Problem with the contacts endpoint regarding "related_contacts"

Question

I have a problem with the contacts endpoint regarding related_contacts.

I'm trying to make this request:

https://app.clio.com/api/v4/contacts.json?fields=id,name,first_name,last_name,type,primary_email_address,primary_phone_number,is_client,activity_rates{rate,flat_rate},addresses{name,street,city,province,postal_code,country},custom_field_values{id,field_type,field_name,value,custom_field},phone_numbers{name,number,default_number},web_sites{name,address,default_web_site},account_balances{name,type,balance},related_contacts{id,type,name,first_name,last_name,primary_email_address,primary_phone_number,is_client},primary_work_address{name,street,city,province,postal_code,country},company{id,type,name,first_name,last_name,primary_email_address,primary_phone_number,is_client},payment_profile{id,name,terms,discount_rate,discount_period,interest_rate,interest_period,interest_type},co_counsel_rate{id,rate,flat_rate,contact_id,co_counsel_contact_id},primary_web_site{name,address,default_web_site},created_at,updated_at&type=Company&client_only=true&order=name(asc)&limit=200

But it fails. If I remove the related_contacts{} part, it works. If I add back so much as related_contacts{id} it fails.

Has anyone else run into this?

Answer 1

I don't think this exactly answers your question, but I've been struggling with the same thing and as best I can tell, related_contacts is a dead-end in the API.

The real answer I think is not to use related_contacts at all, instead use the relationships endpoint. If you log on to the Clio portal and look at "Related contacts" under matter, this is actually the call that it's making.

You could call all relationships as you calling all contacts in your sample, but it's probably much more useful to include either the matter_id or contact_id as part of the query string to get relationships specific to one or the other.