Clio, a legal technology company, is expanding into Australia, where it will provide both of its flagship products, Clio Manage and Clio Grow, as well as create an office and a data center to service customers there and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Jack Newton, Clio co-founder and CEO, when they consider their goal of transforming the legal experience for everyone, they realize that this is a broad and international mission in which they want to introduce their technology not only to North America but also to EMEA, APAC, and other regions.
Clio has appointed Denise Farmer as general manager of the Asia-Pacific region as part of its development. Farmer has spent nearly 16 years at LexisNexis Pacific, where she most recently served as executive director of the Small Enterprise Group, and 18 years working in the field of legal technology. She most recently served as general manager of practitioner services at Sympli, a provider of e-settlement services.
Australia is a logical market for Clio to enter, according to Newton, for a number of reasons, including the fact that it is a Commonwealth nation like Clio’s native Canada and that it is a tech-forward market.
“We see really great partners in the broader Australian legal community as we think about creating the next generation of Clio products and innovating on the next generation of Clio products — having a really passionate and a very technology forward set of legal professionals in Australia to partner with,” said Newton
Clio’s platform, which includes both Clio Manage and Clio Grow, will be largely identical to that offered in the United States. Having said that, some elements of the platform will be modified to comply with Australian practice standards and local law organizations, such as trust accounting and reporting.
Additionally, Clio is establishing a regional data center to keep customer data in Australia. Australian users will benefit from faster performance as a result of this.
Clio prices in Australia will be comparable to those in North America. However, Clio Payments won’t be accessible at debut, but Newton stated that he anticipates that feature to be accessible shortly after launch.
Newton said that Clio already has clients in Australia, and he anticipates that some of the company’s future growth will come naturally and through word-of-mouth and referrals.
However, to further accelerate growth there, Clio is investing in local people for sales, support, and customer success who understand the dynamics of the local legal industry and the needs of local lawyers.
Clio has also employed local software developers and engineers in Australia to assist in further developing and customizing the product to satisfy the demands of the local legal market.
Clio will use its new location in Australia as its hub as it looks to grow more broadly around APAC.
As a basis for its expansion throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Clio will employ a similar strategy with its Dublin office, which it founded in 2013.
