Your team already knows what belongs on every case. It’s on the whiteboard, in an old Word doc, or in someone’s head. Day to day, that turns into sticky notes, half-filled forms, and “Did we get this?” messages.

Custom Fields turn that know-how into something your whole firm can use consistently.

What to configure

• Dropdowns to keep terms consistent
• Required fields so critical items aren’t missed
• Client-facing labels that read like plain English
• The right types for the job: dates, checkboxes, numbers, contact select, web links
• Field sets grouped by practice area or workflow stage

How this looks in practice

• 🟣 Estate Planning: Matter type, review cycle, beneficiaries, financial assets
• 🔵 Personal Injury: Date of loss, adjuster info, medical records, wage loss
• 🟢 Insurance Defense: Policy coverage, court info, billing rules

We’ve supported many firms with unique terminology and multi-step workflows. We collaborate with you to get it right.

This is your practice, consistent on every matter.

Use your data everywhere. With the right Custom Fields, Clio moves from storage to support, acting like a dependable assistant for what’s due, what’s missing, and what’s next.

This isn’t more data. It’s the same facts, structured so they actually work for you—showing up in views, filters, exports, and reports. Once it’s in place, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

Less chasing, fewer status checks, cleaner handoffs. That’s what well-built fields deliver.

What this looks like in real life

• Saved views that show what needs attention now
  Estate: trusts due for review this quarter.
  PI: matters missing medical records or lien details.
  Defense: entries or bills that do not meet client rules.
• Filters anyone can run
  Search by review cycle, date of loss, court, policy type, responsible attorney, or any field your team relies on.
• Exports you can use without cleanup
  Pull a clean list for audits, strategy meetings, or handoffs. No extra formatting required.
• Reports that show the whole picture
  See workload, cycle times, and deadlines so you know what is happening across the firm without chasing people for updates.
• Templates that reuse data
  Use field values inside document templates to reduce retyping and errors.

You don’t have to figure this out alone. 2b1 has helped firms from solo to midsize turn messy field lists into reliable workflows. We bring patterns that work and steer you around the usual pitfalls.

The list can go on, but based on the firms we’ve helped set up in Clio, these are the most common pitfalls we see in existing Custom Field configurations.

Common pitfalls

• No matter lifecycle
  Fields were added on the fly as one-offs, not tied to how a case opens, moves forward, and closes.
• Notes instead of fields
  Key facts live in long notes, so you cannot filter or report on them.
• Inconsistent labels
  “Adjuster” on one matter, “Claims Adjuster” on another. Teams guess. Data splits.
• Wrong field types
  Dates typed as text, phone numbers in free text, URLs pasted in notes.
• Clutter and order
  Important items sit at the bottom. Create screens feel overwhelming.
• Stages mixed together
  Everything is required at open. Nothing is collected at the right time.
• One set for every practice area
  PI fields show up in Estate, or Defense billing rules appear everywhere.
• Intake mismatch
  Data from intake does not land in the right fields inside Manage.

The step most firms skip
Define your firm’s matter lifecycle. Decide what must be captured at open, during the work, and at close. Then group fields into small sets that match those stages and each practice area. That is what makes Clio feel tailored instead of forcing people to work around it.

Ready for a Clio fit check?
2b1 has helped firms from solo to midsize turn messy field lists into reliable workflows. We can review one practice area and show you which field sets and views to prioritize first. 👇