can manage time for each user on multiple devices. I not longer have to keep up with my start time for a task, my completion time, the calculation with what portion of an hour was teh time, or completing timesheets for a billing professional to then enter into a software to generate client invoices. Additionally, the billing process has been simplied and can be run from any computer. Further, the ability to keep up with each staff member's productivity is AWESOME! Clio has definitely changed my legal life!

Cons:

Getting acclimated was sort of difficult because my rep was new at the time. The regular support team helped us with the remaining onboarding.

Alternatives Considered: MyCase

Reasons for Choosing Clio: We needed the flexibility that Clio offers for billings. We also have Clio Grow, and it has made new client intake a breeze!

Switched From: Sage Timeslips

Reasons for Switching to Clio: Clio had better customer service and unlimited storage space for documents.

Heather
Founder in US
Law Practice, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

I've used Clio Manage for 6+ Years and Clio Grow for 2+ Years

4.0 2 years ago

Comments: I've used Clio since opening my own firm. Overall, I'm happy with their products and feel confident that I can get "at a glance" information on my active cases as well as my leads quickly. And, I can dive deeper into any particular matter or contact easily. I do wish they were a bit more tailored to small/solo firm practice - particularly in terms of the time investment in set-up and cost per license.

Pros:

Clio offers nearly comprehensive lead and case management services. Their support staff is responsive and if you engage them in a conversation about your firm's needs - they are eager to listen & learn. Since I began using it, Clio has steadily widened their offerings that are real value-adds. Their annual conference is a great networking & learning event.

Cons:

Both products, but Grow especially, are very time-consuming in the initial set-up phase. Both products could be more robust for practice areas that don't involve litigation. Their support staff is readily available but in my experience can only assist in solving my issue about 10% of the time. Often some features I view as key are not available and it's hard to determine how the upvoting process of feature requests actually works. The pricing structure is frustrating and could benefit from adding a different tier for restricted or limited users (like paralegals and admins). While all the features and new additions are nice, as a solo practice attorney I often find myself unable to take advantage of them due to the time involved in learning about & implementing them.

Alternatives Considered: CosmoLex and MyCase

Reasons for Switching to Clio: Interaction with the sales reps and recommendations from fellow attorneys.

Mathew
principal attorney in US
Law Practice, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Intuitive and Flexible

4.0 2 years ago

Comments: I am happy with Clio and the support they provide. It's helped keep the firm, as well as our third-party answering service, organized and consistent.

Pros:

The ability to integrate other software enable using other software to address aspects of Clio which are good, but not great. As an example, Clio Management's task management is good, but there is not a kanban or gantt feature, but I can easily integrate with Asana, Monday.com, etc.

Cons:

Some aspects address needs in a basic manner, but are not as robust as software which is specifically designed for a single purpose. Using the same example as mentioned in the "Pros" - the task management works and can be automated, but it does not have highly specific features such as kanban or gantt.Additionally, the syncing between Clio Grow and Clio Manage could improve. The two do not sync completely - certain items (ex. emails, I believe) do not sync.Lastly, when trying to export specific sets of data, Clio is time-consuming. We had an attorney who left our firm, and providing her the information from her clients required going to each client and selecting "export" for each aspect of the clients' data (such as, emails, documents, contacts, transactions, etc.)

Alternatives Considered: PracticePanther Legal Software

Reasons for Choosing Clio: Cosmolex is not intuitive. It took a long time for me to become comfortable with the system, and it was not worth the time and energy for getting additional people up to speedMyCase was more intuitive, but lacked integrations which could have enabled better automation than MyCase had.

Switched From: CosmoLex and MyCase

Saba
Solicitor in UK
Law Practice, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Excellent customer service

5.0 last year

Comments: Excellent

Pros:

Support 'Live' is actually live - always available and always helps! This is important because with other companies you're usually on hold on the phone for a long time and then when the do answer - the take a message and 'refer you to the right team' - you're stuck on your task until they call back. When they call back, the caller tells you what to do but can't show you - that's another team. In my working day - its vital that support is given there an then so you can move on.

Cons:

Integrating it and setting up - this is very time consuming. It would be useful to have I suppose when migrating a one2one live support - somebody spends a day at the firm and sorts all this out. Templates, billing everything you need to get started. That would've been rather helpful.

Steven
Owner in US
Automotive, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Clio has changed my business model

4.0 9 months ago

Comments: First thing first. Clio's customer and technical support is top notch. They are excellent at getting you started and set up. It only takes a few clicks to get connected to support and once you are connected it is secured using your support code. Clio has helped generate and speed up my intake, processing and document creation dramatically compared to where I was before.

Pros:

Having my client information, cases, documents, templates and invoicing under one system is a dream come true.

Cons:

I wish Clio had more in-house created integrations with apps versus using services like Zapier to make the connections and send data from apps or services to Clio. Zapier can be very clumsy and if something gets updated in Clio's software you sometimes have to rebuild the Zapier.

Alternatives Considered: CaseFox

Reasons for Choosing Clio: It all started with Keap not being able to send text messages anymore. That got me looking at other services. I had watched several videos on Clio a few years back but decided to go the cheaper route with another case management service which ended up not having near as many options inside the system. Clio was the perfect answer to having everything under one roof.

Switched From: Keap

Reasons for Switching to Clio: Clio has more features and better support.

Gary
Attorney - Owner in US
Legal Services, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Clio Is The Best

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: 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.

Owen
managing attorney in US
Law Practice, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Fantastic value, modern software, steadily improving features

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: 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

Julianna
Attorney in US
Legal Services, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

serious business problems treated like everyday problems by customer service - not timely resolved

4.0 2 years ago

Comments: My experience with CLIO was fine until I actually had problems with the software that were negatively impacting my business and practice. They have been taking weeks to help me resolve these. And, I have to call them repeatedly and ride them to get any movement on getting them to help me resolve these very serious business and professional ethic problems. Because of this I am seriously considering going through all the trouble of switching to another provider like MyCase.

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.

Clio Response

2 years ago

Hi Julianna. I'm Jessica with the Clio team. We have our payment operations team ready to assist you in resolving this. Can you please provide me with your firm name and email address so I can locate your account? They'll get in touch from there. Thanks!

Jacob
Data and Reporting Analyst in US
Law Practice, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Clio at a mid-sized, full-service employment defense law firm.

4.0 2 years ago

Comments: Overall, Clio has been a good choice, and has increased our efficiency as a firm. Due to the sheer number of solutions that Clio provides, we have been able to unify many processes, and scale accordingly as our firm grows. Two years ago, Clio did not offer document management that was robust enough to compete with Dropbox, which is why we use a combination of the two for our practice. However, with Clio's development, if we were evaluating this today, we may have moved our document management to Clio as well.Clio has a lot of flexibility to cater to the processes you need, however, with flexibility does come work. It can take time to setup and upkeep continual maintenance. Lastly, I do want to mention the personnel at Clio. Due to my position, I have interfaced with a lot of personnel at software companies. To date, Clio's staff has been the easiest to work with. In general, they are always very pleasant to speak with, respectful, and interested in helping you.

Pros:

The Clio Manage product offers an excellent practice management tool with enough flexibility that we can continue to develop new solutions to any hurdles we face. Primarily, Clio has been instrumental in:-Time Tracking-Data Base Management - for clients, opposing counsel, judges, mediators, etc.-Case Management-Invoicing-Data Analytics - for performance metrics, financial projections, etc.

Cons:

Clio offers a lot of powerful solutions, but is not 100% comprehensive. Often, when Clio is missing a feature, support will add it to their list of "feature requests" to be implemented in the future. While I fully appreciate Clio actively working on new features, some of the roadblocks we have hit feel surprising considering the software is built for law firms. This is mentioned in a previous section, but one of our current issues is in our pre-bill review. When discounting line items, they must be discounted at a percentage, rather than a dollar amount, which was not a problem we had faced in previous software.

Steve
President in US
Law Practice, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source
Source: SoftwareAdvice

Clio saved us from MyCase

5.0 last year

Comments: We love the ability to actively use our contacts to engage new business opportunities. We also feel quite assured that all matters are proceeding accordingly as we are able to monitor them from a high level to ensure substantial progress.

Pros:

The best thing about Clio is that they're not MyCase. They are a breath of fresh air. We were engaged in the misery of MyCase when Clio announced an informative dinner in our area. We went and were amazed by the functionality of their software. We were actually a bit aggressive with Clio as we were having such a bad time with MyCase. They managed to keep us calm and in doing so found themselves a new client. We spent the next month setting up Clio and found ourselves up and running thereafter. We detailed each monumental failure with MyCase and the support staff at Clio were astonished and assured us that they do not act like that. True to their word, the Clio staff was professional and could not have been easier to work with. The first couple of days seemed a bit shaky like we were kids with our first two-wheeled bike but after a brief learning curve, we were up and running. Any issues we had were ably resolved by Clio and we were quite thankful for the number and quality of the support staff. The days of putting a call in and waiting for a call back are over. They are a shining star in a world now devoid of customer service.

Cons:

I haven't found anything I don't like about Clio yet.