At 9:40 on a Tuesday night, a woman finally decides to call a law firm because she’s worried her father is losing his memory and now he’s signed an equipment contract that he can’t afford. That’s the hypothetical scenario that Clio CEO Jack Newton gave us as he capped off his opening keynote at ClioCon with a demonstration of what the product can do.
For the next seven minutes, he walked the 3000-plus audience through an entire matter from the client’s initial inquiry to resolution. The call is answered by an AI voice agent that takes details and sets up the consultation. After that, AI works alongside the human lawyers on research, drafting, filing, timekeeping, billing, and even closes by gently getting the client to leave a review.
The demo even throws in a curveball that takes the case from a flat-fee arrangement to a hybrid hourly model when the matter is contested. We see a lot of demonstrations covering legal technology — most of them in October because every vendor believes these are the only four weeks of the year to hold an event — but this was one of the more impressive demos I’ve seen.
(It should be queued up, but it’s the 1:23:20 mark)
Now, obviously, that’s a controlled demo. But assuming it works half as well on the fly, it’s still wildly useful for anyone running a firm.
Honestly, the whole keynote could’ve been boiled down to this demo. Did we need a new logo? Well, we got one. The official description is that it hints at the “single pane of glass” mentality, but it also officially solidifies Clio as having moved from a practice management company to an AI company. All the AI company logos vaguely resemble a butthole so…
It’s not Clio’s fault that this is a trend. Also, remember to schedule your colonoscopy.
But back to the demo. Last year, Clio wouldn’t even say the word “agentic.” This year, the company relented to the ubiquity of the buzzword. But not before Newton redefined it from the stage to strip it of the baggage it carries. “AI doing work on your behalf across a process you set, even while you are doing something else,” hews reasonably closely to last year’s “teammate” terminology. The big tech companies sell agents as autonomous creepers spying on your calendar so they can unilaterally book dinner reservations for your anniversary. Clio’s definition reads more like a junior associate, which is an arrangement the average lawyer will find a lot more palatable.
More than what the agents can do, what stood out to me was the design of it all. Not the logo part, but the aesthetics of the demo as a visual event. It just felt like a gentle glide through the workflow. Very Apple-coded.
I mean…
At this juncture, I half expected to see him whip out his prototype of a new lawyer smartphone.
For years, my line on Clio was that it positioned itself as the Microsoft of small and solo legal tech. Microsoft didn’t build the computers or the overwhelming majority of the software, but it sat on every machine because it made everything work together. Sure, the company would eventually build a suite of office products, but the operating system play allowed it to let other companies design the next big thing and Microsoft just kept installing itself on computers. Clio long positioned itself as the ecosystem at the center as a thousand integration partner flowers bloomed.
When Clio got into the payments game a few years ago, it felt a bit like the Microsoft Word moment, where the operating system stepped into a partner’s garden. But the company continued to tout its ever-expanding array of integration partners. And those partners still pack the exhibit hall and spill out into the hallways. The demo this year hit differently though. That video felt like the more closed-off world of Apple.
At the official press briefing, Newton specifically quoted my tagline from last year’s coverage, “Clio versus everybody.” The company isn’t just a small law operating system anymore. Then he made the explicit comparison to Apple, describing how its level of vertical integration gives the company rivals in some sectors, but leaves the company as a whole essentially without peer. Steve Embry already noted the shift to Apple, so there’s no need to belabor it here, but watching the demo, you had to wonder if “Clio versus everybody” was eating into the partners.
Though it may be what the customers want. The whole allure of Apple is an intuitive, frictionless process and that’s served the world’s second most valuable company pretty well. At the wrap party, a Clio customer told me an anecdote about his experience with the company. He said that when he brought his problems to Clio he could tell they weren’t really listening to him, but listening through him to hear what his clients wanted. Which is exactly why this small firm user is loyal to Clio. Jack’s book is titled The Client-Centered Law Firm, right?
And for both smalls and clients it’s all about easy. Building an interface that users enjoy takes a lot of work — arguably more work than building the solution itself — and, not unlike Apple vs. Microsoft, smooth aesthetics require some rigid controls. If Clio thinks it needs to take over timekeeping and research and billing to make the process frictionless, that’s likely to find an enthusiastic market.
It’s less exciting for the other vendors toiling to build a better point solution. After the keynote, the exhibit floor had a low-grade vibe shift. Nobody said anything out loud — at least not to the press — but it just seemed off. Like a legal tech production of Game of Thrones was in full swing and the partners suddenly realized they’re wearing Ned Stark underoos. At the wrap party, over several drinks, an observer wondered if anyone would ever say something, or whether they’re all too scared.
When I put the question directly to Newton, he insisted the ecosystem is “more important than it’s ever been,” with hundreds of integrated partners. He takes a longer view, arguing that AI will make these integrations more relevant because customers will want Clio’s agents operating across their whole stack, including third-party products. We’re already seeing this in the enterprise sector where vendors have embraced the idea of opening themselves to AI allowing lawyers to work with multiple different offerings. A well-designed agent can deliver a winning user-facing experience while pinging other products behind the scenes.
One could even argue that this is the modern spin on being an ecosystem.
On the other hand, how realistic will it be that a small firm buys a third-party timekeeping product when Clio’s native timekeeper works just fine inside its workflow? Ed Walters, Clio’s VP of Legal Innovation, offered a slightly nuanced perspective, having been a former Clio integration partner himself. For all of Apple’s reputation as a closed system, the iPhone market is full of offerings that compete directly with native apps. Just because Apple Music exists doesn’t mean a user can’t use Spotify. In fact, Spotify users massively outnumber Apple Music users.
That said, Spotify did go out and get Apple fined €1.8 billion by the European Commission after complaining that the app store isn’t fair.
By the end of the conference, the only clear answer is that Clio sees the technology allowing it to build end-to-end workflows for customers and, by extension, clients. In the short-term, that’s going to involve Clio bringing more tasks under its native umbrella. For the partners, it’s going to be about making sure lawyers prefer their product seamlessly dropping into the workflow to replace Clio’s.
At the end of the day, all that matters is that Beth — from the demo — has the easiest possible path to protecting her father.
Earlier: The Jack Newton Keynote: Doubling Down On Unification
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.
The post Clio Shows Off Clean, Intuitive Design Reminiscent Of An Apple Product Launch appeared first on Above the Law.
At 9:40 on a Tuesday night, a woman finally decides to call a law firm because she’s worried her father is losing his memory and now he’s signed an equipment contract that he can’t afford. That’s the hypothetical scenario that Clio CEO Jack Newton gave us as he capped off his opening keynote at ClioCon with a demonstration of what the product can do.
For the next seven minutes, he walked the 3000-plus audience through an entire matter from the client’s initial inquiry to resolution. The call is answered by an AI voice agent that takes details and sets up the consultation. After that, AI works alongside the human lawyers on research, drafting, filing, timekeeping, billing, and even closes by gently getting the client to leave a review.
The demo even throws in a curveball that takes the case from a flat-fee arrangement to a hybrid hourly model when the matter is contested. We see a lot of demonstrations covering legal technology — most of them in October because every vendor believes these are the only four weeks of the year to hold an event — but this was one of the more impressive demos I’ve seen.
(It should be queued up, but it’s the 1:23:20 mark)
Now, obviously, that’s a controlled demo. But assuming it works half as well on the fly, it’s still wildly useful for anyone running a firm.
Honestly, the whole keynote could’ve been boiled down to this demo. Did we need a new logo? Well, we got one. The official description is that it hints at the “single pane of glass” mentality, but it also officially solidifies Clio as having moved from a practice management company to an AI company. All the AI company logos vaguely resemble a butthole so…
It’s not Clio’s fault that this is a trend. Also, remember to schedule your colonoscopy.
But back to the demo. Last year, Clio wouldn’t even say the word “agentic.” This year, the company relented to the ubiquity of the buzzword. But not before Newton redefined it from the stage to strip it of the baggage it carries. “AI doing work on your behalf across a process you set, even while you are doing something else,” hews reasonably closely to last year’s “teammate” terminology. The big tech companies sell agents as autonomous creepers spying on your calendar so they can unilaterally book dinner reservations for your anniversary. Clio’s definition reads more like a junior associate, which is an arrangement the average lawyer will find a lot more palatable.
More than what the agents can do, what stood out to me was the design of it all. Not the logo part, but the aesthetics of the demo as a visual event. It just felt like a gentle glide through the workflow. Very Apple-coded.
I mean…
At this juncture, I half expected to see him whip out his prototype of a new lawyer smartphone.
For years, my line on Clio was that it positioned itself as the Microsoft of small and solo legal tech. Microsoft didn’t build the computers or the overwhelming majority of the software, but it sat on every machine because it made everything work together. Sure, the company would eventually build a suite of office products, but the operating system play allowed it to let other companies design the next big thing and Microsoft just kept installing itself on computers. Clio long positioned itself as the ecosystem at the center as a thousand integration partner flowers bloomed.
When Clio got into the payments game a few years ago, it felt a bit like the Microsoft Word moment, where the operating system stepped into a partner’s garden. But the company continued to tout its ever-expanding array of integration partners. And those partners still pack the exhibit hall and spill out into the hallways. The demo this year hit differently though. That video felt like the more closed-off world of Apple.
At the official press briefing, Newton specifically quoted my tagline from last year’s coverage, “Clio versus everybody.” The company isn’t just a small law operating system anymore. Then he made the explicit comparison to Apple, describing how its level of vertical integration gives the company rivals in some sectors, but leaves the company as a whole essentially without peer. Steve Embry already noted the shift to Apple, so there’s no need to belabor it here, but watching the demo, you had to wonder if “Clio versus everybody” was eating into the partners.
Though it may be what the customers want. The whole allure of Apple is an intuitive, frictionless process and that’s served the world’s second most valuable company pretty well. At the wrap party, a Clio customer told me an anecdote about his experience with the company. He said that when he brought his problems to Clio he could tell they weren’t really listening to him, but listening through him to hear what his clients wanted. Which is exactly why this small firm user is loyal to Clio. Jack’s book is titled The Client-Centered Law Firm, right?
And for both smalls and clients it’s all about easy. Building an interface that users enjoy takes a lot of work — arguably more work than building the solution itself — and, not unlike Apple vs. Microsoft, smooth aesthetics require some rigid controls. If Clio thinks it needs to take over timekeeping and research and billing to make the process frictionless, that’s likely to find an enthusiastic market.
It’s less exciting for the other vendors toiling to build a better point solution. After the keynote, the exhibit floor had a low-grade vibe shift. Nobody said anything out loud — at least not to the press — but it just seemed off. Like a legal tech production of Game of Thrones was in full swing and the partners suddenly realized they’re wearing Ned Stark underoos. At the wrap party, over several drinks, an observer wondered if anyone would ever say something, or whether they’re all too scared.
When I put the question directly to Newton, he insisted the ecosystem is “more important than it’s ever been,” with hundreds of integrated partners. He takes a longer view, arguing that AI will make these integrations more relevant because customers will want Clio’s agents operating across their whole stack, including third-party products. We’re already seeing this in the enterprise sector where vendors have embraced the idea of opening themselves to AI allowing lawyers to work with multiple different offerings. A well-designed agent can deliver a winning user-facing experience while pinging other products behind the scenes.
One could even argue that this is the modern spin on being an ecosystem.
On the other hand, how realistic will it be that a small firm buys a third-party timekeeping product when Clio’s native timekeeper works just fine inside its workflow? Ed Walters, Clio’s VP of Legal Innovation, offered a slightly nuanced perspective, having been a former Clio integration partner himself. For all of Apple’s reputation as a closed system, the iPhone market is full of offerings that compete directly with native apps. Just because Apple Music exists doesn’t mean a user can’t use Spotify. In fact, Spotify users massively outnumber Apple Music users.
That said, Spotify did go out and get Apple fined €1.8 billion by the European Commission after complaining that the app store isn’t fair.
By the end of the conference, the only clear answer is that Clio sees the technology allowing it to build end-to-end workflows for customers and, by extension, clients. In the short-term, that’s going to involve Clio bringing more tasks under its native umbrella. For the partners, it’s going to be about making sure lawyers prefer their product seamlessly dropping into the workflow to replace Clio’s.
At the end of the day, all that matters is that Beth — from the demo — has the easiest possible path to protecting her father.
Earlier: The Jack Newton Keynote: Doubling Down On Unification
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.
