Clio API
Clio is cloud-based practice management software used by law firms to organize matters, track time, bill clients, manage trust funds, coordinate calendars and tasks, store documents and communications, and run firm-wide reporting. An unofficial API lets you pull matter and contact rec
What is Clio?
Clio is a legal practice management platform that helps law firms run operations end-to-end across case management, billing, accounting, documents, and client intake.
Core product areas include:
- Matter Management (case files, statuses, custom fields, teams)
- Contacts & Client Intake (Clio Grow CRM, intake forms, conflict checks)
- Time Tracking & Billing (activities, expenses, invoicing, payments)
- Trust Accounting (retainers, trust transactions, reconciliation)
- Documents & Communications (document storage/links, emails, notes)
- Calendar & Tasks (events, reminders, docketing, assignments)
- Reporting & Insights (utilization, realization, collections, financials)
Common data entities:
- Matters (matter number, title, description, status, practice area, responsible attorney)
- Contacts (clients, opposing parties, companies, people, emails, phones, addresses)
- Users & Teams (attorneys, paralegals, billing/admin roles)
- Time Entries & Expenses (date, duration, description, activity codes, rates)
- Bills/Invoices & Payments (line items, taxes, trust applied, statuses)
- Trust Accounts (balances, deposits, transfers, withdrawals)
- Tasks & Calendar Events (due dates, reminders, attendees)
- Documents & Links (files managed in Clio or references to external DMS like iManage)
- Notes & Communications (emails, messages, call logs)
- Audit Events (who changed what, when)
The Clio Integration Challenge
Firms rely on Clio daily, but turning portal-centric casework into API-driven automation—especially in environments anchored by iManage—can be challenging:
- Matter identity and numbering: Ensuring unique, consistent matter numbers and titles across Clio and iManage workspaces
- Permissions & entitlements: Role-based access varies (attorney, billing, admin) and must be respected in API actions
- Trust accounting rules: Retainers, trust-only payments, and restricted transfers require careful validations
- Long-running tasks: Invoice generation, bulk imports, and large document moves need async/polling and resilient retries
- Document provenance: Linking Clio matters to iManage workspace/document/version IDs without duplicating storage
- Intake vs. active matter: Bridging Clio Grow intake records into Clio Manage matters with status transitions
- Authentication complexity: SSO/MFA and session lifecycles complicate headless automation for firm tenants
- Audit rigor: Each action (time entry, bill change, trust transaction) needs immutable, consistent audit records
How Supergood Creates Clio APIs
Supergood reverse-engineers authenticated browser flows and network interactions to deliver a resilient API endpoint layer for your Clio tenant.
- Handles username/password, SSO/OAuth, and MFA (SMS, email, TOTP) securely
- Maintains session continuity with automated refresh and change detection
- Normalizes matter, contact, time, billing, and document-link schemas so you can integrate once and rely on consistent objects
- Aligns with customer entitlements and role-based permissions to ensure compliant access
- Supports high-volume operations (time capture, billing runs) with polling or webhooks for long-running jobs
Getting Started
- Schedule Integration Assessment
Book a 30-minute session to confirm your modules, licensing, and authentication model.
- Supergood Builds and Validates Your API
We deliver a hardened Clio adapter tailored to your workflows, including iManage workspace mapping.
- Deploy with Monitoring
Go live with continuous monitoring and automatic adjustments as Clio evolves.
Use Cases
Matter Synchronization & iManage Workspace Mapping
- Pull matter lists from Clio and map to iManage workspace IDs - Keep titles, responsible attorneys, and practice areas aligned - Add document links referencing iManage document/version IDs without moving files
Intake to Matter Opening (Grow → Manage → iManage)
- Convert intake submissions into new matters with assigned numbers - Auto-create iManage workspaces and cross-reference IDs in Clio - Apply custom fields and tags for practice area or workflow stage
Time Capture & Billing Automation
- Push time entries tied to iManage document activity (e.g., editing or reviewing) - Generate draft invoices with correct rates, taxes, and trust application - Sync invoice PDFs and statuses for attorney review and client delivery
Calendar & Docket Sync
- Write events, deadlines, and reminders to Clio calendars and tasks - Attach references to iManage documents that support the docket item - Maintain firm-wide visibility with consistent formatting and audit
Technical Specifications
Authentication
Username/password with MFA (SMS, email, TOTP) and SSO/OAuth where enabled; supports service accounts or customer-managed credentials
Response format
JSON with consistent resource schemas and pagination across modules
Rate limits
Tuned for firm throughput while honoring customer entitlements and usage controls
Session management
Automatic reauth and cookie/session rotation with health checks
Data freshness
Near real-time retrieval of matters, contacts, time entries, bills, and document links
Security
Encrypted transport, scoped tokens, and audit logging; respects Clio role-based permissions (attorney, staff, billing, admin)
Webhooks
Optional asynchronous delivery for long-running workflows (e.g., invoice generation, bulk imports)
Latency
Sub-second responses for list/detail queries under normal load; invoice generation times reflect underlying platform behavior
Throughput
Designed for high-volume time capture and billing synchronization
Reliability
Retry logic, backoff, and idempotency keys minimize duplicates and support at-least-once processing
Adaptation
Continuous monitoring for UI/API changes with rapid adapter updates
Frequently asked questions
Supergood supports workflows commonly used for practice management, including Matter Management, Contacts/Intake (Grow), Time Tracking & Billing, Trust Accounting, Calendar & Tasks, and Document Links (including iManage references), subject to your licensing and entitlements.
We support username/password + MFA (SMS, email, TOTP) and can operate behind SSO/OAuth when enabled. Sessions are refreshed automatically with secure challenge handling and monitoring for session expiry.
Yes. We normalize workspace and document identifiers so you can attach iManage references to Clio matters, record document-centric time entries, and avoid duplicating files while maintaining auditability.
We respect trust accounting constraints, and we can submit time entries and generate draft invoices, apply retainers, and surface invoice PDFs and statuses via polling or webhooks, aligned with firm permissions.
We capture immutable audit records for matter changes, time entries, billing actions, and document link operations, including who did what, when, and the rationale when provided.