Clio is bringing legal fee financing deeper into the Canadian law firm workflow.
The Vancouver-headquartered legaltech company announced today that Pay Later with Affirm is now available to law firms in Canada through Clio Payments, giving approved clients the ability to pay legal fees over time while firms receive payment upfront.
The new option is designed to address one of the most persistent tensions in legal services: clients often need legal support before they have immediate access to the full amount required, while firms need predictable cash flow before taking on work.
That mismatch can be especially challenging for solo, small, and mid-sized firms, where retainers and upfront payment requirements can create friction for clients and limit a firm’s ability to take on matters.
With Pay Later, Canadian clients can apply to pay legal invoices in installments through Affirm. If approved, the client pays over time, while the firm receives the invoice amount upfront. Affirm manages billing and collection, and Clio says the feature is built directly into Clio Payments and Clio Manage so transactions can be reconciled within the firm’s existing workflow.
Clio says the embedded approach is intended to keep payment activity centralized while helping firms stay aligned with trust accounting requirements.
AJ Axelrod, Vice President of Payments and Financial Services at Clio, said Canadian firms have identified payment-related friction as one of the most stressful parts of practice management. By building Pay Later directly into Clio, Axelrod said the company is aiming to make legal services more accessible for clients while helping firms operate with greater financial confidence.
The partnership also gives Affirm another embedded payments channel in a professional services market where large, time-sensitive expenses are common. Wayne Pommen, Chief Revenue Officer at Affirm, said the partnership reflects demand for payment options that better match how modern businesses operate.
For Clio, the launch expands the financial services layer of its legal practice management platform at a time when the company is increasingly positioning itself as more than a system of record for law firms.
Founded in 2008 by Jack Newton and Rian Gauvreau, Clio has grown into one of Canada’s most prominent legal technology companies. The company says its platform is used by more than 400,000 legal professionals in more than 130 countries, with more than 2,000 employees across offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, London, Manchester, Dublin, Sydney, Barcelona, and Bogotá.
The Pay Later launch also follows Clio’s broader push to integrate payments, billing, case management, client intake, document automation, and AI-powered legal work into a single platform for law firms.
By adding Affirm-powered installment payments in Canada, Clio is betting that access to justice and law firm economics are increasingly connected. For clients, flexible payment options can reduce the upfront burden of hiring a lawyer. For firms, getting paid upfront can reduce collection risk and make it easier to serve clients who might otherwise delay or avoid legal help because of cost.