The Power of Clio—‘The Work of 20 People, But All Done By Me’

Success starts with the right technology

Danelle Harvey-Jacob, Esq., LL.M. is a seasoned entrepreneur with experience setting up successful businesses with a $0 budget. The key to her success? A deep understanding of technology—and how it can accelerate a business’s work in achieving its potential.

Danelle is also the Founder and Principal Attorney at Harvey-Jacob Law, where she helps service-based professionals build their brands while protecting themselves from costly legal mistakes. She’s based in California, but Harvey-Jacob offers virtual legal services internationally to serve a broad range of clients.

“I’m nicknamed the Automations Queen because of my use of tech for efficiency purposes over the years, and I wanted to be able to replicate the systems and processes that I’ve used in my past businesses for the last 20 years. I was putting everything together to hit the ground running, and I needed the software that matched what I had in mind.”

How Clio helped Danelle build her vision for lean automation

Danelle wanted to run her firm as lean as possible—so she set a $1,000 budget for the launch of her practice.

She first shopped around with another cloud-based solution, but it didn’t offer enough when she explored the free trial. She learned about Clio through one of its webinars, and when she reached out, she was impressed by the level of customer service.

1. Clio’s Website Builder gets firms quickly up and running online

Danelle uses the seamless workflows between Clio Manage and Clio Grow, which also give her access to Clio’s speedy website builder that integrates several important client services.

“As someone who used to code and is used to building my own websites, I found the process very simple.”

“I’m running my firm on a tight budget so I was pleased that the website builder is provided with the platform. I liked saving time and having something that looks clean and professional without the expense.”

She also appreciates the SEO capabilities and its ability to integrate with Clio’s key client-facing features.

“Clients can log in to the client portal and make payment, and having the ability to fill out an intake form or leave a message is great. Having these elements already plugged in was a godsend.”

“It’s great to have a professional looking page with a pleasant aesthetic. I now have a basic storefront presence to support my business, do my marketing, and do client work behind the scenes.”

2. Exceptional client intake that doesn’t waste anyone’s time

Danelle does a lot of marketing, which always points to her website. From there, potential clients can fill out an intake form or schedule a consultation—and each triggers a unique follow-up email that takes them to the next step.

“Depending on the action taken, it all comes together in the end. If they start off with a consultation, they’ll get an initial intake form. And if they choose to fill out an intake form, they’ll get an email with a booking link to schedule an appointment.”

Having all of her systems set up the way she wants enables her to qualify leads very effectively as they come in.

“It doesn’t waste their time. It doesn’t waste my time. The most important thing I need to get right is to make sure that I can truly help them.”

“My SEO is really kicking in, so we’re getting people from sites I haven’t even heard of. These are people that are totally organic, totally cold, so I need to make sure that they are a really good fit.”

3. Automated reminders keep everyone on task

Staying organized and keeping clients on task takes a lot of work and effort, but Clio makes everything more manageable by sending timely reminders whenever deadlines loom.

“Clio helps me encourage action and accountability from the client.”

4. Connecting across platforms to integrate essential workflows

As someone who cares a lot about automation and efficiency, Danelle works with several software solutions—each filling a specific and vital functionality to her business. Her tech stack includes solutions for email marketing, document creation and editing, phone communications, social media management, analytics, and legal research.

Clio functions as the central hub of information for all of these solutions, serving as the primary source for any data related to her clients and matters. By integrating her other solutions, she’s able to save a significant amount of time by avoiding repetitive manual data entry.

5. Comprehensive data security to protect firm information

Having worked with countless software services in the past, and working with privacy and security matters in her legal practice, Danelle has an unwavering high standard for data security and privacy.

“As a business owner, security is essential to ensuring my systems and practices are as airtight as possible. I actively take steps to protect my clients and their information as much as I possibly can.”

“With the other solutions I looked at, when I asked questions about their security, they weren’t able to give me an answer. That wasn’t the case with Clio.”

“I care a lot about my clients and their privacy. It’s shocking how many businesses fall prey to cybercrime and aren’t aware of the risks they take on a daily basis.”

A vision for growth

Danelle has a lofty vision for growing her practice internationally, and into a range of legal services that support entrepreneurs. Having already built several successful businesses in music, design, and consulting services, she sees a vast blueprint for opportunity in Clio.

“I feel that Clio shares my value for innovation, and I want to grow my practice with Clio.”