In Clio Manage, evergreen client funds is a workflow that automatically replenishes a matter's client balance. Turn on Enable evergreen client funds for a matter, then applying client funds to an invoice generates a new client funds request automatically whenever the balance drops below the minimum you set. You can also send the matter's invoices with the client funds request, so your client pays both through one payment link. You can turn on Low balance notification separately, to notify firm users instead of or alongside the automatic request. This keeps a client's retainer topped up without you tracking the balance or creating replenishment requests by hand.
Tip: Learn more about the benefits of evergreen retainers.
Note: This feature is available to select plans. Learn more about your plan's features. If you need to upgrade your firm’s plan, ask a firm administrator.
Understand evergreen management in Clio Manage
An evergreen retainer follows the same cycle each billing period, ending with a client funds request generated automatically to start the next cycle.
Note: If your firm uses Clio Payments, your client can pay a client funds request online from the request email. Otherwise, record the payment yourself after your client pays.
- Collect the initial retainer. Create a client funds request, send it to your client, and record the payment.
- Set the minimum required amount and turn on evergreen client funds.
- Record time and expense entries, then generate an invoice.
- Apply the retained client funds to the invoice.
- Review the automatically generated client funds request in drafts, approve it, and send it to your client with any invoices the matter attaches.
Set the minimum required amount and turn on evergreen client funds
The Minimum required amount is the client balance you want to keep available on the matter. Turning on Enable evergreen client funds generates a new client funds request automatically whenever you apply client funds to an invoice and the balance drops below this amount. Set the minimum first, then turn on the settings you want. You can turn on evergreen client funds and low balance notifications separately.
Note: Evergreen client funds applies to funds held at the matter level, and cannot generate replenishment requests for funds held at the client level.
Tip: Each request is created as a draft for your review, and stays in Draft status until a firm member approves and sends it, unless the request is set to skip approval.
- Go to the matter you want to update, or create a new matter.
- Click Edit matter.
- Scroll to the Invoicing preference section, then find Client balance.
- Under Minimum required, enter the client balance to maintain for this matter.
- Turn on Enable evergreen client funds.
- Optional: Turn on Low balance notification, then under Notify these users, select the firm users to notify.
- Click Save.
- Go to Matters.
- Select the checkboxes for the matters you want to update.
- Click Edit, then select Update invoicing preference.
- Under Client balance, enter the Minimum required amount to apply to all selected matters, or leave it blank to keep each matter's current amount.
- Under Evergreen client funds, select Enabled.
- Click Update invoicing preference.
Note: Bulk edit applies the same minimum required amount to every selected matter. To set a different minimum for an individual matter, edit that matter directly.
Send invoices with client funds requests
With evergreen client funds on, you can choose which invoices go out with the client funds request. Your client receives the client funds request and the attached invoices in one email, with one PDF and one payment link. New matters attach unpaid invoices and invoices paid from client funds by default. Existing matters keep Send on its own until you change the setting.
Note: The single payment link requires Clio Payments. Without Clio Payments, attached invoices still send with the client funds request in one email and PDF, and you record each payment yourself. The setting applies to every client funds request on the matter, including client funds requests you create yourself. A client funds request shared through Clio for Clients or Clio for Co-Counsel sends without attached invoices.
- Go to the matter and click Edit matter.
- Scroll to Invoicing preference, then find Client balance.
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With Enable evergreen client funds turned on, select an option from Attach to the client funds request.
- Send on its own: The client funds request sends without invoices.
- Unpaid invoices and invoices paid from client funds: The client funds request sends with the matter's unpaid invoices and the invoice paid from client funds. Your client pays the invoices and tops up their client balance through one payment link.
- Invoices paid from client funds: The client funds request sends with the invoice paid from client funds, for your client's reference. Your client pays only the client funds request.
- Unpaid invoices: The client funds request sends with the matter's unpaid invoices. Your client pays the invoices and the client funds request through one payment link.
Important: When the option includes unpaid invoices, every Unpaid invoice on the matter attaches to the client funds request. This includes invoices you have not sent to your client yet. Invoices in Draft or Pending approval remain separate. To exclude an invoice, keep it in Draft until you are ready to send it.
- Click Save.
Monitor client balances
You can track client balances on a single matter or across the firm.
On a matter, the Financial section of the matter Dashboard shows the current client balance, the minimum required amount, and a low-balance indicator once the balance falls below the minimum.
Across the firm, the client account management report shows unbilled activities, client account balances, and minimum required amounts, so you can compare your billable work against the funds you hold. See Clio Manage Reports, Presets, and History to generate a report, and Clio Manage Client Reports for what the client account management report contains.
Apply client funds and generate a client funds request
Applying client funds to an invoice generates a client funds request automatically for any evergreen matter whose balance drops below the minimum required amount. When it does, the Evergreen replenishment section lets you review or update the issue date and due date, add a note, and choose whether to clear the matter's existing client funds request.
Important: A generated client funds request is a request for funds, not a record of funds received. The matter balance does not change until your client pays and you record the payment. See Protect Client Funds.
Understand the replenishment amount
The generated client funds request amount is the Minimum required amount minus the matter's current balance:
Minimum required − current balance = client funds request amount
- A matter with a £2,750.00 minimum, applying client funds that brings the balance to £0.00, generates a request for £2,750.00.
- A matter with a £5,000.00 minimum, applying client funds that leaves a £1,000.00 balance, generates a request for £4,000.00.
When Clear old requests to prevent duplicates is selected, the default, the new request amount is whichever is higher: the amount needed to reach the minimum, or the amount still owed on the cleared request.
Note: You cannot change the amount of a generated request while applying client funds. To choose a different amount, create the client funds request yourself and use Autofill.
- Generate an invoice. See Generate Bills in Bulk, or Generate Bills in Clio Manage for a single invoice.
- Apply client funds to the invoice. See Apply Client Funds to Bills. You can apply client funds to several invoices at once from the Invoices page.
- Under Evergreen replenishment, confirm the number of client funds requests to be created, then set the Issue date and Due date.
- Optional: Click Add note to add a note to the request.
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Review Clear old requests to prevent duplicates, then confirm to apply the client funds.
Important: Clear old requests to prevent duplicates is selected by default. Clearing deletes draft requests, voids unpaid requests, and writes off the remaining balance on partially paid requests. Clear the checkbox to keep existing requests. When a partial payment is still pending, write off the remaining amount yourself after the payment completes.
- Review the request and send it to your client to collect the funds. See Approve and Send Client Funds Requests.
Replenish manually with Autofill
If you have enabled evergreen client funds on a matter and need to manually top up the matter, you can create a client funds request and use Autofill to calculate the replenishment amount.
- In Clio Manage, go to the matter Dashboard.
- In the Financial section, under Matter client funds, click New request.
- Confirm the Issue date, Due date, Client, and Matter, and set Balance type to Matter.
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Open the Autofill menu beside the Amount label and choose an option. Each option shows its calculated amount, so you can compare them before you choose.
Note: The four options show the same amount when a matter has no outstanding balance and no unbilled work in progress. Replenish uses the same target as evergreen client funds: the matter's Minimum required balance.
- Replenish: Brings the matter balance back up to the minimum required.
- Replenish + outstanding balance: The replenishment amount plus any outstanding balance on the client's invoices.
- Replenish + WIP: The replenishment amount plus unbilled work in progress.
- Replenish + outstanding balance + WIP: The replenishment amount plus outstanding balances and unbilled work in progress.
- Optional: Edit the Amount field to override the calculated amount.
- Click Save client funds request.
Up next
- Create Client Funds Requests: Create a client funds request and use Autofill to calculate the amount.
- Approve and Send Client Funds Requests: Approve a generated request and send it to your client.
- Record Payments on Client Funds Requests: Record your client's deposit against the request.