/contacts

name: "Clio Contacts"
description: >
  Clio contacts -- the people and companies connected to matters: person
  vs. company contact types, and how a contact relates to the matters they
  are party to (client, opposing party, witness, and other roles).
when_to_use: >-
  When creating, updating, or searching for a Clio contact, or when
  figuring out how a contact relates to a matter. Use when: clio contact,
  clio person, clio company, clio client contact, clio opposing counsel,
  clio witness, or clio contact search.

Clio Contacts

Overview

A **contact** in Clio is a person or a company. Contacts exist independently of any single matter — the same contact can be the client on one matter, opposing counsel on another, and a witness on a third. Tools: `clio_contacts_list`, `clio_contacts_get`, `clio_contacts_create`, `clio_contacts_update`. Navigate into the `contacts` domain first.

**No delete tool exists for contacts** — same rule as everywhere else in this integration (see [api-patterns](../api-patterns/SKILL.md)). A contact that's no longer relevant doesn't get removed through this integration.

Anti-triggers

• **An MSP client, its billing entity, or a service-desk contact** — every

other plugin here says "contact", "client", and "company" too, and none of them mean a party to a legal matter. Use `autotask-crm`, `connectwise-psa-contacts`, `halopsa-clients`, `hubspot-contacts`, or `qbo-customers`.

• **Everyone connected to a case** — a contact is a party record, not the

case file. The relationship (client, opposing party, witness) is carried on the matter; use `clio-matters` to resolve the matter first.

• **Removing someone's data on request** — no delete tool exists here, and

legal retention obligations are exactly why. That request goes to the firm, in Clio, with a human deciding.

People vs. Company Contacts

Clio contacts come in two shapes:

| Type | Examples | Notes | |---|---|---| | **Person** | An individual client, an opposing party who is a person, a witness, an individual attorney at another firm | Has first/last name fields | | **Company** | A corporate client, an opposing party that's a business entity, a vendor | Has a company/organization name; may have associated people (e.g. a primary contact at the company) |

When creating a contact, get the type right up front — person vs. company determines which fields are meaningful (a company doesn't have a first/last name; a person isn't "incorporated"). If a user describes an entity ambiguously ("Acme" could be a company or could be shorthand for a person at Acme), ask rather than guess, especially before creating a new contact — search first (see below).

Contact ↔ Matter Relationships

A contact's relationship to a given matter is contextual, not a fixed property of the contact itself. The same contact record might be:

• **Client** — the party the firm represents on the matter (every matter

has exactly one client contact — see the [matters skill](../matters/SKILL.md))

• **Opposing party** — the other side in the matter
• **Witness** — someone with relevant testimony or evidence, not a party
• Other matter-specific roles the firm tracks (co-counsel, expert,

guardian ad litem, etc.), depending on how the firm uses Clio

Don't assume a contact's role from one matter carries over to another — the same person can be a client on one file and a witness on an unrelated file. When summarizing "who's involved" in a matter, resolve the relationship per-matter rather than trusting a contact's role from a different context.

Searching Before Creating

Law firms accumulate large contact lists with overlapping names (multiple "John Smith"s across different matters is normal, not a data quality problem). Before calling `clio_contacts_create`:

1. Search existing contacts (`clio_contacts_list` with a name/company filter) — check email address and company affiliation, not just name, to disambiguate. 2. If there's a plausible existing match, confirm with the user rather than silently reusing it or silently creating a duplicate — both are real failure modes in a system where contacts persist across many matters and years. 3. Only create a new contact once you're confident it doesn't already exist.

Creating and Updating Contacts

• **Person**: first name, last name are the minimum meaningful fields;

email/phone are commonly expected for anyone who'll be communicated with directly.

• **Company**: the organization name is the minimum; consider whether the

firm also wants a primary person contact linked at the company for day-to-day communication.

• **Updates** (`clio_contacts_update`) are scoped to a single contact ID —

send only the fields actually changing.

Contact data is comparatively low-sensitivity relative to matter content (communications, documents), but it's still client PII — don't populate fields with guesses, and don't merge/overwrite existing contact data without the user's explicit intent.

Related Skills

• [Clio API Patterns](../api-patterns/SKILL.md) — connection, navigation, scope limits
• [Clio Matters](../matters/SKILL.md) — the matter a contact is linked to, and the client relationship
• [Clio Time & Billing](../time-billing/SKILL.md) — activities and bills, which reference the matter, not the contact directly