🔎 Spotlight #6: Inside Clio — The Legal Tech Platform Powering Modern Law Firms
Objection? Overruled. Clio is quietly changing the way law gets done in Canada and beyond.
The founding case: Building for lawyers from the ground up
Clio was founded in 2008 by Jack Newton and Rian Gauvreau in Burnaby, BC. The idea? Lawyers were drowning in paper, disorganized systems, and clunky on-premise tools. So Jack and Rian built something that actually worked for legal professionals, not against them.
At the time, legal tech was a bit of a punchline. Now? Clio has over 150,000 customers, powers firms in 100+ countries, and has become the backbone of modern legal practice management. It’s used for everything from client intake and case tracking to billing and document management.
They didn’t just digitize the filing cabinet. They redefined how legal work gets done.
What’s new in Clio’s docket
Clio has been on a tear. Over the last few years, they’ve:
Launched Clio Grow, their CRM and marketing suite for law firms
Acquired Lawyaw for document automation
Hit over 1,000 employees globally
Rolled out new features like advanced billing, trust accounting, and customizable dashboards
Continued to lead the way with the Clio Cloud Conference, now one of the biggest events in LegalTech
And through all of this, they’ve stayed proudly Canadian. Based in Burnaby but building for the world.
Funding and team at a glance
💰 Record-breaking Series F last year at $900M USD ($3B valution 🤯)
🦄 Became one of Canada’s first legal tech unicorns in 2021
🚀 Backed by TCV, JMI Equity, Bessemer Venture Partners
👥 Over 1,000 employees across Canada, the US, and beyond
🌎 HQ in Burnaby, BC with offices in Toronto, Calgary, and Dublin
🖥️ Website: clio.com
My experience with Clio
While I haven’t worked at Clio myself, I have a few friends in law who are always looking to save time and streamline their practice. If they’re not already using Clio, they should be.
LegalTech is on the rise, and Clio is leading the charge. It’s also a reminder that there are still a lot of slow, paper-heavy industries out there that are ripe for disruption. As AI matures, more of these industries are going to get their own Clio moment.
Legal tech’s rising tide
The global LegalTech market is heating up. Competitors like PracticePanther, MyCase, Smokeball, and CosmoLex each bring something to the table, whether it’s better billing tools or more focused practice areas.
Clio isn’t the only company helping Canada make waves in legal tech. Startups like Spellbook are tackling contract automation and AI-powered drafting. It's exciting to see more Canadian companies building modern tools for the legal world.
Clio’s advantage is its breadth. It’s not trying to cobble things together. It’s building a full platform, the quote on quote the “legal operating system” that helps firms run every part of their business. That kind of end-to-end thinking is rare, and it’s one of the reasons they’ve stayed ahead of the pack.
Why this company and these roles stand out
Clio knows who they’re building for, and they’ve stayed focused on solving real customer problems. That clarity shows in everything they do, from their product roadmap to their company culture.
If you’re interested in joining a mission-driven company with scale, impact, and a front-row seat to modernizing a legacy industry, Clio is a standout choice. They’ve built something meaningful, and they’re still growing fast.
🧭 Clio Roles — Now Hiring
Clio is on a big hiring run right now, these are some jobs that I think are worth checking out, but tune into our next LaunchPad post on Tuesday to see more featured jobs from Clio and other great tech companies in Toronto 🚀
That’s a wrap on Spotlight #6
If you made it this far, thank you for reading. I hope these spotlights help you discover companies worth your time — and make the job hunt feel just a little bit less overwhelming. Keep an eye out for next Tuesday’s LaunchPad job drop, and if you know someone looking to break into tech or level up, feel free to share this with them too.
Here’s to building something cool, or better yet, joining something cool. 🚀
