How Attorney Andrew Legrand Maximizes Efficiency With Clio

Andrew Legrand, Attorney and Founder, Spera Law Group

Practicing law in a time of economic instability has been a common theme and struggle for thousands of practitioners over the last decade. Attorney Andrew Legrand has beat the odds to become a successful, mobile, entrepreneurial lawyer building, growing and automating his entire practice from one main hub: Clio.

In the days leading up to his graduation from law school, Andrew Legrand knew he was going to have to find an alternative way to practice law. North America was still suffering from the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis and unemployment rates for lawyers were at a 20-year high.

Soon after graduating, Andrew took his destiny into his own hands and set up shop as a solo practitioner. At first, he functioned with limited resources, no support staff, and minimal overheads. As his practice began to grow, Andrew quickly identified that his bare bones structure needed to change. Tracking documents and matters, time and billing management, and trust accounting were all necessary. He needed to find a system to help simplify his day-to-day operations.

“As a self-employed lawyer, I wanted to be on top of my business from the moment I set it up—I knew that there had to be a more streamlined way of executing daily tasks while keeping my overheads to a minimum. I identified that automating tasks and processes were a seamless way to do this.”

The automated legal practice

Andrew needed a central hub for all of his practice requirements that would provide enough flexibility that it could grow and adapt with him. After a period of trying all available solutions and resources, Andrew chose Clio to be the hub of all his future business. The reasons for his choice? Clio was ideal: a cloud-based solution that was secure, innovative and full of the core functionalities he was looking for. It also provided the necessary integrations framework to successfully automate his practice.

Automation was at the core of Andrew’s wants in a legal practice management software. Clio was to be the main facilitator of this and would let his practice grow in a direction he wanted. Alternative, autonomous, and automated.

One hub, infinite automations

From the core functionalities of Clio (matter management, billing, time tracking etc.) to being able to adapt his practice to his clients’ changing needs—the ability to automate any task to his Clio platform formed the foundation of Spera Law.

Clio’s ability, by way of multiple integration partners and Zapier, helped Andrew automate tasks, eliminate human error from his work, implement consistency, and increase his productivity. Note-taking, client intake, and document and task management became minor distractions allowing him to run a successful practice and live a flexible lifestyle.

“The element of automation has become a forethought to the way in which I practice law; I identify the tasks that need to be done, and then search for the best tools to do them.” Andrew’s workflow is simplified, streamlined, and consists of three main points:

• Figure out the pain point
• Find the best tools to execute the task
• Sync the tool(s) to his Clio account via Zapier

Following this flow, Andrew has broken down his tasks and automated his processes with the use of integrations, popular apps, and Zapier.

• Google Apps link contacts in his phone, Gmail and Clio.
• XERO ensures all his accounting needs are integrated into his Clio platform; eliminating the need for a bookkeeper.
• Evernote allows him to take notes during meetings, link a Notebook to a matter, then share these resources with his client.
• Personalized labels created in Zapier, link emails to matters.
• Asana is used for task management and organization, especially when collaborating with other lawyers.

Efficiency by design

Four years of experience with Clio, no support staff, infinite automations, and one hub of work have given Andrew the rewards and lifestyle that not many of those graduating from the Class of 2011 could have imagined. A single decision to use Clio for his legal practice management has made all the difference. Andrew’s practice has grown almost in sync with Clio. As the needs of his clients have advanced, so have Clio’s integrations and its ability to automate more tasks.

From accounting to billing, legal marketing tools, and the time-saving fundamentals of document automation, Clio continues to enable users to fully allocate their time to the practice of law.

Curate the law firm, business, and lifestyle you want with the ability and resources Clio and its integration partners give to you: more time, increased income, and the freedom to run your practice the way you want.

Interested in learning more about Clio? Try Clio for free or schedule a demo today!