News Summary

Clio, a legaltech company based in Burnaby, BC, has partnered with San Francisco-based Affirm to offer a ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) service tailored for the legal industry. This partnership aims to address a misaligned financial model where law firms require large upfront retainers that clients may not be able to pay immediately. The new BNPL offering allows clients to pay fees over time, easing financial stress for both clients and law firms. Clio has also introduced Clio Capital, a capital advance program to provide quick access to funds for law firms. Both offerings are integrated into Clio’s payments and law practice management software. Clio announced these innovations during its legaltech conference, ClioCon, in Boston, where it also launched an enterprise division with AI-based solutions following acquisitions of ShareDo and vLex. Affirm, which entered the Canadian market by acquiring PayBright, is expanding its presence through partnerships with Canadian companies like Clio, Shopify, and FreshBooks.