InsideLegal

Guidance Software to Acquire CaseCentral

Guidance Software, Inc. has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held CaseCentral, Inc., a leader in the electronic discovery (e-discovery) market for Cloud-based review and production software.

   

According to the press release:

"This acquisition will extend Guidance Software's market leadership by delivering a complete e-discovery platform addressing the e-discovery needs of corporations and government agencies. The combined product portfolio will deliver to customers increased efficiency and automation, as well as lower risk for e-discovery activities. The integrated solution will span from legal hold to identification, collection, preservation, processing, first pass review, and, now with CaseCentral's market leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, best-in-class early case assessment (ECA), review and production capabilities.

Under the terms of the agreement, Guidance Software will acquire CaseCentral for upfront consideration of approximately $17.1 million, consisting of $8.3 million in cash, $8.3 million in Guidance Software common stock, and the assumption of $0.5 million of debt, net of cash. Depending on CaseCentral’s SaaS revenue growth, Guidance Software may pay up to an additional $33 million in cash over the next three years. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close during the first quarter of 2012. Guidance Software expects the transaction to add approximately $10 million in SaaS revenue in 2012, and to be slightly dilutive to slightly accretive to 2012 non-GAAP EPS and accretive to 2013 non-GAAP EPS."

You can read the letter to their clients from Guidance President & CEO, Victor Limongelli here.

The Legal Vendor Acquisitions Continue...ADERANT Announces Another Purchase

At the ILTA conference a little over a month ago, financial practice management provider ADERANT made quite a stir with their acquisition news, purchasing both CompuLaw LLC, (calendaring and court rule automation) and Client Profiles ('end-to-end' case management software for small to medium law firms) including their CRM4Legal product.

 

Then, on October 3, Elite announced that they acquired FWBS, developers of MatterCentre and MatterSphere tools with a strong presence in the APAC and EMEA regions.

 

Well, the legal technology vendors remain on an M&A roll ... As of this morning, ADERANT has announced the acquisition of RainMaker Software, financial and practice management software for mid to large sized law firms.

The M&A 'arms' race used to be limited to West (now Thomson Reuters) vs. Lexis, with the occasional eDiscovery vendor thrown in, so this recent trend definitely mixes things up. Add to that, record M&As on the law firm side (Altman Weil just reported a 78% increase from 2010), and this might just be the best time to own a business card and stationary printing business.  

ADERANT Goes on Acquisition Spree with Purchase of CompuLaw & Client Profiles/CRM4Legal

 

Welcome to ILTA 2011 in Nashville ... welcome to limitless networking, educational sessions, receptions, meet-ups, parties and of course BIG vendor news ... First up this year, financial practice management provider ADERANT and it's 'double whammy' acquisition of LA-based CompuLaw LLC and Atlanta's Client Profiles, including their CRM4Legal division. (View the official press release and FAQ here). This trifecta features some very well known brands within the legal technology niche: CompuLaw, a family-owned and operated business, has a 30+ year track record of serving the calendaring and court rule automation needs of large law fims, and with the introduction of it's web-based/SaaS offering Deadlines.com, also catering to smaller firms and solos who need help with calendaring and court deadlines but without the big firm budgets. ADERANT has its own calendar/docket modules (as part of ADERANT Expert) and currently integrates with CompuLaw's court rules so now owning this segment makes sense (after all, who wouldn't want marketshare among 82% of the top 50 law firms in California, and more than 70% of the AmLaw 100). Client Profiles, which first made a name for itself with truly 'end-to-end' case management software for small(ish) and medium law firms, struck it well several years back by partnering with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and developing a legal-specific client relationship management application branded CRM4Legal. We suspect case management will mostly compliment what ADERANT already has and CRM4Legal will greatly bolster the provider's marketing offering.

While we spend this week in Nashville (and beyond) filling in the blanks on the details of the deal - what this really means to clients, prospects, the market, partners and integrators - we wish all parties well and hope they continue to serve the legal community as they have done for the better part of 35 years.

Huron Consulting Group Acquires TRILANTIC

Huron Consulting Group today announced that it has acquired TRILANTIC.

According to the official press release, "TRILANTIC, based in London, specializes in e-discovery services and delivers solutions to law firms and legal departments worldwide that combine IT proficiency and a detailed knowledge of the EU data protection rules. Approximately 15 employees will join the Company, including Nigel Murray who will serve as a Huron managing director."

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Tikit Acquires Carpe Diem from Sage Software & PensEra, Makers of TimeKM

Quite a day for UK based Tikit! Tikit has announced this morning the acquisition of both Carpe Diem time recording software from Sage Software and PensEra, makers of TimeKM time recording software. According to the news release (which can be found on their blog)...

"With immediate effect, the Sage Carpe Diem product becomes Carpe Diem Classic, with a new version - Carpe Diem Classic 2010 - scheduled for launch in Q4 of this year. This release will incorporate many of the enhancements users have requested from Sage over recent months.

The TimeKM suite (which along with time recording also includes forecasting and budgeting) will be renamed Carpe Diem Enterprise and will inherit its existing roadmap, supplemented by feedback from firms using Carpe Diem Classic, to ensure it continues to address next generation time recording trends and best practices."

Here are some financial details thanks to The Orange Rag Editor, Charles Christian.

• Annual support revenues for Carpe Diem were US$2.2 million in the year to 30 September 2010, while the total consideration was US$1.35 million, paid in cash from Tikit’s existing resources.
• PensEra had total revenues of C$0.99 million in the year to 31 July 2010. The initial consideration of C$0.73 million has been paid in cash from Tikit’s existing resources, and there is an additional capped deferred consideration payable over the next three years, dependent on software sales growth.

Thomson Reuters Acquires Serengeti Law

Thomson Reuters today announced that it has acquired Serengeti Law, the matter management system for corporate legal departments. The business will be aligned with the Corporate, Government & Academic business unit within Thomson Reuters Legal, under the direction of Mike Suchsland, president. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

All 50 Serengeti employees will join Thomson Reuters, and will remain based in the Seattle and Chicago metropolitan areas. For more information, visit http://www.serengetilaw.com.

CaseLogistix Acquired by Thomson Reuters

"Thomson Reuters, the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today announced that it has acquired document review software CaseLogistix from Anacomp, Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed." Read the full press release here.

BigHand Acquires nFlow

Today, BigHand announced that it has wholly acquired nFlow, a digital dictation company.  Rob Lancashire, formerly nFlow's Managing Director, will become Managing Director of a newly formed BigHand UK Legal & Professional Services Division.  Read the official announcement here.

            
 
 

 

Altman Weil and Project Leadership Associates Form Strategic Alliance

Altman Weil, Inc. and Project Leadership Associates, Inc. (PLA) today signed a formal strategic alliance agreement. Both firms provide strategic advisory and consulting services to the global legal market. What's next? The two organizations have already undertaken shared projects with key law firm and corporate law department clients. A joint task force is developing new market offerings that leverage each firm’s expertise, including pricing strategies, project management and post-merger integration. The complete press release can be viewed here.

Beyond the press release, here's an exclusive InsideLegal.com Q&A with Dan Safran (pictured), Project Leadership Associates' Executive Vice President, Legal Solutions:

Why did you decide to align yourself with Altman Weil at this point in time?
We are responding to what our clients have been asking of us. Key trends like alternative fee arrangements, project management, strategy development along with the right blend of process, organization and technology execution and sophisticated performance benchmarking are creating a need for legal organizations to integrate technology into their strategic operations. Our law firm and corporate legal clients are looking for integrated, strategic solutions, and together, Altman Weil and PLA are perfectly positioned to deliver.

Are you offering any short term joint events/webinars/ seminars/tutorials to show BigLaw how you can help them?
Altman Weil and PLA serve large, mid-size and small law firms and law departments across strategy, operations, software applications and technology based infrastructure.  While events are but one method to communicate with us – our web sites, industry forums, newsletters and special events will be leveraged to help our clients to understand our joint solutions and capabilities.  The easiest way to learn more is to write or call one or both of our organizations – as we can help understand specific issues and tailor even pre-defined solutions to each situation. 

Is there anything else the InsideLegal readership should know about or might find helpful as it relates to this announcement?
Yes, this alignment is already in motion – and together Altman Weil and PLA represent the best of the best consulting providers in the legal industry – and now we are working together.  The combination of Altman Weil’s distinguished strategy and M&A expertise, coupled with PLA’s execution skills –provides an option to law firm and corporate clients to define the future and achieve it. 

Stratify Bolsters eDiscovery Production Capabilities with Legal Imaging Technologies, Inc. Acquisition

Stratify, a leading electronic discovery service provider,and wholly-owned subsidiary of information management services company Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), has fortified its eDiscovery production capabilities with enhanced electronic document conversion and imaging processes gained from its acquisition earlier this month of Legal Imaging Technologies, Inc. (LIT).

According to  Sanjeev Srivastav, Stratify's vice president of operations and technology management, "the acquisition allows the company to respond more nimbly to its customers’ document production requirements, whether they are using the hosted Stratify Legal Discovery® service or Stratify eVantage™, a new on-premises early case assessment appliance.”

Legal Imaging Technologies was founded in 1993 as a high-volume, paper-based litigation support services company for firms located in the San Francisco Bay area. As eDiscovery overtook paper-based litigation support, LIT developed high-performance software tools that focused on efficient conversion, stamping, optical character recognition (OCR) and other electronic discovery processes. LIT and Stratify first established a strategic partnership in 2006.

The official press release can be read here.