Clio has bought vLex in a $1 billion cash and share deal. Artificial Lawyer speaks to Clio’s CEO Jack Newton about the move. (More of the AL interview tomorrow.)
Newton notes that he started Clio back in 2008 when there was ‘zero interest’ from investors in legal tech. Scroll forward to July 2024 and Clio, which had centred itself on ‘business of law needs’ such as practice management, bagged a $900m investment. They had come a long way. But, as this new deal shows, this is just the start of a whole new chapter of growth for Clio.
In short, Clio went from working with solos, to mid-size firms, to now putting itself in a position where it could – with the deal with vLex and its legal data and genAI legal productivity capabilities – start to become a member of a new formation – a Big Three.
Newton notes that he is more than happy to have Clio ‘mentioned in the same breath’ as Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis.
So, how did we get here? AL puts it to Newton that this was triggered by all the recent moves by Lexis and Harvey and others making plays for marketshare. But, he says that he and Ed Walters – head of strategy at vLex – had been talking about a potential combination for years.
In fact, it was the wider view that AI, and agents, were going to move centre stage that has driven this deal along. And that position has evolved at Clio over some time, not just since Harvey and Lexis did an alliance.
‘We are so excited to bring together the business of law (Clio) and the practice of law (vLex), just as things are evolving with AI,’ he says and then adds that this ‘convergence’, which AI is central to, is where they want to be.
The vLex deal – with their AI expertise, their legal data, and their legal productivity tools – and impressive team – has just made it all possible.
‘This positions us for the next decade and beyond,’ Newton adds.
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Right, it’s about 35C here in the office, and as it’s the UK and we have no air conditioning in London, I am heading out to jump in the Thames for a bit to cool down.
More of the interview tomorrow…!
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