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Industry Round-Up | August 2023

Industry News

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ILTA. Arbor Ridge Partners will be in Orlando the week of August August 21st for ILTACON. If you are interested in learning more about the current state of Legal Technology & Legal Services M&A, please email [email protected] or use the following form to schedule a confidential and free consultation with Arbor Ridge Partners before, during, or after the conference.

Recent Legal Technology & Legal Services M&A Activity


March 13, 2023. TransPerfect Enhances Acquires JetExport E-Discovery
TransPerfect Legal Solutions a provider of e-discovery and litigation support solutions for law firms and corporate legal departments, today announced its acquisition of the JetSuite legal technology tools, including the JetExport technology. JetExport is part of JetSuite, an array of tools designed to simplify document processing, production, and search….Read More

March 20, 2023. Reveal Acquires Ligl
Reveal, an AI-powered eDiscovery platform, announced today the acquisition of LIGL, a provider of a cloud-based digital evidence and lifecycle management platform. The purchase of LIGL allows Reveal to integrate the SaaS-based legal hold, evidence collection management and eDiscovery workflow automation technology directly onto its Reveal 11 platform….Read More

March 21, 2023. JLL Launches Repario
Backed by JLL Partners, and in conjunction with Arbor Ridge Partners, Repario, a new eDiscovery and digital forensics company, has integrated four eDiscovery service providers, Teris, Modus, Elijah, and Meta-e, to scale their dedicated levels of client service. These companies each bring a unique skillset that is highly accretive to the others and together will deliver all services across the litigation and investigation lifecycles. The strategic partnership between JLL Partners and the Repario leadership team, focuses on driving the company to the forefront of client service. …Read More

March 15, 2023. iCONECT Solidifies Relationship with Strategic Funding Partner NewField Capital
iCONECT, a leader in the development of innovative legal technology and eDiscovery software and makers of the award winning iCONECT platform, today announced an investment by NewField Capital Partners that will fund continual growth and innovation for the company. NewField Capital Partners originally invested in iCONECT in 2019 and have now converted to an equity position to lead strategic initiatives within industry verticals beyond the legal vertical.….Read More

April 4, 2023. vLex and Fastcase merge.
vLex and Fastcase, two legal technology companies, announced today that they are merging to form a large law firm subscriber base with more than one billion legal documents from more than 100 countries. As part of the merger, Oakley Capital and Bain Capital Credit are investing in the combined business to expand its global reach and accelerate the company’s legal artificial intelligence (AI) lab, which develops AI tools that streamline research, tracking, writing, and filing documents for the legal industry.….Read More

May 23, 2023. Nuix Acquires Rampiva
Software company Nuix has entered into an agreement to acquire Rampiva (Rampiva Global, LLC and Rampiva Technology, Inc.), a workflow automation and job scheduling software provider. Rampiva is a long-term technology partner of Nuix, founded in 2016 to meet the needs of Nuix customers who wanted to achieve greater productivity by automating their data processing tasks….Read More

June 6, 2023. TransPerfect Legal Solutions Acquires eDepoze
TransPerfect Legal Solutions (TLS), a provider of e-discovery and litigation support solutions for law firms and corporate legal departments, today announced its acquisition of the electronic exhibit-sharing platform eDepoze. The acquisition of eDepoze supplements TransPerfect Legal Solutions’ deposition services offerings and provides clients with an electronic exhibit-sharing platform that simplifies workflows for examination before trial (EBT) requirements, including remote and in-person depositions. eDepoze is integrated with Zoom and provides users with a centralized location to store their exhibits and present them during depositions and hearings in litigation, arbitration, and other legal proceedings….Read More

June 26, 2023. Thomson Reuters Acquires Casetext
Thomson Reuters Corporation (“Thomson Reuters”) (NYSE / TSX: TRI), a content and technology company, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Casetext, a California-based provider of technology for legal professionals, for $650 million cash. The proposed transaction will complement Thomson Reuters existing AI roadmap and builds on its recent initiatives, including a commitment to invest more than $100 million annually on AI capabilities, the development of new generative AI experiences across its product suite, as well as a new plugin with Microsoft and Microsoft 365 Copilot for legal professionals. Founded in 2013, Casetext uses advanced AI and machine learning to build technology for legal professionals, creating solutions that help them work more efficiently and provide higher-quality representation to more clients.….ReadMore


About Arbor Ridge Partners

Arbor Ridge Partners is a business broker that focuses on mergers and acquisitions for Legal Technology and Legal Services companies, including litigation support, computer forensics, eDiscovery, legal services, and legal software companies. With over 100 years of combined industry experience, legal backgrounds, first-hand industry M&A experience, and deep relationships, Arbor Ridge Partners maximizes value in the purchase and sale of Legal Technology and Legal Services Businesses. For additional information, please visit www.ArborRidgePartners.com.

Rick Weber Interview With eDiscovery Today – Transcript

[00:00:06.680] – Doug Austin
Hi, I’m Doug Austin. I’m the editor of Ediscovery Today, a daily blog about Ediscovery information governance, cybersecurity and data privacy trends, best practices, and case law. Welcome to another edition of Ediscovery Today’s Thought Leader Interview Series, where we interview thought leaders in Ediscovery and related legal technologies. Today we’re conducting another Thought Leader interview by video. And our guest is Rick Weber, managing partner of Arbor Ridge Partners. Welcome, Rick.

[00:00:34.040] – Rick Weber
Thanks. Glad. Happy to be here.

[00:00:36.440] – Doug Austin
Rick has been in the industry for quite a while, started as an attorney at an MLA 50 law firm and then became a federal prosecutor for the SEC. In 2000, Rick left the practice of law and co founded Advocate Solutions, becoming one of the pioneers in the Ediscovery industry with the creation of Discovery Cracker, which I not only remember, but used for several years. Since then, Rick has personally sold three other litigation technology companies, having led negotiations and due diligence for all of them. Having started and sold several litigation technology companies, rick has deep industry contacts and an inside working knowledge of legal technology mergers and acquisitions. Rick’s background as an attorney and prosecutor for the SEC allows for a skillful understanding for how to best structure mergers and acquisitions. Rick is also an arbitrator for FINRA and is frequently invited to speak as an expert in the field of electronic discovery and litigation data management at conferences and coe seminars sponsored by corporations, law firms, the American Bar Association and state bar associations. Rick’s overall experience has generated relationships and connections outside of the legal technology industry, thereby creating expanded opportunities for clients. Ready to get started, Rick?

[00:01:54.230] – Rick Weber
I am happy to be here.

[00:01:56.160] – Doug Austin
All right, great. So, Rick, as I mentioned before, you were managing partner of Arbor Ridge Partners. You were a lawyer at an Amla 50 firm, co founded the company that created Discovery Cracker and then had several more exits in the legal industry after that. So how do those roles prepare you for MNA advisory in legal tech and legal services?

[00:02:19.720] – Rick Weber
I think different experiences. So, on the legal side, the front end of the career was able to sort of see where deals went well and where deals didn’t go well. Not all lawyers are created equally, and some lawyers are really good at getting deals done where other lawyers sometimes get bogged down in minutiae, thinking that their role is to eliminate risk. And if you eliminate all risk and both parties are sort of trying to do that, then deals get stuck. So being able to see as an attorney where deals get stuck and to be able to sort of spot check along the way has enabled us to sort of have much smoother transactions. The experience in the industry really is where I’ve spent the bulk of my career the last 25 years, and it’s all been in legal tech and legal services. Having run these businesses myself and having had my own successes and failures we have a very intimate understanding of ediscovery companies, litigation technology companies, legal services companies. And that enables us really to work very well and very closely with our clients, really to try to help shape not only the best story, but also the best opportunity for a successful exit.

[00:03:32.340] – Rick Weber
One of the things that we do is exit planning consultation where we’ll work with companies six months, a year, two years, even three years out before they want to actually even sell their company. And we can start helping them make decisions in real time, but through the lens of M and A. So what decisions you make in business may have a different impact and you’re dealing with an M and A at the end of it versus running your business or building your business along the way. So recognizing the choices and decisions that companies can make on the front end, to have a better exit in six months or a year or two years is really something that we’re able to do with our clients. And I guess lastly, every company has a story and every deal has a story. And to be able to tell that story most effectively really helps us help our clients get the best exit possible. So it’s really that industry expertise and experience and then obviously the deep relationships after 20 years, I mean, it’s maybe one or two degrees of separation from most of the industry players and we’re able to mix and match our clients to sellers with really the best buyers.

[00:04:40.520] – Doug Austin
There you go. You’re a Kevin Bacon of the industry.

[00:04:45.720] – Rick Weber
Thanks.

[00:04:47.400] – Doug Austin
So I’m going to ask a couple of kind of investment type questions that might be helpful for our audience. First one is what’s the difference between venture capital and private equity? And what is MNA Advisory and where does that fit?

[00:05:02.460] – Rick Weber
So it’s a good question. Investors and VC and PE, a lot of people sort of just sort of use those terms interchangeably and they’re really quite different terms. So investment and venture capital tend to be sort of the beginning of life for a company when they’re really like just getting off the ground and looking to bring on investors and maybe they’ll sell five or ten or 15 or 20% of their company, but they’re really looking for money to come into the company and use that money as growth capital to really start hiring new programmers, new salespeople, what have you. So when people talk about VC or investors, really what we’re talking about is helping companies get off the ground and really start to expand their businesses. Private equity is really at the end of the business’s life when it’s, hey, we built this thing, we’re looking for an exit, we’re looking for our payday. Then you’re really looking at that point at private equity groups or in our industry, you’ve got a lot of larger companies, whether they have private equity money behind them or not. But really that exit or that private exit. Private equity stage really is when an owner of a company is really looking to get out of the business or sell 70, 80, 90%.

[00:06:14.420] – Rick Weber
Oftentimes they’ll maybe stick around and have ten or 20% of equity rolled over. So they’ve got still some skin in the game. And that’s good for both the buyers and the sellers. The sellers, it gives them another bite at an Apple maybe 2345 years down the road. And from a buyer’s perspective, a private equity investor, they like having founders with sticking around and having some skin in the game because the business was built on their backs. And most private equity groups recognize that the business will probably prosper better if the key people stick around. So VC is beginning of life. Private equity is sort of the end of life. I tell people that venture capitalists usually invest in dreams and private equity usually invests and buys in realities. So profitability is something that private equity groups will look at. Projections and forecasts are something that venture capitalists will look at. MNA Advisory falls into this, I think it was part of the question. MNA Advisory really is helping businesses who are looking for an exit, either 100% of the company or like I said, 70, 80, 90%, really helping those companies find the right buyers.

[00:07:23.680] – Rick Weber
Again, whether it’s a private equity buyer or whether it’s a larger company in the space who’s looking to buy the company.

[00:07:32.380] – Doug Austin
Okay, well, so you talked about finding the right buyers. So why do companies need an MNA advisor? Couldn’t they just find the right buyer themselves?

[00:07:43.840] – Rick Weber
Yeah, look, in theory, you can in theory, I can cut my own hair and do a few other things. But it’s like anything else. It’s an expertise, it’s a profession. It’s not like selling a house where you just stick a sign outside your door and hope a stranger rings the doorbell and says, we want to buy you. Unlike a house, when we’re helping our clients find a buyer, we have deep relationships with the buyers, so we’re able to bring buyers and sellers together. And finding a buyer really is just part of the process. Getting from an offer, which is typically memorialized in a letter of intent or an loi from that stage all the way through actually closing a deal, that’s a pretty tricky process with a lot of minefields. I mean, it’s a bit like a pregnancy. 100 things have to go perfectly right, and only one thing to go wrong to kill the deal. So working with our clients to maximize the value of their business, as well as navigating all the minefields along the way, are really probably the most important things that we do for our clients. So again, in theory, absolutely someone could find a buyer.

[00:08:56.700] – Rick Weber
But typically when that happens, it’s almost like that someone rings the doorbell and says, hey, we’re interested in your company. And then they get into a discussion, they oftentimes try to sell it. I guess I would say this too, it’s very time consuming. We had a deal not last about four months ago. We had over 100 buyers take a look at this company. And because of our deep understanding of the business and our clients business, we’re able to have one or two phone calls with any prospective buyer before our client even has to get on a phone. We were literally talking about a couple of hundred hours of conversations without having to have the founder or the CEO on a single phone call. And when you’re trying to run a business, those hours are pretty precious. So to have to deal with tire kickers and literally hundreds of hours of conversations with people who may have no interest, real serious interest, it’s probably one of the bigger value adds that we have with our clients is that we’re able to really free their time up so that we can run this process in the background and really not have to bring them into a conversation until it gets serious.

[00:09:57.180] – Doug Austin
Makes perfect sense. So let’s talk trends here for a moment. According to complex discovery, merger, acquisition and investment activity in Legal Services and Ediscovery dropped dramatically last year with barely more than a third of the transit transactions compared to 2021. So what factors do you think caused investment to slow last year, and what do you think the provider landscape will look like in the next few years?

[00:10:23.780] – Rick Weber

So I think there’s probably a couple of items at play. I mean, number one, 2021, I think when we look back, will have been the high watermark for the sellers market. 2022, interest rates were going up, capital was becoming more expensive. So it becomes harder for purchasers to rely on debt, which they oftentimes do to do deals. So the cost of deals goes up. So I think the private equity markets, by and large kind of mirror to some degree the capital markets. And we saw a slowdown, obviously economically across the board. That’s part of it. I think also we’ve seen a fair amount of consolidation amongst certainly Ediscovery companies over the last several years. And companies that were buyers got acquired themselves. Agility and H, five and exact half a dozen to a dozen good medium to large size companies that were good buyers were now absorbed and consolidated. So now instead of six buyers, now Conciliate owns all six of those. You’re down to one buyer. So the number of buyers has shrunk. So I think there’s probably a combination of like musical chairs at some point, there’s just less chairs. That’s part of it.

[00:11:45.980] – Rick Weber
And then I think the other part of it. Again, the private equity market, the capital market, the M and A market has sort of mirrored what’s happened sort of with the housing market and the general economy going forward. Look, good companies are still getting bought out every day. I think things are moving more slowly and buyers are getting a little more picky and again taking a little bit longer with diligence and whatnot. So I still think it’ll be a strong market in the next several years, maybe similar to what it was last year, probably not as fervent as it was in 2021.

[00:12:27.820] – Doug Austin
Okay, so what do you think are some of the current trends in legal tech and Ediscovery that will influence investment and MNA in the industry this year and beyond?

[00:12:40.720] – Rick Weber
Well, I think probably one of the biggest trends right now, and I think it’s a bit of an unknown, and I think you even wrote on this maybe last month, is really AI and where we may now be with AI. I think people certainly in our industry have been talking about AI for easily the last decade. But I think we’re finally now at the point where there’s real AI or AI that could have a very disruptive or potentially disruptive force within not just Ediscovery and not just litigation and legal technology, but obviously across the board, but really to the practice of law. I think lawyers are probably when we look back, I think this might be the tipping point for AI and how it’s being used in the practice of law. And I think lawyers who embrace AI will prosper. I think lawyers that don’t could be in a bit of a difficult situation. I think we could potentially be at the point where AI is able to start managing document reviews easily, sort of rough drafts of motions and things like that. So as AI has a direct impact on the practice of law, that will then have an indirect impact on legal service providers and legal technology providers.

[00:14:06.950] – Rick Weber
So I think it’ll be interesting to see the full impact that AI has in the next several years on the practice of law and what that then has on the service providers and the technology providers. I think being Nimble is going to be an important aspect. Again, the technology is there to augment the practice of law and the service providers are there to augment the practice of law. So I think having a very watchful eye on how the practice of law changes over the next few years is going to have a very direct impact on the service providers and the technology providers, which will then have an impact on the M and A markets. I guess I would say, in short, legal technology companies that are based on true AI are probably going to prosper significantly more than technologies that maybe are a little older or don’t. And I think service providers who embrace AI to augment their services are going to prosper better than those that don’t.

[00:15:08.160] – Doug Austin
Certainly doesn’t surprise me. Seems like in the past couple of months I’ve joked with a couple of people that anytime I want to boost my views on Ediscovery today, I should write an article about Chat Gbt or something like that, because it seems like everybody’s talking about the AI technology today. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. So certainly in the past few months there have been layoffs at several, well, several companies throughout all industries and certainly several legal tech companies, including those in the Ediscovery space, and many of them are publicly or capital partner owned. So what influence do you think outside investment has on staffing and potential layoffs?

[00:15:53.100] – Rick Weber
I think part of it depends on how much of the business the private equity groups own. Again, typically in sort of the perfect case or the typical case, I would say for a private equity group when they come into a business is they buy 70, 80, 90% of the business. The founders of the business retain 1020 30%, with the idea being that those guys or women got the company. To that point, they’re best equipped to continue to run the business. I think some private equity groups are more hands on than others. Obviously the playbook for a private equity group is to buy a company, grow it over three, four, five years, both organically and then through consolidation and more MNA and then to flip it. So in order to make money, they have to grow not just the top line, but they also have to grow the bottom line. And obviously, if you’ve got an overinflated payroll, a good way to increase the bottom line is to reduce expenses. So I think there is definitely an influence of the third party owners over maximizing profitability. Some are a little more hands on and get involved in the micro and the macro of hiring and firing.

[00:17:11.420] – Rick Weber
But I think there’s also a bit of contagion. You see one, Facebook does a ton of layoffs and now all of a sudden if you have a bunch of layoffs, it may not make news. So you see concilio do layoffs or you see relativity. They did some layoffs. I think Disco did some layoffs. If those groups are laying people off, then all of a sudden you laying people off. Doesn’t look so bad and it doesn’t even get talked about. So I do think there is some level of contagion amongst the like minded or like companies that are of similar nature. Certainly there were some hiring challenges for companies over the last few years. It was a very tight labor market. I think companies probably overhired and now realizing that maybe they’ve got a little bit overcapacity in certain areas. So we’re not as close to the sort of the staffing side of things. But I think there’s probably a combination of factors involving that and like anything else in our industry, it’s cyclical. So companies might get a little too lean and may have to start staffing back up again. So I would not anticipate that this is going to be a long trend.

[00:18:28.400] – Doug Austin
Yeah, certainly last year we were talking about the this time we were talking about the great resignation. So kind of exactly what you mean when you talk about it being cyclical goes from one kind of range to the other. So certainly something to keep an eye on. So, last question I have for you, and this would be something that I think a lot of people would be interested in, is what advice do you have for a company that’s thinking about selling and trying to position for the best success?

[00:19:01.660] – Rick Weber
Maybe a few things. It’s always better to sell from a position of strength and growth than it is from a position of weakness. And it’s probably a good time to start thinking. First of all, you should always be thinking about selling your business, whether you’re going to sell it or not. Running your business as if you are going to sell it is just a smart way to run a business. It just makes you more lean and effective. It probably makes sense for companies to start thinking about the choices that they make early, going back to the beginning part of the conversation, the exit planning consultation. So it’s probably better to start thinking six months or a year or even a couple of years out where you want to be. It’s important to understand the mechanics of how deal flow works and what buyers look at. And that’s something again, we can kind of work with our clients and help them navigate on the early side of things. But you need to build your business so you’re not going to want to make choices that are going to hurt the business just because you think they may help something else down the road.

[00:20:18.730] – Rick Weber
So it’s a bit of a balance, but I would just say grow the best business that you can. Profitability is important. Revenue is important. Growth is important. Positioning yourself for what other companies are going to want is important. Client distribution is something that’s very important. Companies that have a disproportionate amount of revenue coming in from a small number of clients can oftentimes hurt a company. It’s client concentration. So it’s obviously better to have more clients than less. That said, you’re not going to tell a client to stop giving you work because all of a sudden but diversification is an important factor as well. But I think it’s a very still legal technology, legal services is still extremely robust. Lawyers have become very busy over the last few years. The legal industry seems to be very strong right now. So I anticipate that the next several years will continue to be strong for legal technology, legal Services, M and A.

[00:21:22.280] – Doug Austin
Yeah, I certainly agree with that. All right, so I want to thank my guest, Rick Weber of Arbor Ridge Partners, for the interview. Thanks, Rick.

[00:21:31.310] – Rick Weber
Thank you. It was great.

[00:21:32.890] – Doug Austin
Yeah. And I want to thank you all for tuning in to another edition of Ediscovery today’s Thought Leader interview series. We’ll see you next time on the Ediscovery today video.

[00:21:42.330] – Rick Weber
Net.

[00:21:42.920] – Doug Austin
Goodbye. Bye.

Industry Round-Up | March 2023

Industry News

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Legal Week. Arbor Ridge Partners will be in New York the week of March 20th for New York Legal Tech. If you are interested in learning more about the current state of Legal Technology & Legal Services M&A, please email [email protected] or use the following form to schedule a confidential and free consultation with Arbor Ridge Partners before, during, or after the conference.

Recent Legal Technology & Legal Services M&A Activity


October 24, 2022. Reveal Acquires Technically Creative
Reveal Begins Rapid Deployment of Automated Data Connectors After Acquiring Technically Creative. Acquisition fuses Technically Creative’s expert team and established technology with Reveal’s leading AI platform to collect data and deliver insights with less time and resources
Reveal, a provider of an AI-powered eDiscovery platform, announced today the acquisition of Technically Creative, a technology services company specializing in automating and unifying governance for organizations worldwide. Reveal’s investment in Technically Creative allows the deployment of a large number of data connectors to expand governance and compliance workflows within Reveal 11….Read More

December 30, 2022. Wolters Kluwer acquires Della AI
Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory today announced it has acquired Della AI Ltd., a provider of artificial intelligence (AI) technology based on advanced natural language processing (NLP). This technology allows legal professionals to review contracts in multiple languages by simply asking questions. Della AI will become part of the Legal Software unit of Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory, which offers LegalTech solutions such as Legisway, all-in-one software for corporate legal departments, and Kleos, cloud-based legal practice management software for law firms….Read More

January 5, 2023. MLA Acquires Legal Staffing Company Hire an Esquire
Major, Lindsey & Africa, a legal search firm, has announced that it has completed its acquisition of Hire an Esquire, a Philadelphia-based tech-driven legal staffing organization. As a result of the acquisition, Major, Lindsey & Africa will incorporate into its operations Hire an Esquire’s proprietary online platform, which analyzes candidates’ profiles and experience to match them with interim and permanent career opportunities in line with their expertise and skillset. Along with the addition of technical and market expertise of the Hire an Esquire team, the acquisition will pave the way for the continued growth of MLA’s technology-based recruiting capabilities, further strengthening MLA’s value proposition to clients and its commitment to candidate care and development.…Read More

January 19, 2023. Exterro Acquires Zapproved.
Exterro, a provider of Legal Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) software, has acquired Zapproved, a provider of e-discovery software known for its strong customer outcomes. This acquisition is the latest step in furthering Exterro’s vision to empower customers to proactively and defensibly manage their legal governance, risk and compliance obligations. Today, Exterro offers a comprehensive solution on a single unified platform that addresses all phases of the e-discovery and forensic investigative process. Converging market forces in privacy, digital forensics and incident response, including e-discovery have created a need for a comprehensive and unified solution that can identify, understand and manage data in a contextual manner within a consistent, defensible process that meticulously ensures and maintains data integrity….Read More

February 16, 2023. Alix Partners Acquires THM Partners
AlixPartners, a global consulting firm, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire independent restructuring practice THM Partners LLP (THM). The proposed transaction will see THM’s 40 Partners and staff located in the UK, Germany and Singapore joining AlixPartners’ world leading Turnaround & Restructuring Services practice….Read More


About Arbor Ridge Partners, LLC.

Arbor Ridge Partners is a business broker that focuses on mergers and acquisitions for Legal Technology and Legal Services companies, including litigation support, computer forensics, eDiscovery, legal services, and legal software companies. With over 100 years of combined industry experience, legal backgrounds, first-hand industry M&A experience, and deep relationships, Arbor Ridge Partners maximizes value in the purchase and sale of Legal Technology and Legal Services Businesses. For additional information, please visit www.ArborRidgePartners.com.

Arbor Ridge Partners Advises On Celerity Consulting Group’s Expansion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Arbor Ridge Partners Advises On Celerity Consulting Group’s Expansion

February 8, 2023. Arbor Ridge Partners, the M&A advisory firm for the Legal Technology and Legal Services industry, advises on Celerity Consulting Group, LLC’s expansion with a new cybersecurity and information governance practice group. This marks the fifth deal in the Legal Technology and Legal Services industry for Arbor Ridge Partners in the last quarter.

Kenya Parrish-Dixon, now Celerity’s Vice President and Associate Counsel states, “Arbor Ridge Partners worked miracles. Joining the Celerity Consulting Group family provides our team the opportunity to further expand our ability to serve the east coast and DC market across multiple facets of the EDRM. We look forward to integrating our people, processes and clients into the Celerity family.”

Arbor Ridge Partners served as the exclusive M&A advisor and arranged this transaction.


About Arbor Ridge Partners

Arbor Ridge Partners is a business broker that focuses on mergers and acquisitions for Legal Technology and Legal Services companies. With over 100 years of combined industry experience, legal backgrounds, first-hand industry M&A experience, and deep relationships, Arbor Ridge Partners maximizes value in the purchase and sale of Legal Technology and Legal Services Businesses. For additional information, please visit www.ArborRidgePartners.com.

About Celerity Consulting Group

Celerity Consulting Group, LLC is an information management consulting firm that helps
companies, law firms, regulated entities, and public agencies resolve their data management challenges, litigation risk and compliance issues, and restructuring objectives. Celerity’s key service areas include cybersecurity, FedRAMP and StateRAMP infrastructure and consulting, information governance, e-discovery and litigation support, forensic data analysis, business and engineering analysis, and expert testimony. With a focus and expertise on the essential critical infrastructure sectors, Celerity offers a range of technology solutions, including industry‐standard tools, a proprietary web‐based document review platform, OLIVER, and custom database development.

Bob Ranck Joins Arbor Ridge Partners

Arbor Ridge Partners is pleased to announce that Bob Ranck has joined our Leadership Team as an M&A Advisor.

Bob Ranck has over ten years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, providing deal sourcing and origination services in the Records and Information Management (RIM) industry. His experience includes VP, M&A Development with 2-20 Records Management, a middle market private equity portfolio company that was successfully sold in 2022, and M&A with Iron Mountain, where he had business acquisition responsibility for the Western U.S. and Canada.

Prior to M&A, Bob spent 20 years in business development and consulting in the Legal Technology and Legal Services industry with companies including: Electronic Evidence Discovery, Doculex, LIT Group, IKON, and Atlanta Legal Copies.

Bob holds a B.S. in Industrial Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.


About Arbor Ridge Partners, LLC.

Arbor Ridge Partners is a business broker that focuses on mergers and acquisitions for Legal Technology and Legal Services companies, including litigation support, computer forensics, eDiscovery, legal services, and legal software companies. To With over 100 years of combined industry experience, legal backgrounds, first-hand industry M&A experience, and deep relationships, Arbor Ridge Partners maximizes value in the purchase and sale of Legal Technology and Legal Services Businesses. For additional information, please visit www.ArborRidgePartners.com or call 800-226-2760.

Industry Round Up | October 2022

Industry News

Follow Us On LinkedIn


Relativity Fest. Arbor Ridge Partners will be in Chicago the week of October 24th for Relativity Fest. If you are interested in learning more about the current state of Legal Technology & Legal Services M&A, please email [email protected] or use the following form to schedule a confidential and free consultation with Arbor Ridge Partners before, during, or after the conference.

Recent Legal Technology & Legal Services M&A Activity


August 25, 2022. OpenText to Acquire Micro Focus International
Open Text announced that it has reached agreement to acquire Micro Focus. Micro Focus is one of the world’s largest software companies and serves thousands of organizations globally.….Read More

August 29, 2022. Relativity Acquires Heretek
Relativity, a litigation document review and legal technology company, today announced that it has acquired Heretik, a contract review company that combines machine learning technology and advanced analysis to help organizations gain immediate insight into contract data. Moving forward, Heretik’s end-to-end contract review solution will be known as Relativity Contracts, enabling users to rapidly transform existing agreements into structured, actionable data. Relativity Contracts will be integrated into RelativityOne, and available as an add-on in mid-2023.….Read More

September 7, 2022. HaystackID Acquires Business Intelligence Associates (BIA)
HaystackID, a specialized eDiscovery services firm supporting law firms and corporate legal departments, today announced it has acquired Business Intelligence Associates (BIA), an end-to-end eDiscovery service provider.….Read More

September 30, Surge Private Equity Acquires Avalon
Dallas-based Surge Private Equity, LLC (“Surge”) closed Avalon Document Services, Inc., a technology-enabled services company providing edDiscovery, cybersecurity, business process outsourcing, and document services primarily to law firms and corporations….Read More


About Arbor Ridge Partners, LLC.

Arbor Ridge Partners is a business broker that focuses on mergers and acquisitions for Legal Technology and Legal Services companies, including litigation support, computer forensics, eDiscovery, legal services, and legal software companies. With over 100 years of combined industry experience, legal backgrounds, first-hand industry M&A experience, and deep relationships, Arbor Ridge Partners maximizes value in the purchase and sale of Legal Technology and Legal Services Businesses. For additional information, please visit www.ArborRidgePartners.com or call 800-226-2760.

Industry Round-up | August, 2022

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ILTA.
Arbor Ridge Partners will be in Washington DC the week of August 22nd for the ILTA Conference. If you are interested in learning more about the current state of Legal Technology & Legal Services M&A, please email [email protected] or use the following form to schedule a confidential and free consultation with Arbor Ridge Partners before, during, or after the conference.

Recent Legal Technology & Legal Services M&A Activity


May 9, 2022. LexisNexis Announces Acquisition of Parley Pro
NEW YORK – LexisNexis a provider of information and analytics, today announced the acquisition of Parley Pro, a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution, to complement LexisNexis’ Enterprise Legal Management (ELM) platform, CounselLink. Founded in 2015, Parley Pro enables contract request, drafting, negotiation, signature, and post-signature management via a secure, cloud-based platform…
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May 16, 2022. MyCase Announces Acquisition of Docketwise
MyCase, a provider of cloud-based legal practice management software and payment services to law firms, announced that it had acquired Docketwise, an immigration software platform that serves more than 6,000 immigration practitioners. The two products now integrate to connect an immigration software application with a practice management platform…
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July 5, 2022. TCDI Acquires Aon’s eDiscovery Practice
TCDI, a provider of legal services, software and cybersecurity, today announced it completed the acquisition of global professional services firm Aon’s eDiscovery practice. With the closing of the deal, TCDI adds advisory services such as information governance as well as the NOMAD mobile processing platform, PHI/PII detection and post-data-breach support tools. The colleagues in Aon’s eDiscovery practice are joining TCDI and will expand its eDiscovery practice…
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June 28, 2022. Ontra Acquires FundFormer
Ontra, a provider of contract automation and intelligence for asset managers, today announced the acquisition of FundFormer, a top electronic subscription document provider for fund managers and their investors. The acquisition will allow Ontra’s asset management customers to raise funds faster and more efficiently, while providing an investment experience for their limited partners…
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About Arbor Ridge Partners, LLC.

Arbor Ridge Partners is a business broker that focuses on mergers and acquisitions for Legal Technology and Legal Services companies, including litigation support, computer forensics, eDiscovery, legal services, and legal software companies. With over 100 years of combined industry experience, legal backgrounds, first-hand industry M&A experience, and deep relationships, Arbor Ridge Partners maximizes value in the purchase and sale of Legal Technology and Legal Services Businesses. For additional information, please visit www.ArborRidgePartners.com or call 800-226-2760.

Industry Round-up | May, 2022

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Recent Legal Technology & Legal Services M&A Activity

February 17, 2022. Paradigm Acquires TrustBooks
Paradigm announces the acquisition of a cloud-based accounting solution tailor-made for lawyers, TrustBooks. Launched in 2015, TrustBooks was created to simplify the legal trust accounting process for non-accountants and empower attorneys to handle their books while staying compliant with their state bar. TrustBooks’ easy-to-use platform provides users the ability to complete their trust and operating accounting needs, all in one place…
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February 24, 2022. DISCO Acquires Congruity 360’s Legal Hold, Request Automation Tools
Legal technology company, DISCO, today announced it has acquired legal workflow products Hold360 and Request360, as well as related regulatory and alert solutions, from Congruity 360, LLC. These legal workflow capabilities will integrate with DISCO’s cloud-based ediscovery platform and provide a modern, digital solution for corporate legal hold obligations and legal request compliance…
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March 3, 2022. Thomson Reuters Acquires ThoughtTrace
Thomson Reuters, a provider of business information services, has acquired ThoughtTrace, a business providing a document understanding and contract analysis platform. ThoughtTrace, based in Houston, uses pre-trained artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities developed by industry experts to read, organize, and manage business-critical document workflows for customers…
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March 8, 2022. Empire Technologies Risk Management Group Acquires L2 Services
Empire Technologies Risk Management Group announces the company’s acquisition of L2 Services, a litigation support company with offices in Chicago and New York. The merger builds upon L2 Services’ of enterprise data management practice for corporations, law firms and government organizations…
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April 5, 2022. ArcherHall Acquires Cooper Discovery Solutions
ArcherHall today announced that it has acquired Cooper Discovery Solutions, a provider of digital forensics and electronic discovery consulting services to the legal community in Orlando, Tampa, and the surrounding region …
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May 2, 2022. ArcherHall Acquires Forensic Pursuit
ArcherHall has acquired Forensic Pursuit, a provider of digital forensics, electronic discovery, and expert witness services to law firms, corporations, and e-Discovery companies across the United States …
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May 5, 2022. Magnet Forensics Acquires Comae Technologies
Magnet Forensics has acquired Comae Technologies, a UAE-based cybersecurity company that specializes in cloud-based memory analysis used to recover evidence from the volatile memory of devices. As part of the acquisition, Comae founder Matt Suiche and his team will further develop Comae’s memory analysis platform, integrate the technology into Magnet Forensics’ solutions and will lead a memory analysis and incident response research and development team at the company …
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About Arbor Ridge Partners, LLC.

Arbor Ridge Partners is a business broker that focuses on mergers and acquisitions for Legal Technology and Legal Services companies, including litigation support, computer forensics, eDiscovery, legal services, and legal software companies. With over 100 years of combined industry experience, legal backgrounds, first-hand industry M&A experience, and deep relationships, Arbor Ridge Partners maximizes value in the purchase and sale of Legal Technology and Legal Services Businesses. For additional information, please visit www.ArborRidgePartners.com

Industry Round-up | February, 2022

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Industry News

New York Legal Tech Arbor Ridge Partners will be in New York the week of March 7th for Legal Week. If you are interested in learning more about the current state of Legal Technology & Legal Services M&A, please email [email protected] or use the following form to schedule a confidential and free consultation with Arbor Ridge Partners before, during, or after the conference.

Recent Legal Technology & Legal Services M&A Activity

October 7, 2021. iCONECT Acquires Ayfie Inspector Artificial Intelligence Codebase Gold Copy
iCONECT Worldwide Inc., a privately-held leader in legal technology and eDiscovery, today announced that effective immediately, they have reached an agreement with Ayfie Group AS of Oslo, Norway to acquire a ‘gold copy’ of the highly regarded Ayfie Inspector artificial intelligence code base including all subcomponents and patent licenses in perpetuity for an undisclosed sum. Ayfie Inspector technology uses artificial intelligence and complex algorithms to identify entities and patterns in documents and data in a way well beyond the standard regex typically found in the eDiscovery industry and document management space.…
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November 3, 2021. Smarsh Acquires Digital Safe Product Line From Micro Focus
Smarsh, enabling organizations to manage the risk and uncover the value within their electronic communications, announced today that it will acquire the Digital Safe archiving and risk management portfolio from Micro Focus following required customary regulatory approvals, expected in the first calendar quarter of 2022. The addition of the Digital Safe customer base, technology and team of subject-matter experts strengthens Smarsh’s position in Enterprise Information Archiving and accelerates execution of its global growth strategy.…
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November 3, 2021. NetDocuments Acquires Document Automation Toolkit Afterpattern
NetDocuments, a cloud content management platform where legal professionals do work, today announced the acquisition of Afterpattern, a no-code automation toolkit that law firms and legal teams use to produce hundreds of thousands of documents and workflow automations. By integrating Afterpattern into the NetDocuments platform, customers will be able to further focus on the “create” aspect of the document lifecycle and be empowered to automate documents, at scale….
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November 3, 2021. Brightflag Acquires Orrick Spinoff Joinder
Brightflag, an AI-powered legal operations platform, today announced its acquisition of Joinder, a system that legal professionals use to securely track activities, collaborate with colleagues, and store work assets. Joinder will now be known as Brightflag Workspace and form an integral part of the Brightflag Legal Operations Platform.The combination of Brightflag and Brightflag Workspace offers an end-to-end solution for legal operations, from intake to outside counsel management to strategic planning….
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November 10, 2021. Driven & Innovative Discovery Merge
Driven, Inc. (“Driven”) and Innovative Discovery, LLC (“ID”) announced today that the two companies have merged, creating an end-to-end provider of services across the information lifecycle, including information governance, eDiscovery, and managed review. The combined company will initially operate under the name Innovative Driven and will feature world-class consultants, subject-matter experts, and technology professionals, offering legal, corporate, and government clients a range of services and solutions to support their ever-evolving data management needs.…
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December 1, 2021. Epiq Acquires Simplex Services Inc.
Epiq, a technology-enabled services provider to the legal industry and corporations, announced today that it has acquired Simplex Services Inc. (Simplex), an alternative legal services provider based in Canada. Founded in 2012 by two former GE executives, Simplex, and its affiliated law firm, Simplex Legal LLP, provide flexible legal talent and tech-enabled legal services to corporate clients throughout Canada. Simplex’s offerings include interim support for in-house teams and corporations, legal tech consulting, and technology-enabled legal services for high-volume legal mandates such as financing and corporate maintenance filings.…
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December 7, 2021. Sedgwick Acquires JND Legal Administration
Sedgwick, a global provider of technology-enabled risk, benefits and integrated business solutions, announced it has acquired JND Legal Administration (JND), a legal management and administration services provider serving plaintiff and defendant law firms, corporations and government entities across five main service lines. The acquisition will expand legal solutions offerings for Sedgwick’s clients and bolster the company’s class action administration services. JND is the leading U.S. provider of full-service class action administration, mass tort and lien resolution, eDiscovery, government redress and legal noticing services….
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December 14, 2021. Consilio Acquires Legility
Consilio, an eDiscovery, document review, risk management, and legal consulting services, announced today it has closed the acquisition of Legility, a legal services provider. The acquisition will strengthen Consilio’s enterprise legal services and flexible legal talent solutions offerings. Legility will enhance Consilio’s resources with a deepened breadth of new talent in managed review, flexible legal talent, enterprise legal solutions, eDiscovery, and investigation & litigation support to corporations and law firms of all sizes….
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January 5, 2021. Aderant Acquires American LegalNet.
Aderant, a provider of business software to law firms, announced today the acquisition of American LegalNet (ALN), a respected provider of court forms, eFiling, calendaring and docketing solutions. Aderant and ALN customers will now have access to an expanded suite of best-in-class solutions that will further enable law firms to meet the demands of their clients today while preparing for the future….
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January 11, 2022. Onit Acquires SecureDocs.
Onit, Inc., a provider of enterprise workflow solutions including enterprise legal management and contract lifecycle management, today announced that it has acquired SecureDocs, a software company for contract management, virtual deal rooms and electronic signatures. The acquisition, expands the company’s product portfolio from enterprise-level contract lifecycle management to include contract management solution for new and growing legal operations teams….
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January 18, 2022. Litera Acquires Prosperware.
Litera, a provider of legal technology solutions, announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Prosperoware, an enterprise software company for the adoption and governance of collaboration systems. The acquisition will enable teams within law firms to collaborate more efficiently and securely when working in the office or from home….
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January 19, 2022. Mitratech Acquires Quovant
Mitratech, a provider of legal and compliance software, acquires Quovant, a solution for spend management, advanced analytics, and legal bill review. Quovant enables customers to simplify and add transparency to legal bill review processes. Through Quovant’s expert review services and technology, invoices are centralized and reviewed against an organization’s specific billing guidelines, which helps to drive improvements in efficiency and compliance. The Quovant software also delivers advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) categorization capabilities….
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February 1, 2022. BigHand Acquires Iridium Technology
BigHand, a provider of operational and financial products for law firms, today announced it has acquired Iridium Technology. BigHand and Iridium have been offering complementary products and in coming together, now offer powerful insight and data into law firms financial management, operational management, resource optimization and business development. “Law firms are under continuous pressure to improve their efficiency while also growing their profitability..…
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About Arbor Ridge Partners, LLC.

Arbor Ridge Partners is a business broker that focuses on mergers and acquisitions for Legal Technology and Legal Services companies, including litigation support, computer forensics, eDiscovery, legal services, and legal software companies. With over 100 years of combined industry experience, legal backgrounds, first-hand industry M&A experience, and deep relationships, Arbor Ridge Partners maximizes value in the purchase and sale of Legal Technology and Legal Services Businesses. For additional information, please visit www.ArborRidgePartners.com or call 800-226-2760.