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The Clio LawPay integration ended on August 31, 2026. Clio’s own help center now says it plainly: “The LawPay integration ended on August 31, 2026. A firm that has not migrated from LawPay can still view its historical LawPay transactions in the read-only transactions view in Clio Manage” (Clio Help Center, “Activate Clio Payments”).
Clients can still pay you. LawPay still exists, and so does Clio Payments. What ended is the connection that let LawPay payments land automatically inside Clio Manage. If your firm relied on that connection for trust and operating deposits, this article covers what changed, your three options, and how to keep your ledgers accurate.
Not legal or accounting advice. Trust-accounting rules vary by state. Confirm your workflow with your bar’s trust-account rules and, if needed, your accountant.
What happened, and why
LawSites reported on May 5, 2026, that Clio had told customers the integration would end on August 31, 2026, and that “the integration contract between the two companies expires as of that date and will not be renewed” (LawSites, May 5, 2026).
Clio’s statement to LawSites, from AJ Axelrod, vice president of payments and financial services:
“The agreement supporting the LawPay integration within Clio Manage is expected to conclude in August 2026. This is a natural contract conclusion. … Clio will continue to provide integrated payment capabilities within Clio Manage through Clio Payments and customers are able to continue using LawPay outside of the integration.”
8am LawPay’s statement: “LawPay remains available to customers directly, and we’re working closely with each of them to ensure a smooth transition and continued access to the payment experience they expect and rely on.”
The background, also from LawSites: the two companies’ relationship goes back many years. In 2015 LawPay’s engine powered the original Clio Payments. Clio launched its own native Clio Payments in 2021. Less than a year later, LawPay’s parent company (then AffiniPay, now 8am) acquired MyCase, a direct Clio competitor. A split was likely from then on.
What actually stopped working
LawPay didn’t shut down, and Clio didn’t block anyone from taking payments. The automatic bridge between LawPay transactions and Clio Manage records ended. That has a few practical effects:
- Clio Manage can’t process payments through LawPay anymore. In-app payments now go through Clio Payments.
- LawPay history stays viewable but read-only in Clio Manage, according to Clio’s help article.
- Payments a client makes directly in LawPay won’t post to your Clio matter ledger on their own. Someone has to record them.
The last point is where the risk is. The danger isn’t that clients can’t pay. It’s that your practice-management records stop matching your bank and trust accounts. A retainer replenishment that doesn’t show in the Clio trust ledger can lead to a collections notice sent to a client who already paid. Worse, it can lead to a trust disbursement made on the wrong balance.
Before you assume anything about saved cards, scheduled payment plans, or old payment links, confirm with both vendors in writing. Clio’s Clio Payments getting-started guide and LawPay’s help article on Clio Payments are the places to start.
Your three options
Option 1: Switch to Clio Payments
This brings back automatic posting inside Clio Manage. According to Clio’s help center, activation has two stages. You submit an application with your firm’s business, ownership, and banking details. Then you connect your approved payout accounts to your Clio Manage ledger accounts. Clio says application review “takes about one to two days.”
Things to know from the same article:
- Account administrators and the primary subscriber can activate Clio Payments.
- Have these ready: business registration documents, a voided check or bank statement, your SSN, and details for each beneficial owner (25%+ ownership or significant managerial control).
- Your primary operating account receives Clio Payments transactions and is debited for “transaction fees, chargebacks, outstanding balances, and any insufficient funds from other added accounts.” Set this up deliberately. You don’t want fees or chargebacks touching trust.
- “Each payout account connects to one ledger account.” Map trust and operating separately.
- A clear statement descriptor (5–22 characters) “helps reduce disputes and chargebacks.”
Trade-off: you’re now inside Clio’s payments ecosystem, with its pricing, payment methods, and settlement timing. See what Clio actually costs in 2026 for the platform side.
Option 2: Keep LawPay as a standalone processor
This makes sense if you have negotiated pricing, clients who know the LawPay experience, or a preference for keeping payments separate from practice management. The cost is manual reconciliation, which you’ll need to build as a real process (see below). If your books also run through QuickBooks, review how you reconcile Clio payments with QuickBooks Online.
If you plan to stay with LawPay as a standalone processor, see our LawPay pricing guide and review LawPay’s current plans before you rebuild your posting routine, so you know exactly what your account includes.
Option 3: Change practice-management platform or processor
Some firms will use this moment to reconsider their whole setup. LawPay and MyCase are both owned by 8am. If you’re weighing that route, compare Clio vs MyCase, MyCase vs LawPay, and MyCase pricing. For a third-party processor, ask exactly what “integrates with Clio” means. A CSV export you import by hand isn’t the same as automatic, matter-level posting with trust classification.
Compare total cost, not the headline rate
The advertised card percentage is only one part of the cost. Build a comparison that includes:
- Percentage rate and per-transaction fees, for card and for ACH/eCheck
- Monthly platform fees
- Chargeback and refund fees
- Settlement timing (days until funds reach your account)
- Staff time for reconciliation. As an illustration, three extra hours a month at a $40 loaded hourly cost adds $120 a month. That can easily outweigh a small rate difference.
A simple formula: (all processor fees + monthly fees + reconciliation labor) ÷ total dollars collected = your effective cost per dollar. Get current pricing in writing from each vendor before you compare.
If you keep LawPay: build a reconciliation routine
Without the integration, a written process has to replace the automation.
- One owner, daily. One named person checks LawPay each business morning, identifies the client and matter for each payment, confirms trust vs. operating, and posts it in Clio.
- A second person, weekly. Someone else matches bank settlements to posted payments and processor fees.
- Two-person sign-off for trust. One person posts a trust deposit, and a second confirms it before the funds are treated as available.
- Written exception rules. Decide in advance how you’ll record declined payments, duplicates, overpayments, partial payments, refunds, chargebacks, and reversals in both systems, and who can authorize each.
- Month-end three-way reconciliation. Match the bank statement, the trust ledger, and client ledgers. This is the check most state trust rules expect anyway.
If you switch to Clio Payments: test before you go live
Don’t stop at one successful card payment. Run small tests and follow each one from payment, to Clio posting, to bank settlement, to fee recording, to month-end:
- A card payment to operating
- A payment to trust (confirm where the fees are taken from)
- An ACH payment
- A declined payment
- A partial invoice payment
- A payment-plan installment
- A refund
Then update every place a client might find a payment link: invoice templates, email signatures, your website, the client portal, engagement letters, and printed materials. Contact clients on recurring plans directly.
A two-week transition plan
Days 1–2: inventory. List every place LawPay appears in your workflow: invoice templates, website buttons, email signatures, the client portal, recurring plans, and saved cards. Pull a LawPay report of every client with a scheduled or recurring payment.
Days 2–4: decide and apply. Choose your path. If you’re moving to Clio Payments, submit the application early, since review takes a day or two and Clio may ask for more documents.
Days 4–7: map and test. Connect payout accounts to the right ledger accounts. Run the test payments listed above, including at least one trust deposit and one refund.
Days 7–10: tell clients. Send a short, plain notice to every client with an open balance or recurring plan (sample below). Update all links the same day.
Days 10–14: reconcile. Do a full three-way trust reconciliation covering the transition period. Watch for payments that arrived through old links and post them by hand.
Sample client notice
Subject: Updated payment link for your firm
We’ve updated how we accept online payments. Please use the link on your next invoice, or this one: (new link). Previously saved payment details may not carry over, so you may be asked to enter them again. If you have a payment plan with us, we’ll contact you separately to confirm it. Questions? Call (number).
Keep the notice short. Clients mostly need to know which link to use and that their payment plan is being handled.
Trust-accounting cautions
States differ on whether processor fees may be taken from trust deposits and how they must be handled. Before live client payments start, confirm that your setup sends fees and chargebacks to operating, not trust, if your state requires that. Keep an audit trail showing where each deposit came from, which client ledger it went to, and who approved any transfer.
Frequently asked questions
Did the Clio–LawPay integration end or is it ending?
It ended. Clio’s help center says, “The LawPay integration ended on August 31, 2026.”
Can I still use LawPay?
Yes, as a standalone processor. Clio and 8am LawPay both said firms can keep using LawPay outside the integration. Payments made there have to be recorded in Clio manually.
Can I still see old LawPay transactions in Clio?
Yes. Clio says historical LawPay transactions remain in a read-only transactions view in Clio Manage.
How long does Clio Payments activation take?
Clio says application review takes about one to two days. After approval you still have to connect payout accounts to ledger accounts and possibly complete identity verification. Allow extra time to update links and tell clients.
Will my saved cards and payment plans move over?
Don’t assume they will. Ask Clio and LawPay in writing what happens to stored payment methods and scheduled plans for your account. Then contact affected clients directly.
Key takeaways
- The integration ended on August 31, 2026. LawPay and Clio Payments both still work, separately.
- The real risk is ledgers that don’t match the bank, especially in trust.
- Clio Payments brings back in-app posting. Set up your payout-to-ledger mapping and primary operating account carefully.
- Standalone LawPay works if you assign daily posting and weekly reconciliation, with two-person trust controls.
- Compare total cost, including staff time, not just the card rate.