How to send leads to Clio Grow automatically with an AI receptionist

Every call your firm takes generates lead data. Someone still has to open Clio Grow and type it in. If you're in court or it's after hours, that lead waits. Sometimes it never gets entered at all.

You can skip that step entirely. Connect your AI receptionist to Clio Grow so every call creates a lead automatically, with the caller's name, phone, email, and a conversation summary. No manual entry, no Zapier, and no OAuth.

This guide walks through the setup using Upfirst and Clio Grow's Inbox Leads API. Upfirst already has a Clio integration for calendar scheduling. This goes a step further by pushing lead data directly into Grow.

Why automate lead capture from calls to Clio Grow?

Law firms run on intake. The faster a new lead gets into your system, the faster someone can follow up, run a conflict check, and book a consultation. If you're a solo attorney still handling your own intake process , this matters even more.

When lead entry is manual, three things tend to happen:

Delays. The attorney is in court. The paralegal is on another call. The lead sits in limbo until someone has a free moment.

Incomplete records. Someone jots down a name and number but skips the email, the case type, or the details of what the caller actually said. Later, nobody remembers the context.

Dropped leads. After-hours calls and overflow calls are the most likely to fall through the cracks. Without an after hours answering service that feeds directly into Clio Grow, those leads depend on someone remembering to enter them.

Automating this removes all three problems. Every call that your AI receptionist for law firms handles produces a structured lead in Clio Grow with the caller's name, phone, email, and a full call summary . It happens in seconds, whether the call comes in at 2 PM or 2 AM.

What you need

• An Upfirst account with Custom Actions
• A Clio Grow account with access to Settings > Inbox
• Your Clio Grow inbox lead token (also called the "Lead capture token")

Important: This is for Clio Grow, not Clio Manage. They are two separate products. Clio Manage uses OAuth for integrations. Clio Grow uses a simple token. There is no Developer Portal or OAuth app involved.

1. Set up custom fields for first and last name (optional)

Clio Grow accepts a first name and last name as separate fields. By default, Upfirst collects the caller's full name as one value. If you want to split them, create custom fields before building the request body.

If you don't need separate first and last names, skip this step. You can map the caller's full name to the from_first field and leave from_last empty.

To create the fields:

1. In Upfirst, go to Settings > Custom fields
2. Click Call fields, then click Add field
3. Name the field "First name" and add a description like "Caller's first name"
4. Click Add field again and create a "Last name" field

Upfirst will generate custom variables for each field. You will use these in the request body.

2. Get your Clio Grow inbox lead token

Log into Clio Grow and go to Settings > Inbox. You will see your inbox sources. Each source has its own token, sometimes labeled "Lead capture token."

Copy the token. You will paste it into Upfirst in the next step.

3. Create a Custom Action in Upfirst

In your Upfirst dashboard, go to Agent > Custom Actions and click Add Custom Action.

For the trigger, choose When a call ends. This way, the AI has the full conversation finished, the caller's details collected, and a summary generated before it sends anything to Clio Grow.

4. Configure the request

Set the method to POST and the endpoint URL to:

https://grow.clio.com/inbox_leads

Leave the authorization header empty. The token goes inside the request body, not in a header. That is how Clio Grow's API works.

5. Build the request body

Paste this JSON into the body field of your Custom Action.

If you created custom fields in step 1, use this version:

{
"inbox_lead_token": "YOUR_ACTUAL_TOKEN_HERE",
"inbox_lead": {
"from_first": "{{call.fields.first_name}}",
"from_last": "{{call.fields.last_name}}",
"from_email": "{{call.fields.email_address}}",
"from_phone": "{{caller_id}}",
"from_message": "{{call.summary}}",
"from_source": "Upfirst",
"referring_url": "https://upfirst.ai/"
}
}

If you skipped step 1, use this version instead:

{
"inbox_lead_token": "YOUR_ACTUAL_TOKEN_HERE",
"inbox_lead": {
"from_first": "{{call.fields.name}}",
"from_email": "{{call.fields.email_address}}",
"from_phone": "{{caller_id}}",
"from_message": "{{call.summary}}",
"from_source": "Upfirst",
"referring_url": "https://upfirst.ai/"
}
}

Replace YOUR_ACTUAL_TOKEN_HERE with the actual token you copied from Clio Grow. Type it directly. Do not use a variable here.

Here is what each field does:

• from_first / from_last: The caller's first and last name. If you set up custom fields, these pull from the variables you created. If you skipped that step, from_first gets the full name and you can omit from_last.
• from_email: The email address your receptionist collected during the call using the ask questions feature .
• from_phone: The caller's phone number, captured automatically from the caller ID.
• from_message: A summary of the call, generated by your receptionist after the conversation ends. You can also set up an automated email after phone call if you want the caller to get a follow-up too.
• from_source: A label so you can identify these leads in Grow. We set it to "Upfirst."
• referring_url: An optional reference URL.

6. Test the connection

Before going live, enter sample values into the fields mapped in your request body and hit the test button.

Success response: You are good to go.

401 error: Almost always a token issue. Confirm you copied the right token from Settings > Inbox in Clio Grow and that it is pasted into the body (not a header).

If you cannot pinpoint the issue, strip the body down to hardcoded test values instead of variables. This tells you whether the problem is the token or a field mapping. Once the hardcoded version works, add your variables back one at a time.

7. Confirm in Clio Grow

After a successful test, go to your Clio Grow inbox. You should see the test lead, tagged with "Upfirst" as the source.

From this point on, every call your Upfirst receptionist handles will create a lead in Clio Grow automatically. Caller name, phone number, email, and a full conversation summary, all there without anyone touching a keyboard.

Common issues and how to fix them

401 Unauthorized: The token is incorrect or was pasted in the wrong place. The token belongs in the inbox_lead_token field inside the JSON body, not in an Authorization header.

Invalid JSON / request rejected: Check for a trailing comma after the last field in the JSON body. A comma after "referring_url": "https://upfirst.ai/", will break the request. Remove it.

Name showing up as one field: If you skipped step 1 and want to split names later, go back to Settings > Custom fields and create separate "First name" and "Last name" fields, then update your request body.

Leads not appearing in Grow: Confirm you are checking the right inbox source. Each source in Clio Grow has its own token and its own feed.

What your firm gets from this

Once this is live, your intake pipeline works around the clock:

• A potential client calls at 9 PM. Your AI receptionist answers, collects their information, and asks about their case. The call ends, and the lead is in Clio Grow before the caller puts their phone down.
• You are in court all morning. Four calls come in. When you check Grow after your hearing, all four leads are there with full conversation summaries. You can try Upfirst free and test the Clio Grow automation before committing.
• Your front desk is swamped with walk-ins. Overflow calls still get answered through lead qualification , and the leads still land in Grow automatically.

Nobody has to remember to enter anything, and leads don't sit in voicemail waiting to be transcribed. Every call goes straight from phone to intake pipeline.

Don't want to set this up yourself?

Part of what makes Upfirst different is that we have a team that can set this up for you. We will configure the Custom Action, test the connection, and make sure leads are flowing correctly into your Clio Grow inbox. We can also help with more advanced Clio integrations if your firm needs them.

Book a demo and we will handle it.