clio-trust-accounting

name

clio-trust-accounting

description

Work with IOLTA / client trust accounting in Clio Manage — view trust balances by matter and client, list bank accounts and transactions, prepare three-way reconciliation reports, and handle trust requests. Use when the user mentions "trust", "IOLTA", "retainer", "client funds", "trust balance", "three-way reconciliation", "earned vs unearned", "bank reconciliation", or asks how much retainer a client has on deposit.

Trust accounting in Clio

Trust accounting is the highest-stakes part of practice management. State bars audit it. Any error here can mean disbarment. Use this skill with extreme care, and never mutate trust state without explicit confirmation.

Concepts

• Trust account: an IOLTA (Interest On Lawyer's Trust Account) or similar — holds client funds prior to being earned.
• Operating account: the firm's own money.
• Trust line item: a deposit or withdrawal recorded against the trust ledger, scoped to a client and (optionally) a matter.
• Trust request: a request to a client to deposit funds (replenish retainer).
• Three-way reconciliation: monthly process where (a) bank statement, (b) trust ledger, and (c) per-client ledger balances all agree.

Tool map

The MCP wraps reads; mutations go through clio_api_request with explicit confirmation.

Intent	Tool
Trust balance on a matter	clio_api_request GET /trust_line_items.json?matter_id=<id> and sum the ledger (clio_get_billing_summary covers bills only — no trust fields)
List bank accounts	clio_api_request GET /bank_accounts.json?type=Trust
List trust transactions	clio_api_request GET /bank_transactions.json?bank_account_id=<trust>
List trust line items	clio_api_request GET /trust_line_items.json?matter_id=<id>
List trust requests	clio_api_request GET /trust_requests.json
Outstanding client balances	clio_api_request GET /outstanding_client_balances.json

Common asks

"How much does Acme have in trust?"

1. clio_search_contacts(query="Acme") → client_id
2. clio_list_matters(client_id, fields="id,display_number")
3. For each matter: clio_api_request(GET, /trust_line_items.json, params={matter_id=<id>}) → sum the ledger
4. Report per-matter and total

A client might have multiple matters with their own trust slices. Always break it out — partners want to see allocations.

"Show me the three-way reconciliation for May"

1. Bank statement total (manually entered or from Plaid integration —
   outside this MCP)
2. Trust ledger:
   clio_api_request(GET, /bank_transactions.json, params={bank_account_id=<trust>, date_from=..., date_to=...})
3. Per-client trust balances:
   clio_api_request(GET, /outstanding_client_balances.json)
4. Compare (1) vs (2) vs (3); flag discrepancies

If anything doesn't reconcile, stop and tell the user. Don't auto-resolve. Trust reconciliation discrepancies are a bar issue.

"Bill the client and pay myself from trust"

This is two steps:

1. Issue the bill (manual in Clio UI, or clio_api_request POST /bills.json with caution).
2. Move funds from trust to operating: requires a trust transaction with the right metadata. Don't do this from chat without a partner sign-off loop. Recommend the user do it in the Clio UI where the firm's controls apply.

"Request a retainer top-up"

clio_api_request(POST, /trust_requests.json, body={
  "data": {
    "matter_id": ...,
    "amount": ...,
    "description": "Retainer replenishment per engagement letter",
    "contact_id": <client_id>
  }
})

Confirm twice before firing — this generates an email to the client.

Hard rules

1. Never move trust funds based on a casual prompt. Always require an explicit, unambiguous request with amount and source/destination.
2. Never aggregate trust balances across clients. Each client's funds are segregated. A "firm trust balance" is a bookkeeping artifact, not a real number.
3. Always include matter context. Trust without a matter link is hard to audit.
4. If three-way reconciliation fails, escalate. Don't paper over.

Reference

• Clio Trust Accounting docs
• State bar rules (varies by jurisdiction) — out of MCP scope but cite them if asked
• docs/security.md — audit log captures every trust API call