2019 at Clio: A Year in Review

From our biggest and best Clio Cloud Conference yet, to the launch of Clio Grow, to one of the largest growth stage investments in legal tech ever, 2019 has certainly been a busy and incredible year at Clio. Wrapping up 2019, let’s take a look back at some of our—and your—biggest and brightest achievements as we continue on our mission together to transform the practice of law, for good.

Another year serving our amazing customers

We’re proud to serve the lawyers and legal professionals who use Clio every day to do amazing work. You help ordinary people navigate extraordinary situations, and we’re incredibly grateful for the work that you do. Here’s a short video message reflecting on all the legal profession does.

Thank you for another amazing year.

$250M towards the next era of legal

The legal industry is undergoing a transformation. Clients are fast outgrowing traditional models for legal services, largely as a result of how they are using technology to interact in their everyday lives. As consumer expectations continue to evolve, legal professionals need to find ways of delivering more effortless, client-centered experiences—but not at the cost of firm success. At Clio, we’re committed to supporting law firms in navigating this changing market.

This year, TCV and JMI Equity, known for investing in companies that have historically changed the way consumers engage with age old services, invested $250 million in Clio to help us transform the practice of law, for good. We joined a portfolio that includes Airbnb, Expedia, Facebook, Netflix, and Spotify.

This growth investment—one of the largest in legal technology—greatly enhances our ability to make a positive impact on the legal industry and transform the practice of law, for good, together with you. Thank you for joining us on this journey!

Coming soon to your bookshelf: The Client-Centered Law Firm.

At this year’s Clio Cloud Conference, Jack Newton announced a new book, The Client-Centered Law Firm, available for preorder now and releasing early next year, the book is both a call for a tectonic shift in the legal industry and a practical guide to running a profitable, client-centered law firm.

The future for law firms is client-centered, and with Jack’s expert perspective, examples, and advice, you’ll have a blueprint to help your firm not just keep up with—but get ahead of—the curve to become more profitable. Better yet, you’ll know how to better give your clients the experience they deserve.

Here’s what a few early reviewers of the book have to say:

“Deeply insightful, practical, and engaging, this book is the definitive clarion call for law firms to become relentlessly client-centred.”

– Professor Richard Susskind OBE, author of Tomorrow’s Lawyers

“The Client-Centered Law Firm is a fantastic mix of practical and theoretical—futuristic and exactly what we are seeing in law firms today. I have already implemented some of the strategies and exercises described to make my firm more client-centered.”

– Billie Tarasico, Attorney at Law, Modern Law

Preorder The Client-Centered Law Firm today, and be the first to get your copy when it’s released in early 2020.

Release of the 4th annual Legal Trends Report

Our fourth-annual Legal Trend Report offered more in-depth insights than ever, including the legal industry’s first longitudinal analysis of law firm success.

Based on aggregated and anonymized data from thousands of law firms, the analysis identifies a cohort of law firms that has achieved substantial revenue growth over five years. Insights from the research, as well as new findings on client expectations from a survey of 2,000 US consumers, form the basis for the Law Firm Maturity Model, which outlines a new framework for law firm success.

The report also dug into the experience of legal customers and how they shop for legal services.

This year’s report also put law firm responsiveness to the test: Clio hired a third-party research firm to contact 1,000 law firms via email and phone with inquiries designed to assess law firm responsiveness and quality of communications with potential clients. Results from the study show that the majority of law firms neglect their emails, and many don’t respond to phone outreach:

• Only 40% responded to the email
• 56% of phone calls were answered by a person and 39% went to voicemail
• More than half of firms didn’t respond to their voicemails within 72 hours

Read more in the full 2019 Legal Trends Report.

The launch of Clio Grow

2019 was also the year we launched Clio Grow: a client intake and legal client relationship management (CRM) software that gives legal professionals a new way to organize, nurture, and acquire new clients—all from one convenient platform. It’s also the perfect companion to Clio Manage

While you can learn more details about Clio Grow here, key features include:

• Online Intake Forms
• E-signatures & Document Automation
• Workflow & Email Automation
• Reporting & Data Insights

Building on this, the launch of Clio Grow also meant the introduction of the Clio Suite. An end-to-end solution for legal professionals, the Clio Suite brings together Clio Grow’s client intake and CRM software with Clio Manage’s trusted legal practice management software for a one-of-a-kind, synchronized solution for managing the client experience and journey.

Learn more about the Clio Suite.

New product releases

Every year, we develop new features and updates to Clio to help you and your firm be your most productive, efficient, and profitable.

Here are a few of our product releases from 2019:

• The new Clio Mobile App. In 2019 and beyond, lawyers need to be able to focus on the moments that matter when they’re on the go. Enter the rebuilt and redesigned Clio Mobile App. Download the new app today on iOS or Android. Using it and loving it? Leave us a review!
• Outstanding Balances. Clio Manage’s new Outstanding Balances feature simplifies billing for both you and your clients. By presenting client outstanding balance information in one central place, it’s simple to quickly view, share, and manage your clients’ outstanding balances on multiple invoices. For your clients, it’s easy to see what they owe and make payments instantly online via credit card.
• Non-billable time tracking. Clio Manage now lets you easily track non-billable activities on billable matters—so you get a complete view of time spent on a case, while still maintaining control over what appears on an invoice to your client.
• Clio Scheduler. Scheduling appointments doesn’t have to be a hassle for your clients and potential clients. The process is simpler, more straightforward, and easier for clients with the new Clio Scheduler—convenient, online legal appointment booking software. It’s available with the Clio Suite.
• Firm Dashboard. Launching soon, the new Firm Dashboard in Clio Manage will allow firms to measure their own utilization, realization, and collection rates—letting you easily track firm productivity and revenue while pinpointing areas for improvement.

70 new integration partners

The key to getting more done in a day? There are many schools of thought, but it definitely helps to streamline your tech—and with more and more integration partners available in the Clio App Directory, it’s easier than ever to connect Clio to your essential business tools.

In 2019, we were happy to add 70 new integrations to our legal technology ecosystem—bringing the total number of integration partners in the Clio App Directory to nearly 200.

Here are just a few of our favorite new additions:

• Jive. To see caller information and automatically log the phone call as a billable activity against a matter.
• PwC InsightsOfficer. To integrate your financial and practice management software—unlocking automated bookkeeping and accounting insights.
• ROSS Intelligence. To complete legal research easily and quickly using the power of AI.
• Scrive. To e-Sign and manage documents from anywhere, on any device.
• Sonar. To identify individuals seeking legal services immediately through an automated search.
• WiseTime. To capture and collate your activity in a private timeline that can be reviewed and synced to a matter in Clio.

Learn about these integrations and more in the Clio App Directory

The biggest (and best) Clio Cloud Conference ever

Held this fall in beautiful San Diego, the 2019 Clio Cloud Conference was without a doubt our biggest and best event yet.

This year’s conference centered around thriving—ensuring lawyers and law firms have what they need to not just survive but flourish in a competitive, experience-driven world. To that end, the conference featured insightful and educational talks, deep-dives into data-driven insights from the 2019 Legal Trends Report, and as always, plenty of exciting announcements from Clio.

You can read more highlights from the 2019 Clio Cloud Conference here.

Launching innovation forward

This year, our second annual  Launch//Code contest—designed to drive innovation and find the next great Clio integration—selected five amazing finalists from over 60 submissions. Each finalist delivered a four-minute pitch on their app’s innovation, impact, and business potential to a panel of industry experts.

The finalists for 2019 included:

• Casetext, a legal research platform using CARA AI technology to help attorneys find better results, in less time, for less money.
• Community.lawyer, to help your firm build custom client intakes and document automations in minutes.
• FirmTRAK, a data analytics reporting tool that helps law professionals manage KPIs vital to firm growth.
• Heymarket, for easy and trackable business text messaging with your firm’s Clio contacts.
• WiseTime, to passively capture your activity while you work and collate it in a private timeline.

Congratulations to the winner of $100,000 and the title of “Best New Integration,” Casetext!

Recognizing excellence at the 2019 Reisman awards

Every year, we’re proud to recognize law firms demonstrating excellence with our annual Reisman Awards at the Clio Cloud Conference. We’re so proud of the amazing work our customers do to grow profitable firms, build strong cultures, and transform the practice of law, for good.

Congratulations to the winners of the third-annual Reisman Awards:

• Legal Innovation: Levine Family Law Group
• Best New Law Firm: Vanst Law
• Community Champion: Beacon Law
• Best Growth Story: Hamra Law Group
• Excellence in Client Service: Cascade Legal Planning

Over 450 Clions and counting

Over the course of 2019, our team grew an incredible amount—we’ve added nearly 150 new Clions to our ranks, bringing our world-wide team count to over 450 Clions.

We aren’t done growing, either! To help us transform the practice of law, for good, we’re on the lookout for more amazing people to join our teams in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Dublin.

Check out some of the exciting roles that are open at Clio right now.

Top awards and recognitions

We’re proud of our people, our innovation, and our award-winning culture—and we’re honored to be recognized for it. Here are some of the awards and recognitions we received in 2019:

• Anchor Success Company of the Year, BC Tech Association at the Technology Impact Awards
• One of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, Deloitte
• One of Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers, Canada’s Top 100 Employers
• One of BC’s Top Employers, Canada’s Top 100 Employers
• One of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures, Waterstone Human Capital
• CEO and Co-founder Jack Newton inducted as 2019 Fellow, College of Law Practice Management

More than $7.5 million donated

Every year, we’re pleased to offer free Clio access to instructors, administrators, and students in law schools, clinics, and legal programs in the United States and around the world. This year, Clio’s total product donations amounted to more than $7.5 million.

Learn more about Clio’s Academic Access Program.

Thank you for a momentous 2019!

Whether you’ve joined us as a customer, partner, Clio Cloud Conference speaker, or attendee, or as part of the greater legal community, it’s been a privilege to engage with you this year. Thank you for sharing this year with us, and look out for more exciting announcements from Clio in 2020!

We published this blog post in December 2019. Last updated: September 25, 2024.

Categorized in: Clio