Clients & Contacts
Client and contact records, addresses and related parties, with duplicates merged and inactive records flagged before they are imported.
PCLaw Migration
PCLaw to Clio Migration, Done by PCLaw Specialists
Moving from PCLaw to Clio is a data project before it is a software project. We extract, clean and reconcile your PCLaw data so that it arrives in Clio complete and your trust balances agree to the cent.
Work led by Saimoon Bhuiyan, a PCLaw Certified Independent Consultant
What Moves
What We Bring Across From PCLaw
Every migration is scoped in writing first, so you know exactly what will be in Clio on the first morning and what stays in PCLaw for reference.
Matters
Open matters with their responsible lawyers, practice areas, opening dates and billing settings, and closed matters where you want them carried over.
Unbilled Time & Expenses
Work in progress as of the cutover date, by matter and timekeeper, so billing continues in Clio without re-entry.
Outstanding Invoices
Unpaid bills and receivable balances by matter, so collections carry on and client statements stay correct.
Trust Balances
Trust balances by matter, reconciled to the bank and to your PCLaw client trust listing before and after the move.
Your PCLaw History
Full transaction history stays in PCLaw. We leave you with a read-only copy that still opens, for the years you are required to keep it.
How It Works
A Migration Planned Around Your Month-End
- 01
Assessment
We review your PCLaw version, data size and data health, and agree in writing what will be moved and what will not.
- 02
Clean-Up in PCLaw
Integrity check, bank and trust reconciliations, old work in progress and receivables reviewed. Clean data in means clean data out.
- 03
Test Migration
A full trial run into a Clio test account. Your staff check real matters and we fix what they find.
- 04
Cutover
PCLaw is frozen at a month-end, the final extract is taken and loaded, and balances are compared before anyone starts work.
- 05
Validation & Handover
Trust, receivables and work in progress totals are matched to PCLaw. You receive a written reconciliation and a read-only PCLaw archive.
Checked Before Go-Live
PCLaw compared with Clio, as of the cutover date
Nobody starts work in Clio until these agree.
- Trust balance for every matter
- Total trust equals the bank reconciliation
- Receivables by matter
- Unbilled time and expenses by matter
- Count of clients and open matters
FAQ
PCLaw to Clio Questions
Open balances, clients, matters, unbilled time, unpaid invoices and trust balances move well. The full general ledger transaction history generally does not, because the two systems handle accounting differently. Most firms bring opening balances into Clio and keep PCLaw as a read-only archive for history.
PCLaw has a full general ledger built in. Clio has historically paired with separate accounting software for that, and has been adding accounting features of its own. As part of the assessment we look at how your books will be kept after the move and bring across the opening balances your accountant needs.
The cutover itself is usually done over a weekend. Assessment, clean-up and the test migration typically take two to six weeks before that, depending on the size and condition of the data.
At a month-end, with bank and trust accounts fully reconciled, and ideally at a fiscal year-end. That gives a clean line between the two systems and makes your accountant's work much simpler.
You need to be able to read your old records for as long as your law society or state bar requires. We set up a read-only copy of your PCLaw database for that purpose, so you are not dependent on the old server staying alive.
Yes, but the errors are fixed first. Migrating a damaged or unreconciled database carries the problems into the new system, where they are far harder to trace. Repairing PCLaw data is our core work.
PCLaw to Clio Migration guides
All resourcesLegal Technology
PCLaw vs. Clio: Which Is Right for Your Firm?
An honest comparison of PCLaw and Clio from consultants who work with both: accounting depth, cost, remote access, migration effort, and which kind of firm each one suits.
Read article MigrationHow to Move PCLaw to a New Server Without Losing Data
Replacing the office server is the riskiest routine event in a PCLaw system's life. This is the checklist for moving the program, the data and every workstation safely.
Read article MigrationMigrating PCLaw Workgroup to SQL Server: Complete Guide
When a firm should move PCLaw from the c-tree (Workgroup) edition to SQL Server, what the migration involves from planning to cutover, and how to verify nothing was lost.
Read articlePlanning a Move From PCLaw to Clio?
Start with a free assessment. We will review your PCLaw database and tell you plainly what will move, what will not, and how long it will take.