ProLaw vs. Clio Practice Management Comparison 2021
A comparison of select features of Clio, Elite ProLaw and Zola Suite. Clio is a Canadian practice management software company that relies heavily on integrations with 3rd party applications for many of its features such as accounting. It is cloud-based and offers mobile apps. ProLaw is a division of Canada-based Thompson Reuters. It requires a server install and individual users must run its dated Windows application to access its features. While it has strong billing and accounting features, its matter management and user interface have not been modernized and do not take advantage of advancements in user experience design.
| Overview | |||
| Overview | Clio | ProLaw |  |
| Cloud-based |  |  | |
| iPhone and Android apps | | (limited capabilities) | |
| Create one or more configurable matter views | | | |
| Two-factor authentication | | | |
| Billing & Accounting | |||
| Billing & Accounting | Clio | ProLaw | |
| Trust accounting | | | |
| Trust checks | | | |
| 3-way reconciliation of trust accounts | | | |
| Accounts payable management | | | |
| Cash and accrual business accounting | | | |
| Chart of Accounts, General Ledger, Profit & Loss report, Balance Sheet & more | | | |
| Split Originating/ Responsible report | | | |
| Rate cards | | | |
| Download bank and credit card activity from major financial institutions to reconcile and convert to billable expense | | | |
| Apply trust funds in bulk | | | |
| LawPay® support | | | |
| LEDES billing | | (must be custom-written) | |
| Advanced productivity reports | | | |
| Bulk email invoices | | | |
| WIP-Trust-AR report | | | |
| Referral Tracking report | | | |
| Complete business accounting | | | |
| Location accounting | | | |
| Departmental accounting | | | |
| Split billing | | | |
| Firm budgeting | | | |
| Consolidated billing | | | |
| Timekeeper Goals report | (Billable hours only) | | |
| Customizable billing increments | | | |
| LEDES budgeting | | | |
| Settlement Management tools | | | |
| Clio | ProLaw | | |
| Method | Uses special forwarding address for each matter. Have to manually forward or BCC each email. | Outlook plugin only | Outlook plugin and native email client directly connects to your existing account. |
| Built-in email client | | | |
| Smart Suggest™ compose feature shows matter-related contacts | | | *Patented |
| Convert email to task/event | | | |
| Auto create time entry when drafting email messages | | | |
| Microsoft Outlook® plugin | | | |
| Sent messages uses your actual account and show in your sent items | | | |
| Tasks | |||
| Tasks | Clio | ProLaw | |
| Assign to more than one recipient | | | |
| Ability to tag tasks | | | |
| QuickTask “mind-dump” | | | |
| SMS reminders | | | |
| Alerts for assignor when deadline missed | | | |
| Due time | | | |
| Recurrence | | | |
| Task templates | | | |
| Rich text descriptions | | | |
| Smart filters including view of overdue tasks you’ve delegated | | | |
| Attach documents | | | |
| Calendar | |||
| Calendar | Clio | ProLaw | |
| Custom event categories | | | |
| Ability to send real invites that can be “accepted” | | | |
| Invites sent using users’ actual email account | | | |
| SMS reminders | | | |
| | | |
| Support for recurring events | | | |
| True 2-way sync with Google and Office 365/Microsoft 365 calendars | Does not sync invitee data | (Outlook Only) | |
| Subscribe to other users' calendars | | | |
| Location suggestion | | | |
| Date calculator | | | |
| Notes | |||
| Notes | Clio | ProLaw | |
| Foldering | | | |
| Drag and drop | | | |
| Rich text editing with ability to add images | | (text only) | |
| Auto save | | | |
| Note fields | Create Date and Subject only | | Create Date, Subject, Created By, Last Edited By, Last Edited Date |
| Mobile Apps | |||
| Mobile Apps | Clio | ProLaw | |
| Built-in multi-page PDF scanner | | | |
| Business card scanner with OCR | | | |
| Send and receive email using your actual account | | | |
| Built-in email client with auto-timer and ability to save to matter | | | |
| Apple Watch application | | | |
| Document Management & Assembly | |||
| Document Management & Assembly | Clio | ProLaw | |
| Drag & drop into folders | | | |
| Open/save documents directly to Microsoft Word® for Windows | | | |
| Document assembly | | | |
| Native in-browser DOCX editor | | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| Document versioning, tagging, commenting | (versioning and tagging only) | (versioning only) | |
| In-document searching | (text search only) | | |
| Open, edit and automatically save documents back to the respective matter; no uploading required | | | |
| Portal | |||
| Portal | Clio | ProLaw | |
| Client Portal | | | |
| Native, branded portal for your firm | | | (available) |
| Native, branded portal mobile apps for your firm | | | (available) |
| Two-factor authentication on initial invite | | | |
| Process credit card payments | | (not available in portal) | |
| Portal invites and messaging from users’ account | | | |
| | | |
| CRM | |||
| CRM | Clio | ProLaw | |
| Manage prospects and automate intake | (additional purchase required) | | |
| Pricing | |||
| Pricing | Clio | ProLaw | |
| Monthly per-user fee (based on annual prepayment) | $39-$99 | Complex license pricing + server costs | $59-$99 |
*Certain features are available only on Enterprise and EnterprisePlus plans.
Zola Suite offers efficient and affordable Core migration for both Clio and ProLaw users. Advanced migration includes Matters, Custom Fields, Notes, Contacts, Calendars, Unbilled Time and Expense, Client Balances, Trust Balances and more. Contact our practice management experts for more information.
Comparison last updated 1/6/2021. Clio is a trademark of Themis Solutions Inc. ProLaw is a Trademark of Thompson Reuters Inc.