Just read that Wolters Kluwer has acquired ELM vendor Brightflag for $480M. See here for more on the acquisition.
As ever, the legal ebilling world continues to amaze with acquisitions in this space. One can only wonder what else is in store…
Category: Product Acquisition
Information pertaining to the acquisition of an Enterprise Legal Management product
Bottomline Legal Spend Management Acquired by Sedgwick
It was announced today that Sedgwick TPA has acquired Bottomline’s Legal Spend Management Division, including the Legal-X and Legal eXchange platforms. Bottomline’s legal spend products are leading solutions in the insurance industry and include TPA features for managing claims, so this looks like a good fit. The acquisition combines Bottomline’s legal spend platforms with other Sedgwick claims and bill review solutions, allowing for a full suite of solutions under a new Sedgwick Legal Spend Management division.
Industry Acquisitions
While I have been busy with client work over the past few months, the legal ebilling industry has gone acquisition mad. Below are some highlights.
- On 1 September, 2021, Bodhala was acquired by Onit
- On 22 September, 2021, Alyne, a GRC company, was acquired by Mitratech
- On 28 September, 2021, BusyLamp was acquired by Onit
- On 3 November, 2021, Brightflag acquired Joinder, a corporate record keeping system
- On 1 December, 2021, Integrum, a health, safety and environment platform was acquired by Mitratech
- On 16 December, 2021, Continuity, a GRC provider, was acquired by Mitratech
- On 17 December, 2021, Bottomline Technologies, a business payment conglomerate and owner of Legal-X, was acquired by Thoma Bravo
- On 11 January, 2022, SecureDocs was acquired by Onit
- On 19 January, 2022, Quovant was acquired by Mitratech
Acquisition of InvoicePrep
I read today that InvoicePrep, a legal ebilling outsourcing and invoice compliance review provider based in Westport CT, has been acquired by Frontline Managed Services. Frontline, based in Atlanta, provides administrative, financial and IT managed services to law firms. Sounds like a good fit!
doeLEGAL Acquired
Questel, a globally-based IP management solution with headquarters in Paris, has acquired doeLEGAL, the last of the original matter management and ebilling companies from the 1990’s that remained under original ownership. doe has been successfully expanding their global footprint over the past couple of years. Our hope is that this acquisition will accelerate their global client base and continue the family-owned business’ practice of delivering excellent client service. You can read the press release here.
Acquisitions and New Offerings
It is conference season and with that comes news of acquisitions and new products.
Wolters Kluwer ELM has acquired CLM Matrix, a contract management platform, filling in a gap in their product offering.
Onit has acquired SimpleLegal, a law department-focused ELM system.
Also in the news is a new law firm billing program, Accurate Legal Billing. It is in the vein of other systems recently in the news that purports to produce bills that comply with client guidelines.
Look on our Law Department and Law Firm Resource Room pages for links to each of these products
Datacert Acquired
In yet another blow to the shrinking gene pool of EBMM solutions available in the marketplace, it was reported yesterday that Wolters Kluwer has acquired the remaining shares of Third Coast Holdings, Inc., whose holdings include the Datacert Passport EBMM system. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.
WK is the owner of CT Corporation and therefore the corporate parent of TyMetrix, another leading EBMM vendor system. Both companies have been staunch competitors in the ELM marketpace.
CT Corporation acquired Tripoint in 2005 and within a few years the system disappeared from the EBMM landscape. It will be very interesting to see how this acquisition evolves.
Acquisition of LT Online by Mitratech
I constantly hear rumors of MMEB vendor systems for sale, and the rumor mill has been buzzing for the past few months.
I read today that LT Online Corporation, who offers the Lawtrac system, has been acquired by Mitratech. Congratulations to Frank Orzo and his team.
This follows acquisitions in the past few years of TyMetrix by CT Corporation, Tripoint by CT Corporation, Mitratech by Vista Equity Partners, Serengeti by Thomson Reuters, Visabillity by Bottomline Technologies and Allegient also by Bottomline Technologies.
It is always interesting to see what the new owner will do with these systems once acquired. Many don’t fully understand the lengthy sales cycle. Others lack product vision or the commitment necessary to evolve the product. Others still see acquisition as the opportunity to acquire customers and, after a short period of stasis, stop selling and eventually withdraw support for the product. It will be interesting to see what happens in this case.