How Clio and Quin Keep Call Notes on the Right Matter

A family law client calls about a custody modification. She also has an active divorce matter and a new estate plan opened last month. The attorney wraps up the call already thinking about the next thing, and by the time there's a spare minute to update Clio, the note goes under whatever matter was open on screen, or never gets written.

What Tends to Get Missed

• The note lands on the wrong matter. A client with more than one open file often gets a call logged against whichever matter was open last, not the one the call was about.
• New matters aren't linked yet. A call happens before intake is finished in Clio, so there's no matter record to attach the note to.
• Two topics in one call become one note. A client raises two separate issues, and both get folded into a single undifferentiated note.
• The contact doesn't match on name. A maiden name or a shortened business name can be enough for a record not to line up with Clio.

How Quin Handles It

Quin's Notetaker joins the call, phone or video, and turns the conversation into a written record. Once the call ends, Quin looks up the contact in Clio and, from there, the matter tied to that contact, then adds the note directly to that matter file.

Where a client has more than one open matter, matching gets less obvious, which is where guidelines help. A guideline like "always link notes to the relevant matter," or one that explains how to tell a client's matters apart, gives Quin something concrete to work from instead of a guess.

Picture that same custody call. The client mentions a document she needs to sign for the divorce, then adds that she wants to change a beneficiary on the estate plan. With guidelines describing how to separate the two, Quin logs each portion of the call under the matter it belongs to, instead of dropping the whole conversation under one file for someone to sort out later.

That distinction matters most when a matter's history gets reviewed, a hearing gets prepped for, or a colleague picks up a file they didn't open. A note under the wrong matter is effectively missing from the file anyone would think to check.

Best Practices

• Write guidelines describing how you distinguish matters for repeat clients. A rule tied to matter type or number gives Quin a clear way to sort calls touching more than one file.
• Set up new matters in Clio before the first substantive call, when timing allows. Matching depends on the matter and contact already existing on the Clio side.
• Use clear, consistent naming for contacts and matters in Clio. A name that matches cleanly is the easiest way to avoid a mismatch.
• Check the first handful of notes against what was said. It's the fastest way to catch a matching issue before it becomes a pattern.

Setting It Up

Connect Clio under Settings, then Integrations, sign into your Clio account, and authorize the connection when prompted. Turn on the Notetaker under Settings, then Workflows, and add a guideline describing how calls should split across matters when a client has more than one open. A calendar connection needs to be in place first so the Notetaker knows which calls to join.