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I have been working at Clio for just over 3 months now. My first impressions of Clio have been incredibly positive. Our company founders, Jack and Rian, have gone to extraordinary lengths to create a positive company culture and have hired employees that exemplify the ‘work hard, play hard’ ethic. Hard work is recognized and everyone is given the opportunity to develop and grow with the company.

How did I end up at Clio? Well, that happens to be a bit of an unusual story. Before I delve into that, allow me to back up a bit and introduce myself.

Born in Vancouver, I grew up in the suburbs of South Delta. At university my education followed my core interests of history and politics. This led me on a number of adventures, first available to me in my texts and later inspiring me to travel throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. I graduated in 2008 with a degree in history and political science, with a Middle Eastern concentration.  My research led me to explore an array of subjects that examined cultural, religious, and philosophic traditions.

After graduation I was still uncertain as to which direction I wanted to go. I decided to dive head first into advocacy and awareness building with the Canadian Red Cross. I chaired and was a member on a number of working groups – primarily focused on youth empowerment and advocacy for refugees and newcomers to Canada. These experiences were incredibly enriching and helped hone my facilitation, public speaking and event organization skills.

Concurrent to my work with the Canadian Red Cross, I taught a Model United Nations Club where students aged 10 to 18 years developed their debate, research and composition skills. I found acting as the students’ guide to subjects typically reserved for adults to be an eye-opening and rewarding experience. Age was never a barrier to their compassion or capacity to learn.

All the while, I maintained my serving job at a local steakhouse. Here is where Clio enters the story . . .

On an unassuming weeknight in November, I had four lovely ladies sit down at one of my tables. They let me know that it was the accounting department’s night out and that they worked just up the street. Now, I don‘t know what kind of magic was in the air that night – maybe it was the wine, maybe it was the fact I was taking some accounting classes at the time – but by the end of their meal they were adamantly encouraging me to send in my resume to Clio. This is the kind of offer a server hears from time to time, but on this occasion there was something different. These women were so incredibly friendly and raved about the company they worked for. This was ultimately my first impression: passionate employees who are strong advocates for their employer and the product they provide.

From the moment I stepped through the doors I have not regretted my decision to join the Clio family. Clio provides me with a community of like-minded individuals. The work environment is casual yet enthusiastic. The employees are positive and helpful. Most importantly, at the end of the day, the work gets done and we have fun doing it.

I look forward to my future with Clio. Every so often I wonder what would have happened if Jocelyn, Barb, Angela and Caroline had not met me that night. But then again, I sure am glad they did! 

I started working at Clio late in 2012. It was not a small decision to transition to Clio. I was disrupting my personal life, moving literally across the entire continent to start building something new.

Why did I make this decision?

To say that the legal sphere is undergoing changes would be a gross understatement. If you want to know more about this, I highly recommend Richard Susskind’s, “The End of Lawyers?”. I was seeing this change personally, from underfunded courts to vast corporations relying on a shrinking number of law firms – each desperately clinging to unrealistic profit margins.

I also see all the people being left behind. There is a public unable to afford basic legal services. There are dedicated, small firm lawyers struggling in an antiquated system that does not respect innovation. There are whole classes of law students lacking the mentorship and training they should have received in school.

There are large problems in the legal sphere.

I honestly believe Clio can help with some of these problems. Clio has taken legal software out of the doldrums it has languished in since the 1990’s. They work hard to bring a modern understanding of design and usability to the product. Clio also understands that lawyers need to change the way they work, if they want to survive.  This platform helps enable that change.  It reduces administrative overhead, creates better billing and encourages efficiency without sacrificing competency.

Clio is also helping students learn the skills they need while still in school.  For years, law students have been left to learn the practice of law on their own. Law schools teach little practical knowledge; graduating students unfit to be lawyers. Clio is helping change this by providing an environment where students and teachers can work together on real legal activities.

After years of researching the changing legal sphere, I saw that someone was taking action to make things better. Clio is a company on the precipice of great things. How could I not drop everything to be a part of that?

It’s been over five months since I started working at Clio. I suppose it’s fair to say that I have more than first impressions to share! 

Let’s start with an introduction. I came to Clio from a consulting job in the staffing industry because I was looking for an opportunity to build something long-term. My job here at Clio involves two functions: First, I work as a recruiter, helping to bring the best people on board to build an excellent product. This is a rather serious undertaking given the changes the software development world has seen recently and the demand in the market for quality. My second function at Clio is to work on employee retention, which involves fostering a culture where people feel great about coming to work. 

I’m often asked, “why do you work here” in interviews. My answer boils down to a couple of basic things:

• Clio’s a growing company. People who enjoy the challenges that entails do well here — it’s not easy to build great things with a team that’s growing as it builds! From a hiring standpoint, it’s interesting to get to work on solving team building problems at the same time as I get to contribute to the development of the product indirectly. Hiring is arguably the most important thing a company can get *right*… great products are built by great people!
• The folks building Clio understand how software development should be done. I came to the company from a consulting background, so I’ve had the opportunity to see what has worked and what hasn’t worked first-hand. Clio gets a lot of the big stuff right, which is believe it or not a really tough thing to do: We’re lean, we release software that works, and we’ve found a way to balance the entrepreneurial, agile style of modern software development with enough process to make sure we’re always moving forward. 

The maxim “good people always want to work with other good people” drives my work on a daily basis. In a way, I report to every person in the company, and that lets me keep my eye on the task at hand. The good people here need other good people to make their lives easier, and by contributing to that I contribute to the company in a meaningful way. What more could any employee want? 

Coming out of University, looking towards my future, I had a growing sense of dread that I would have to ‘grow up’. The sort of ‘grow up’ where my dress code would be a shirt and tie, where I would be strapped to a desk 9-5, and slowly let my passions dull as I stared at spreadsheets all day.

But then I got an interview at Clio, for a position on their customer support team. One of the existing support staff sat in on that interview, and when they asked what I did with my free time, I admitted to being a rather dedicated nerd. He offered to recommend me to the big bosses right then and there if I would run a game of Shadowrun for him. That might be Greek to you, but to me, it was the moment I saw how awesome this company was.

 Most of the time, I take everything very seriously. But every now and then, I adore being a complete goof. I embrace being a total dork in front of everyone, and grinning so widely my jaw hurts. At Clio, I can do that. I can be helping a Clio user fix their login problems one minute, and then launch into a conversation with another support team member about this or that fictional universe and what we love about it.

So yes, I ended up in a cubicle, at a computer. I dress in buttoned up shirts, and keep my face clean shaven. But in these first few weeks at Clio, I have found a place where I can chat with almost anyone about what new video game I am playing. I have found a place where taking my work seriously is respected. I have been pretty busy, learning as much about Clio as I can, as quickly as I can, so that when I am asked by a Clio user about how a particular feature works, or what to do in Clio to get exactly the result they want; I can know right off the top of my head.

But. 

I am having a blast doing it.