{"id":110429,"date":"2025-03-13T17:23:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T01:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/03\/13\/clio-plants-its-flag-in-biglaw-land-with-acquisition-of-enterprise-law-firm-software-provider-sharedo-2\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T17:23:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T01:23:34","slug":"clio-plants-its-flag-in-biglaw-land-with-acquisition-of-enterprise-law-firm-software-provider-sharedo-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/03\/13\/clio-plants-its-flag-in-biglaw-land-with-acquisition-of-enterprise-law-firm-software-provider-sharedo-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Clio Plants Its Flag In Biglaw Land With Acquisition Of Enterprise Law Firm Software Provider ShareDo"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post Clio Plants Its Flag In Biglaw Land With Acquisition Of Enterprise Law Firm Software Provider ShareDo<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The motto of law practice management company Clio<\/a> is to \u201ctransform the legal experience for all.\u201d But for many of its 17 years in business, that \u201call\u201d has focused primarily on smaller law firms and their clients. Last year, Clio expanded that \u201call\u201d to include mid-sized firms<\/a>, and, in the wake of its record-setting $900 million raise<\/a> last July, it further accelerated its growth in that sector of the market.<\/p>\n

Now, it is taking that \u201call\u201d all the way to the top of the market and planting its flag in Big Law land by acquiring ShareDo<\/a>, a U.K. company that provides cloud-based enterprise case and matter management software for large law firms. Founded in 2011, ShareDo\u2019s customers include some of the largest law firms in the U.K. and a growing number of firms in the United States, Canada and Australia.<\/p>\n

According to ShareDo\u2019s website, law firms it counts as customers include DLA Piper, DWF, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slater + Gordon, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, and several others. It has over 40 large law customers in total, serving some 13,000 legal professionals, according to Clio.<\/p>\n

\u201cClio is doubling down on its mission to transform the legal experience for all, with a focus on delivering advanced, flexible, and secure technology for large law firms now, and in the future,\u201d it said in a press release.<\/p>\n

Jack Newton<\/a>, Clio\u2019s founder and CEO, said: \u201cWe\u2019ve spent years expanding upmarket, transforming how law firms operate across countries, practice areas, and sizes. But this is about more than segments; we\u2019re driving a fundamental shift in how the entire legal industry operates. The large law firm market is on the brink of a major shift, and this acquisition cements our role in leading that change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:<\/em> Exclusive LawNext Interview: CEO Jack Newton on Clio\u2019s Record-Setting $900M Raise<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

All of ShareDo\u2019s roughly 70 employees will remain with the company. Benjamin Nicholson<\/a>, its founder and CEO, will take the position of general manager, ShareDo. In addition, Clio said it intends to add a significant number of people to the ShareDo team over the coming year.<\/p>\n

Clio declined to disclose the terms of the deal.<\/p>\n

A Very Different Acquisition<\/h3>\n

In a post I wrote last year examining the landscape of law practice management software<\/a> for smaller firms, I described Clio as the 800-pound gorilla in that space. Yet, for all its growth and investment, it has been relatively conservative in its acquisitions, making only three prior to today: its 2018 acquisition of CRM platform Lexicata<\/a>, which became the foundation of its Clio Grow product; its 2021 acquisition of court calendaring company CalendarRules<\/a>, which is now built into Clio Manage; and its 2021 acquisition of document automation company Lawyaw<\/a>, which was rebranded earlier this year<\/a>\u00a0as Clio Draft.<\/p>\n

But this acquisition of ShareDo appears to be of a much-different nature in two notable ways. For one, while those other acquisitions all targeted the same small-firm market that Clio was already in, ShareDo serves what is virtually an entirely new market for Clio. (Don\u2019t quote me on this, but my recollection is that some specific practice groups within large firms have been Clio customers.)<\/p>\n

For another, while those other acquisitions all involved products with the potential to be integrated into Clio\u2019s existing practice management software, ShareDo appears not to be a candidate for any such integration and rather is better left as a freestanding product.<\/p>\n

A Distinct Product<\/h3>\n

In a briefing ahead of today\u2019s announcement, Ronnie Gurion<\/a>, Clio\u2019s chief operating officer, confirmed that ShareDo would remain a distinct product.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s accurate,\u201d he said, explaining that enterprise law firms prefer to buy best-of-breed point solutions over the kinds of all-in-one solutions that smaller and mid-sized firms prefer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you go to the Am Law [firms] and the really large end of the spectrum, it\u2019s a very different proposition,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s either practice area specific or it\u2019s best of breed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gurion said that ShareDo excels at integrating with many of the other platforms used by enterprise law firms, such as NetDocuments, iManage, Aderant and Elite.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey work alongside with and help amplify the overall tech stack for these law firms. So that\u2019s why we got comfortable with it being different than in the past where it was more integrated into the Clio ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, Gurion said, Clio believes there are opportunities to take some of its existing capabilities \u2014 such as its payments technology and its Clio Duo AI technology \u2014 and weave them into ShareDo to further accelerate ShareDo\u2019s capabilities.<\/p>\n

Market Opportunities<\/h3>\n

I asked Gurion why Clio considers it important to expand into the large law firm market.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mission is to transform the legal experience for all and I think we\u2019ve done a great job of working towards that mission,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to do that without servicing all types of law firms, especially the largest, most scaled law firms. So it is very much in line with our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is also a strong business case, he noted. While the large law sector represents a smaller overall portion of seats compared to small law, it commands a disproportionately high amount of revenue and spend.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a business opportunity and expansion opportunity perspective, we see that as an area that can really help further Clio\u2019s long-term business and financial objectives as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the business case, Gurion believes the large-firm market is underserved by existing products.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a dearth of true cloud modern solutions that are built with a great UI and great customer experience and great flexibility for the enterprise market,\u201d he said. \u201cWe think ShareDo is one of the few companies we\u2019ve come across that does that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an opportunity to really serve that market and those customers in a great way, as we\u2019re seeing in the U.K., and with our capabilities bring that to the world\u2019s largest legal market and others more rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given that Clio is a company that helped blaze the trail for small law firms to move to the cloud, Gurion acknowledged that the large-firm market has been slower to make that transition.<\/p>\n

While that may be partly attributable to simple resistance, Gurion believes it is more because no one has offered them the right combination of technology and support. As evidence of that, he said that, even though Clio\u2019s core platform is not built for that market, it nevertheless receives a lot of inbound interest and leads from that segment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that speaks to the interest and what people are looking for,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re eager \u2026 and I think they will move to the cloud in large degree as the right solutions manifest themselves, which is what we think this [acquisition] can help us accelerate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Implications for Existing Customers<\/h3>\n

I asked Gurion if this deal has any trickle-down benefit for Clio\u2019s existing customers. He said that just as there are capabilities in Clio\u2019s platform that could enhance ShareDo\u2019s platform, the reverse is also true.<\/p>\n

In addition, the acquisition provides an avenue for firms as they grow larger to move from one platform to the other. \u201cWe have well over 1,000 mid-market firms on our platform and a lot of them are very fast growers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another facet of the deal is the new partnership opportunities it opens for Clio. Clio is already know for its wide network of integration partners. While ShareDo already has integration partnerships with many of the same companies, it also has partnerships with companies that are not currently part of Clio\u2019s ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be looking to leverage those and also create additional ones as well, so I think it\u2019ll create some really good downstream revenue and services opportunities for a number of leading legal services companies,\u201d Gurion said.<\/p>\n

ShareDo CEO Nicholson, in a statement provided by the company, said that the acquisition \u201cis a powerful validation of our business and the significant opportunities for market and product expansion ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am immensely proud of what we have accomplished at ShareDo as a team and couldn\u2019t be more excited to partner with such a customer-obsessed company like Clio. With the backing of such a dynamic global company, we are ready to begin this next chapter in the UK and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The post Clio Plants Its Flag In Biglaw Land With Acquisition Of Enterprise Law Firm Software Provider ShareDo appeared first on Above the Law. The motto of law practice management company Clio is to \u201ctransform the legal experience for all.\u201d But for many of its 17 years in business, that \u201call\u201d has focused primarily on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":110420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Clio-Logo-1owJ25.png?fit=320%2C240&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}