Clio Erfahrungen

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

Custom sets of templates for client types and matter types is great. There are tons of integrations with so many other programs to add functionality is dizzying. We're still learning all this program can do and trying to maximize our use of it through best practices, but we're very hopeful and optimistic that it's going to make our lives much easier and more organized.

Nachteile

The implementation by Clio has been less than stellar. They've tried to integrate spreadsheets of information from our prior practice management software, plus other sources to get all of our client and matter data into the program. But getting the data migration specialists on the phone has been difficult. We noticed that one phase of the migration had not gone correctly, so we called and e-mailed like mad to make sure they wouldn't go to the next step of migration until we could get that prior data fixed. They ignored the calls and e-mails and went ahead with the next step. So that just compounded the problem by about 10,000 times. Now, we're having to go back through our spreadsheets to clean up the data again. Then they're going to have to somehow undo the migration steps they've taken already. Then we'll try it again. We've been using it almost 90 days, and we're still not at full usage yet, because the migration is so messed up.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

MyCase

Warum Clio gewählt wurde

Firm Central hasn't been updated or given additional functionality in well over 5 years. No one else uses it, and it has no integrations with or support from third parties to add any more functionality. West has practically abandoned the product entirely. If they don't want to keep supporting it, then why should we keep using it?

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Clio

It had a larger installed user base with more third-party integrations and third-party consultants available for use in assisting us to migrate and implement it. Also, our outside accounting company is more familiar with it than any of the other programs.

Vorteile

It's easy to use and to handle all the matters in a single place. Also easy to send bills and track payments.

Nachteile

The integration with QB online allows only one account in the Chart of Account and that doesnt allow having more information for reporting

Vorteile

Clio makes it easy to manage a case beginning to end. All of the client information is contained in one place. We can work on documents right in Clio and share documents to the client through the Clio Portal. Clients can safely upload their documents to us via the portal. We can communicate with clients through the portal or text messaging right in Clio. The Clio Support team is very helpful and has taken our enhancement requests back, some of which have already been implemented. We are able to keep everyone at the firm on track by using the task feature of Clio. There is no more wondering what is happening in a case because everything is tracking and tasked.

Nachteile

Our clients pay a monthly payment until their flat fee is paid in full. My current enhancement request is for Clio to have payment plan details written out on the client invoice. Currently we have to type this information out in the footer notes.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

MyCase

Warum Clio gewählt wurde

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.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Clio

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

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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

Vorteile

It's too difficult to describe what is best, I could not manage my practice without this software. It is incredibly user friendly and easy to learn. I use pretty much all aspects of the software on a daily basis and have been using it for more than 10 years. My practice has grown from just one attorney, me, to now four along with paralegals and clerks. Clio has made the growth seamless.

Nachteile

I don't have any complaints whatsoever. The software has been essential to my practice in all ways.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

CANVAS

Warum Clio gewählt wurde

I used these at other firms. When I opened up my own practice I chose to use Clio.

Zuvor genutzte Software

Asana

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Clio

Price, options, versatility, tech support.

Vorteile

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!

Nachteile

There are intermittent service access issues.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Warum Clio gewählt wurde

It was an administrative decision.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Clio

Best possible customer service experience and support from Clio!

Vorteile

I like that it's almost a one-stop shop.

Nachteile

There are features that are missing. There should be a field for opposing party's counsel's cell phone number and for their email address. Since Covid, email is more prevalent than before. Really should have those two fields.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

Clio is very user-friendly and intuitive. Even if you do not have experience or training on Clio, there is a certain about of functions which you can work out how to use but by having a play with the system. Time recording is very straightforward and it makes our billing easy.

Nachteile

Downsides are: there is no currency conversation; cannot split invoices on one matter (e.g. we have to 2 or more entities responsible for payment say, 50/50, but there is no way of automatically splitting the invoice; no summary front sheet for an invoice.

Vorteile

Clio integrates with so much other software to make your life easier that is just can't be beat. Saving emails via Outlook, generating document templates, collecting e-signatures on engagement agreements—whatever you need, Clio has it.

I can also run billing, monitor bill payments, and overall run the entire law firm with minimal effort, minimal time commitment, and with confidence that everything is running smoothly.

Nachteile

There are some smaller points that can drive you insane. For example, you cannot customize the look of the emails that go out when you share matters, bill, etc. with your clients. If you—like me—transition from a solo practitioner to running a small law firm, you will eventually need to open new bank accounts. Clio will not let you eliminate the old bank accounts and start from scratch. You can't even force the old bank accounts to be otherwise "invisible" to the system so that you cannot accidentally record money moving into a defunct account. This is a minor complaint, but man does it drive me insane.

I also still want to see a task assignment that allows me to set a supervisor for each assigned task.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

MyCase

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Clio

Much better integrations with 3rd parties and a willingness to continue adding new integrations.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

MyCase

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Clio

Interaction with the sales reps and recommendations from fellow attorneys.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

MyCase

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Clio

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

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

I love that billing is so much easier, that my team can enter time remotely.

Nachteile

Clio was not developed by any sort of accountant. The reports are lacking, you can't memorize reports, everything within the software isn't consistent (like using the term everyone one place and all users in another place). The reports are inconsistent with what you can filter by on each report. There are still things where my account names are redundant - like Johnson - Divorce: Divorce. The biggest gripe I have is about replenishing retainers. The retainer replenishments don't get printed on the bill - I know it is because clio payments won't let you make a combined trust/legal fee payment, but they could have one link for anything owed and another link if a replenishment is due. Really - we webt to the moon 50 years ago but we can't figure this out? I spend hours and hours dealing with contacting clients to replenish. Also, way you enter into clio is clunky. I have to pick up my mouse all the time. It needs to be more like quickbooks entry. You never have to pick up your mouse.

Vorteile

Why I find a Clio essential Is as a sole proprietor of a small business, Clio operates as my check and balance. The small law firm I was at prior to going on my own used Clio and while I do not use all the features because I do mostly appointed work, the features I do use are essential on assuring me I am on top of my game 99.44% of the time.

Nachteile

As a very busy person, what I like least about Clio is it operates as a reminder to me that I could probably do a lot more if I ever took the day or two to get all the educated on how to do some of the things I do in a rather long handled manner. I am 60 years old and have been a lawyer for 33 years. I recommend Clio to many of the young lawyers I know just starting out or only a few years in the practice to help them ensure themselves they’re keeping track of their time, their appointments, their clients etc. I point out any problem I’ve ever had with Clio was quickly addressed and fixed and that I couldn’t be happier. I have to tell them that if I was them and had their computer skills and knowledge this thing would operate all necessary prompting for me I have to tell them that if I was them and had their computer skills and knowledge this thing would operate all necessary prompting for me.

Vorteile

I loved Cleo from the moment a representative gave us an overview of the software and what it had to offer. After that demonstration I couldn't wait to try the software. I love that Cleo allows you to customize the program to your specific law firms needs. There is an enormous amount of ability to customize clients billing and matters. I've never found a software like this one before nor one that allows you so much freedom to make it your own. There are two sections to Cleo Cleo grow and Cleo manage. Cleo grow allows you to enter potential new clients and track their progress as to whether they hire the law firm get referred out or don't hire the law firm. It has saved me from keeping up with two separate spreadsheets which allows me more time to work on important tasks. Once in Cleo grow you can move a client over to Cleo manage once they hire you. Once in Cleo grow everything about your client and their case is all contained on their own individual dashboard. Within that dashboard you can store communications their documents their payment transactions emails billing their time they're expenses etc. And because of the categories you can customize I'm able to enter the important information needed for their particular case and it's no farther than one click away. I have to say the Cleo support and help section is spectacular and one of the best I've ever come across. They have a clear academy which offers training on specific things you can do in the software.

Nachteile

The only thing I found so far that I'm not fond of with the software is the flat rate billing. Our Law Firm wants to keep track of the time spent on a case even if it's for flat fee. I'm still trying to find a way to best show this on an invoice and after researching Cleo help section they don't seem to have a real clear method of doing it.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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

Vorteile

I've been using Clio since 2010. I have tried other software over the years. I also originally had to use other software that integrated with Clio, but slowly have been able to reduce subscriptions as Clio built out features. Clio is the best in class, affordable, and the software around which I ultimately chose to build all my systems. I like that Clio allows me to manage the entire client file, including documents and emails, bills, and file shares, all within a single integrated system. Less software is cheaper, easier to manage, helps me capture details, and requires less employee training and management.

Nachteile

Clio still has some features and kinks to work out. Not everything is intuitive. Its plugin with Outlook is a little slow and I don't like that it strips the attachments from emails when placing them in the file. There still isn't enough flexibility in fee arrangements. It could improve the marketing side quite a bit. And I wish you could edit billing entries in bulk a little easier (especially if you made a mistake in one edit, it doesn't save and you lose ALL your edits -- super annoying). That said, all of these bugs and annoyances get addressed by Clio over time. They continually improve and grow the software. So I don't feel that there are any fatal flaws; just quirks that you learn to work around​.

Vorteile

Clio is very fast, even when I am accessing the full website on my ipad. I love the new add on for Gmail that allows me to bill directly to Clio from the email and even save the mail to Clio if I want. The program feels modern. The program is easy to use in spite of the many many features. I have three staff members, one under 30, one under 50 and one in her 70s. All three are able to easily use the program. I like the third party apps that work directly with Clio such as Dropbox, Invoice Sherpa , Gmail and Fastcase. Customer service is very responsive and Clio is constantly receiving significant upgrades.

Nachteile

Based on all of the options and information available in Clio I am still surprised by the minimal reporting capabilities in the practice management side of the program. The basics are there but in my opinion there are many helpful reports that are missing. Even if Clio does not want to add additional reports, making an option for the user to create custom reports would be a good alternative.

Clio added an option to require and maintain an evergreen retainer. That is very helpful, however, you have to send a separate request to the client for the evergreen retainer to be replenished. It would be much more helpful if you had the option to include the evergreen retainer request on the client invoice. My clients get confused when they receive a billing invoice and then on the same day or some days later yet another invoice with a new request for retainer replenishment.

Vorteile

Our law firm has tried a few software companies to help us manage our clients and cases and this has been by far the bests. It is not perfect, but it is user friendly and easy for all to use (from lawyers, law clerks, paralegals, to even our admin and secretaries). We do not use the document feature. I use it to track open client matters, add notes to the case, assign tasks to support staff, calendar meetings, track time, hold contacts, and invoice. I really like that Clio constantly is updating to meet their customer's needs and is open to our suggestions on things that would make the software better. I would definitely recommend this software for law firms.

Nachteile

I do not like you cannot have two clients to a single matter - we have a lot of husband and wife contacts, so I wish we could connect two clients to a single matter. I use notes constantly and wish there was a way to format the notes like as a word document - highlight, make numbered outlines, add bullet points, change font size, etc.

Vorteile

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...

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

Easy to use -- calendaring, opening new matters, time entries, notes, billing. I like the interface, the way it looks. Program includes trust accounting. Can include/integrate credit card billing as an option which I did, and works well. Have used Law Pay for a while and it integrates through Clio. Send out invoices through Clio, client can click on button to make credit card payment, and have option to have program automatically apply to open invoices when payment comes in -- get email notifications of payments. Very satisfied with the program -- does what I need and enjoy using.

Nachteile

I don't think it's a negative factor, but don't use the mobile app much, for whatever that means. Tend to just check my iphone calendar (I use Office 365 to integrate, other options also I think like Google to integrate -- Clio integrates with Office 365 and iphone calendar will show Office and Google calendar events). There is a new beta version of the mobile app available for use that looked at today and I like -- I could see using that to make entries if I need while out of the office, but usually just do all of that at my computer in the office.