“Disturbing” findings from a global legal technology provider have revealed the financial impact Australian law firms face for data extraction.
Global legal technology provider Clio has released The State of Legal Tech 2025 Data Insights, conducted by YouGov and which surveyed 1,005 practising lawyers across Australia in July of this year, which shows that a significant number of law firms Down Under are being charged excessive fees, facing long delays, and struggling to access their own documents when attempting to switch providers or negotiate better contracts.
In short, the provider said, Australian law firms are facing a “data lock-in crisis”.
According to the report, 71 per cent of lawyers surveyed say their firm has experienced legal tech providers withholding or delaying access to their own data when terminating or renegotiating contracts. Some firms were forced to pay for data extraction, Clio said, paying an average fee of $24,861 and 80 per cent were charged $10,000 or more to retrieve their own client files and case documents.
Other findings included:
The potential financial impact upon law firms Down Under, Clio said, is substantial.
“With approximately 23,700 legal services businesses operating in Australia as of early 2025, if just 10 per cent of firms face average data extraction fees of $24,861 annually, the industry could be incurring nearly $59 million each year. When factoring in productivity losses caused by prolonged delays, the total cost to the sector likely reaches well into the hundreds of millions annually,” it said.
According to Scalable Law founder and director Caralee Fontenele, when her firm attempted to move to a more modern platform, “we were hit with unexpected fees and told it would take weeks to get our own files back”.
“It was a wake-up call when we realised we didn’t truly control our own data, and it felt like our documents were being held ransom for a cash exchange,” she said.
Clio founder and chief executive Jack Newton (pictured) said the findings highlight a “serious concern” for the Australian legal profession.
“Many firms are encountering significant costs and operational hurdles when trying to access data that rightfully belongs to them. This raises important questions about fairness, transparency, and the need for stronger data portability standards in legal technology,” he said.
“When law firms are forced to pay significant fees and endure weeks of delays just to access their own client files, it undermines their independence and their ability to serve clients effectively.”
He added: “Lawyers deserve absolute clarity and confidence that their data is theirs to access, and move whenever they need it. True data portability is essential to protecting the trust at the heart of the legal profession.”
“Every hour a solicitor spends chasing down their own case files is an hour taken away from clients. The financial burden is only part of the story.”
“The greater cost is the lost time, the disruption to client service, and the pressure it places on firms that are striving to do their best work. Technology should remove these barriers, not create them.”
Clio’s general manager in APAC, Denise Farmer, added that law firms should never be held hostage by their technology providers.
“Data portability isn’t just a nice-to-have feature; it’s a fundamental right. Our clients’ success depends on having complete control over their practice data,” she said.
The global legal technology sector must adopt clear, ethical data standards, Clio suggests, including mandatory data portability, capped and transparent extraction fees, standardised export formats, and explicit data ownership rights.
“The legal profession deserves the same data portability protections that are being implemented globally,” Farmer said.
“We’re seeing progressive legislation in Europe that will eliminate switching fees and mandate 30-day data transfers by 2027. Australian law firms shouldn’t have to wait for regulatory intervention to access these fundamental rights.”
Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of Lawyers Weekly and HR Leader. He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in New South Wales, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
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