How Clio Helped Cantor, Wolff, Nicastro and Hall grow client intake by 74%

Building a firm with a clear focus

In 2020, Western New York attorneys Mark Cantor, David Wolff, Joe Nicastro, and Rich Hall teamed up to create a law firm with a specific, client-focused goal: winning.

“We wanted to start a firm that was competitive, that had strong principles, and that was focused on winning,” Joe explains.

Three years later, Cantor, Wolff, Nicastro & Hall LLC, is a thriving law firm dedicated to Personal Injury Law and community service, in one of the more competitive markets for Personal Injury law in the United States. As their mantra—“no case too big, no case too small”—suggests, the firm is committed to ensuring that every client’s case is important.

To help capture more wins for their clients, the growing firm turned to Clio’s legal practice management platform to provide structure and streamline their processes.

“If we were going to continue being successful and taking on more clients, we needed a platform to keep things organized, keep them simple, and to push cases forward,” Joe says.

Enter: Clio.

By implementing Clio at the firm, the team stays organized with personal injury cases and better serves clients, even as they grow.

Indeed, in just a few years, Cantor, Wolff, Nicastro & Hall—supported by Clio’s software—has already shown tremendous growth in multiple areas, including intake (143% growth from 2020 to 2021) and firm size (3x the number of staff since 2020).

“What we found from our experience with Clio is… it’s going to translate into more profitability for your firm, which means you benefit your employees and everyone that’s a part of that,” Joe says. “If you’re a law firm and you’re not running your firm like a business, you’re doing it wrong,” he adds. “Your profit margin is going to be lower, and your client satisfaction is going to take a dip, too, because it comes down to organization.”

For Joe and Cantor, Wolff, Nicastro & Hall, adopting Clio has paid off.

1. The right software to stay competitive and win more cases with Clio

From the start, the team knew legal software was key to creating a winning personal injury law firm.

After spending more than 10 years in the personal injury field himself, Joe saw how much of a difference technology can make for a law firm’s success. “Our world is so tech-driven now, that if you don’t stay up with the times, you’re going to get left behind,” he says

Clio’s user-friendly interface, remote accessibility and functionality, and organization features made it stand out. “Clio is simple to use—very user friendly, effective, and efficient.”

2. Delivering the personalized service personal injury cases demand

Personal injury cases can be sensitive and traumatic for clients. In order to offer exceptional service for clients, it’s important to work quickly and efficiently while keeping track of the many important details, so that clients feel supported.

“The thing about personal injury is that we often get a call that someone’s been injured. It’s usually the worst day of their life,” Joe says. “Their world gets turned upside down. They’re dealing with doctors, insurance companies, and medical bills. It’s just a complete nightmare for injury victims.

“So, something that we take great pride in is communicating with the clients. When a client calls and they have a medical update—for example let’s say they just spoke to their doctor—I just go in my search bar [and] type in the client’s name.”

Once the correct client file is selected, it’s quick and simple to update the file. “Anytime the client calls you, you just go look at your notes, and you remember what you spoke about last time,” Joe adds. “It’s incredibly effective, and it makes you put out good legal work.”

“That note feature alone is worth the price of admission when it comes to case management software like Clio. Because you know what’s going on, and you don’t have to worry about forgetting something a client told you, because it’s right there.”

3. The flexibility to work effectively from anywhere

Whether it’s a matter of checking on a case on the go for convenience or a client just prefers to engage without being face-to-face, the ability to work remotely when needed is another big advantage of Clio for Joe.

“A lot of clients, maybe because of medical reasons, want to do things at a distance. Our society has become more comfortable with doing things remotely, and it’s more efficient. It’s cheaper, and it’s more convenient for a lot of clients,” Joe says. “Once we have our consultation, and I’m sending the retaining documents to the client, it’s as easy as pressing a button, and it gets the job done.”

Using Clio to facilitate working remotely allows Joe and the firm to effectively work on cases in different areas—all over New York State and Pennsylvania, Joe says. This means the firm can help more clients win.

Clio’s remote functionality can also help keep clients and staff safe when unexpected circumstances strike. “In Buffalo, New York, the weather is really bad in the winter. All our employees are set up at home during these big snowstorms that we get, and our business can keep running.”

Joe and the firm are also invested in fostering a work environment that brings in and retains the best staff. While this sometimes means giving employees options that allow for a healthier work-life balance, it can also mean using the technology to make their jobs more efficient, too.

“We’ve noticed more and more on our last couple of hirings, that one of the first questions we are asked is: ‘Do you have a case management software?’ They want to know if they can work hybrid. They recognize that if you don’t have a case management software system like Clio, it’s going to be very difficult working remotely.”

4. Clio supports the firm’s long-term vision to innovate—and win

As Cantor, Wolff, Nicastro & Hall continues to grow, the goal is to expand the firm’s services to reach more clients—so they can help more people win cases. And the long-term vision is to widen their service area even further, including opening a new office in Pennsylvania.

“We want to help as many people as we can,” Joe says. “And we want to grow so that more people, not just the clients we have right now, can get this service we want people to receive. [And] we need something like Clio to take us to the next level—especially if we’re going to be entering a different legal market in a different state.”

Ultimately, both Clio and Cantor, Wolff, Nicastro & Hall value the power of innovation. For Joe, innovation is essential when striving to counter rich, powerful insurance companies, who have their own technology solutions.

“We win. And if you’re going to win, you have to stay innovative and you have to level the playing field with the insurance companies,” Joe says. “So that’s what Clio’s innovation does for us. We outsmart the insurance companies because we’ve got a case management system software that’s just as good as theirs, if not better.”

Clio’s cost-effectiveness is part of the winning formula. “We’re not paying exorbitant amounts of money to manage our cases,” Joe says, “which allows us to invest more money in our clients, their cases, and their needs as they relate to their cases.”

Delivering positive client experiences with Clio’s help

By using Clio to work on and resolve cases efficiently, Joe and the firm are able to win more cases—which leads to more growth, and a better experience for clients. “It’s helping [clients] the most,” Joe says, “because it’s moving things along, getting the cases across the finish line and getting the big W.

“You don’t want to lose in our business. It doesn’t feel good to let someone down. We win cases, and we’re proud of that. And we’re very grateful that Clio is a part of the winning formula.”

And more wins lead to more business.

“When a client is satisfied, they’re going to refer you to their friends and family, and that has really been, in my opinion, one of the best results that came out of going with Clio.”