Lawclerk Clio Image: Montri Nipitvittaya/Shutterstock.com.

Practice management software provider Clio and on-demand legal service provider Lawclerk, which connects clients to an online marketplace of freelance attorneys, have announced an integration of their platforms in a bid to better serve their similar legal customer bases and support mutual growth. The integration is just one of dozens for Clio since announcing a renewed focus on partnering with legal tech companies at its user conference in 2017.

The integration will allow Lawclerk users to automatically sync billing information, project deadlines and tasks to the Clio platform. Those using Clio can also transfer documents directly to Lawclerk as well.

Kristin Tyler, co-founder of Lawclerk, said the integration was driven in part by the fact that Lawclerk and Clio have similar legal clients. “We are both really focused on serving solo attorneys in small and medium-sized firms,” she said.

What's more, she noted that those using Clio were also likely to use Lawclerk. “The attorneys that we met that used Clio in their practices tend to be a bit more entrepreneurial and innovative than people who aren't using practice management yet … and they tend to be willing to try new things if it will help them get their job done.”

Andrew Gay, manager of product partnerships at Clio, added that with the integration, Clio saw “an opportunity that aligned with our vision to offer our customers unique value.”

Though Lawclerk is the first on-demand legal services company to integrate with Clio, Gay said that Clio is open to integrate with others in the on-demand legal services market—a market that includes companies likes Avvo, Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom. “We have not, at this point, set up an exclusive relationship with Lawclerk and there is an opportunity for others to build an integration with Clio,” Gay said.

Gay noted that Clio's goal is “building and developing long-term relationships with companies like Lawclerk that are pushing the boundaries of innovation in legal technology.”

For such a young company like Lawclerk, which launched in January 2018, the integration provides an opportunity to expand their exposure and potentially define their future growth. In the short term, Lawclerk hopes the Clio integration will “attract more attorneys to the site … and we hope this will bring more visibility to our company,” Tyler said.

She added that Lawclerk will consider integrating with other practice management platforms in the future if there's “enough demand, and if there is a different practice management company [our clients] are using.”

The integration also may also provide Lawclerk with an opportunity to secure additional investment. At its 2017 user conference, Clio launched a developer contest named Launch/Code, which will give out “a $100,000 prize for the best the integration for Clio,” Gay said. Submissions to the contest ended in August 2018—right before Lawclerk integrated with the platform—and winners will be chosen in the weeks to come.