For years, Clio has used its annual conference to signal where the legal industry is headed and this year was no different. Here are four key takeaways for solos and smalls from this year’s ClioCon 2025 keynote by founder Jack Newton.
1. Empowering Solos and Smalls in the Business and Practice of Law
For years, solo and small-firm lawyers have been treated as spectators in the legal tech revolution — watching as Biglaw invested in costly, siloed AI tools. That dynamic changes with Clio Work. This new integrated AI workspace doesn’t just level the playing field — it gives solos and smalls access to capabilities that many large firms still don’t have.
As Newton explained, powered by Vincent, the legal AI engine acquired through Clio’s billion-dollar purchase of vLex, Clio Work unites every aspect of legal practice — management, research, drafting, and workflow automation — within a single, context-aware platform. It draws on a verified legal database of over a billion documents, including caselaw, statutes, and secondary materials, grounding every result in real authority rather than guesswork.
Unlike many legacy systems built for Biglaw, which separate the “business” and “practice” sides of law, Clio Work fuses them. Convergence is the term Newton used. Clio Work automates client intake, billing, and document generation while simultaneously powering high-level legal reasoning. And it delivers all of this at a price that’s actually accessible: $199 per user per month. For the first time, solos and smalls can afford technology that’s not a compromise, but a competitive advantage.
2. Context is the New Currency
The convergence of the business and practice of law is also consistent with a recent Gartner Report finding that companies using AI should prioritize context engineering (AI that understands a firm’s full picture of operations) over prompt engineering. Clio’s new architecture merges a firm’s vast trove of practice matter data with the legal corpus of vLex (rebranded as Clio Library) enabling AI to “think in context” — linking research to billing, deadlines to drafting, and client communications to workflow. For solos and small firms, this means a future where their software not only manages their practice but actively understands it, surfacing insights, anticipating needs, and providing assistance specific to a firm’s way of doing business.
3. Even While Expanding to Biglaw, Clio Continues to Dance With the Ones Who Brung Them: Solos & Smalls
Although Newton announced Clio’s expansion into the enterprise market with Clio Operate (formerly the U.K.-based platform ShareDo), he made a point of reaffirming that solos and small firms remain the “backbone” of Clio’s success. Clio’s story began 17 years ago with a focus on solos — lawyers too often ignored by legacy tech vendors — and Newton assured that focus will continue.
While the enterprise division will serve firms with hundreds of lawyers, Newton emphasized that this is an additive expansion, not a shift in mission. Solos and smalls can expect continued product improvements — and presumably will benefit from cross subsidization by diversified revenues generated by the enterprise version.
4. AI is the Key to Unlocking a $3 Trillion Latent Legal Market — and Solos and Smalls are Best Positioned to Capture It
Newton cited data showing that 77% of legal problems go unresolved by lawyers, a gap that has long defined the access-to-justice crisis. Today, he argued, AI gives lawyers the tools to change that equation by dramatically reducing the time and cost of delivering legal services.
Currently, the 23% of legal needs that are served represent a $1 trillion global market. As AI improves productivity and affordability, Newton projects that number could quadruple. For solos and smalls, this isn’t just a moral call to expand access; it’s a business opportunity of unprecedented scale. AI can enable a single lawyer to serve more clients, more efficiently, without compromising quality or personal touch. The firms that embrace it early will be the ones that grow with this expanding market rather than being displaced by it.
The bottom line:
Clio’s keynote made clear that AI in law is no longer theoretical or exclusive. It’s being embedded directly into the daily tools solo and small firms already use, at a price they can justify, in a way that enhances rather than replaces their judgment. For solos and smalls who have always been the most agile part of the profession, the message was unmistakable: the future of law isn’t coming. It’s already here — and for once, it’s built with you in mind.
Carolyn Elefant is one of the country’s most recognized advocates for solo and small firm lawyers. She founded MyShingle.com in 2002, the longest-running blog for solo practitioners, where she has published thousands of articles, resources, and guides on starting, running, and growing independent law practices. She is the author of Solo by Choice, widely regarded as the definitive handbook for launching and sustaining a law practice, and has spoken at countless bar events and legal conferences on technology, innovation, and regulatory reform that impacts solos and smalls. Elefant also develops practical tools like the AI Teach-In to help small firms adopt AI and she consistently champions reforms to level the playing field for independent lawyers. Alongside this work, she runs the Law Offices of Carolyn Elefant, a national energy and regulatory practice that handles selective complex, high-stakes matters.
The post 4 Takeaways From ClioCon 2025 For Solos And Small Firms appeared first on Above the Law.
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