Clio is getting into the FinTech side of the legal business as it becomes the latest Canadian company to partner with San Francisco-based “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) tech company Affirm.
Clio claims its new offerings address “a misaligned financial model” in the legal industry.
The partnership will power Clio’s own BNPL offering, which gives a law firm’s clients the option to pay their legal fees over time in monthly or biweekly installments. Clio has also launched its own capital advance program, Clio Capital, to provide law firms with quick access to funds to help manage their cash flow or invest in growth opportunities.
The BNPL offering and Clio Capital are embedded directly into Clio’s payments and law practice management software in the United States, with additional regions to follow.
The Burnaby, BC-based legaltech company says the offerings address “a misaligned financial model” in the legal industry. Firms often require large upfront retainers to begin work, but clients often don’t have immediate access to those funds, even if they’re expecting payouts down the road.
“Financial stress has been one of the most persistent challenges facing law firms and their clients,” AJ Axelrod, Clio’s vice-president of payments and financial services, said in a statement. “These innovations reduce administrative burdens, strengthen client relationships, and allow firms to operate with greater stability and scale.”
RELATED: Clio caps off year of big acquisitions by launching new enterprise division
Affirm entered the Canadian market in 2021 when it acquired Canadian BNPL firm PayBright for $340 million CAD. The company has struck multiple partnerships this year to increase its footprint in the country, including with Shopify and FreshBooks.
Clio announced its FinTech offerings on the second day of its legaltech conference in Boston, ClioCon, last week. Clio kicked off the conference by launching an enterprise division to support large law firms and corporate legal departments, a customer base Clio has been targeting for some time. The new suite is made up of artificial intelligence (AI)-based offerings stemming from Clio’s acquisitions of ShareDo and vLex this year.
Feature image courtesy Clio.