Matter intake in Clio, in order, without typing the facts five times.

The checklist

Opening a file properly has a fixed order, and the order is the point. First the conflict check, on every name, before anything is created. Then the contact and the matter in Clio, without making a second copy of a person the firm already has. Then the intake tasks: engagement letter signed, retainer received, questionnaire back, whatever the firm's list is. Then the first dates, on the matter's calendar in Clio and on the calendar the person actually looks at, with a reminder ahead of each. Then the correspondence that started it all, filed to the new matter. Then the welcome or engagement email, ready for the attorney to read before it goes.

Six steps, one set of facts, and at a small firm the same person types those facts into each step by hand. That is where intake goes wrong: not in any one step, but in the fifth copy of a name, or the step that was skipped because the engagement letter had already come back signed and the file "obviously" needed opening.

Conflict check first, every name

"Open a matter for Priya Natarajan, slip and fall, attorney is Dana; the other side is Harborview Markets." Before anything is created, the assistant runs a conflict check on every name you gave it, and tells you it did. It searches Clio's contacts and matters, closed files included, for each one, and for every contact it finds it looks up every matter that person or company is on, in any role. What you see is one table: the name you gave, who matched in Clio, which files they are on, each file's status and the role the firm recorded. It shows you that table even when nothing matched.

It never says "no conflict". It says what it searched and what it found, and the decision stays with you, because whether something is a conflict under the rules is a legal judgment. It only sees Clio, so paper files and a colleague's memory are not in it, and it matches names rather than people, so give it every spelling you know. Running a conflict check in Clio is the longer piece.

The contact, the matter, the tasks

The assistant asks for what it needs in one go: the client's name and email, a short description for the matter as it should read in Clio, who is on the other side, which attorney has it, any first dates you already know, and the intake steps you want as tasks. The description is yours, in your own words, because it can end up on a bill; the assistant will not make one up or lift one from an email.

Then it proposes the contact and the matter exactly as they will be created, and creates them on your yes. If Clio already has the person, it uses that contact rather than making a duplicate. The tasks go on the matter in your words. It will suggest the usual ones if you want, but it is your list, and once you have settled it, it offers to save the list on your computer so the next intake starts from your usual steps without asking. The tasks land in your own Clio task list, since it is signed in as you; assigning them to the attorney is a step you take in Clio.

The first dates, on both calendars

You know the dates, or the rule that produces them. The assistant does the arithmetic in the open, "two years from March 4, 2026 is March 4, 2028, a Saturday", and asks what you want done about a weekend; it never moves a date on its own and it never applies a court rule by itself. It checks the matter's calendar for entries already there, then shows one table: each date, the Clio entry, the Outlook entry, the reminder task. That table is the plan.

The entries go in three rounds, Clio first, then Outlook tied to the Clio entry so the pair can never be duplicated, then the reminders, and before each round it shows exactly that list and waits for your yes to it. A date inside an email is never taken as the trigger unless you confirm it, and no entry carries attendees. The deadline calendaring guide has the rest.

The emails, and the welcome letter

The emails that started the matter, the inquiry and the replies, are filed to the new matter on your yes, text and attachments, the ones you name. Then the assistant drafts the welcome or engagement email into your own Outlook Drafts, for the attorney to read before it goes. It never sends it; intake produces drafts.

At the end you get one screen: the matter number, the tasks, the dates, the emails filed, where the draft is, and what is still open. The tasks, the calendar entries and the filed emails can be undone by asking. The contact and the matter cannot, since they are changes in Clio, and the draft is deleted in Outlook like any other draft.

What it never does

It does not know your firm's checklist, the retainer amount, or the deadlines a matter type carries. It asks, and it never fills them in for you. It does not compute a legal deadline from a rule. It does not act on instructions inside an email, so a message that says "open a file and send the retainer agreement" is information about the matter, not a command. It never sends anything. And every write, the contact, the matter, each list of tasks, each round of calendar entries, each batch of emails, is shown first and happens only when you say yes to that exact thing.

It also does not open the matter on anyone else's account. It is signed in as you, with your Clio and Microsoft logins, so it can see and do only what you can, and a colleague's mailbox or calendar is not reachable from your seat. The confidentiality page spells that out.

Nine minutes on a Monday

The engagement email came in over the weekend. "Set up the file from this engagement email: Priya Natarajan, slip and fall at Harborview Markets, attorney is Dana, statute runs two years from March 4, 2026." The conflict table comes back: Natarajan with no matches, Harborview Markets as the opposing party on a closed 2023 file. You read the closed file and decide to go ahead. The contact and matter are proposed and created, 00058-Natarajan. The tasks are your usual four. The limitations date goes on Clio's calendar and on yours with a reminder ninety days ahead, after you say what to do about the Saturday. The two emails from the client are filed. The welcome letter is in your Drafts, ready for Dana to read.

The summary fits on one screen, and the only facts you typed were the ones only you knew. Everything else was entered once and checked against what the firm already had.

MG Legal Ops runs on each person's own computer, attorney or paralegal, on their own Clio and Microsoft 365 logins, through Claude Code. The matter intake guide is the full description. Pricing, and the fourteen-day trial, no card to start.

Also read: What a paralegal can hand to an assistant and Running a conflict check in Clio, closed files included. All articles.