The AI file organizer for lawyers. Every doc to the right matter.
Sortio reads intake scans, downloaded filings, and email attachments on your Mac, matches each one to the right client and matter, renames it, and (with the Clio integration on) uploads it. Built for solo attorneys, small firms, and multi-attorney practices that refuse to let privileged work product touch a third-party server.
How matter-based filing works
Four steps from a folder of loose intake to clean, matter-organized documents you can hand to a partner or upload to Clio.
Drop your intake folder
Point Sortio at any folder of loose documents: scanned intake stacks, downloaded e-filings, email attachments, settlement drafts. Everything is read locally on your Mac, never uploaded to a third-party classifier.
Classify by content
Sortio reads each file (PDFs, Word docs, JPGs, audio transcripts) and extracts client name, opposing party, document type, dates, matter ID, and case caption. Files are tagged as contracts, correspondence, pleadings, discovery, invoices, or your own custom buckets.
Route to the right matter
Each file is assigned to a client matter based on the entities Sortio extracted. You see a confidence score for every assignment and can override anything in the preview screen before files move. Privileged docs flagged for review stay quarantined until an attorney releases them.
File locally or to Clio
Approved files land in the right Mac folder, or upload directly into Clio Manage when the integration is connected. Every operation is audit-logged with timestamp, source path, destination matter, and which user approved it.
The filing problem inside law practices
Six patterns we hear from solo attorneys, mid-size litigation shops, and corporate counsel. They are not new. They get worse as the matter list grows.
Client folder discipline collapses by week three
Day one of a new matter has clean per-client folders. By week three a paralegal saves a signed engagement letter to the desktop, the attorney pastes a draft motion into Documents, and the discovery files live in Downloads. Nobody can find the operative version when the partner asks for it.
A document gets filed under the wrong matter
Same client, two matters. Same opposing counsel, different cases. A discovery response lands in the older matter and nobody catches it for three weeks. Now the timeline has to be reconstructed from scratch and you are explaining the slip to a senior partner.
Retention deadlines slip silently
Bar retention rules say closed matters must be archived for five to seven years (state-dependent). When closing a matter, nobody opens the folder to verify everything is captured. Three years later an ethics complaint asks for the file and pieces are missing.
Multi-attorney handoffs lose context
Junior associate drafts the brief, senior partner edits it, paralegal files it. Three people, three local file conventions, three versions named "draft_v3_final_FINAL_REAL.docx". The version everyone agreed on is in someone's email, not on the shared drive.
Invoices, correspondence, and pleadings all live together
A client folder is supposed to separate billing records, court filings, and correspondence. In practice it is one flat folder with 400 PDFs named scan_001 through scan_400. Audit trail? Discovery prep? You are starting from chaos every time.
Privileged documents in the wrong place
A draft expert report or attorney work product gets dropped into a shared folder a paralegal can see. The privilege risk is real, and the discovery of the misfile is usually accidental: someone is looking for something else and notices the file is in the wrong place.
Filing patterns for the documents you actually handle
Sortio is not generic. It recognizes the document categories that show up inside a legal practice and routes them accordingly.
Contracts and engagement letters
Engagement letters, fee agreements, NDAs, releases, and amendments. Sortio reads each contract for the party names and effective date, then routes it under the right client matter. Renamed templates look like 2026-04-12 - Engagement Letter - Smith Matter 00012.pdf so a quick Finder search finds them instantly.
Invoices and trust accounting docs
Outside vendor bills, expert witness invoices, court filing fees, trust deposit receipts, and IOLTA reconciliations. Sortio separates billing artifacts from substantive case docs, which keeps your bookkeeper happy and your billing audit defensible. Pair this with the receipt naming pattern in our PDF rename guide.
Correspondence
Letters, emails saved as PDF, faxes, certified mail receipts. The "correspondence" subfolder under each matter fills up fast; Sortio identifies the sender, recipient, and date, names the file accordingly, and stamps a tag so you can filter to "client-facing" vs "opposing counsel" vs "court."
Pleadings and discovery
Complaints, answers, motions, briefs, discovery requests and responses, deposition transcripts, expert reports. Sortio tags court filings by docket number, hearing date, and document type. Combined with the Rule Builder you can split discovery responses by request set and party.
Client-supplied evidence
Tax returns, bank statements, photos, medical records, contracts, screenshots. The messiest pile. Sortio reads the content and tags by source (client vs third party), date range, and document class. Photos of damage or scene are organized by capture date and grouped per matter.
Closed matter archives
When a matter closes, the Rule Builder packs the whole tree into a retention archive labeled by closing date and state retention class. Files become read-only, and the audit log captures everything in one place. When the retention window expires, the same rule flags the archive for deletion review.
Privileged documents never leave your machine without your approval
Sortio reads files on your Mac. When the AI classifier extracts party names, dates, and document types, that inference happens against a model you choose: a local LLM like Ollama (so no document content ever crosses the network), your own OpenAI or Anthropic API key (BYOK, requests go from your Mac directly to your provider), or the Sortio classifier as the default.
The only outbound network call after classification is the upload to Clio, when the integration is enabled and you approve the batch. That goes Mac to Clio, not through our servers. Privilege and work product stay inside the same legal channel you already use.
For retention, the Rule Builder lets you encode your state bar's rules once and apply them across every closed matter. Files get tagged with the closing date and the retention class, archives are flagged when their windows expire, and the audit log is ready when a bar inquiry asks who touched what.
Local-first inference
Choose the Sortio default, BYOK against your own provider, or a fully local LLM like Ollama. Local-LLM mode means matter names and filenames never cross the network at all.
Clio-native uploads
When connected, files upload directly to Clio's document API. They appear in the matter's document tree as if a paralegal uploaded them through the Clio web app.
Audit trail per file
Every move and upload is logged locally with timestamp, original path, destination matter, classification confidence score, and the user that approved it. The same metadata is attached as a note on each Clio upload.
Retention rules
Encode your state bar's retention rule once. Closed matters auto-archive with a closing date and retention class tag, and the same rule flags archives for deletion review when the window expires.
Built for Clio
Sortio integrates directly with Clio Manage via the official API. Connect your account in Settings, and your full matter list is available for document matching within seconds. No middleware. No data migration. No IT setup.
The matter matcher respects your LLM choice. Switch to Ollama and even the matter party names stay on your machine; classification happens locally and only the file upload itself crosses to Clio.
A 200-file intake folder lands in the right matters in under five minutes on a modern Mac, with a confidence score on every assignment and an undoable preview before anything moves.
Simple pricing
Most solo attorneys start with Pro. Mid-size litigation shops graduate to Team for a shared rule library and centralized AI policy across paralegals and associates.
Lawyer FAQ
Questions from solo attorneys, mid-size litigation shops, and in-house counsel weighing Sortio for matter-based filing, retention, and Clio integration.
It reads each file on your Mac (PDFs, Word docs, scans, screenshots, audio), extracts the client name, opposing party, matter ID, document type, and dates, then routes the file to the right client matter folder and renames it consistently. Sortio is a local-first AI file organizer: classification runs on your machine and the only outbound network call is the upload to Clio when you enable that integration.
The for-law-firms page focuses on solo attorneys and small firms already using Clio. This lawyers page is broader. It covers the underlying file-organization problem for any lawyer, in-house counsel, court-appointed attorney, or mid-size firm that may or may not be on Clio yet. Same product, different entry point.
Yes. With the Clio Manage integration connected, Sortio pulls your live matter list through the official API. For each file, it extracts the entities (client, opposing party, matter ID, case caption) and matches them against your matters. A confidence score is shown for every assignment and you approve the batch before anything uploads. Low-confidence files are held in a review queue.
Same workflow, local destination instead of Clio. Point Sortio at your existing matter folder structure (often something like Clients/Smith/00012-Personal-Injury) and it routes new intake into the right matter without touching your naming convention. The Rule Builder lets you enforce sub-foldering (correspondence, pleadings, discovery, billing) so every matter ends up with the same internal layout.
Not unless you tell Sortio to upload them. Classification runs locally against the LLM you choose. In Ollama mode no document content (and no matter party names) ever cross the network. In BYOK mode requests go from your Mac directly to your provider on your account. With the default Sortio classifier, file content stays local and only filename plus extracted entities are sent for matter matching, redacted after 30 days per our privacy policy.
Yes. Each attorney can run their own Sortio install pointed at the same shared drive, with a shared rule set so naming and routing stay consistent across the firm. Team plans add a centralized rule library and audit log. Conflicting matter assignments (two attorneys flagged the same file to different matters) surface in the next sync rather than getting silently overwritten.
Sortio does not delete files for you (a deliberate choice). What it does do: tag every file with a closing date and a state retention class when a matter closes, pack the matter into a read-only archive, and surface the archive for deletion review when the retention window expires. The audit log captures the chain of custody from intake through retention. Your firm makes the final delete decision, but Sortio gives you the inventory.
Yes. Drop the folder into Sortio and the AI identifies the client, opposing party, and document type on each file independently. scan_001.pdf through scan_400.pdf, interleaved across twenty different clients, all sort correctly. The Rule Builder lets you say something like "if a file mentions a client we already have a folder for, file it there; otherwise create a new client folder by last name and stage the file for intake review."
It treats contracts as a document class. Engagement letters, NDAs, fee agreements, settlement agreements, and amendments are tagged as contracts and routed to the relevant matter or a top-level Contracts folder, depending on your rule. Sortio reads each contract for the parties, effective date, and any amendment-of reference so you can sort by execution date or by counterparty inside the matter folder.
Vendor invoices (expert witnesses, court reporters, filing services, e-discovery vendors) are recognized as billing documents and filed separately from substantive case material. They get a clean filename pattern like 2026-04-12 - Vendor - Matter - $1,250.pdf. For a deeper dive on the same pattern, see our guide on automatically renaming PDFs by content.
No. Sortio classifies, names, and files. It does not stamp, redact, or e-file. It runs cleanly alongside Adobe Acrobat, Foxit, and PDF Expert for those workflows. The typical sequence is: Sortio organizes the production set, you stamp and redact in your PDF tool, then Sortio re-files the stamped versions into the matter.
AI sort runs up to 5,000 files per pass on Pro and completes a typical 1,000-file intake in a few minutes on a modern Mac. For larger archives (a 30,000-file legacy matter), use the Rule Builder. Rule-based sorts process unlimited files instantly at no AI credit cost. See our AI Sort vs Rule Builder guide for when to pick each.
Sortio ships for macOS, Windows, and Linux today. Macs are the most common deployment we see in law practices, but the same app runs on Windows for firms standardized there. The Clio integration works identically on both platforms.
Free tier gives you 50 AI credits and up to 50 files per sort. Pro is $14.99 per month or $99 per year, including Clio integration, 5,000 AI credits, AI sort up to 5,000 files per run, auto-sort on file change, and BYOK so you can plug in your own provider key. Team is $29 per seat per month for multi-attorney firms that want a shared rule library and centralized AI policy.
Request a Demo
Tell us about your practice and we will show you Sortio working with a sample of your intake folder.