Clio Acquires Jurisage, Paving the Way for Canadian Launch of Clio Work and Other Canadian AI Tools

Clio has acquired Jurisage, the Canadian legal AI and data company, in a deal it is describing as “a foundational investment in the future of legal AI in Canada.

The deal brings together one of Canada’s most comprehensive AI-ready legal datasets with Clio’s “Intelligent Legal Work Platform,” the name the company uses to describe its array of AI-powered products for legal professionals.

“Canadian lawyers are some of the most forward-thinking in the world when it comes to AI,” said Jack Newton, CEO and founder of Clio. “They deserve a platform that matches that ambition. Jurisage brings the legal data, expertise, and longtime service to this market.”

Practically speaking, the acquisition also clears the way for the company to launch Clio Work in Canada.

“Bringing Clio Work to Canada required a foundation of trusted Canadian legal data,” Clio says. “With Jurisage, Clio Work is now expected to launch in Canada later this year.”

Clio says that Clio Work, its AI platform for matter understanding, strategy, and drafting, is its fastest-growing product globally. But the missing piece for the launch of the product in Canada was the foundation of trusted Canadian legal data that Jurisage now supplies.

Jurisage’s database covers more than 470,000 Canadian cases across 40-plus courts and is updated daily.

Jurisage as it now exists was formed in 2023 through the merger of two litigation-focused Canadian legal technology companies, CiteRight and Jurisage.

The merger combined CiteRight’s litigation drafting program with Jurisage’s AI technology to create an integrated legal research and drafting solution.

CiteRight was founded in 2016 by Ariel Nacson and Aaron Wenner. Wenner will now be manager, Canadian Content Strategy, at Clio.

Jurisage was founded by Colin Lachance, who left the company after the merger and is now founder and CEO of LawQi.

Coincidentally, both Jurisage and CiteRight had been finalists in the 2023 Startup Alley at ABA Techshow earlier that year, which I oversee (and which Clio sponsors).

While Startup Alley was not the direct catalyst for the CiteRight-Jurisage merger, Lachance later told me, “it’s probably fair to say that we each came away from that event with a better sense of what it would take to succeed and the experience and customer feedback since that time helped us recognize the potential of pursuing the opportunity as a single company.”

Clio says the acquisition is the first move in a longer-term commitment to Canadian legal AI and that Clio Work is now on track to launch in Canada later this year. It said it will share additional announcements later this year.

The deal also comes on the heels of another significant Clio announcement this week: the promotion of Ronnie Gurion to president and COO, which I covered Monday.

Clio has long positioned itself as a Canadian company with global reach — it serves more than 400,000 legal professionals in 130-plus countries.

The Jurisage acquisition demonstrates its intent to be a legal AI leader on its home turf.

“Combined with the scale and depth of Clio’s Intelligent Legal Work Platform, we’re building the foundation for what’s next in legal AI in Canada,” Newton said. “As a Canadian company, we’re proud to be making that investment right here at home.”

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.