Clio’s commitment to client-centered technology illustrates a permanent change in client expectations and the need for lawyers to deliver cloud-based, frictionless experiences.

Clio, the world’s leading provider of cloud-based legal technology, revealed a robust set of product enhancements and a new equity investment fund to prepare legal professionals to meet the demands of clients today and in the future.

These announcements—focused on providing effortless client experiences and increasing firm productivity—included the launch of a new online payments system, enhanced client collaboration tools, an expanded library of court forms, and a virtual drive designed to make document management more efficient.

“Today’s legal client is seeking the same online, convenient, and flexible experiences from their legal provider as they do in other aspects of their lives,” said Jack Newton, CEO and Founder of Clio. “And we are committed to helping law firms deliver on those expectations through cloud-based technology that enhances the delivery of their services.”

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Enabling frictionless payment experiences

As uncovered in this year’s Legal Trends Report, clients prefer to pay for legal services using online and automated payments over traditional methods like submitting a check, or providing payment details over the phone or mail.

To support these growing preferences, Clio announced the launch of their own online payments platform, Clio Payments. With Clio Payments, law firms can offer their clients the ability to pay via eChecks, debit, and credit card payments, and in manageable installments, all while being fully compliant with legal industry rules for trust accounting. Additionally, clients can securely store their payment information in Clio Payments to make future bill payments a zero-friction experience.

With the introduction of Clio Payments, Clio now offers a complete and fully integrated billing suite that the company will rapidly innovate to ease points of friction in the payments and collections process.

Delivering on client collaboration expectations and making it easier to communicate in real-time

The need for more centralized client communication and collaboration has never been more apparent as it has been since the onset of the pandemic, which brought about new expectations and ways of operating. However, the pressure to update clients frequently and the impact of constant communication has always been present within the legal industry. In 2017, 42% of clients expected a weekly update on their legal matters, which resulted in 25% of legal professionals being interrupted more than 10 times per day, and 30% being interrupted between 6 and 10 times per day.

To facilitate greater collaboration between lawyers and clients, Clio announced the mobile and desktop communication app: Clio for Clients. Lawyers can now use one secure and central location to provide case updates and notify clients when a document is ready for review. Simultaneously, clients can use the built-in scanner to upload documents, send and receive messages privately. With a simple interface, and direct connection to Clio Manage, Clio for Clients is simplifying collaboration for both lawyers and clients.

With client demands increasing, it will be critical for lawyers to maximize their time and reduce costly no shows. To assist with meeting coordination, Clio announced new text notifications. With text notifications, law firms can send an SMS-based confirmation to participants when they schedule a meeting in Clio. Recipients receive all the meeting details and can confirm their attendance directly in the text chat.

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Streamlining court form production

Solving the pain points between lawyers and clients is not complete without looking at the constructs in which law firms operate. Effectively navigating court deadlines and completing necessary documents is time consuming, but a missed deadline or a form error could result in grave consequences.

To simplify court requirements, Clio acquired CalendarRules, a company dedicated to building, maintaining, and delivering court rules to lawyers through real-time integrations with calendar systems, and Lawyaw, which simplifies information gathering and document production, and offers digital court forms both for the federal level and for the State of California.

When Clio acquired CalendarRules and Lawyaw mere months ago, the team committed to continued innovation and rapid integration of the product solutions. Clio and the LawYaw team made good on those commitments today, with the announcement that LawYaw has added automated court forms for 5 additional states including, New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois, and Georgia.

Simplifying document management

The continued adoption of cloud-based technology is top of mind for the vast majority of law firms well into the future. The key to doing this successfully will be for firms to adopt technology that supports employee preferences while creating new operational efficiencies.

To support legal professionals, who prefer to work from their desktops directly, Clio launched Clio Drive. As a central and powerful part of Clio Manage’s document suite, Clio Drive works within a firm’s existing processes, giving legal professionals the ability to create, access, edit, store and even collaborate on files and folders from their desktop—while keeping them securely synced in Clio.

Investing in legal technology innovation for all

Aligned to Clio’s mission to transform the legal experience for all, the company announced Clio Ventures, a new equity investment portfolio for promising early stage legaltech companies offering best in class products and solutions. Embedded in Clio’s culture is the belief that diversity of experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds is a necessity for all 21st-century companies. Clio has firmly rooted that belief in its strategy to back diverse-led innovative companies that are transforming the legal landscape.

“The goal is to support the most compelling companies building on the Clio platform,” said Jack Newton. “We will be deliberate in our choice to invest in companies with diverse leadership that is reflective of the vibrant legal communities we serve.”

With these announcements, Clio marks a defining next step in their vision to build the first legal operating system for all.

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