Page 8 - NC Triangle Vol 6 No 5

Legal Innovators
Clio
“By Bob Friedman
e future of legal technology is
going to be driven by the move to the cloud,” said Clio CEO and Co- founder Jack Newton. “Cloud tech-
nology helps lawyers deliver legal services in a more productive and cost-e cient way to consumers.”
Clio is the leading cloud-based legal practice management so ware. With Clio, lawyers can manage their rm from in- take to invoice in one centralized, compli- ant platform. Firms of all sizes use Clio to eliminate tedious tasks, and to gain better insights into their work, practice, and cli- ents from anywhere at any time. Clio’s cus- tomers include 150,000 legal professionals spanning 90 countries.
e Vancouver-based company is cel- ebrating its 10th anniversary and has been recognized as one of Canada’s Best Man- aged Companies by Deloitte. To date, Clio has over 300 employees and continues to see that number grow.
Clio was the brainchild of Newton and Co-founder Rian Gauvreau, two friends who met in elementary school in Edmon- ton, Alberta. Starting in high school, they began dreaming of someday starting a business together.
“In 2007 I had caught the start-up bug, and Rian had started to see the challenges that many law rms, large and small, had with IT and so ware. at was the seed of the idea for Clio,” said Newton.
“Clio’s mission is to transform the prac-
tice of law, for good, and make justice more accessible for all,” said Newton. In 2008, Newton and Gauvreau launched Clio’s rst-to-market cloud-based practice man- agement so ware and have been leading the industry ever since.
An important moment for Clio and cloud-based practice management so - ware was a 2010 North Carolina State Bar decision to issue a positive ethics opinion on the acceptability of cloud computing. e NC State Bar was the rst state bar to do so. “It was prompted in 2009 by a Clio customer who requested guidance if using a system like Clio was ethically acceptable,” said Newton.
Bene ts for Small and Mid-Size Firms
“Cloud-based so ware eliminates the cost of buying, storing, and maintaining on-premise servers. Cloud vendors invest aggressively in security measures and in- frastructure that goes well beyond what the average small to mid-sized law rm could a ord. e cost of expensive so ware up- dates is also removed, as cloud-based so - ware is kept up-to-date automatically by the vendor,” said Newton.
“Right now, a client has to come into a lawyer’s o ce for a few hours to work on their will. In the digital age, consum- ers would rather nd their lawyer online, have an initial conversation online, ll out a questionnaire online, then have a 15 or 20-minute video chat, and then put the will online, all without the client ever having to come into the lawyer’s o ce. is kind of
JACK NEWTON
technology is going to lower the cost of le- gal services for clients,” said Newton. Cyber-Security in the Cloud
“Clio is monitored 24-7 by security ex- perts and we employ geo-redundancies to protect rm information in the event of a natural disaster or another unforeseen event,” said Newton. “We also o er ad- vanced security features such as two-factor authentication and complex password re- quirements to increase account security. Additionally, 256-bit encryption protects all information sent and received from our so ware.”
Planning for the Cloud
“Cloud computing is here now. It is a low-cost way to obtain so ware and stor- age. But, there are security-related issues that have implications for professional re- sponsibility,” said Kevin Lee, chairman of the NCBA’s committee on the future of law.
“I think there are two components that need to be incorporated into every law de- gree: e rst is basic training on how to run a business and be an entrepreneur,” said Newton. “Technology is the second big piece of the puzzle. Lawyers of the fu- ture and today will only thrive if they un- derstand technology and how it can be leveraged to deliver legal services in a more e ortless and convenient way to their cli- ents.”
For more information about Clio, visit Clio. com.
Sponsored by Lawyers Mutual
Law Firm Management in
the Cloud