Clio has launched Grow AI, a suite of artificial intelligence features designed to help law firms respond to prospective clients, assess leads and automate intake around the clock.
Built into Clio Grow, the company’s client intake and legal CRM platform, Grow AI monitors phone calls, email and website chats for new inquiries. It can answer common questions, collect contact and case information, assess whether a lead fits the firm’s criteria and schedule qualified prospects for consultations.
The Vancouver-founded legal technology company is positioning the product as a way for smaller firms to deliver the responsiveness of a larger practice without hiring additional intake staff or operating a call centre.
“A two-person firm shouldn’t need a call center or a marketing department to compete with the biggest firms in the country,” said John Foreman, Chief Product Officer at Clio. “Grow AI gives them the same always-on response and the same judgment about which leads are worth pursuing, built directly into the platform they already run their practice on.”
Clio’s Legal Trends Report found that 79 per cent of prospective clients expect a response within 24 hours. However, 67 per cent of firms did not respond to email inquiries, while 48 per cent failed to respond to phone inquiries.
Grow AI is intended to close that gap, particularly outside regular business hours. According to Clio, nearly half of the leads captured using the tool arrived after hours, while matters were three times more likely to convert into hired work when Grow AI was involved.
The system evaluates prospective clients using criteria such as case type, location and potential conflicts. Its lead scoring also draws on the firm’s previous case history, including matters it accepted or declined, to identify inquiries resembling successful past engagements.
Qualified leads can be booked directly into consultations at the firm’s discretion. Grow AI can also send follow-up messages about incomplete intake forms, unsigned engagement agreements and unscheduled consultations. Leads that stop responding are flagged for staff to review or close.
“We’ve hired one to two additional clients a month just by having Grow AI handle after-hours calls that otherwise would have gone to voicemail,” said Christian Moreno, Intake Paralegal at Rosenberg Perry & Associates. “The leads are already sitting in Clio Grow with the notes done.”
Beyond initial intake, Grow AI can send former clients follow-up emails after a matter closes, helping firms pursue referrals and repeat business.
Once a prospect becomes a client, the matter moves into Clio Manage with its contact history, documents, case information and billing details attached. That information can also flow into Clio Work to provide context for legal research, analysis and drafting.
Clio is introducing an outcome-based pricing model for the product. Firms pay when Grow AI plays a role in converting a lead, such as capturing a new client through its voice agent or reviving an unresponsive prospect who later signs an engagement agreement. Firms can set monthly spending targets, and inquiries that do not convert are not charged.
Grow AI is available now within Clio Grow. Its phone agents are currently limited to the United States, with support for additional regions planned. Existing Clio Grow customers can receive their first three matters hired through Grow AI at no cost.