Sydney Commercial Firm Cuts M&A DD Review by 60%
A 22-lawyer Sydney CBD commercial firm uses Quillio to triage data-room documents on mid-market M&A transactions. Across 14 completed deals, the team cut first-pass due diligence review from an average of 180 lawyer-hours per deal to 72 hours, while producing a consistent red-flag report format for every transaction.
What they were trying to solve
The firm's corporate team was running 2-3 mid-market transactions ($10M-$80M) concurrently, each with data rooms of 400-1,200 documents. Junior and mid-level lawyers were spending nights and weekends on first-pass review, and the partners were seeing variable quality in the red-flag memos. Recruiting more juniors was not the answer — the firm wanted to use its existing bench more effectively.
Why Quillio
Quillio was configured with the firm's standard due diligence checklist (change of control, assignment, MAC clauses, termination for convenience, IP ownership, employment entitlements, GST treatment, ATO exposures). The team runs the data room through Quillio on intake, gets a triaged red-flag report mapped to the firm's checklist, and then the mid-level lawyer validates and escalates.
Implementation
The firm ran one transaction as a parallel pilot — the old way and the Quillio way — so the corporate partners could compare the output directly. After that transaction closed, Quillio became the standard first-pass tool for the team.
Measurable outcomes
Across 14 completed mid-market transactions since deployment
Every deal now uses the same report structure — partners no longer re-shape the format
Measured by the firm's time-entry system for corporate juniors
Red-flag memo lands on the partner's desk same day the data room opens
Same team now runs 4-5 concurrent transactions without additional hiring
"Our juniors were burning out on data-room review and the quality of the memos was all over the place. Quillio gave us a consistent first pass — the juniors now spend their time on the issues that actually need a lawyer, not on flagging every change of control clause in a supplier agreement."
How it works in practice
M&A data-room triage, red-flag memo production, SPA schedule verification, and disclosure letter cross-checking.
What they avoided
Hiring two additional corporate juniors or pushing back on deal intake — both options the partners had canvassed before trialling Quillio.
Case study FAQs
How does Quillio handle bespoke SPA drafting?
Quillio is used for first-pass review and red-flagging, not for drafting the SPA itself. The partners still draft and negotiate the principal documents — Quillio handles the volume work underneath.
What about sensitive data in the data room?
Data rooms processed through Quillio stay on Australian-hosted infrastructure. Nothing is used to train external models and access is logged against the firm's matter file.
Can Quillio produce the disclosure letter?
Yes. Once the DD flags are confirmed, Quillio drafts the disclosure schedule entries keyed to the SPA warranties, which the senior lawyer then reviews and finalises.
Does Quillio cover ATO and GST red flags?
Quillio will flag obvious GST treatment issues and ATO correspondence in the data room, but substantive tax advice still comes from the firm's tax partner.
How quickly did the team get comfortable with the output?
The corporate partners ran one transaction as a side-by-side comparison before adopting Quillio across the practice. After that deal, confidence in the first-pass output was high.
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