Fundamentals of



Fundamentals of

Law Practice:

Clio Case Management Software Manual (2010)

Table of Contents

Task Bar – What Is the Clio Task Bar? 1

Log-in to Clio 2

Matters 4

What is a “Matter”? 4

Documents – How Do I Upload My Documents to Clio? 7

Example Error! Bookmark not defined.

Calendar – How Do I Create a Calendar Entry? 9

Calendar - How do I Share my Calendar with Others? 11

Calendar – How do I View Someone’s Calendar? 13

Calendar – How do I Make Appointments With Other Users? 15

Contacts – How Do I Add/Edit Contacts? 17

Timekeeping – How Do I Track the Time I spent Working On a Matter? 20

Tasks – How Do I Assign/Retrieve Tasks? 22

Task Bar – What Is the Clio Task Bar?

The Clio task bar is the bar that you see from every page on the Clio website. This bar has 10 fixed tabs, with associated information, which you can access by clicking the tab from anywhere in Clio. The tabs on the task bar will not change and you can easily navigate between the tab topics by clicking on the appropriate tab.

The Task Bar will always look the same and will be present at the very top of the Clio webpage, right under the Clio logo. In the following example, the Calendar tab has been clicked on and the rest of the tabs appear faded.

[pic]

Log-in to Clio

What am I looking at when I first log-in to Clio?

As soon as you have created a calendar item (e.g. an appointment) or a task linked to matters, the first screen you seen when you log in will be a page titled “Clio - Agenda” which is displayed by selecting the tab called “Practice” at the left hand side of the tab menu.

This “home screen” will look something like this:

This page, called the “Practice Agenda” is intended to provide an at-a-glance summary of scheduled appointments and tasks, in order to keep you abreast of important action items and time-sensitive events.

Until you create at least one calendar item or task, the first screen you see upon logging in will look like this:

Matters

The feature allowing the instructors to set permissions for each specific matter has now been activated for our customized CLIO account. The following explains how this feature works.

Note: Jonathan Call and Robert Bexley have kindly agreed to let us display screens from their user accounts for the following screen shot, and other examples that follow.

What is a “Matter”?

The term "matter" is the umbrella term under which all tasks, activities (i.e. time records), documents related to a particular project are recorded and retrieved from the database for our course’s Clio account.

Example: In to your office walks Jane Smith. She hires you to handle her legal matters. You quickly input her contact information into your Clio Contacts (as explained in the Contacts section below). She tells you that she 1) wants to file for a divorce from her no-good husband, 2) is just about to sign a contract with a publishing house for her autobiography and wants you to review her contract, and 3) wants you to draw up a will leaving all her possessions to her 12 children.

So, you have three projects your client has handed you and you will bill her for. Each of these projects is a “matter” associated with the client Jane Smith. Any time you do work for Jane Smith concerning her divorce, you can file related documents and keep tabs on time spent under the Matter named “Divorce-Smith.” The same goes for the work you do for Jane Smith concerning the book deal (“Contract-Smith”), or the will (“Will-Smith”). If Jane Smith gives you more legal work unrelated to the projects you are already doing for her, you can give them another matter name and have them associated with Jane Smith.

A matter generally is described with the following fields of information:

“Number” This is the name of the matter, which must be used to label information when recorded or modified. Whenever you create a time record or task or upload a document, you will be presented with a field called either “Reference” or “Matter.” As you start to type the name of a matter into that field, you will be presented with a drop-down menu of matters for which you have access. Select the appropriate matter from this menu. In the commercial version of Clio, a matter is always named after the client with a preceding number to distinguish different matters for the same client. In our customized version, we have eliminated the use of a number and instead use a descriptive name for each matter.

“Client” We have created “companies” called “Course” and “Fieldwork” which appear as the “client” for all your current personal matters.

“Description” which you can customize for your convenience

Open and Close Dates

The last icon on the line for each listed Matter is an “x” which gives the option to delete that matter. Do NOT ever click on this icon for any of the instructor-created matters because if you delete a matter (such as your student presentation) you will also destroy all information on the web site related to that matter.

To see a list of matters to which you have access, select the tab called “Matters” which will default to a list of open matters the instructors have already created, which should look something like this:

[pic]

Your matters fall into two categories: your personal matters – all of which contain your last name as part of the matter name – and firm-wide matters. Information that is related to a personal matter can only be viewed or edited by you or the instructors.

Information related to firm-wide matters can be viewed and edited by any member of the "firm" (i.e. any student or instructor).

In the above screen shot the user (Bexley) has three personal matters:

1. Class-Bexley: used to record activities related to class work, such as doing assigned readings and attending class, that do not fall into either of the two personal matters:

2. Fieldwork-Bexley: used for all activities, notes, tasks, and documents relating to your fieldwork

3. Student Presentations-Bexley: used for all activities, notes, tasks, and documents relating to your upcoming student presentation.

You will also see in the same screen shot four firm-wide matters that can be viewed and edited by any member of the “firm” (i.e. any student or instructor).

Except for calendar items, you should ALWAYS relate a Clio entry to one of your pre-existing matters. The only way you can protect information (other than calendar items) from being viewed or edited by other students is by relating it to one of your personal matters.

Documents – How Do I Upload/Download My Documents To/From Clio?

Uploading to Clio

By clicking on the Documents tab located in the task bar, you can access the screen where you will be able to upload any document to Clio.

The following screen should appear. In the example below, you see that several documents have already been uploaded to Clio.

[pic]

To upload a document, you can click the Add button on top of the screen (green + sign). A menu box will appear at the top of the page and allow you to choose a file to upload from your computer.

[pic]

The Description should start with your last name followed by a description of the document (e.g. Thakore – Clio Manual).

The Reference should reflect the matter the document best pertains to (e.g. –the Document labeled Thakore – Clio Manual, best pertains to the matter Clio Troubleshooting; that is the reference number the document should be given). The document will then become associated with the matter that is referenced.

A successfully uploaded document will appear listed under the Documents tab.

Alternatively, you can also add and access documents specific to a matter by going to the Matters tab, selecting the matter of interest and clicking on the Documents sub-tab. You can then follow the instructions above to add documents – these will be associated with the matter you had clicked.

Downloading from Clio

To download a document from Clio, just click the document link and choose open/save. Then you can make changes to the document and upload the document back on to Clio. You can access uploaded documents by logging into your Clio account from any computer with internet access.

Calendar – How Do I Create a Calendar Entry?

When you click on the Calendar tab on the Clio task bar, you will see a seven-day calendar with the weeks of the day (this is the default of view). You can modify this default view by clicking the Day, Month, and Year tabs.

[pic]

If you choose the Day tab, you will have a split screen view of the events listed on your calendar for the day and events on any other calendar you have given yourself permission to view. You will see the split screen only if you have given yourself permission to view the firm calendar. The steps to doing this are discussed below.

To make a calendar entry, you can click anywhere in the calendar field. An input box will appear for you to input the calendar information. [pic]

You can give the entry a name in the Summary box and can change the time and the day. You can set up repeating entries by clicking on the Repeats drop down menu.

If the event is related to a matter (i.e. you have an appointment with a client from 2:00-3:00pm on Apr. 7th), you can give the entry the Matter Reference number that reflects its association with a particular matter. You can also click the Generate a Time Entry for this Event button and you will be allowed to efficiently generate a time entry so you can keep track of billable time.

Calendar - How do I Share my Calendar with Others?

Next, you will want to make sure that you share your calendar with the Firm.

To share your calendar with the Firm, you will click on Sharing under the Calendar tab. You will see a screen that looks something like the one below:

[pic]

Under Calendar Sharing, you can share your calendar by clicking on the Share Calendar hyperlink.

[pic]

You can then select the user/group you want to share your calendar with and set the type of access you want to provide under Permissions.

For instance, I choose to share my calendar with the group called Firm (screen shot 1) – you see that I have given Firm permission to access my calendar as a Viewer. That means, anyone belonging to the group Firm (that’s all of you) can see my calendar entries.

You can modify the degree to which your calendar information is shared. By clicking on the Edit button (the pad and pen icon) you can edit the permissions setting. Ideally, you want to give all the Firm viewers permissions to view your Calendar entries as Free/Busy. That means, that all viewers will know when you are busy with an activity but won’t know what that activity is. You should allow Prof. Cunningham and Prof. Alexander to be Viewers – they will then be able to see the details of your calendar entry rather than just whether you are free/busy.

Calendar – How do I View Someone’s Calendar?

First, you will not be able to view someone else’s calendar if that user has not given you permission to view his/her calendar.

If a user has given you or the group you belong to (i.e. Firm) permission (e.g. everyone in the class should have given the Firm permission to view his/her calendar in Free/Busy mode), that user’s name will show up to the right of the calendar grid.

[pic]

You can view that user/group’s calendar entries right along side yours by checking the box next to the appropriate user/group name. For example, I have checked the boxes labeled Your Calendar and Firm – that means that I am looking at my entries (blue) and Firm entries (red).

If I wanted to see Alicia Goree’s calendar, I would check the box next to her name and I would be able to see her time entries as Free/Busy (below).

[pic]

You would simply uncheck a box if you no longer wanted to see the person’s calendar.

Calendar – How do I Make Appointments With Other Users?

Another feature of the Clio calendar is that you can make appointments with other users by sending them an invitation. You do this by adding an event entry to your calendar (following the steps outlined above) and then choose Attendees from the list on the right. For example, I have made a fictitious time entry labeled Clio Discussion Group and have invited Alicia Goree and Beth Bachman to the event by clicking on the boxes next to their names. If I click on the Save Event button, this event would appear as a tentative entry in their calendar and they could choose to accept or decline the invitation.

[pic]

Contacts

The contacts feature is a great way to store and update business contacts. Users can input contact information the “contacts” tab. Clicking on the contacts tab in the task bar will lead you to a page that looks something like this:

[pic]

Under List Contacts you will see all YOUR contacts – that is if you have previously added any contacts into your contacts list. In addition, you also will see those clients the other members of your “firm” (class) have added.

You should use the Contacts feature to input all your business contacts. That way, you will find them listed in one place, and available from anywhere you can access your Clio account.

Additionally, the Contacts feature is a great way to group contacts based on the matter they are associated with (this is explained at the end of the following section). For example: if you are inputing contact information for a business colleague, you can simply create a contact under the Contacts tab. But, if you are inputing contact information of a client for whom you are working on several matters, you can have the client’s contact information associated with the applicable matters. You can also add other contacts who are associated with a particular matter. For instance, your client Jane Smith wants you to handle a tort case for her. Under the matter “Tort Case-Smith,” you can add the contact information for Jane Smith, John Doe (who is a witness), Sue Moore (who is opposing counsel), and Too Bad, Inc. (Jane Smith’s insurance company).

Contacts – How Do I Add/Edit Contacts?

To add new individuals (person or company) click the “new person” or “new company” tab. The following window should appear if you clicked on “new person”:

[pic]

Fill in the relevant information and click “create new contact.” This individual’s name will now appear in your contacts list.

You can also directly upload contact information from vCards, outlook, etc, by clicking on “upload from vCard . . .” and choosing the appropriate file to upload.

Once a contact is established you can edit the contact’s information by clicking on the edit button (the pad and pencil icon) that appears to the right of the contact name. A window will pop up to allow you to edit relevant information. Click “update” to complete the editing process.

You can also add contacts from the Matters tab. When a contact is added through the Matters tab, it has the benefit of allowing you to quickly access a list of individuals who are associated with that matter.

You can add a contact from the Matters tab by clicking on the “matters” tab, choosing a particular matter, and clicking on the “contacts” sub tab. You will see an option to “add a contact.” Click on this link to upload contact information or simply select an already existing contact.

In the example below, I selected the “student presentations-Firm” matter and then clicked on “contact” ( I now have the option to add a contact. This contact will show up under the contacts tab but will also become associated with the matter I had selected. I could choose to add multiple contacts under a particular matter – this would help me because then I would have all contacts that were associated with a matter on hand in one place.

[pic]

When you click on “add contact” you will have the option of either choosing a person already in your contact list or adding a new person

[pic]

Timekeeping – How Do I Track the Time I spent Working On a Matter?

Your clients are billed based on the time spent working on the client matters.

To set up a time entry, start by clicking on the “activities” tab. You should see something like the following:

[pic]

You can choose to create time entries for billable work already completed by clicking on the arrow button (next to the date) untill you get to the date the work was done.

To add a new time entry (representing any billable activity) just provide the matter name, a description of the activity, the duration of the activity, and any notes associated with the activity.

Note: if you have not created an activity description before, the Description field will be blank. You can create a description by clicking on the “click to add/modify description/rate” link. You will then get an option to create a description and set a billable rate for the activity. [For the purposes of the course, the rate for all activities has been set at 100$/hr]. You can make the description as general or as specific as you like. For example: “E-mail: receive and review”; “phone communication with client”; or “traveling to San Francisco for Smith deposition.” Each entry you create will not be available to you in the drop down menu, and you can always add more. But remember, the more specific you make the entries, the more you will need to create, and the larger the drop down list will become.

To save the time entry, click “add entry to timesheet.” For example, I created an entry under the matter “Clio troubleshooting.” The following now appears under Time Entries:

[pic]

When creating the time entry, I indicated that I had already spent 12hrs (12.00) on working under this matter. The description provides an indication of how my time was spent.

In addition, if I was going to pick up the same activity again in the future, at that point, I could keep time by clicking on the stopwatch icon to the left of the matter name.

To start and stop time, follow the simple (yet counterintuitive) directions:

i. A green flag on the icon = timekeeping function is off; click the button to start time

ii. A red square on the icon = timekeeping function on; click the button to stop time

Once created, the time entry will become associated with the matter you named. So, if you do more work related to that entry at a future date, you can find that entry by clicking the Matters tab, going to the Time sub tab and finding the relevant time entry. When you click on the relevant entry, you will see the relevant information come up and you can keep time as you work by clicking on the stopwatch.

Note: you can download a timekeeping application and keep time on the desktop. The instructions are available under the Help link on the top right side of the Clio page. After clicking Help, scroll down the “Clio Express” section and download Clio Express by clicking on the hyperlink.

Tasks – How Do I Assign/Retrieve Tasks?

In a firm where you may collaborate with other attorneys on a project, the Tasks feature may be used to assign projects.

For instance, if Prof. Cunningham was a Partner in your firm, he may choose to assign you a project to work on over the next week.

To assign a project/task, click on the Tasks tab and then click on “add a task;” you should see the following:

[pic]

Fill in the due date, a description of what the task is, the person responsible for completing it (from the drop down list comprising all users in the firm), and a reference (i.e. matter number).

Once the task is assigned to an individual, that person will be able to see that task by clicking on his/her Task bar and choosing the Assigned sub tab. If a task is assigned to be completed in the next few days, it will show up under the Upcoming sub tab.

For instance, I assigned myself the task of completing the Clio manual by 4-15-10. This task appears under my Task tab’s Upcoming sub tab:

When a task assigned to you is completed, you can check the box on the left of the description and the task will now show up under the “completed” sub tab. Note – if the task you are assigned consists of work done under a particular matter, you can create a time entry to track the time spent on that task. To do so, click on the time icon (green +) to the right of the reference.

You can assign tasks to others you work with (subordinates or colleagues) in the same manner – by selecting the person under “Who’s responsible.”

-----------------------

E.g. - these are the people whose calendars I have permission to view. Since I have checked the Firm box, the Firm calendar entry appears on my calendar in red.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download