Clio

Clio is the dominant legal practice management platform, trusted by over 150,000 legal professionals across 130+ countries and approved by more than 100 bar associations and law societies worldwide, including all 50 US state bars. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Burnaby, BC, it has grown into what the company calls an "Intelligent Legal Work Platform" — covering everything from client intake to the final bill, with an AI layer threaded throughout.

What it covers

Clio's scope goes well beyond a client portal. The platform handles case management, time and expense tracking, billing and invoicing, trust accounting, document management, calendaring, and client intake (CRM). The client portal itself gives clients secure access to case updates, documents, and invoices, and lets them pay online.

The "Clio Manage" core product handles operations, while "Clio Grow" (included on the Expand plan) adds a dedicated CRM and intake pipeline — automated appointments, welcome emails, and document requests to convert prospects into clients.

AI features

Clio has invested heavily in AI under the "Clio Duo" branding. It can extract key dates from court filings and add them to your calendar, auto-generate and route invoices, draft motions and client updates from matter activity, and surface priorities and risks across your caseload. Clio explicitly states it does not train AI models on customer data.

Pricing

Four tiers, billed per user per month (annual pricing):

• EasyStart — $49/month: time tracking, billing, document management
• Essentials — $89/month: adds client portal, e-signatures, court forms
• Advanced — $119/month: adds deeper reporting and automation
• Expand — $149/month: bundles Clio Grow for client intake and CRM

Monthly pricing runs $59 / $99 / $139 / $169 per user respectively. AI features (Clio Duo) are an add-on across all plans. There is no free tier, though a free trial is available. The client portal is locked to Essentials ($89/month annual) and above — EasyStart users won't get it.

Integrations and compliance

The Clio App Directory lists 250+ integrations, including Office 365, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and a broad range of legal-specific tools. Security certifications include SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and PCI compliance, with 24/7 monitoring and 99.9% uptime SLA. HIPAA compliance enables storing protected health information — relevant for personal injury or healthcare law practices.

Built-in e-filing is available for California, Texas, and Georgia state courts without leaving the platform.

Support

All plans include 24/5 phone and live chat support (Monday morning through Friday evening), free on-demand training, and guided data migration with dedicated migration experts.

Limitations

Clio is purpose-built for law firms — it is not a general-purpose client portal and brings significant complexity if all you need is a simple file-sharing or project collaboration workspace. Pricing is steep for solo practitioners: even the entry Essentials plan (required for portal access) runs $89/user/month annually. Non-legal professional services firms will find the legal-centric UI and terminology a poor fit.

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