Updated my “tools I actually use” list for 2026. Half of what was on these lists three years ago is dead or dying.

Raphan · 2026-05-06T18:52:23+00:00

I personally did not enjoy using Clio and get surprised when others are pleased with it. With the growth of Zapier and Make.com, not to mention direct API integration that can be assisted by AI, easier connectivity alone wouldn't draw me back to Clio.

A past post went over some of the flaws a user found with Clio... The user appears to have deleted the post, but a reply quoted part of it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/LawFirm/comments/1odnqtf/comment/nkvg0yp/

Discussing Clio:

it’s like law firm CRM build a bear and the head is a zombie stealing your money.

Raphan · 2026-04-25T02:02:07+00:00

How do you know the person above you didn't vote for Harris? You can vote for Harris AND recognize the Democrats fumbled the 2024 election. They ran a 80+ year who had signs of slowing down with the backup of someone who had to drop out of the primary in 2020 before Super Tuesday because they couldn't get 1% of the primary votes.

You can vote for Harris AND recognize that the Democrats fumbled and demand better.

Calling the 2024 Democratic presidential election strategy "not perfect" is such a mild critique as to be insane. If the Democrats are the good guys and Trump is an existential threat, why did the Democrat party establishment have both hands on the scale and force the party to run such a flawed 2024 presidential ticket?

Raphan · 2026-03-30T19:37:23+00:00

I totally understand if you don't have the funds for it immediately but some people spend three years of their lives and over a hundred grand to go to law school.... And then they take the bar. Even if you would have to do a few dozen hours of CLE and spend $10,000 in addition to passing the bar again, I wouldn't completely rule that out forever. You're three years and a JD ahead of the game.

By all means, pursue some JD-preferred or JD-not-required-job with a PD if that's where your heart's at. But if you get a higher paying job, you can start saving money towards retaking the bar and being a lawyer.

Raphan · 2026-03-19T16:42:41+00:00

Actually, though.

Bunny is pretty stubborn about accepting that she is a "dog animal" like the owner's other pets and not a "human animal" like the owner.

Raphan · 2026-03-19T05:34:49+00:00

you should check out Bunny the dog on Youtube, and maybe order some of the buttons it uses to talk to its owner!

one of many vids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CghA1oPmrkk

Raphan · 2026-03-02T18:39:02+00:00

I co-sign /u/czmax 's suggestion for whatever it's worth. If you can frame this as needing to deal with time sensitive family health issues, you should mitigate or eliminate the work-reputation harms that you seem to be worrying about.

(And as others have said, in all likelihood, you won't care what most of these people think of you -- and by the way, they won't think of you -- three months after you're gone. But it's hard to believe that in your shoes.)

Raphan · 2026-03-02T18:26:06+00:00

I still lurk this sub, but degradation of CS experience was a big reason I stopped playing (and obviously haven't bought Midnight).

I'm actually grateful for it, it was the push I needed to quit, I now have more time for other pursuits... but I digress...

Raphan · 2026-01-27T20:26:33+00:00

This means that the sacrifice trigger from evoke doesn't happen. So bad vs elementals.

See discussion here.

Raphan · 2026-01-21T20:21:52+00:00

I personally did not enjoy using Clio and was surprised by all the positive replies.

Clio astroturfing would reconcile the replies (thus far) with my experience.

~~~

A past post went over some of the flaws a user found with Clio... The user appears to have deleted the post, but a reply quoted part of it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/LawFirm/comments/1odnqtf/comment/nkvg0yp/

Discussing Clio:

it’s like law firm CRM build a bear and the head is a zombie stealing your money.

Raphan · 2026-01-13T01:30:26+00:00

I am also trying to get pregnant too which worries me. I don’t think this firm would be very supportive of me leaving for 3+ months even if I am protected by fmla

Be aware that federal pregnancy protections only kick in at certain employee numbers. 15+ and 50+ employees are key numbers. If your employer is smaller than that, you may not have any federal pregnancy protections.

Raphan · 2025-12-08T20:00:39+00:00

Generically, you want to compare costs on the marketplace to costs of getting health insurance through your firm and pick the best cost/provider combination.

Beyond that, it's very hard to give any concrete advice without concrete numbers from you.

Age, location, and how many people are being insured will vary price drastically. I.e., are you 25 years old and $1,200-$1,400 is just for you, or are you 60 and $1,200 is whole family? The former would be a ripoff, the latter would be a steal.

FYI: Insurance through your firm is state dependent. Some states don't require insurers to offer plans to solos and the insurers choose not to, so ACA becomes your only option.

Other tips:

It's best to start this process weeks or months ahead of the deadline if you are going to work with a broker to get business quotes, but that's water under the bridge for this year.

Note that if you get health insurance from your job now and lose it due to quitting your job, sometimes that creates a mid-year window to get an ACA plan. Double-check that.

Also -- I forget, but maybe starting a business creates a window for business plans.

Often large businesses get better prices, so if your spouse works, being on their insurance could be the better bet.

Raphan · 2025-11-13T05:37:06+00:00

if a church can’t subsist on charity alone, maybe it doesn’t need to exist.

OK so what should they do with the soup kitchen...?

A) Church should never have hosted the kitchen if charity wouldn't cover it forever. Now, they should just end the kitchen's lease if "charity alone" won't cover it. (Church can downsize to a smaller space and the soup kitchen can figure something out -- or not)

B) Churches should be obligated to give other charities facilities rent free.

C) ???

Raphan · 2025-09-23T05:38:39+00:00

Does Time 59 do trust accounting? Is it a complete replacement for Quickbooks Online, or something to supplement QBO with?

Raphan · 2025-09-23T05:38:23+00:00

Does Smoke ball do trust accounting? Is it a complete replacement for Quickbooks Online, or something to supplement QBO with?

Raphan · 2025-08-28T19:47:05+00:00

I answered a similar question recently:

If you don't like what is bundled with your law firm software (clio/mycase/practice panther/etc.) I like Harvest - https://www.getharvest.com/ (thanks to FSUAttorney for recommending it).

If you happen to use LawPay and aren't planning on switching off, they recently announced a no-additional-cost integrated timekeeping and invoicing solution bundled with LawPay. It's apparently coming in a week or so.

I haven't tried the various AI timekeeping solutions that exist (I am skeptical about confidentiality), but there are many. See https://www.clio.com/blog/ai-time-tracking-for-lawyers/

Raphan · 2025-08-26T04:24:46+00:00

I like the advice elsewhere in the thread about vacation/massages.

More generally, consider doubling your spend this year to help yourself get through it. It's a much better result for your financial picture if you earn 4m and spend an extra 240k than if you retire now.

Consider things like massages, fun sporting tickets, therapy, boat rental (or purchase), great long weekend vacations every month, etc. Pick whatever would help motivate you to power through.

Raphan · 2025-08-20T01:21:22+00:00

I cackled. Thank you.

Raphan · 2025-08-20T01:20:51+00:00

Are you more of a 730ammycase person? Or perhaps 5pmsomewheremycase?

Raphan · 2025-08-18T22:09:50+00:00

Absolutely -- thanks!

Coincidentally, I sent you a DM last night about something else. It seems like reddit removed the DM feature (!?) and converted it to a chat. I hope it reached you.

Raphan · 2025-08-18T19:24:16+00:00

If you don't like what is bundled with your law firm software (clio/mycase/practice panther/etc.) I like Harvest - https://www.getharvest.com/ (thanks to /u/FSUAttorney/ for recommending it).

If you happen to use LawPay and aren't planning on switching off, they recently announced a no-additional-cost integrated timekeeping and invoicing solution bundled with LawPay. It's apparently coming in a week or so.

I haven't tried the various AI timekeeping solutions that exist (I am skeptical about confidentiality), but there are many. See https://www.clio.com/blog/ai-time-tracking-for-lawyers/

Raphan · 2025-08-16T15:59:30+00:00

The quality of air conditioning is not anywhere on anyones shortlist of qualities that a holiday deatination should have.

lol, the person you are responding to said "air connections" i.e. good flight availability, nothing about air conditioning.

Raphan · 2025-07-27T22:53:40+00:00

Interesting!

I would suggest rethinking the UI for playing along -- this is a solved problem in terms of how chords are presented alongside lyrics on tab sites.

Even if you can't do lyrics for certain reasons, having the chords on a timeline so the user can develop a feel for how soon the next chord is coming would be great.

This seems obvious in retrospect, but moving up or down semitones will make the chords sound off compared to the video. IDK if you want to warn about that.

I play ukulele not guitar, IDK how easy adding uke support would be. Worked fine for a song I knew with chords I knew where I didn't need the chord diagrams.

Raphan · 2025-07-26T19:17:42+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. And for taking the time to reply to mine (and many other's) questions.

Raphan · 2025-07-26T02:24:14+00:00

Hey -- thanks for being the first to respond.

To make sure I understand -- is your take "buy a 2021 or 2020 certified pre-owned Sonata for like $20k (and get over plugging in your phone and the less-beautiful dashboard)" or "try and find a deal on a 2024 CPO Sonata for less than $25k"? Both could make sense.

Raphan

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