Connecting CourtFlow to Clio

What the integration does

Cases are linked to Clio matters by case number

CourtFlow organizes the filings it receives by court case. Once Clio is connected, CourtFlow looks for the Clio matter that carries the same case number and suggests it. A person at your firm confirms each link before anything is sent to that matter.

Deadlines become Clio tasks, with the rule cited

Each deadline on a linked case becomes a task on the matter, due on the deadline’s date and assigned to the Clio user who connected CourtFlow. The task description carries the explanation of the deadline, the rule it was calculated under (on a line beginning Authority: when the explanation does not already name it), the case number, the name of the court document it came from, and the line Calculated and maintained by CourtFlow.

Hearings become calendar entries

Hearings, depositions and trials go on the connected user’s default Clio calendar instead of the task list. When the court set a time, the entry starts then and runs for one hour. When there is no time of day, it is an all-day entry.

Court documents are added to the matter

When automatic sending is on for your firm (see below), CourtFlow copies each court document on a linked case from your firm’s Google Drive or OneDrive into the matter’s documents in Clio. When CourtFlow’s analysis of the filing has a usable summary or identified deadlines, it also adds them as a comment on the document, labelled as generated automatically. Documents filed as evidence rather than court filings are not sent automatically.

What “two-way” means

The only thing that travels from Clio back to CourtFlow is task completion:

• Mark a CourtFlow task complete in Clio and CourtFlow marks the deadline complete. Reopen the task in Clio and CourtFlow reopens the deadline. Clio’s in review and draft statuses count as still open.
• If a task is deleted in Clio, the CourtFlow deadline is left as it is. Calendar entries have no completion state, so nothing is read back from them.
• Dates, titles and rule citations travel one way only, from CourtFlow to Clio. Changing a due date in Clio does not change it in CourtFlow, because CourtFlow calculated that date from the rule and shows its work.
• With automatic sending on, CourtFlow also updates Clio when you act in CourtFlow: completing a deadline marks its Clio task complete, editing a deadline updates its Clio entry, and rejecting or deleting a deadline removes its task or calendar entry from Clio.

Sending by hand, or automatically

By default a person decides what goes to Clio. On a linked case, each deadline row on the Deadlines page and the case page shows a Send to Clio button. Once sent, the row shows In Clio.

Automatic sending is a per-firm setting that we turn on when you ask, usually after your first matter links have been checked. With it on, CourtFlow sends deadlines, court documents and the updates described above without anyone clicking. It sends only deadlines that have cleared CourtFlow’s verification queue, so a date still waiting for an attorney’s review stays in CourtFlow until it is confirmed. Without automatic sending, a deadline sent by hand is not updated in Clio if it later changes in CourtFlow, and documents are not sent.

Before you start

• A Clio Manage account in Clio’s US region (the account you sign in to at app.clio.com). Accounts hosted in Clio’s other regions are not supported yet.
• Clio turned on for your firm in CourtFlow. See the note at the top of this page.
• A CourtFlow admin to make the connection. Other CourtFlow roles can see the Integrations settings but cannot change them.
• The right Clio user. Tasks are assigned to the Clio user who approves the connection, and calendar entries go on that user’s default calendar. Connect as the person whose Clio calendar should hold the firm’s court dates, and make sure that user can see the matters you plan to link.
• Matching time zones. Clio shows hearing times in the connected user’s time zone. If it differs from your firm’s time zone in CourtFlow, hearings will appear at the wrong hour. CourtFlow warns you about this after you connect.

Permissions CourtFlow requests

CourtFlow’s Clio app is registered with the following access. It does not request write access to matters or contacts, so it cannot create, change or delete your matters or contacts.

How to connect

1. In CourtFlow, open Settings and choose the Integrations tab.
2. In the Practice Management section, click Connect Clio. CourtFlow sends you to Clio.
3. Sign in to Clio as the user described above, review the access CourtFlow is asking for, and approve it. If you cancel instead, you return to CourtFlow and nothing is connected.
4. Clio returns you to Settings → Integrations, which now reads Connected followed by the Clio account name.
5. If a notice says Clio is set to a different time zone than your firm, change it in Clio under Settings → My Account → Time Zone. No change in CourtFlow is needed.

Linking cases to matters

How matching works

Clio has no dedicated field for a court case number, so CourtFlow checks four places on each matter: the matter number, the custom number, the client reference and the description. A matter is suggested when the case number appears in one of them, either as the whole value or inside longer text such as Smith v. Jones (CACE-25-014006). Punctuation and spacing differences are ignored, and common Florida case-number formats are treated as the same number.

• The simplest setup is to put the court case number in the matter’s description or one of its number fields in Clio.
• Only open and pending matters are searched. Closed matters are not.
• A matter can be linked to one CourtFlow case at a time. A matter already in use is marked In use.
• A matter whose client name matches but whose case number does not is shown only as a weaker suggestion, because one client often has several matters.

Reviewing suggestions for all your cases at once

1. In Settings → Integrations, click Find matters to link.
2. CourtFlow compares your unlinked cases with your Clio matters and lists each suggested link with the evidence for it, for example Case number appears in “…”. Exact case-number matches are labelled strong match, and each row shows how many deadlines will sync once it is linked.
3. Tick the links you agree with, or use Select all, then click the Link button, which shows how many you selected (for example, Link 12 selected). Nothing is linked until you choose.

Each pass looks at up to 2,000 Clio matters and lists up to 200 cases. Larger firms can run it again after linking the first batch.

Linking one case from its page

Once Clio is connected, each case page has a Clio matter panel. It lists possible matches with a Link button beside each. To pick a different matter, click Find matter in Clio (or Choose a different matter) and search by case number, matter name or client. Clio’s search covers the matter number, description and client name, but not the custom number or client reference, so if you keep the case number only in one of those, search by client name instead.

A person approves each link

Automatic linking is off unless your firm asks us to turn it on. A wrong link would put one client’s court dates on another client’s matter, so by default every link is confirmed by a person. If automatic linking is turned on, CourtFlow links a case by itself only when exactly one matter carries the exact case number. Anything less certain still waits for a person.

What syncs and when

Past-due deadlines

Automatic sending skips deadlines that were due more than 30 days ago. Linking a long-running matter therefore does not fill Clio with old overdue items, while something that slipped last week still goes across. To send an older deadline, use Send to Clio on that deadline; the 30-day limit applies only to automatic sending.

What is not sent

• Deadlines on cases that are not linked to a Clio matter.
• Deadlines that do not have a date yet because they depend on an event that has not happened.
• Deadlines that are already completed or that you rejected.
• With automatic sending, deadlines still waiting in CourtFlow’s verification queue.

Unlinking and disconnecting

Unlinking a case

On the case page, click Unlink in the Clio matter panel. CourtFlow removes the link and deletes from that Clio matter the tasks, calendar entries and documents it added for this case, including tasks already marked complete. Comments CourtFlow added to those documents go with them.

Deleting is deliberate. A case is usually unlinked because it was linked to the wrong matter, and leaving its court dates and filings on another client’s matter would mislead whoever opens it and expose one client’s filings under another’s name. Nothing is lost: the deadlines stay in CourtFlow and the documents stay in your firm’s Google Drive or OneDrive. Once the case is linked to the correct matter, its deadlines can be sent there.

A case with many items may not be cleared in one go, and if Clio is disconnected when you unlink, the link is removed but nothing in Clio can be deleted until you reconnect. Either way the Clio matter panel shows Finish removing, including when you come back to the case later. Click it (after reconnecting, if needed) to delete the rest.

Until Finish removing completes, the case can’t be linked to another matter. This keeps the new matter from inheriting items that still belong to the old one, which would leave filings on the wrong matter and keep them off the right one.

If Clio refuses to delete a particular task, calendar entry or document, it stays on the old matter and CourtFlow records its name in its activity log. It doesn’t hold up linking the case to the correct matter, and once you do, CourtFlow sends it there. If something stays behind on the old matter, email support@courtflow.ai and we will help you clear it.

Disconnecting Clio

In Settings → Integrations, click Disconnect. CourtFlow asks Clio to revoke its access and deletes the Clio tokens it stored. Syncing stops. Nothing already in Clio is removed, nothing in CourtFlow is deleted, and your case-to-matter links are kept, so reconnecting the same Clio account picks up where you left off.

Revoking access from inside Clio

You can also remove CourtFlow’s access from your Clio account settings. CourtFlow notices the next time it contacts Clio, stops syncing, and Settings → Integrations shows that the Clio connection was lost. Nothing is deleted from either system.

Troubleshooting

“Clio connection lost, syncing has stopped”

Clio no longer accepts CourtFlow’s access, for example because it was revoked in Clio. Click Reconnect Clio in Settings → Integrations and approve the access again. Everything already synced is unaffected, and syncing resumes on the next run.

Nothing is syncing, but the connection looks fine

If your firm’s Clio subscription lapses, Clio stops answering CourtFlow even though the connection itself is still valid, so reconnecting does not help. Restore the subscription with Clio; syncing resumes within about 15 minutes of Clio serving your account again.

The right matter is not suggested

• Check that the court case number appears in the matter number, custom number, client reference or description in Clio.
• Check that the matter is open or pending, not closed.
• Check that it is not already linked to another CourtFlow case (it would show as In use).
• If the number is only in the custom number or client reference, search by client name on the case page instead.
• Check that the connected Clio user can see the matter in Clio.

A deadline is not in Clio

• Is the case linked? Look at the Clio matter panel on the case page.
• Has it been sent? Without automatic sending, click Send to Clio on the deadline.
• Was it due more than 30 days ago? Automatic sending skips it; send it by hand.
• Does it have a date yet, and has it been verified? Undated deadlines are not sent, and automatic sending waits for verification.
• Does the row say Clio failed? Hover over it to see Clio’s reason, and click it to try again.

A hearing shows at the wrong time in Clio

The connected Clio user’s time zone differs from your firm’s. Change it in Clio under Settings → My Account → Time Zone.

There is no Clio option in Settings

Clio has not been turned on for your firm yet. See the note at the top of this page.

How your data is handled

• CourtFlow stores its Clio access and refresh tokens encrypted, using the application-level encryption described on our Security page, and deletes them when you disconnect.
• For each link, CourtFlow keeps the Clio matter’s ID and number, and for each item it sends, the Clio ID of the entry it created, so later updates change that entry instead of adding a duplicate.
• Court documents are read from your firm’s Google Drive or OneDrive and uploaded to Clio. CourtFlow does not keep its own copy.
• Every link and unlink is recorded in CourtFlow’s activity log with when it happened and who made it, or that it was made automatically.

For more detail, see our Security, Privacy Policy and Subprocessors pages.