The Cult of Clio: How Clio Hijacked Paralegal Education—and What We Can Do About It
- Jun 16
- 4 min read
Clio, the cloud-based case management giant, has long positioned itself as the leading case management solution— “trusted by over 150,000 legal professionals,” boasting 200+ integrations, and approved by 70+ bar associations. Nobody disputes Clio’s marketing victory.
But what’s less examined is the strategy: Clio didn't just sell to law firms—it embedded itself deeply in paralegal education. Through academic access, certified consultant programs, free webinars, and “Clio Academy” training tracks, Clio isn’t just selling software—it’s building evangelists. Paralegals trained on Clio in school become tomorrow’s ambassadors, pitching Clio at every firm. Clio counts on it—they know the person vetting case management systems is likely the paralegal.
The True Cost: Your Billable Hour
So, where’s the catch? Clio starts at $39/user/month, but true costs include training, onboarding consultants, migrations, and essential add-ons. All of which eat into paralegal salaries and firm budgets. The result? Paralegals shoulder administrative costs that should translate into billable work.
Every hour spent learning Clio—every propagation of its workflows—is an hour diverted from legal work that could’ve supported your career growth.
When most firms decide on a system, it’s often the paralegals who are asked to vet options. Clio engineered this dynamic: train in school → evangelize in the office. But this power can be reclaimed. Paralegals possess the insight and tools to build cost-efficient, effective systems without locking firms into additional monthly fees.
Time to Flip the Case Management Script
By taking charge and designing a system using Microsoft 365, you prove that software experience isn’t what makes a paralegal valuable—it’s your skills, innovation, and creativity.
With paralegal-led case management:
We reduce overhead, freeing up resources to invest in legal talent.
We increase firm cultures rooted in innovation, not vendor lock-in.
We widen access to justice—firms can serve more clients without breaking the bank.
We redefine the role—from mere implementers to true legal tech architects.
What if paralegals led the revolution—transforming case management by harnessing tools firms already own: Microsoft 365? With SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Planner, Power Automate, Lists, and Forms, firms can build tailored, secure, and cost-effective systems.
Benefits include:
Cost predictability & reduced overhead (no per-user pricing)
Familiarity—paralegals already know the interface
Custom workflows—build exactly what the firm needs
Mobility & security—enterprise-grade compliance and anytime, anywhere access
Call to Action for Paralegals and Paralegal Educators
For Paralegals in the Field
If you’re already in the legal trenches, now is the time to take control of how your work gets done:
Learn the essentials: Dive into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem—SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, Planner, OneNote, Lists, and Forms. These tools aren't just office productivity apps—they're the building blocks of scalable, affordable case management.
Pitch a pilot: Propose a simple, low-risk proof-of-concept workflow using Microsoft 365 to streamline intake, task tracking, or document management.
Document the wins: Track time saved, overhead reduced, and team satisfaction compared to the legacy systems—or worse, no systems—you’ve been using.
Lead training: Become more than a user. Become the strategist. The innovator. The one who teaches the rest of the firm how to work smarter, not harder.
For Educators Shaping Tomorrow’s Paralegals
If you teach paralegal students or lead legal studies programs, your influence starts before day one in the field.
The future of legal case management doesn’t lie in which brand is most popular today.It lies in what we teach our students about how to think, build, and adapt. Now more than ever, students need:
Tech fluency, not tool loyalty
Process thinking, not plug-and-play habits
Empowerment, not just instruction
Give them access to Microsoft 365. Show them how to build workflows from scratch. Teach them that innovation doesn’t always come in a box—it comes from within the team.
Let’s stop preparing paralegals to adopt rigid systems and start preparing them to design flexible ones. The firms they work for tomorrow are counting on what we teach them today.
Arrow Consultants is Leading the Charge
At Arrow Consultants, we’re on a mission to flip the script. We believe paralegals should be at the forefront of modernizing law firms—not just following along. Our mission is to empower and equip legal professionals with the training, knowledge, and support needed to build better, more sustainable systems using Microsoft 365.
We’re not here to lock you into another tech platform. We’re here to show you how to transform what you already have into something more powerful, flexible, and firm-specific—so you can stop depending on overpriced software and start delivering real value.
Final Thoughts
Clio may own education pipelines, but you own the future. Paralegals, it’s time to take control—not just of workflows, but of firm budgets, innovation, and your own career destiny. You are not a passive user. You are a strategist. A builder. A leader. And it’s time we stopped letting bloated software dictate our value.
Let the revolution begin—with Microsoft 365 under your command.
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Misty Murray
CEO | Founder