Clio Reviews

Clio is repeatedly at the top of the charts for available features. Clio is constantly working to improve their service and adding new features and functionality. We have had no problems to speak of. Any issues that we have had have been related to finding a particular option or feature.

I wish that Clio would support more advanced document generation. At present, it just does mail-merge-type generation. Substituting fields in Clio with a field indicator in a Word doc. I would love to be able to get rid of HotDocs and use Clio instead, but it just can't match what HotDocs can do. The other feature that I wish it supported is the ability for external uses (clients) to fill out forms or data, which can then be stored in Clio.

I was first introduced to Clio eight years ago at the ABA Tech Conference. I knew from the moment I saw it that it would revolutionize our practice, allowing us to work from anywhere yet stay on the same page, streamline our management of cases, and make the process easier for our clients, from following their case to being able to pay invoices online or through their phone. And I was right. Clio has done that for us and more.

Document Management was something that was missing for a long time, but Clio is improving there too. We hope to be able to get rid of our current document management system and transition to Clio Drive soon.

I have nothing positive to say about Clio at this time. Integrating our firm into their software was a major learning experience, which will guide me with the next software I choose.

The items added in the time that we have been with Clio have caused no improvement to our use of the product, although they use these additions as an excuse for raising their prices significantly. The "client portal" that they added does not even allow you to see if clients have viewed documents, which their old version did. Their new payment system only adds to their profits, so why would they utilize that as an excuse to pass on additional costs to their clients?

We like the CRM/case management integration and the ability to use templates. We have a real estate and estate planning practice, both of which lend themselves to form documents, and we have further customized documents through integration with the CRM component to auto-populate documents.

My only issue is the way “non-billable” does not get shown on the invoices. I believe it is critical for the client to see this.

The Clio team helped me transfer data from my old billing program. Transition was seamless and painless. Clio is intuitive to use. As a solo practitioner I have neither the time for nor interest in hours of admin activity every week. Clio lets me track my work as I go, and provides the framework for organizing information about my clients and cases. At the end of the month I spend only about 2 hours reviewing and sending out bills.

More flexible report options would be helpful, particularly regarding A/R.

This platform is extremely user-friendly. We are still implementing the software with our staff but I believe there will be no problems - whether skilled with computers or not.

I was told by Clio staff that there are new releases coming for the software related to collection of client payments. These updates will be of the utmost importance to our firm. Being a smaller firm, we do not want to use Clio to allow our clients to pay due to the fees involved. However, I'm told that the ACH payment option will be coming as well as surcharging.

Easy to use - there is almost no training needed for onboarding. Everything is user-friendly and help is just one click away! The questions and suggestions are passed along to Clio employees effortlessly.

It is a bit pricey for a firm of over 20 people.

How easy it is to bill. I love the dashboard. I love how easy it is to set up.

I wish it would integrate with OneDrive where if i saved something to OneDrive, it would automatically update the document in Clio.

Clio Suite is an all-inclusive product that has assisted my firm from start to finish with client files. Clio also integrates other business functions to make it smooth.

It would be nice to have manage and grow all in one area. Having to switch back and forth between the two, or having two tabs open is annoying at times.

The features help to insure that no deadline, follow up or task is missed. The mobile app and integration features add efficiency and helps to insure that all time is captured.

There are so many features that it can take some time to locate what you want until you become fluent.

For us the program has changed everything in the workflow to the better. In our opinion Clio’s forte is how flexible it is. Every law firm has its own different way of organizing workflow and Clio can accommodate for that, at least our whims and quirks which we have abundant of. The program is like potty in your hand. You mold and sculp the program according to your own special needs in the workflow. The only barrier is your own imagination. You decide how information is inserted, in what order and form and how it is presented. You make your own work procedures. You can organize and make chains of tasks beforehand and set the relevant type of chain of tasks to fit the case you are working on. Then, there and now, the future workflow is decided and set for that case.

You can not copy matters/cases and clients. It is not easy to move data fram TM to clio. We decided not to to it. Integration between outlook calander and clio calander does not work, it is so slow it is not usable. But the integration between google cal and clio cal is excellent.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Clio software is comprehensive and covers everything that I need as a solo attorney to keep my practice running smoothly and efficiently. Clio Grow is a new feature that helps me track leads, lead sources, the intake process, etc. It is very comprehensive and is easily merged with Clio Manage. The Clio help desk is excellent. Answers are always spot on. If they cannot fix my problem, they will honestly tell me that Clio does not have the capability that I'm looking for and they will offer to submit a request for that capability to be considered in the future. Clio is always looking to address customer needs.

Does not have all of the capabilities that I need but has most of them. Sometimes the queue for the help desk/chat is rather long.

The HelloSign integration is the only reason I stay. It has the benefits of any basic CRM.

Customer service is horrendous. Sure they are polite and quite courteous in fact, however, it's like speaking to a brick wall. It's like everyone's drank the cool-aid. They avoid the acknowledging system limitations or errors like the pliegue which obviously comes from the top. There are far better CRM programs with true automation for far cheaper instead of the patch work of products branded as Clio. I could get the same, if not better, effect with Zapier.

Yes, I'm bitter because I've invested thousands of hours and dollars and now I'm stuck. As a sole practitioner, I do not have the money or man power to start all over again. I tell ALL my peers they are much better off using Dubsado and HelloSign than Clio. Tyring to get technical support is a time suck! The level of work/investment needed just to get the first tier customer support familiar with the product then explaining the issue is not worth addressing it AT ALL! They obviously receive minimal training and have NO real comprehension or experience with the Clio products themselves. It's like they are afraid to admin they don't know or they don't understand. They are just key word searching in the help index which I've ALREADY DONE!

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.

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.)

Clio easily tracks time and expenses, keeps client and matter details organized, generates invoices, and gives us reports that help track our firm's growth. It is easy to learn, easy to use, easy to customize to our practice, and has very helpful and responsive customer service. Since it's cloud based, we can also work remotely as needed. Very glad to have Clio!

I like most everything about Clio except that it can be slow if our internet service is being slow (not Clio's fault, but it comes with being cloud-based).

Every once in a while I find a glitch that frustrates me in creating invoices. Usually, though, chatting with customer support online leads to a) their showing me how to solve my problem, or b) the problem being sent to tech support for fixing in Clio's system.

I like the fact that there are different levels of cost for the need of your business. I started with one user on the lower tier, then moved up to include more options and added a user. I like the fact that not only does it provide billing and payment integration, but, at the time I upgraded, it included the monthly cost to use Law Pay (which I have also found helpful).

I feel there are some personal preferences I would like to use in my reports viewing and accounting. But there was a recent revamp rolled out a few months ago that did address some of my needs. Admittedly, although I have used the product for almost 4 years now, I have not watched all the tutorial videos or called with all of my specific questions, even though with the boutique package there is a dedicated help line.

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

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.

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!

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

We got Clio specifically for its billing program. Its great that everyone can enter their own time into Clio. I like how Clio does “macros” [they call them “text snippets”]. They work without having to use a code key.

The software is easy to use – for someone like me who is not a bookkeeper and hasn’t done a lot of billing before, it takes a little while to learn how to use it correctly, but once you know how things work, it’s a breeze. The very best thing about Clio, though, is its support staff! They are all great – it doesn’t matter who I’ve talked to they are all quick at getting to the root of my problem and showing me how to fix it. I have called other companies asking questions about their software and sometimes you just don’t believe what they tell you. It has never been that way with Clio – every one of their support staff is very knowledgeable and can quickly set you straight!

Also, Clio is open to suggestions from us and when they get a certain amount of inquiries asking if “they could change this or that”, they will work on it. We have been using Clio for 2 years next month and there are a couple of things they have implemented that we had requested, which is really cool!

Spell checking in the billing software is not what it could be – it does have the little red underlines if it thinks something is misspelled [like Word], which apparently is easy for some people to ignore. It would be better if Clio had its own dictionary and didn’t depend on the one in the browser. In order to do spell checks, we have to: export the time to a CSV file, spread out the column for the description, run a spell check and remember not to correct the errors there, but go back and find each entry in Clio and correct them there. It’s a little time consuming, and depending on how many typos each person makes during the month, it can be very time consuming, but its much better than reading the draft invoices word for word and finding the errors that way. It would be great if Clio could add spell checking so that it can be run in Clio without having to export and go back and forth.

The only other “con” we have with Clio’s billing system is with discounting invoices. It is very easy to discount an invoice by percentage or a dollar amount, but Clio only applies discounts on the total amount of the invoice, including client expenses, not on time spent only, so we usually put in a dollar amount so the discount comes out to the amount we want it to be , although Clio still applies that amount to the entire invoice.

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.

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​.

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.

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.