Conditions are statements that tell Clio Draft what information os show, hide, or replace in your document depending on available case information or answers to questions. There are two types of conditions you can create: standalone and triggered.
Create standalone conditions
Standalone conditions do not require a triggering field. They present a multiple-choice question to the document drafter, and the answer determines which text to insert.
- Open your Word document and the add-in
- Select the Conditions tab and then click Create condition or New condition.
- Under Is this condition triggered by one of the inserted fields?, select No.
- Under Question, enter the question the document drafter will answer (e.g., What is the ground for divorce?)
- Under Choices, enter the choices related to the question.
- Optional: Enter a hint if the question is complicated.
- Click Create condition.
Create triggered conditions
Triggered conditions are "if/then" statements that are triggered when a field in your template meets a specific condition (e.g., IF the defendant’s name exists).
Note: Triggered conditions rely on existing cards and merge fields. Create and insert all necessary fields before building triggered conditions.
Tip: You can create compound conditions (e.g., IF Field A EQUALS X AND IF Field B EXISTS) by clicking + AND / OR.
- Open your Word document and the add-in.
- Select the Conditions tab and then click Create condition or New condition.
- Under Is this condition triggered by one of the inserted fields?, select Yes.
- Under the If field, select the card and the triggering field.
- Under the Condition field, select the trigger type (e.g., Equals, Does not equal, Exists, Is greater than).
- If required by the trigger type, enter the Conditional value (case sensitive).
- Click Create condition.
Insert conditions
Once a condition is created, you must insert the conditional tags around the text you want to control in your document.
Important: Do not insert a condition inside another field or condition tag. Align tags with the surrounding text to prevent errors.
- Select the text in your document template where you want to insert a condition.
- In the add-in, find the condition you want to insert and then click Apply.
- The text will be sandwiched between "If" and "End" condition tags. Everything between these tags will be inserted if the condition is met.
Create advanced conditions
After you create a basic condition, you can enhance it by adding compound or nested logic, allowing your templates to handle multiple criteria simultaneously.
Compound conditions (Using AND/OR)
A compound condition tells Clio Draft to insert text only when multiple criteria are met. You can add these conditions using the + AND / OR button during the condition creation step.
| Operator | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
| AND | Requires all conditions to be true before text is inserted. |
Goal: Insert contact info for a co-defendant's attorney only if a co-defendant exists and they have an attorney. Condition: IF Co-Defendant Full Name EXISTS AND IF Co-Defendant Counsel EXISTS |
| OR | Requires at least one condition to be true before text is inserted. |
Goal: Insert opposing counsel's email address if the document is served by email or e-file. Condition: IF Service Type EQUALS e-mail OR IF Service Type EQUALS e-file. |
Nested conditions
Nesting involves placing one conditional block inside another conditional block. The inner condition is only tested if the outer condition is true.
You can use this for documents with complex clauses where a section of the document appears based on a primary factor (e.g., does the client have a spouse?), and then sub-clauses within that section appear based on secondary factors (e.g., do we have the spouse's occupation?).
Example:
- Outer condition: Create a condition IF Spouse Full Name EXISTS.
- Application: Apply this condition around the main Spousal Clause in your document.
- Inner condition: Inside the Spousal Clause, create a second condition: IF Spouse Occupation EXISTS.
-
Application: Apply this inner condition around the sentence "The spouse's occupation is a [Spouse Occupation Field]."
- The spouse's occupation sentence will only appear if the client has a spouse AND the occupation field is filled out.