Set Up Evergreen Management (Retainers)

Set up evergreen management (retainer)

Evergreen management is the process of retaining and replenishing client trust funds to pay for the work done on a client's case and ensuring consistent cash flow for continued work, all without having to approve and send your client a bill first.

In Clio Manage, you can send your client a trust request to start their retainer, receive automatic notifications when the retainer reaches a minimum threshold, view a detailed trust management report, generate and bill and share a copy with your client, use the retained trust funds to pay the bill, and then send the client a new trust request to replenish their retainer for continued work.

Step 1: Send your client a trust request to start the retainer

To start a retainer in Clio Manage, you will need to send your client a trust request and have them make a payment. Once the trust request is paid, the paid amount will be available on the client or matter level, depending on where you want to store them. 

1. Create a trust request. Learn more here.
2. Send your client the trust request. Learn more here.
   • If you are using Clio Payments, your client can pay the trust request amount directly from their trust request email via credit card. Otherwise, you can manually record a payment on the trust request after your client pays you. Learn more about out Clio Payments here and more about recording payments here.

Step 2: Set up trust balance notification (OPTIONAL)

The next step to managing an evergreen retainer is optional, but we do recommend it. By setting up a minimum trust fund threshold for the matter, you can specify which firm user should receive a notification if the trust funds drop below the minimum threshold, allowing you to keep track of when the funds are low and replenish them.

Once this is set up, the minimum threshold, current matter trust funds, and indication of when the matter trust funds drop below the threshold will be visible in the Financial section of the matter's Dashboard.

1. Go to the matter for which you want to specify a minimum trust fund threshold.
2. Click Edit matter.
3. Scroll down to the Billing preference section.
4. Under Trust balance notification, check the box for Notify firm users when matter trust funds are low.
5. Under Notify when trust funds are below... enter the minimum trust balance threshold for this matter.
6. Under Notification recipients, search for and select the firm users who will receive a notification for when the matter's trust balance drops below the minimum threshold.
7. Click Save matter.

Step 3: Generate trust management report:

The trust management report gives firms a view of unbilled activities, trust account balances, and minimum trust thresholds. You can use this report to perform a cashflow analysis regarding your billable work and trust fund holdings. Learn more about generating reports in Clio Manage here and more about this report here.

Step 4: Send your client a bill and use the retained trust funds to pay the bill

After doing work on your client's case, you can generate a bill, use your client's retained trust funds to pay the bill, and then send a copy of the bill to your client for their records.

1. Generate a bill. Learn more here.
2. Apply trust funds to the bill. Learn more here.
3. Send the bill to your client. Learn more here.

Step 5: Replenish matter trust funds:

If you set up a trust balance notification (optional step 2), you will be notified when your client's trust balance drops below the minimum threshold that you specified for the matter. To replenish the matter trust funds, you can generate a new trust request and continue billing for the matter. 

1. Create a trust request. Learn more here.
2. Send the client the trust request. Learn more here.
   • If you are using Clio Payments, your client can pay the trust request amount directly from their trust request email via credit card. Otherwise, you can manually record a payment on the trust request after your client pays. Learn more about out Clio Payments here and more about recording payments here.