San Diego, CA, Oct. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clio, the leader in cloud-based legal technology, announced new feature releases designed to better position law firms for success amid changing consumer expectations and demands. New features include Clio Manage's new Firm Dashboard, which provides a new level of insight into firm performance; Clio Scheduler, which allows firms to automate appointment bookings for their clients; and the new Clio Mobile App, which fully reimagines the Clio mobile experience.
Clio also announced a new framework for understanding what drives law firm success, called the Law Firm Maturity Model, introduced in this year’s Legal Trends Report. The model illustrates how both client experience and firm performance are essential to success. Firms that focus on the client-experience dimension are those that become responsive to client needs. Firms that focus on the firm-performance dimension put more time toward revenue-generating tasks for clients, while keeping overhead costs low and investing in productivity initiatives. But for a law firm to truly thrive, an emphasis on both is key.
“As we learn more about what distinguishes successful law firms from those not experiencing rapid growth, we’ve focused our product development in critical areas designed to help law firms truly thrive,” said Jack Newton, CEO and Co-founder of Clio. “We’re building Clio to be the operating system for the legal industry, and innovations like these are becoming more integral to the day-to-day of today’s legal professionals.”
Clio's new feature releases are designed to help law firms deliver more value to clients while improving overall business performance—both in delivering better client experiences and being more efficient in everyday tasks. Under this vision, Clio released:
- Clio Manage’s new Firm Dashboard, now in early-release, provides powerful intelligence into law firm performance. Modeled after the groundbreaking metrics illustrated in the annual Legal Trends Report, the Firm Dashboard provides intuitive visualizations with detailed breakdowns into key performance metrics, including Utilization Rate (how much time is put toward billable tasks), Realization Rate (how much of that work makes it to an invoice), and Collection Rate (how much ultimately gets paid).
- Clio Scheduler, the first feature release for the Clio Suite, currently in early-release, automates scheduling workflows and enables both lawyers and their clients to book consultations in seconds. According to data in the Legal Trends Report, 57% of clients contact more than one firm when looking for a lawyer, and timeliness was important to 82% of those who reach out. To minimize back-and-forth communications, Clio Scheduler gives potential clients the ability to book meetings directly into a lawyer’s calendar in Clio Grow and Clio Manage, which syncs automatically with popular third-party calendar integrations like Google Calendar and Outlook. Lawyers can quickly secure initial appointments and avoid missed opportunities—while saving time for both clients and law firms.
- The new Clio Moble App helps lawyers stay productive and profitable while working on the go. Designed for busy lawyers, the new mobile app lets lawyers track time, log phone calls, take notes, manage calendar events—and much more—seamlessly between Clio Manage’s desktop experience and other communications tools. The new design optimizes the mobile experience for the moments that matter when away from a home or office computer, making it incredibly easy to accomplish quick tasks after a meeting or while waiting in line at the local coffee shop.
Other notable new feature releases and performance enhancements this year include:
- New Clio Payments capabilities make it easy for law firms to get paid using secure payment links, schedule recurring credit card payment plans, get instant payment notifications, and more.
- Non-Billable Time Tracking allows lawyers to track non-billable work to better understand where they spend their unbilled time.
- Expense Categories help lawyers track different types of expenses to simplify financial recordkeeping while saving time and reducing the likelihood of error.
- Outstanding Balances gives law firms new capabilities in viewing, sharing, and managing outstanding client balances.
- Bill Recipients (early-release) lets firms share bills with multiple recipients in a few simple clicks.
- Bill Message Template (coming soon) allows law firms to create a repository of bill sharing templates that can be used at any time.
- Service-Only Discounts allow firms to selectively apply discounts with minimal steps.
- Expense Category Tax (coming soon) lets lawyers quickly designate tax rates to specific expense categories.
- Accounting Integration Improvements with QuickBooks Online (QBO) and Xero allow firms to sync more billing and account information, helping prevent duplicate information entry and helping reduce the complexity of legal accounting.
- The New Clio Calendar is designed to give lawyers legal-specific features that make updates easier and more information available at their fingertips.
- Clio’s App Directory has expanded to feature almost 200 integrations, with the addition of new partners including PwC InsightsOfficer, Xerox Connect, and WiseTime.
- Enhanced Zapier Integration improves the ability for law firms to connect with over 1,000 apps through an extensive library of Triggers, Searches, and Actions.
- Improved Outlook and Gmail Add-ins offer new ways for lawyers to integrate messages and attachments from their inboxes with Clio.
- New Custom Fields Layout and Data Table Customization allows lawyers to optimize their firm information to how they want to see it.
- Full Text Search gives lawyers the ability to find the file they’re looking for quickly by searching for keywords within document titles, metadata, and contents of all firm files.
Law firms interested in learning more about how Clio can help their firm’s provide better client experiences and improve productivity are encouraged to visit clio.com.
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About Clio:
Clio, the leader in cloud-based legal technology, empowers lawyers to be both client-centered and firm focused through a suite of cloud-based solutions, including legal practice management, client intake and legal CRM software. Clio has been transforming the industry for over a decade with 150,000 customers spanning 90 countries, and the approval of over 65 bar associations and law societies globally. Clio continues to lead the industry with initiatives like the Legal Trends Report, the Clio Cloud Conference, and the Clio Academic Access Program. Clio has been recognized as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, a Deloitte Fast 50 and Fast 500 company. Learn more at clio.com.
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