This post continues my quest to review client portals in practice management software as a service. This week I looked at Themis Solutions Inc.’s portals for clients: Clio Connect (CC). CC is comparable to AppFolio Inc.’s MyCase Portal but has a few features not available in MyCase.
Like MyCase, client portals are available when a matter is linked to a contact. Clio synchronizes contacts with Google contacts. Link a contact to new matter, save the matter, and the CC button becomes active on the matter Web page. Offer to share the matter with the contact by clicking on the CC button. A welcome email is sent to the client inviting him or her to view the shared matter using CC. The user clicks the secure link in the email, creates a password, and accesses the portal.
Like MyCase, until you specifically share bills or documents with clients, assign tasks to clients, or invite them to calendar events, nothing appears in the client portal. I uploaded two documents to the matter page but did not share them with the client. They did not appear in the client’s portal until I shared them. But when I shared the bills and documents with the client, assigned tasks to the client, and invited the client to calendar events, the portal filled up with information for the client to review.
When matter content is shared with the client, he or she receives an email notification alerting them to the new share. Clicking the link in the email, the client is sent to the CC login page and, after entering their credentials, is directed to the portal and the specific tabbed resource to view the share. See Figure 1.
Figure 1. Clio client portal in one Web page with tabbed resources for Dashboard, Calendar, Tasks, Documents, Bills and Communications for secure internal messaging between attorneys and clients. Click image to enlarge.
Although the Dashboard does not summarize all shared documents, it informs clients what is pending, such as unpaid bills, incomplete tasks and upcoming calendar items.
Unlike MyCase, Clio portal users can configure their email notification preferences. See Figure 2.
Figure 2. Clio Connect notification features. Click image to enlarge.
As a client, I unchecked “Allow email notifications to be sent when invited to a calendar event.” The attorney on the case, however, is not notified of the change in preference. Although the firm feed in my dashboard informed me when the client accepted my invitation to Clio Connect and logged in, it does not detail client activity, such as opening and reading a calendar invite to appear in court. Note you can filter the log by user, type (matter, bill, document, etc.).
Although I have no problem with clients setting their preferences for communication, I would want to know if a client turned off notifications of shared documents and invitations to calendar events. Otherwise, when I shared a document or invited clients to an event, I would assume they would receive an email notification to review the new document or event.
Unlike MyCase, the matter page contains a tabbed resource listing all items shared with the client. Any or all items can be unshared with the click of a mouse. See Figure 3.
Figure 3. Clio matter page showing tabbed display of Clio Connect items shared in the Matter. CC shared listings can be filtered by whom it is shared with, shared by, and the source type, such as document, event, and task. Click image to enlarge.
A report of all shared items with all clients is available from the CC configuration page in Clio settings, available via the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of the Web-browser interface. The report is interactive. Users can turn off sharing for any item in one click.
Besides portals, Themis Solutions Inc. supports multiple cloud-based file systems, i.e., Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and NetDocuments.
I set up my Box account to work with Clio, giving Clio read-write access to my cloud storage account. Once the account is linked, you Clio users make Box the default document source or use Clio and Box together. I made Box my default Clio storage.
When I created a matter, Clio created a Clio folder at the root of my Box account with subdirectories for clients and nested folders under clients for individual matters. Sweet. With cloud storage, and Google synchronization for contacts, my law firm has access to core work product available in Clio, without downloading and unpacking a backup file, if I change providers.
I missed the party on this feature, which was no doubt celebrated at the last Clio Cloud 2015 Conference in Chicago.
Subscribers to Clio’s Loyalty, Boutique or Elite plans can integrate Clio with Office 365 for Business and OneDrive for Business. I hope to take this up in a future post.
Clio and MyCase start at $39 per attorney per month.
Disclaimer: Themis Solutions Inc. maintains a demo account for me to stay current with Clio features. I obviously need to revisit it more frequently. Also, Clio and MyCase are ATL advertisers.
Attorney Sean Doherty has been following enterprise and legal technology for more than 15 years as a former senior technology editor for UBM Tech (formerly CMP Media) and former technology editor for Law.com and ALM Media. Sean analyzes and reviews technology products and services for lawyers, law firms, and corporate legal departments. Contact him via email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter: @SeanD0herty.
