Can our Clio history be licensed to AI companies, and how do we get it out?

Updated October 25, 2026 · How we research

What lives in Clio, and why might buyers value it?

Clio Manage is practice management software for law firms. It holds matters, contacts, calendar entries, tasks, matter and contact notes, communications, time and expense entries, bills and trust balances. Many firms also store documents in it.

Buyers building legal tools may value how legal work is organized and recorded: how time entries describe tasks, how matters move through stages, and how firms track deadlines. Almost all of this is tied to specific clients, which is the central problem.

Why is client confidentiality the main limit?

As the ABA (American Bar Association) summarizes it in Formal Opinion 512, its Model Rule 1.6 requires a lawyer to keep confidential all information relating to a client's representation, whatever its source, not just privileged communications. In that opinion (July 2024), the ABA said lawyers need a client's informed consent before entering that information into self-learning AI tools, and that generic consent language in an engagement letter is not enough.

Licensing matter records to an AI company raises the same concern, arguably more directly. Removing names may not solve it, since facts in a time entry or note can still point to a client. Each state sets its own version of these rules, so ask your state bar's ethics counsel or your own ethics lawyer before going further.

How does a Clio Manage export work?

As of October 2026, Clio's help center describes a bulk export from the Exports page. Each data type, including calendar entries, communications, contact notes, contacts, matter notes, matters, tasks, time entries and expense entries, can be downloaded as an Excel-ready CSV (comma-separated values) file. Outstanding balances come from a separate accounts receivable report.

Clio says only users with administrator permissions can bulk-export. The article does not say whether documents are included, so ask Clio support if documents matter to your scope.

What might be licensable?

Records about the firm itself, rather than its clients, are the likeliest candidates: internal policies, training materials, and templates the firm wrote, after checking they contain no client facts. Some firms also consider aggregate statistics, such as typical time by matter type, with no narratives attached. Whether even these are permitted depends on your rules and engagement terms.

If a buyer asks for live access instead of files, remember that for a law firm, giving a buyer live access to matter data is itself a disclosure, so treat any connection with the same caution as an export.

What should stay out?

• Client names, matter names and matter descriptions.
• Communications, notes and documents about any client matter.
• Time entry narratives, which often describe the substance of the work.
• Opposing parties, witnesses and other third parties.
• Trust account records and client financial details.
• Medical records and health details in injury, disability or family matters.

Where should a law firm start?

Talk to ethics counsel before exporting anything for a buyer. Then list firm-owned materials that contain no client information, and treat client-linked Clio data as excluded unless counsel says otherwise. Our law firms page and our guide on what can be excluded have more.

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice.