WEB-BASED
SOLUTIONS
CLIO/THEMIS
SOLUTIONS
INC.
VancoulJer-based start-up prolJides the first Web-based, practicemanagement-software solution for the legal community BY CHRISTINA
PELLETT
AS THE VERY FIRST WEB-BASED,
PRACTICE-MANAGE-
ment -software solution for die legal community, Clio got its start oyer a lunch between two old friends and their client. AT A GLANCE
Newton explains, "and he was lamenting the fact that there wasn't a better, easier-to-use, Web-based, practice-management solution for the Law Society membership."
Jack Newton and Rian Gauneau
LOCATIONS: VANCOUVER,
their solo- and small-firm lawyers manage their practices,"
BC
had been doing consulting
work for the Law Society of British Columbia; with Newton's background in computer engineering and Gauneau's
FOU N DED:
A light bulb came on, and Clio was born. Newton and Gauvreau~as Themis Solutions Inc.~began working
2007
past experience as the IT manager for one of Canada's larg-
on alpha and beta versions of the product with the Law
EMPLOYEES:
est law firms, the childhood friends were looking for a way
Society in 2007. By October
7
to turn their consulting business into a product-oriented
to the public.
AREA
OF SPECIALTY:
WEB-BASED MANAGEMENT SOLO
presented itself.
PRACTICE
Clio employs a software model that utilizes cloud com put-
FOR
AN D SMALL
LAW FI RMS
121
company. In 2007, that opportunity
"\Ve were chatting with one of the practice-management advisors at the Law Society who was responsible for helping
CANADIAN
2008, Clio became available
EXECUTIVE
QUARTERLY
SEPTDIBER/OCTOBER
20!
0
ing~also
known as "software as a service" (SaaS)~and
allows lawyers to manage their entire practices online.
CLiO/THEMIS
SOLUTIONS
I WEB-BASED
INC.
SOLUTIONS
Users can keep track of cases, client lists, correspondence and documents,
time, and billing.
Only two years after it was introduced,
the product has
gained thousands of users and spawned a number of competitors.
While that light bulb moment appears to
have been a rcsounding success, the early days presented a
If you compare it with traditional software models where
number of challenges for the system's cofounders. For one, Newton says, their target market was understandably skeptical about sharing so much sensiti\'e data through a third-party
the product is released every o~e to two years, there's just such a tight feedback loop with customers that any Web-based company can really leverage that to their benefit.
system. To allay concerns about
privacy and loss of access, Themis Solutions established the first-ever data-escrow policy in the legal industry. Essentially, Clio backs up all data on an independent, third-party reason-a etc.-users
platform. If Clio becomes unavailable for any business continuity issue, a natural disaster, still will have access to their data.
"This helped overcome the initial fears around putting data
-Jack
in a cloud and trusting a third-party provider, and we feel no,,\, that vve've overcome those concerns and ha\Te more
Newton,
Cofounder
ri(
President
than a year and a half of business behind us," Newton says. Since its launch, Clio has received significant accolades, including: ·Top 10Technologies at LegaITech New York 2009; • Best in Show at the ABA TECH SHOW 2009; and • Law Technology News' recipient
Management
of Excellence in Practice
at LegalTech New York 2010
Themis' dedication to top-notch made a tremendous
contribution
customer sen-ice has to Clio's gro\vth. One
of the company's most successful business tactics has been creating evangelists out of its customers.
Satisfied users
~ clio
are encouraged to spread the word about Clio to other lawyers-something Newton says has saved the company tens of thousands of dollars on sales and marketing.
11.;>