ShareFile has been the default choice for Australian law firms for nearly a decade. In 2026, more firms are moving away from it — not because it's bad, but because the expectations around legal document sharing have changed faster than the platform.

What ShareFile does well

ShareFile is solid software. It has strong encryption, good audit logs, integration with document management systems, and a long track record in the legal industry. For a firm that just needs to share files with clients, it's a reasonable choice and has been for years.

What's changed

Three things have shifted the expectations:

1. Client sophistication. Corporate clients increasingly expect their external legal advisors to offer data rooms with per-document audit trails, not just encrypted file transfer. The distinction between "moving files securely" and "managing access to sensitive content" has become visible.

2. NDA gating. In complex matters, firms want to require NDA acceptance before a document is visible. ShareFile doesn't natively do this. Modern VDRs do it as a core feature.

3. AI search. Large matters can involve thousands of documents. Being able to search the full text of every uploaded file — including OCR'd scanned PDFs — is now a baseline expectation. File-transfer platforms don't provide this.

What firms are switching to

The migration is happening in two directions. Bigger firms are moving to dedicated legal DMS platforms like NetDocuments or iManage with integrated data room features. Smaller and mid-sized firms are moving to purpose-built VDRs that are cheaper and faster to deploy.

The migration pain

The hardest part of the transition isn't the technology — it's habits. Partners and senior associates have a decade of muscle memory around "upload to ShareFile, send the link." Changing that requires sustained training and gentle enforcement. Most firms see a 3-6 month transition period before the new system is the default.

The benefit, firms report, is that once the transition is complete, billable time spent on document management drops by 10-20% because everything is findable, audit-ready, and doesn't need to be emailed around.

What to look for if you're switching

For Australian legal practices specifically: Australian data residency, email-verified guest access, dynamic watermarking, NDA gating, full-text search with OCR, and a pricing model that doesn't punish you for adding clients. The ability to export a complete audit trail for a matter is also valuable — some litigation requires it.