Litigation Support Industry: eDiscovery Business News and Information Blog

Document Solutions Inc. Merges with Knoxville Document Pros

2012-01-21T18:20:00.001-06:00

Consolidation in the document management industry continues as two businesses with operations in Knoxville have announced a merger.

Document Solutions Inc., headquartered in Nashville with offices in Knoxville and Cincinnati, is merging with Knoxville Document Pros.

The companies will operate under the Document Solutions banner. Terms of the merger were not disclosed.

Document Solutions has carved out a niche in providing electronic discovery, digital forensics, data recovery and traditional document services for the legal industry. The company was founded in Nashville in 1999 and opened its Knoxville office in September 2007.

Document Solutions' announcement follows the launch last year of several initiatives, including the Smart Sampling Process, Intake Program, ESI Managed Services and the DSI Remote Discovery Platform.

Knoxville Document Pros began in 1998 and is owned by Eric Rose. It began with most of its clients being law firms. It has specialized in scanning, copying and imaging services. The company has grown by following the burgeoning e-discovery field.

Document Solutions said under the auspices of a single umbrella the company expects to leverage the two companies' capabilities to continue growing and adapting to the evolving document management market.

Document Solutions' Knoxville partner and co-owner Jeff Stoneking cited Document Pros' strong reputation and customer base as compelling reasons for the merger.

"It's great news for DSi's East Tennessee clients that one of our outstanding competitors has become an outstanding partner," Stoneking said, "Eric has been in the litigation support industry for over 20 years, he's run multiple businesses, from photocopying to e-discovery, and he's had a lot of success with it. Most importantly, he shares DSi's commitment to uncompromised customer service."

Document Solutions' co-founder and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Tyner said the merger is part of his company's larger commitment to expanding its reach and scope in the e-discovery industry.

"Our Knoxville location has been a critical part of our success in East Tennessee and the greater Southeast, and the established track record of top-quality services that Eric and Knoxville Document Pros bring to DSi will make our company even stronger there," Tyner said in a statement.

Rose said East Tennessee corporations, small businesses, engineering firms and law firms will have access to advanced proprietary technology with the merger.

"Our clients will benefit immediately from DSi's incredibly innovative, cutting-edge services in e-discovery and digital forensics," Rose said.

After the merger, DSi Knoxville will have 12 employees and five owners. Rose and three former Knoxville Document Pros employees vacated their former office on Gay Street to move into the DSi space in First Tennessee Plaza, 800 S. Gay St.

Cinven takes out Intermediate Capital Group to Acquire CPA Global

2012-01-19T13:04:00.002-06:00

On February 08, 2010 we reported that Intermediate Capital Group had acquired a significant stake in CPA Global. Now the European private equity firm Cinven, which is headquartered in London, has purchased intellectual property (IP) management business CPA Global.   

While financial details for the deal are undisclosed the transaction comes two years after Intermediate Capital Group acquired a minority stake in the company for £400 million.    

As part of the 2010 deal ICG took a 47 per cent stake while the management team, led by chief executive Peter Sewell, retained a 22 per cent share.   

CPA Global provides clients in sectors such as telecoms and pharmaceuticals with IP management services and software to help protect rights and maintain value.   

Stuart McAlpine, partner at Cinven, comments: 'CPA Global is an exciting primary opportunity to invest in a global leader in a market with defensive qualities and attractive growth prospects. 

'The business has achieved an exceptional financial performance and is highly cash generative.'   

McAlpine says that the acquired business fits with Cinven's strategy of investing in companies where it can accelerate its global presence using Cinven's sector expertise and Asian portfolio capacity. 

According to Cinven, the volume of patents granted worldwide has increased by 5 per cent annually and has significant growth projected in China and other Asian economies. 

Data from Thomson Reuters shows that China surpassed both the US and Japan for the total number of patents filed in 2011. 

Sewell adds: 'Companies around the world are increasingly recognising the value of IP. 

'In recent years, we have seen how the patent renewal market and protection of clients' IP remain business critical throughout the economic cycle.'

Litigation Support Market 2012 Predictions

2012-01-19T12:41:00.005-06:00

Greater Competition, Technology-based Offerings and Regulatory Amendments seen as factors altering the 2012 Litigation Support Outsourcing Market, reports legal management consultancy Fronterion LLC

As reported on the CPA Global website "LSO’s expansion into new legal disciplines next year will take place against the backdrop of a tougher contest for clients’ hearts and minds, says forecast"

Changes will sweep through the legal services outsourcing (LSO) sector in 2012 as competition for potential clients heats up, according to legal management consultancy Fronterion LLC. In its annual overview of LSO (also known as legal process outsourcing, or LPO) the organisation highlights a move towards technology-based offerings; an evolution beyond litigation support; and forthcoming regulatory amendments as factors that will alter the sector’s landscape. Meanwhile, clients will seek to work around law firms and work directly with providers, even as those law firms attempt to integrate providers straight into their services: two trends that will make for a more vibrantly competitive industry.

In its 10 for 2012 paper, which follows up on forecasts published for 2010 and 2011, Fronterion also suggests that multishoring – previously covered on NewLegal Review – will continue to define the shape of LSO, as clients seek to allocate legal tasks between onshore and offshore models in ways that would produce the maximum savings and efficiency.

That trend, in Fronterion’s view, is likely to govern the overall direction of LSO in the next 12 months.

A technological future

As the multishore approach becomes more prevalent there will be a noticeable passing of the old order, which will see litigation-support functions that formed the bedrock of LSO in its earlier days giving way to newer and more technical services. The paper provides several reasons for this outlook. In the main, it says, a sector-wide dependency on litigation support is unsustainable at a time when commoditisation of the legal tasks involved has begun to stagnate. Furthermore, the business of executing of those tasks could be leaving the remit of flesh-and-blood employees entirely: in the long term, Fronterion says, ‘certain manual LSO services may become automated or eliminated altogether by computer programs that cost less than even the cheapest worker’.

With that in mind, the paper predicts, bundled LSO services and technology offerings ‘will be an essential differentiator for outsourcers in 2012’. Applications that providers may wish to offer include contract-management repositories; review platforms; and legal research tools that can trawl through thousands of documents for key themes and phrases. At the same time, providers will diversify their legal services into areas such as due diligence on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), as they aim to build from the traditional area of litigation support. ‘Expanding service adoption in 2012 will be an uphill battle,’ the paper stresses, ‘but worth the effort.’ The key focus for providers must be to set out a ‘progressive value proposition’ for clients.

‘Supreme validation’

LSO’s growing profile in the wider legal sector has captured the imaginations of law firms – to the extent that, next year, imitation is likely to be the sincerest form of flattery. In Fronterion’s forecast, LSO-style approaches to legal business are going to be replicated by traditional firms, who will implement detailed process management, regular reporting and scalable, transparent services in order to win over clients. This will be the strongest sign yet from law firms that they recognise how outsourcing providers have changed delivery expectations among corporate legal departments and redefined perceptions of value – a watershed that the paper calls ‘a supreme validation of the LSO approach.’

Other law firms, says the forecast, will choose to include workflow from LSO companies on key tasks in their initial pitches to prospective clients – a pre-emptive measure that, again, acknowledges that LSO techniques will naturally be sought after by in-house lawyers from the word ‘Go’. As Fronterion notes, ‘this represents a major milestone for the industry and expands opportunities for growth.’

However, the development could just as easily become a wellspring for intensified competition: law firms pushing for early integration of LSO companies will jostle for position with clients opting to make direct contact. In this climate, success will be determined by which provider will win which chunk of legal work from which corporate client – ideal preconditions for a hotly contested market, in which the relationship between providers, law firms and clients will be transformed.

Appropriately, then, it will fall to regulators in the US and UK to determine how that relationship should be managed. The American Bar Association is already scheduled to publish recommendations for reworked LSO professional guidelines in August. Fronterion also considers it likely that, in the UK, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will be called upon to offer similar ideas as the full implementation of the 2007 Legal Services Act continues to unroll – a subject that NewLegal Review has covered in detail very recently.

In the forecast’s vision for 2012, LSO’s high profile in the legal sector will continue – along with its facility for sparking debate on how legal services should be offered even further into the future.

Fronterion’s predictions for 2012

1. A profitability squeeze for LSO
Shrinkage in the wages gap between developed and developing economies will take a toll on profit margins in the sector.

2. A growth beyond litigation support
Contract management, due diligence and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) functions will become more prominent in the LSO sector as it strives to be more sustainable.

3. Technology to combine with LSO
Innovative software offerings to assist clients’ legal-management capabilities will become an essential market differentiator for service providers.

4. Wider adoption of LSO techniques
Law firms and legal professionals of all kinds will increasingly use LSO-style project-management methods in their approaches to process and reporting

5. Law firm insurers to target LSO
Perceived risks stemming from an increased usage of legal outsourcing services will be cited in marketing campaigns by insurance firms.

6. Changes in the executive ranks
A focus on more operationally minded leadership, in which executives will focus on efficiency and profitability, will cause a shift from the entrepreneurial ethic that has so far dominated the helms of major LSO providers.

7. LSO to face stiffer competition
Law firms will pre-emptively include LSO providers in their offerings to meet growing client expectations for lower-cost services, leading to a proliferation of LSO usage. As such, competition will be busier, and more varied.

8. A ‘winner-takes-all’ sector
The economic climate likely to prevail in 2012 will make it harder for new, stand-alone LSO vendors to attract the capital necessary to compete with the sector’s largest players. This will benefit the established hierarchy.

9. Changing professional guidelines
Forthcoming results of LSO studies conducted by US and UK regulatory authorities will clarify dos and don’ts for the sector’s practitioners.

10. Evolution of the law firm-client relationship
Whereas the typical triumvirate relationship has seen law firms engage LSO providers on behalf of in-house legal departments, 2012 will increasingly see those departments hiring LSO providers directly.

Symantec Buys LiveOffice for $115M

2012-01-16T19:26:00.001-06:00

Symantec has acquired email archiving specialist LiveOffice for $115 million, and intends to use that software to put e-discovery applications in the cloud, officials said today.

The pairing had long been rumored, as the companies have a history together. Symantec began reselling LiveOffice's technology in 2010, later rebranding it as Enterprise Vault.cloud, while LiveOffice CEO Nick Mehta and Vice President of Sales and Business Development Jim O'Hara both previously worked at Symantec.

Symantec bought another email specialist, MessageLabs, for $695 million in 2008. But that deal was more focused on security products. The current deal is unique because of LiveOffice's focus on e-discovery, which can be used with Symantec's Clearwell Systems subsidiary acquired for $390 million last year.

"Over time it will be a platform for a hosted Clearwell, which will be really interesting," said Symantec's Brian Dye, vice president, information intelligence group, in Mountain View, Calif. However, "Whether we can get it done this year is not clear," he acknowledged.

Many e-discovery service providers already sell the eponymous Clearwell E-Discovery Platform on a hosted basis, but Symantec's integration would be deeper because of proprietary technology that shares data between the applications, Dye said. The software will share metadata about a file's access and history, and will allow users to eliminate irrelevant data, rather than simply acting as a bit mover, he noted.

That plan, for what's known as connector software, is similar to what Symantec previously offered through a partnership with Austin, Texas-based StoredIQ. That partnership ended when the Clearwell deal happened because the companies compete. Meanwhile, Symantec will continue selling its own connector product, Discovery Accelerator, to other e-discovery companies, Dye added.

Siris Capital Buys Applied Discovery (ADI)

2012-01-09T12:58:00.002-06:00

LexisNexis has sold its Applied Discovery division to equity firm Siris Capital, the companies said Friday, clearing the way for Lexis' Concordance Evolution to be a flagship e-discovery product.

Lexis acquired Applied, one of the early leaders in e-discovery, for a reported $95 million in 2003. But there were clashing corporate cultures over the years, including as recently as last year, when Lexis and Applied chose competing partners for predictive coding technology. Lexis also invested in Concordance until the review software had features overlapping Applied's Discovery Leverage, contributing to Applied becoming expendable, sources said.

Terms of the sale to Siris, in New York, were not disclosed, and Siris did not comment by press time. The deal is Siris' second in three months, having acquired cellular equipment specialist Tekelec in November for $780 million.

However, "Siris [has] a proven record in stabilizing and growing their acquisitions with infusions of talent, vision and capital -- for organic growth as well as for growth via acquisitions," Lexis and Applied said in a joint statement. "[C]urrent work plans remain in place. The organization will also move forward to offer customers more flexibility, third party tools and an increased focus on managed review services."

Bellevue, Wash.-based Applied also has a new CEO -- Ramana Venkata, who replaced Ira Herman, company spokeswoman Lindsay Perrault said. Venkata founded e-discovery company Stratify in 1999 and remained through its $158 million acquisiton by Iron Mountain in 2007. He left in 2010, and the Stratify unit was later sold to Autonomy for $380 million.

eDiscovery Company Epiq Systems Acquires De Novo Legal

2012-01-02T12:56:00.003-06:00

Kansas City, KS (December 28, 2011) – Epiq Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:EPIQ), a leading global provider of technology solutions for the legal profession, today announced the acquisition of De Novo Legal LLC, a significant U.S. e-discovery provider with particular prominence in managed review services. Epiq paid closing consideration of approximately $68 million which was funded from the company’s credit facility. The transaction also includes a deferred cash component and an opportunity for contingent consideration based on future revenue growth.

With this transaction, Epiq further strengthens its leading global e-discovery franchise, providing corporate legal departments and law firms with full-service capabilities to manage electronic information for discovery, investigations, regulatory issues, compliance, and related legal matters.

De Novo augments Epiq’s capacity for managed review services and broadens Epiq’s e-discovery customer base. De Novo has document review centers in key strategic locations in the United States and is among the largest providers of managed review and staffing services. De Novo also offers clients e-discovery processing and hosted review platforms. For 2011 on a pro forma basis, De Novo represents an approximate 30% to 40% revenue increase to Epiq’s projected standalone e-discovery segment.

Epiq originally introduced an organically developed service extension for managed review in 2009, which has grown consistently since its inception. This acquisition positions Epiq to offer unrivaled throughput and responsiveness to customers from multiple domestic and overseas locations.

Significant subject matter expertise combined with scale, reach and capacity are important attributes of Epiq’s worldwide e-discovery business and constitute key competitive differentiations. Whether for individual complex engagements or for continuing relationships with multinational corporations or global law firms, the availability of end-to-end services and choice of multiple technologies positions Epiq in the top bracket of market participants. The company has full-service e-discovery operations in New York and Phoenix domestically, and London and Hong Kong internationally.

Kenyon Group, Inc. acted as financial advisor to De Novo Legal and arranged the transaction.

Document Technologies Inc Recapitalized by Harvest Partners

2011-12-05T11:48:00.001-06:00

New York-based buyout shop Harvest Partners has recapped of Document Technologies, providing a “successful liquidity event” for Quad-C Partners VII, L.P., the firm announced Friday. No terms of the deal were disclosed. Atlanta-based Doument Technologies is a provider of outsourced litigation support services, including facilities management services and electronic and paper discovery.

PRESS RELEASE
Harvest Partners, LP (“Harvest”), a New York-based private equity firm, and the management team of Document Technologies, Inc. (“DTI” or the “Company”) announced today that they have completed a recapitalization of the Company resulting in a successful liquidity event for Quad-C Partners VII, L.P. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1998 and based in Atlanta, Georgia, DTI is one of the largest independent providers of outsourced litigation support services, including facilities management services and electronic and paper discovery solutions. DTI services top law firms, Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of small and mid-size corporations and law firms nationwide. DTI operates 27 facilities and has a presence in more than 70 markets across the U.S.

DTI’s management team, including Founder, President and CEO, John Davenport, Jr., will continue to lead the Company.

“DTI is in a great position to continue its strong growth both organically and through tuck-in acquisitions,” said Ira D. Kleinman, Senior Managing Director at Harvest Partners. “We are looking forward to partnering with John and his team to provide additional financial and strategic resources to continue to build on DTI’s success.”

“DTI has invested heavily in its service delivery platform over the past several years, building a leading, national provider of facilities management and discovery solutions,” said John Davenport, Jr., DTI’s Founder, President and CEO. “The Company is winning new business from existing and new customers due to our first-class capabilities and customer service, and the management team is excited to partner with Harvest.”

“DTI provides differentiated facilities management and discovery services due to the company’s highest quality employee base. We are hiring and expanding our team of experienced project managers, discovery consultants, attorneys and certified forensic examiners,” said Andrew M. Schoenthal, Managing Director at Harvest.

Senior debt was arranged by GE Capital and Golub Capital and mezzanine debt by Carlyle Mezzanine Partners. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Alvarez & Marsal advised Harvest. Robert W. Baird & Co., VRA Partners LLC, Bryan Cave LLP and White & Case LLP advised the Company and Quad-C Partners VII, L.P. Ira D. Kleinman and Andrew M. Schoenthal of Harvest will be joining DTI’s Board of Directors.

WestView Capital Partners Leads Recapitalization of LDiscovery

2011-10-07T08:46:00.003-05:00

Mclean, VA -- LDiscovery, LLC (“LDiscovery” or “the Company”) announced that its current management team, led by CEO Chris Weiler, has partnered with WestView Capital Partners to recapitalize the Company. Headquartered in Mclean, Virginia, LDiscovery is a leader in ‘end to end’ e-Discovery Management Solutions - from data collection and forensic investigations, Early Case Assessment, ESI processing, web based document review and hosting through trial support. As a Relativity Premium Partner, the Company has implemented an industry leading hosting and review infrastructure, while also integrating advanced searching methodologies to provide more relevant and comprehensive datasets to legal professionals in a timely and cost effective manner. LDiscovery’s services meet the highest of standards for support - true “24/7/365″. The Company provides a full range of e-Discovery services to law firms, corporations and virtually all of the major prime contractors in the government market.

“WestView’s experience with growth-oriented, tech-enabled business services companies and software companies will allow LDiscovery to meet the increasing demand for our first-class solutions, while continuing to provide the level of service our clients have come to expect,” said Chris Weiler, CEO and Co-Founder of LDiscovery. “Furthermore, WestView’s strong capital base and transaction expertise will help LDiscovery stay ahead in the evolving world of e-discovery by giving us the flexibility to make significant investments in our technology and infrastructure as well as execute strategic acquisitions.”

“LDiscovery is a leader in providing integrated “end to end” e-discovery solutions from capturing and processing data to hosting it in a secure and robust platform that sets the new bar,” said Rick Williams, Managing Partner of WestView Capital. “The company’s experienced management team led by Chris has a track record of strong financial performance and technological expertise, making LDiscovery an excellent fit for WestView Capital.”

iControl ESI Acquires Firefly Dataworks

2011-09-25T11:37:00.001-05:00

Dallas, TX -- September 25, 2011

iControl ESI, a national provider of e-Discovery services, reported on September 8, 2011 it has acquired Silicon Valley-based Firefly Dataworks LLC, a leading provider of electronic discovery services to law firms and corporate legal departments throughout the region. The acquisition allows iControl ESI to further increase its visibility and expand its proprietary hosted review software, Recenseo™ to Firefly Datawork's large customer base.

Firefly Dataworks President and Co-founder Christopher A. Lorenz has been named Vice-President, Sales. Mr. Lorenz will assume responsibility for leading the iControl ESI's national sales function, and increasing the company's brand recognition and reputation as a first-rate, knowledge-driven service provider.

"This acquisition makes sense on several fronts," said Michael J. Conner, President of iControl ESI. "First and foremost, we are acquiring a growing company with terrific customer-centered sales leadership, so culturally it is a great fit. Secondly, we now have access to a larger customer base that has been looking for a superior review platform, and feel strongly that Recenseo™ will fill that need. This is very important in today's rapidly-evolving litigation support marketplace."

Alexander Gallo Holdings Files for Bankruptcy in New York

2011-09-08T14:53:00.004-05:00

As reported on the Bloomberg.com website...

Alexander Gallo Holdings LLC, a provider of court reporting and litigation services, filed for bankruptcy protection.

The company today listed debt in the range of $100 million to $500 million and assets of less than $100 million in Chapter 11 documents in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

The company and its units’ 30 largest creditors without collateral backing their claims are owed about $189 million, according to court documents. Gallo Holdings LLC, listed as the note holder representative, is the biggest, with a claim of $147.9 million, according to court papers.

Peachtree Holdings Inc. holds 100 percent of the equity interest in the Atlanta-based company. Ten affiliates, including Esquire Solutions and Esquire Litigation Solutions, also sought protection.

The case is In re Alexander Gallo Holdings LLC, 11-14220, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

It was reported on Reuters.com that the firm would be sold through bankruptcy to HIG Capital.

A couple days earlier the company announced an agreement to sell the assets from its Esquire Litigation Solutions (ELS) Business Unit to Document Technologies, Inc. (DTI).

DTI Acquires Esquire Litigation Solutions' Assets

2011-09-06T16:46:00.001-05:00

ATLANTA, Sept. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Esquire Solutions, an Alexander Gallo Holdings company, today announced an agreement to sell the assets from its Esquire Litigation Solutions (ELS) Business Unit to Document Technologies, Inc. (DTI) as part of its ongoing effort to focus resources on its core business of providing court reporting, deposition support, and trial services and software.

In addition, Esquire Solutions has entered into a national agreement with DTI whereby ELS services will be sold and delivered through the DTI brand. ELS provides clients with Electronically Stored Information (ESI) management, electronic discovery, forensics, hosted review, project management and document management services. The agreement will allow clients direct access to the best-of-breed offerings from both Esquire and DTI.

"We are very pleased to announce a transaction that allows us to realize the tremendous value we've built in ELS and use the proceeds to support our core businesses for the benefit of our clients. We're also pleased that the talented and committed employees of ELS will be joining an established company with an excellent reputation," said Alexander Gallo, founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

Esquire Solutions is the nationwide leader in litigation support solutions anchored in the major litigation centers of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Atlanta, delivering end-to-end litigation solutions in court reporting, legal video, hosted review, electronic discovery, trial software and trial consultation. The Company's professionals support AmLaw 100 law firms and global corporations and their outside counsel with the convenience and efficiency of a single source for comprehensive litigation solutions. For more information, visit www.esquiresolutions.com.

Advanced Discovery and CP Document Technologies Announce Merger

2011-09-02T10:50:00.002-05:00

Los Angeles, California (September 1, 2011) - Advanced Discovery, LLC and CP Document Technologies, LLC announced today that each has entered into an agreement to merge.

Operating under the Advanced Discovery™ brand, the combined companies are poised to advance their existing experience in effectively managing the ever-shifting needs of corporate legal departments and law firms. Each company is already an established, premier provider, of professional services in electronic discovery; including forensic data collection, early data assessment, electronic data processing, hosted document review and managed contract review/coding services.

David Vandygriff, the current CEO of Advanced Discovery, will share a cooperative Chief Executive Officer role with Michael Driver, the current CEO of CP Document Technologies. Jeremy Lindahl, the current COO of CP Document Technologies, will become an Executive Vice President of Advanced Discovery. Thadd Hale will continue in his role as the COO of Advanced Discovery.

“This merger of two electronic discovery marketplace anchors will leverage seasoned professionals and collective technical strength for the benefit of corporations and law firms nation-wide,” said David Vandygriff, “CP Document Technologies has an excellent team and both organizations are eager to realize the greater breadth of opportunities that will be brought through the expansion and growth that this merger provides.”

“Combining forces with Advanced Discovery stood-out as an opportunity that offers both outstanding benefits in service to our clients and additional resources to our dedicated team members. We are all energized and looking forward to leveraging the strength of our newly combined resources,” stated Michael Driver.

HP Acquires Autonomy for $10B

2011-08-19T06:52:00.002-05:00

The Associated Press, August 18, 2011 -- Hewlett-Packard Co. is buying Autonomy Corp. to expand its line-up of business software products as it lowers its profile in consumer electronics.

The acquisition, announced Thursday, comes amid a flurry of other dramatic moves that will reshape HP, the world's largest technology company by revenue. The shake-up will sharpen HP's focus on selling products and services to businesses and government agencies, instead of making gadgets for consumers.

Buying Autonomy will give HP another lure in the business market, where its chief rivals are IBM Corp., Oracle Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc.

Among other things, Autonomy makes search engines that help companies find vital information stored across computer networks.

HP CEO Leo Apotheker is paying a steep price to acquire Autonomy, which is based in Cambridge, England. It translates to $42.11 per share (GBP25.50). That's 64 percent higher than Autonomy's previous closing price. The $10 billion price tag is also 11 times greater than Autonomy's annual revenue of $870 million and represents about one-sixth of HP's current market value.

Autonomy's location outside the U.S. enabled HP to dip into its offshore stash of cash to pay for the deal. That's an appealing option for U.S. companies because they have to pay higher taxes on the money they transfer home. Microsoft Corp. is also using its offshore cash to buy Internet phone and video service Skype for $8.5 billion.

HP ended July with $13 billion in cash. The company didn't break down how much of that money was held offshore.

In a Thursday conference call, Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi questioned Apotheker about whether he was taking too big of a risk on Autonomy at a time when HP's stock is slumping badly. Even before they plunged in Thursday's extended trading, HP's shares were down by 30 percent since Apotheker became CEO last November. The stock ended the regular trading session at $29.51.

Apotheker defended the acquisition as a smart move and echoed some of the remarks he had made in a prepared statement. "Some acquisitions require heavy lifting, but bringing Autonomy into the HP world will be seamless and highly complementary," Apotheker said in that statement.

With 2,700 employees, Autonomy will continue to be run by its CEO, Mike Lynch, after the deal closes. That's expected to happen by the end of this year.

HP, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., will be hoping the Autonomy deal works out better than its $1.8 billion acquisition of device maker Palm 13 months ago.

In a surprise move, HP disclosed plans to stop making smartphones and tablet computers running on Palm's software. HP also is looking to jettison its personal computer business in a sale or spinoff.

DiscoverReady Acquires ACT Litigation Services

2011-07-26T09:48:00.003-05:00

MINNEAPOLIS, Jul 25, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Dolan Company announced today that its DiscoverReady subsidiary had completed a significant strategic expansion in the electronic discovery sector with the acquisition of the assets of ACT Litigation Services, based in Valencia, CA.

The purchase price was $65 million with additional future payments possible depending upon performance. The transaction closed July 25.

ACT is one of the country's oldest and most successful complex litigation automation firms and specializes in providing technology and process solutions to clients with electronic discovery needs. The company delivers the most efficient available processes to complete e-discovery projects faster, better and more economically. It also provides hosting and review services.

DiscoverReady provides first-pass document review, managed services and data processing and hosting to the e-discovery sector. The company was a pioneer in fixed-fee document review and automated review. In 2009 it was acquired by The Dolan Company. Like ACT, DiscoverReady services the legal needs of large corporations and their legal counsel.

"Combining ACT and DiscoverReady solidifies our position in the top echelon of e-discovery providers, not just in talent, client base and capacity, but also in terms of quality and innovative solutions," said James P. Dolan, president and chief executive of The Dolan Company. He said the acquisition combines industry leaders in review and in technology and process development.

Dolan said ACT's trailing 12-month revenues were approximately $30 million. The transaction will be immediately accretive to cash earnings per share. He said the transaction reduces the company's revenue concentration by spreading its business across many more clients. For example, upon closing the transaction, on a pro-forma basis, only one DiscoverReady client accounts for more than 10% of DiscoverReady's revenues.

"We have known the team at ACT for more than decade. During that time, we have admired their strong market reputation and business philosophy," said DiscoverReady chief executive officer Jim Wagner, adding, "We both are 'process first' organizations and ACT's client-centric quality-focused culture complements our own."

Navigant Acquires Ignited Discovery

2011-07-20T07:19:00.000-05:00

CHICAGO – July 19, 2011 – Navigant (NYSE: NCI) announced today that it has acquired Ignited Discovery, a leading electronic evidence and discovery services provider. The Ignited Discovery team brings technology-focused expertise in collections, processing and hosting services that, combined with Navigant’s existing Technology Services practice, creates a significantly enhanced discovery services offering for clients dealing with anti-trust matters, SEC investigations, class actions and other data intensive high risk situations. The team complements Navigant’s strong New York and Washington DC presence.

“Seismic changes are occurring in the litigation support and eDiscovery marketplace. Corporate and law firm clients are demanding not only end-to-end, cost effective and predictable e-discovery capabilities, but also highly flexible custom applications,” said Jeff Green, Vice President, Navigant Dispute & Investigative Services. “With the Ignited Discovery team, we have strengthened our data collections, processing and hosting capabilities in order to support clients in managing petabytes of increasingly diverse and disperse data. The enhanced practice will strengthen our ability to manage the largest data sets across the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) spectrum.”

Ignited Discovery (www.igniteddiscovery.com), founded in 2003 by Russ Kaulback and Guggan Datta, is a provider of e-Discovery services specializing in integrated collections, processing, hosting and productions. The company is known for delivering consistent, cost-effective and timely work product, using proprietary intellectual property to process data more efficiently and to manage projects more effectively.

“Having partnered with Navigant on numerous client engagements, we know that they share our view of the discovery services market,” commented Kaulback. “Technology is the enabler, and we provide clients with the most up-to-date proven solutions, and deliver quality and value through efficiency and rigor in our operations. Navigant will be a great place for us to expand our reach and continue to develop the proprietary solutions our clients have come to expect.”

UnitedLex BPO Receives Investment

2011-06-28T09:37:00.002-05:00

Investment groups Helion, Canaan and Sequoia acquire shares in UnitedLex and co-founder Ajay Agrawal sells his entire stake in the company.

Helion Venture Fund I and Canaan Advisors Pvt Ltd have raised their holding in an existing portfolio firm UnitedLex, a Gurgaon-based legal process outsourcing firm. Sequoia also joined in buying part of the stake that was sold by co-founder Ajay Agrawal.

Although UnitedLex did not disclose details of the transaction, the three investors have acquired 18.1 per cent stake in UnitedLex BPO Pvt Ltd for a total consideration of $16.68 million (75.3 crore), according to a report in ET.

Two of the three venture capital firms are existing shareholders of UnitedLex. Helion originally invested in January 2007 and followed it up with a further investment in July 2008 when Canaan also joined in.

UnitedLex BPO, a legal process outsourcing company, offers intellectual property, contract management, litigation support and immigration support services. The firm also focuses on offshore solutions including process mapping, performance baselining and process re-engineering services.

Agrawal who served as a securities law expert in various firms during 1994-2006, struck out as an entrepreneur in October 2006 and co-founded UnitedLex in the legal process outsourcing and strategic legal technology space.

He was part of the leadership team that led the UnitedLex through a period of rapid growth and geographical expansion by developing a new range of technology-powered solutions in the domains of contracts management, patent analytics and trademark solutions and has several pending patents as an innovator.

For the year ended March, 2010, UnitedLex BPO had a total income of Rs 29 crore, with net loss of Rs 68 lakh, according to VCCedge, the financial research platform of VCCircle.

Xerox Planning Acquisitions in E-Discovery Segment

2011-06-28T09:34:00.001-05:00

Interesting article on LAW.com website: Xerox Seeks Expansion in and Beyond E-Discovery

Xerox Litigation Services wants to grow its e-discovery catalog -- and grow beyond its parent company's stodgy image.

The historic company's legal technology division, which began as a startup called Amici in 2002 and was acquired by Xerox for $174 million in 2006, plans to buy its way into the information management side of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model.

Xerox's primary e-discovery product is OmniX, used for data collection, hosting, and processing, complemented by the CategoriX predictive coding tool. Both are sold as hosted applications. Now the product catalog needs additional e-mail archiving and document review software, division general manager and vice president Randy Burrows said.

"That's a big part of my job right now, and that's what I'm looking at," Burrows said. "My number one goal here is to do no harm, so I don't want to go out and make a bad acquisition."

Burrows said that Xerox management expects him to make a move but there are no set parameters or timelines. "They're very acquisition-minded and the pressure's more on me. Xerox has got a lot of cash. There is no budget. We'll continue to grow organically and make the right strategic add-ons as we go on," he added.

Forrester analyst Brian Hill, who covers the e-discovery field, said he is not surprised by the plan. "I think it's important. One of the biggest challenges that enterprises have right now, as they go through the e-discovery process, is that they effectively pay a transition tax in working with multiple vendors."

Information management, on the left side of the EDRM workflow, is traditionally a mainstream information technology task. "Xerox has quite a bit of legal talent and expertise, we'll see how effectively they might be able to incorporate an e-discovery tool that has a much stronger IT focus," Hill noted, in Cambridge, Mass.

Burrows declined to say which companies his department, in Albany, N.Y., might buy. Digest-able companies in the hosted archiving space include Global Relay, LiveOffice, Mimecast, Perimeter E-Security, Proofpoint, Sonian, and Smarsh, along with more comprehensive e-discovery firms, from Autonomy to ZL Technologies.

Cataphora Legal Joins Ernst & Young

2011-06-01T11:29:00.002-05:00

New York, 31 May 2011 – As companies look to streamline their legal review processes and reduce costs associated with e-discovery, Ernst & Young LLP’s Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services (FIDS) practice has combined with Cataphora Legal, a division of Cataphora, Inc., a leader in the management of digital communications. The combination enables Ernst & Young to further enhance its ability to serve and extend additional value to its clients, while allowing the seller, Cataphora, Inc., to focus on selling large-scale data analysis software to the Fortune 1000. The deal closed May 27, 2011, and terms were not disclosed.

Cataphora Legal’s senior leadership team, including Jonathan Nystrom, Executive Vice President, and Richard Oehrle, Chief Linguist, will be joining Ernst & Young LLP and will remain in similar roles. An additional 17 members of the Cataphora Legal team of industry experts, based in Redwood City, CA; Chicago; Washington, DC; New York City and Mumbai, will join the Ernst & Young organization.

“Cataphora Legal has created a one-of-a-kind, innovative model that truly represents the future of discovery and legal technology globally,” said Brian Loughman, Americas FIDS Leader, Ernst & Young LLP. “This addition is part of Ernst & Young’s growth strategy to continually enhance our fraud analytics offering and broaden our relationships with General Counsels and law firms. It also enables us to expand our client base and win new competitive engagements through a highly differentiated offering.”

New York eDiscovery Company for Sale

2011-05-23T17:19:00.004-05:00

The following overview was sent to me by Kenyon Group Inc. If you are interested in receiving additional information, please see contact information at the bottom of the post.

Litigation Support and Electronic Data Discovery Company

The company, located in midtown Manhattan in New York City, is a full-service provider of litigation support services. It is a privately held New York limited liability company founded in 2003.

The company provides state-of-the art technology for all imaging and document management services. Large and small law firms rely upon the company to help comprehensively prepare documents for review and storage.

The company's services include collection, organization, review and production of documents.

The company has strong client relationships with several of the top law firms in New York City. A commitment to high quality has resulted in 100% client retention since inception.

With low operating costs and efficient operations, the company has a track record of consistently high margins.

The owner is a young, energetic entrepreneur with a technical background who desires to remain in a management role and focus on business development. He would like to be acquired by a company with the resources to allow him to accelerate his growth trajectory.

Contact Info:
Don Brown
Phone: 562-930-9071
Email: Don@KenyonGroupInc.com

Gartner Predicts eDiscovery Market to Reach $1.5B in 2013

2011-05-21T15:32:00.002-05:00

The following comes from an Evan Koblentz article published by Law.com on May 23, 2011.

+++

The worldwide electronic discovery market saw revenue of $889 million in 2009 and will reach $1.5 billion in 2013, technology research firm Gartner predicted this month.

Upcoming trends in vendor consolidation, industry standards, and a focus on data integration will all be signs of a maturing and increasingly mainstream market, Gartner analysts John Bace and Debra Logan said in their May 13 report, "Magic Quadrant for E-Discovery Software."

The analysts see five leaders in e-discovery: Autonomy, Clearwell Systems, FTI Technology, Guidance Software and kCura. Autonomy and Clearwell both expanded further last week, with the former buying much of archiving specialist Iron Mountain's product lineup on Monday for $380 million and the latter being acquired by data management giant Symantec on Thursday for $390 million.

A quarter of all e-discovery companies will be consolidated by 2014, Bace and Logan said, and mainstream IT companies are expected to get involved. "We've had interest from [Hewlett-Packard], as they've announced information governance at least," via a partnership with Clearwell established in January 2008, Logan said. "Will Oracle do something? And certainly anyone who sells storage will have to do something with this," along with Microsoft which already has email archiving technology, she said.

Bace and Logan also said customers should pay attention to challengers EMC, IBM, and Nuix. (They also put Symantec in the challengers category, but its situation may change because of the Clearwell deal, and a new report about that is being prepared, they said.

Likely acquisitions targets include the companies in Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner's industry visionaries category -- AccessData Group, CaseCentral, Catalyst Repository Systems, CommVault, Exterro, Recommind and ZyLab, Logan added.

Nuix Receives Major Shareholder Investment from Macquarie Capital Group

2011-05-20T11:42:00.004-05:00

SYDNEY & WASHINGTON --May 17, 2011-- Nuix, a leading provider of electronic discovery (eDiscovery) and investigation technology software, today announced that Macquarie Capital Group Limited has invested in its business, accelerating the company’s next phase of business growth and expansion.

Macquarie’s decision to invest in Nuix is in recognition of the company’s outstanding technological innovation and strong financial performance over the past five years.

Nuix has customers in over 25 countries, including the world’s leading corporate regulators, advisory firms, litigation support and law firms, as well as a growing number of corporate customers, particularly in the financial sector.

Macquarie Capital Group Limited Executive Director, David Standen, said: “Nuix has an outstanding leadership team which has positioned Nuix to be a real market leader and deliver world-class eDiscovery solutions to its customers.”

Nuix CEO Eddie Sheehy said: "We are excited to have Macquarie as a major shareholder. We could not ask for a better partner to support our growth. Nuix competes against some of the world’s largest technology companies and Macquarie’s investment will enable us to continue to provide outstanding customer solutions as we continue to enjoy significant global growth.”

Symantec to Acquire Clearwell Systems for $390 Million

2011-05-20T10:33:00.001-05:00

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – May 19, 2011 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Clearwell Systems, Inc., a recognized leader in the eDiscovery market. The acquisition of Clearwell will bring together the industry’s leading eDiscovery, archiving and backup offerings to provide customers one of the most comprehensive information management solutions available. Under the terms of the agreement, Symantec will acquire Clearwell for a purchase price of approximately $390 million, net of Clearwell’s existing cash balance of approximately $20 million. The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval, and is expected to close in the September quarter.

“As information continues to grow at unprecedented rates, the biggest challenge for customers is to protect, manage and backup this information as well as have the ability to categorize and discover it efficiently,” said Deepak Mohan, senior vice president, Information Management Group, Symantec. “The acquisition of Clearwell’s market leading electronic discovery solution will further increase Symantec’s ability to get the right information, to the right people, at the right time, while reducing overall legal review costs and limiting risk.”

Clearwell's eDiscovery solution complements and enhances Symantec’s Enterprise Vault eDiscovery capabilities to create a more complete end-to-end eDiscovery solution. The existing integration of Enterprise Vault with the Clearwell eDiscovery Platform positions Symantec to quickly help IT and legal users streamline and reduce the cost, time and risk of eDiscovery across the most relevant information sources including email, desktops, file servers, backups and the cloud.

This acquisition will expand Symantec’s addressable market opportunity and will position the company as a leader in the fast-growing eDiscovery software market, which, according to Gartner, is growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 14 percent and is estimated to reach $1.7 billion by 20141. In addition, this acquisition is expected to provide future cross-sell and product integration synergies across Symantec backup and security, by leveraging Symantec NetBackup, Data Loss Prevention and Data Insight.

Autonomy to Acquire eDiscovery Business from Iron Mountain

2011-05-18T13:08:00.003-05:00

Cambridge, England and San Francisco - 16 May 2011 - Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU. or AU.L), a global leader in infrastructure software, and Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), the information management company, today announced a definitive agreement for Autonomy to acquire selected key assets of Iron Mountain's digital division including archiving, eDiscovery and online backup. For customers, this means access to Autonomy's advanced technology for information governance in secure, private clouds in data centers around the world.

Acquisition Highlights

Cash consideration of $380 million (subject to a final working capital adjustment), funded from Autonomy's existing cash reserves. Post-closing Autonomy expects to have a gross cash balance of at least $700 million.

Adds over six petabytes of data under management and more than 6,000 customers to Autonomy's customer base, bringing Autonomy's private cloud data to over 25 petabytes and total customer base to over 25,000.

Assets acquired include digital archiving, eDiscovery and online backup and recovery solutions of Iron Mountain Digital, but not the technology escrow service and a medical records archive service and other smaller operations which were recently shut down.

Active Iron Mountain Digital customers will continue to be supported without disruption.

Autonomy to offer Connected, the digital data protection product, to existing Autonomy customers across enterprise server, PC and mobile devices. The addition of this product drives non-regulatory and structured data into our cloud-based information processing platform.

Expected go-forward revenues of approximately $130 million to $140 million.

Expect to achieve cost synergies of approximately $40 million per annum over the first year from completion, from a combination of efficiencies from utilization of

Restructuring costs of approximately $10 million expected in the two quarters following completion.

Acquisition expected to have traditional effect on gross margins and operating margins in first few quarters following completion with the result of slight earnings dilution in the first quarter after close, neutral for the full year 2011, and expected adjusted earnings per share accretion of approximately 15% in 2012. We would expect gross margins and operating margins to return to historical levels within one to two quarters of completion.

Austin's StoredIQ raises $9.9M

2011-04-15T14:39:00.001-05:00

The Austin Business Journal reported that software maker StoredIQ Inc. received $9.9 million of a planned $11.4 million financing.

The Austin-based company — a developer of information management, compliance and electronic discovery software — collected the capital from 10 investors, according to a Thursday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filing is an amendment to a November 2010 filing in which StoredIQ reported receiving $4.9 million of the $11.4 million Series D round of funding.

The company, founded in 2001, employed about 54 workers last year. It changed its name from Deepfile Corp. in early 2005.

In 2009, the company closed an $8 million Series C round of financing. Investors included Arizona-based PerformanceEdge Partners and two Austin-based firms, S3 Ventures and Techxas Ventures.

In October 2010, the company selected PerformanceEdge co-founder and general manager Phil Myers as its CEO, and H.E. Buddy Wilson as vice president of business development.

Epiq Systems Acquires Encore Discovery for $100 Million

2011-04-04T15:46:00.001-05:00

KANSAS CITY, Kan., April 4, 2011 -- Epiq Systems, Inc. (Nadaq:EPIQ), a leading global provider of technology solutions for the legal profession, today announced the acquisition of Encore Discovery Solutions for $100 million cash. With this transaction, Epiq further strengthens its worldwide e-discovery franchise providing corporate legal departments and law firms with full-service capabilities to manage electronic information for discovery, investigations, compliance and related legal matters. The transaction has closed and was funded from the company's credit facility.

Based in Phoenix, Encore Discovery Solutions provides market-proven products and services for electronic evidence processing, document review platforms, and professional services for project management, data collection and forensic consulting. For 2010, on a pro forma basis, Encore represents an approximate 50% revenue increase to Epiq Systems' standalone e-discovery segment, which had 2010 operating revenue of approximately $81 million.

In its continuing evaluation of strategic opportunities, Epiq Systems has prioritized the identification of e-discovery candidates with both compatible business strategies and complementary financial profiles. In these respects, Encore represents a natural extension and an attractive market share expansion.

Epiq Systems has a high growth, leading global position in the market for e-discovery technologies and professional services. For 2010, Epiq's e-discovery business experienced a 92% increase in non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA exclusively through organic growth. Through the Encore acquisition, the company's e-discovery segment experiences a significant revenue increase and gains immediate access to a high quality customer base having almost no overlap with Epiq's existing clientele. Encore's clients will benefit from Epiq Systems' service capacity, international offices, data centers, and document review services.

While Epiq Systems has developed its e-discovery franchise based on proprietary, internally developed software including its DocuMatrix(R) review platform and eDataMatrix(R) evidence processing engine, Encore has approached the market with a selection of licensed third party tools from which clients can choose. Going forward, Epiq Systems will make both solution sets available, thereby offering to customers capabilities of unprecedented breadth and depth. Based on the size, complexity and service level required by each client matter, Epiq will be ideally positioned to present a tailored package of products and services.

Encore's primary operations and client service facility is located in Phoenix, and they will continue to operate from this office location by blending into Epiq's total e-discovery service infrastructure.

Tom W. Olofson, chairman and CEO, and Christopher E. Olofson, president and COO of Epiq Systems, stated, "Today's acquisition further augments and accelerates the opportunity for our highly successful global e-discovery business. Encore has a strong customer base that complements our own, and the company's Phoenix location is an excellent geographic counterbalance to our own domestic presence in New York. By continuing the availability of both businesses' products, services and technologies, we offer the industry's best mixture of resources, experience and subject matter expertise."

Huron Legal Adds LECG E-Discovery Unit

2011-03-31T07:53:00.001-05:00

CHICAGO, Mar 31, 2011 -- Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ: HURN), a leading provider of business consulting services, today announced the acquisition of a group of 13 e-discovery related consultants including Michael Bandemer, as a managing director, and Robert Hichens, Sergio Kopelev, and Alan "Skip" Westfall, as directors. The group joins Huron Legal from LECG and will focus on client e-discovery, forensics and data analysis issues.

"Law departments and law firms need help managing both efficiency and cost in complex litigation, investigation and transaction document production situations. With the rise of digital communication, the amount of information has skyrocketed, making it harder for clients to control and manage their e-discovery processes and costs," said Shahzad Bashir, vice president, Huron Legal. "We are pleased to welcome Michael and the team from LECG. They will complement Huron Legal's expertise in e-discovery matters, and we are confident that they will be a great resource for our law department and law firm clients."

Bandemer, based in San Diego, CA, led LECG's Legal Technology practice and has 20 years of experience in investigations, financial analysis, and technology matters. Focusing on e-discovery and computer forensics, he advises both corporate and law firm clients on technology issues including information management, litigation readiness, compliance, cost control, evidence hold and preservation, collection and search, forensic analysis of digital media, complex data analytics, and other information technology related matters. Bandemer has also provided qualified expert testimony at deposition, arbitration, federal and state courts and has served as a special master and third-party neutral.

The LECG addition will broaden Huron Legal's West Coast presence, and is another move to further strengthen the Company's domestic and global e-discovery and cost savings services.

Wave Software Acquires iFramework from Intelligent Discovery Solutions

2011-02-03T12:43:00.001-06:00

ORLANDO, FL (January 31, 2011) - Orlando-based Wave Software, a leading provider of early case assessment, legal hold and electronic data discovery technology for global corporations, today announced it has acquired iFramework from Intelligent Discovery Solutions. In July 2009, Wave Software formalized a strategic partnership with iFramework and integrated it with Trident Pro, its electronic discovery technology. Successful product integration led to the acquisition which will allow the company to more closely align its products and development team and expand its technology across more of the case and project management aspect of litigation.

iFramework has established itself as a leader in the litigation project management space. It is currently being used by AmLaw 100 law firms to manage work flow, tasks, calendars, evidence, vendors and invoices. iFramework and Trident Pro’s automated processes and tools allow for an unprecedented view into the discovery lifecycle.

Now, as part of Trident Pro and Wave Software’s entire suite of products, users will be able to filter and cull discovery data, including foreign language documents, PSTs, NSFs and loose files, plus see near-real-time metrics on the tasks being performed. This acquisition and integration will allow project managers to better control projects and meet deadlines because the metrics of their projects processed in Trident Pro will be easily accessible and continually updated within the application. Managers will have access to project data, down to a custodian level, including processing status, volume, and speed. They will also have the ability to track and resource balance multiple instances of Trident Pro, running on the same or varied projects, all from one central location that also integrates with the tracking of team members, tasks, calendars and evidence.

Robert Childress, Wave Software co-founder and President, stated, “This increased investment in technology, coupled with access to the broad resources of our R&D department, will be advantageous for our clients as well. In addition to giving us the ability to offer complete integrated project management and electronic data discovery software to our clients, the investment will result in rapid development of future solutions and produce more reliable, easy-to-use technologies.”

Iris Data Services Acquires New York Based Itek Imaging

2011-01-14T16:42:00.003-06:00

Following an acquisition of Lexsum, Inc. in January 2010 and an acquisition of Capitol Discovery Services in December 2010, Iris Data makes its third acquisition in 12 months, with the purchase of Itek Imaging. Iris Data predicts an 11 percent revenue increase from this most recent acquisition.

NEW YORK, January 10, 2011 — Iris Data Services Inc., a leading provider of discovery solutions, announced today that it has acquired Itek Imaging, LLC, a major provider of full service litigation support including eDiscovery, computer forensics, and imaging & coding to the New York City area. Itek’s downtown location at 307 West 38th Street, Suite 807, New York, NY 10018, 212-643-3000, will expand Iris’ production capacity and compliment its existing data center at 111 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY, 10011. Iris Data Services is a leading supplier of discovery solutions including eDiscovery, computer forensics, attorney document review, and online hosting utilizing their proprietary review platform, Unify™.

IVIZE Services, Inc. Secures New Growth-Oriented Investors

2011-01-12T16:51:00.001-06:00

CHARLOTTE, NC – Ivize Services, Inc., an industry leader in litigation support services, announced that Azalea Capital, along with Ivize CEO Ron Self and CFO Mark Marmon, led a recapitalization of the business to accelerate future growth. “This strong financial support will allow us to pursue several growth initiatives and further differentiate the Ivize service offerings in our 14 regional markets,” said Ron Self, president and CEO. “Our 3,000 clients can remain confident that Ivize will continue to serve their litigation support needs and develop innovative, insightful, and informative solutions.”

With this new capital investment, Ivize will strengthen its capability to locally deliver superior electronic discovery, processing, and hosting services, while maintaining excellent support for its clients’ paper-based imaging needs. “We want Ivize to be the preferred one-stop local supplier for the entire spectrum of data discovery services,” added Self.

Azalea Capital is a private equity firm based in Greenville, SC. “Azalea Capital invests in well-managed companies that are committed to growth and excellence,” said Patrick Weston, managing partner of Azalea Capital. “We are impressed by the Ivize management team’s bold vision, its strong market position, and reputation for quality service. We see potential for growth of the e-Discovery market.” The recapitalization of Ivize was also supported by Harbert Mezzanine Partners of Nashville, Tenn., and Fifth Third Bank of Charlotte, NC.

Private Equity Firm Acquires First Advantage for $265 Million

2011-01-05T07:18:00.004-06:00

CoreLogic in Santa Ana has spun off and sold for $265 million its employer services and litigation support businesses to Symphony Technology Group, a Palo Alto private equity firm, PEHub reports.

The newly spun-off entity is named First Advantage. CoreLogic will retain its remaining businesses. It is an all-cash transaction. CoreLogic, which owns the nation's largest database on real estate and consumer data, was itself spun off in November 2009 by First American Corp., real estate data giant in Santa Ana.

CoreLogic announced in August its intent to sell its employer services and litigation support businesses. "The successful sale of these businesses represents a significant milestone for CoreLogic," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "These are valuable businesses with good growth potential, but we determined that they do not have a long-term strategic fit within CoreLogic. We are pleased with the outcome of the sales process and are confident that STG will build on the market-leading position held by these businesses. "He added that CoreLogic intends to use the proceeds from the sale to buy other companies that are a better strategic fit.

Symphony Managing Partner Bill Chisholm said, "First Advantage has a long history of providing a comprehensive suite of solutions to customers in its core markets. We are delighted to partner with the management team to build a leading HR and legal information- and technology-enabled services company.

"Macquarie Capital advised CoreLogic in the sale process for the First Advantage businesses.

Document Technologies, Inc. Acquires California Based Unlimited Discovery Group

2010-12-08T07:09:00.001-06:00

ATLANTA – December 7, 2010 – Document Technologies, Inc. (“DTI”), the nation’s largest independent provider of comprehensive discovery and on-site facilities management services, announced today its acquisition of Unlimited Discovery Group, one of the largest and most established discovery services providers in Southern California. The addition of Unlimited Discovery Group, including both the company’s locations in Los Angeles and Century City, further expands DTI’s local presence in California and serves to better support both local and national sales efforts as well as DTI’s existing facilities management customer base in Los Angeles.

Unlimited Discovery Group was founded in 2000 when the electronic discovery industry was still in its early stages. A pioneer in the Southern California market in paper to digital and digital to digital workflows, Unlimited is regarded for its consultative approach to the discovery process. The combination of DTI and Unlimited Discovery Group’s offerings—along with their combined 30-plus years of experience in paper and electronic discovery—will provide clients a broader spectrum of tailored solutions to meet their needs.

Iris Data Services Acquires Capitol Discovery Services in Phoenix

2010-12-07T07:14:00.000-06:00

PHOENIX, December 6, 2010 — Iris Data Services, a leading provider of discovery solutions, announced today that it has acquired Capitol Discovery Services, a major provider of full service litigation support including eDiscovery, computer forensics, imaging and coding to the Phoenix area. Capitol’s downtown location at 101 N. 1st Avenue, Suite LL10, Phoenix, AZ 85003, 602-462-5888, will be Iris’ first production center in Phoenix. Iris Data Services is a leading supplier of discovery solutions including eDiscovery, computer forensics, attorney document review, and online hosting utilizing their proprietary review platform, Unify™.

“The addition of Capitol Discovery and their experienced staff continues Iris’ national growth and gives us a production center in the Southwest to service our Phoenix and West Coast customers,” said the president of Iris, Major Baisden. “Capitol is a full service discovery company and allows Iris to offer local, end-to-end litigation discovery services to Phoenix area law firms and corporate legal departments.”

DIGITS LLC and Avalon Merge to Form Strategic Partnership

2010-11-28T08:31:00.003-06:00

Syracuse, NY. — Avalon and DIGITS LLC announced the completion of a Strategic Partnership, which will effect the merger of their high-end technology service offerings across New York State. Avalon has unmatched capacity for large and complex litigation productions and E-Discovery processing, which will complement the wide-ranging computer forensics, corporate investigations and network advisory services offered by DIGITS LLC. This partnership will combine Avalon’s statewide capacity for large and complex litigation productions with DIGITS’ unparalleled experience in computer forensics and complex corporate computer investigations gained from over 115 years of combined federal and state law enforcement careers. The partnership will allow both companies to enhance and support the services offered to their clients.

Avalon Legal Technology's President, J.P. Midgley, is excited about this new partnership stating, “The combined professionalism, court-recognized expertise, and qualifications of DIGITS LLC will bring additional value to our clients in the corporate and legal industries. Our alliance with DIGITS LLC will provide an additional enhancement to safeguard the data used to create these reports. DIGITS LLC experience in the law enforcement arena will allow our clients to talk to the cops without going to the police.”

Thomson Reuters acquires Pangea3

2010-11-19T13:19:00.001-06:00

Thomson Reuters today announced that it has acquired Pangea3, a legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider serving corporate legal departments and law firms worldwide. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Pangea3 is is growing at more than 20 percent annually and projected to exceed $1 billion this year.

The firm is headquartered in New York and Mumbai, and has 650 employees at its major delivery centers.

Its client base includes Am Law 250 law firms and some of the world’s largest financial services, pharmaceutical, healthcare, food and beverage, technology and consumer goods companies.

The firm offers a variety of services in areas like legal document review; corporate transactions; intellectual property; and risk management and compliance.

KPMG Acquires Ledjit Consulting

2010-11-17T07:32:00.001-06:00

TORONTO, Nov. 16 - KPMG LLP (Canada) announced today that it has acquired Ledjit Consulting Inc., Canada's premiere e-Discovery and Information Management (EDD/IM) firm specialized in the business of Bridging the Gap between IT and the Law®. With this acquisition, KPMG becomes Canada's first firm offering all of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), expanding on the services in which the firm is already a recognized leader. Ledjit's client base, including a variety of multi-national corporations, will benefit from KPMG's depth and breadth of Advisory knowledge and skills.

"The addition of Ledjit professionals and their e-discovery skills positions KPMG as a leading Advisor to corporations and law firms on how to proactively manage records from creation to destruction, and in the course of litigation and investigation. We are building on our ability to deliver strategies that enable organizations to become more efficient and effective in all sectors," said Bill Thomas, CEO and Senior Partner of KPMG.

Ledjit's former president, Dominic Jaar, is one of the few Canadians to be recognized as a North American thought leader in the information management field. He and his Ledjit colleagues are highly regarded in the legal community across the country and abroad. All members of the Ledjit team have joined KPMG and will work with the firm's existing E-Discovery practice by complementing it with an information management specialty.

Huron Consulting Group Acquires TRILANTIC

2010-11-04T08:52:00.001-05:00

CHICAGO--Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HURN), a leading provider of business consulting services, today announced the acquisition of TRILANTIC International Limited, a top e-discovery business providing best of breed technology solutions to clients in Europe and the Middle East. The purchase further enhances the Company’s discovery offerings for clients globally.

“The addition of TRILANTIC bolsters our already robust document review services and Huron’s streamlined e-discovery solution, V3locity,” said James H. Roth, chief executive officer, Huron Consulting Group. “TRILANTIC’s expertise in Europe and the Gulf region will allow us to better serve our global clients on discovery and related legal matters. We are pleased to welcome TRILANTIC to Huron’s Legal Consulting team.”

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. Murray began his career in legal technology and has been at the forefront of electronic document management services since the early 1990s. Murray is considered a leader in the e-discovery industry in Europe. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Wave Software Acquires E.L. Native Review from Electronic Legal Software, LLC

2010-10-27T16:57:00.000-05:00

ORLANDO, FL and DENVER, CO (October 25, 2010) - Orlando-based Wave Software, a leading provider of early case assessment, legal hold, litigation support and electronic data discovery technology for global corporations, today announced that it has acquired E.L. Native Review from Electronic Legal Software, LLC. E.L. Native Review for LexisNexis Concordance® streamlines the native document review process by displaying a document without the need to have the native application installed (e.g., Microsoft Office®). E.L. Native Review is currently integrated into Wave Software’s Trident Pro and the acquisition allows Wave Software to control more aspects of discovery technology from data creation to production and storage. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Trident Pro’s culling and de-duplication module, along with its native file viewer, gives legal teams a clear picture of the type and volume of data that exists in a discovery collection. At this stage of pre-processing, only potentially relevant data is automatically bridged from Trident Pro to common review platforms such as Concordance, where reviewers can then mark documents as privileged or responsive. Concordance is a sophisticated case management software program designed to bring greater efficiency to case preparation by creating one consolidated database for searching, reviewing and annotating documents.

Trident Pro and E.L. Native Review combined extends the capabilities and functionality of Concordance and other common document review platforms. Trident Pro culls, de-duplicates and identifies near-duplicate discovery data in an easy three-step process. It has reduced data collections by about 25 percent, thus reducing the overall amount of time and money spent by clients for processing and attorney review.

Grant Thornton UK Acquires UK eDiscovery Provider Legal Inc

2010-10-19T09:48:00.002-05:00

Leading financial and business adviser Grant Thornton has announced the acquisition of litigation support and eDiscovery consultancy, Legal Inc to further enhance its forensic advisory service.

Disclosure is a fundamental to any case and goes to the core of any judicial decision that is made. As more business is communicated electronically in the form of emails, computer discs and data held on electronic devices including mobiles and blackberries the significance of e-disclosure has become paramount.

Legal Inc is an established business with an experienced team of 14 who use leading software solutions to deal with how information is now stored by businesses. Legal Inc will enable the Forensic advisory team to search, review and manage the large amount of data that is part of forensic investigations. In addition they will continue to provide solutions to existing clients which include corporate counsel, law firms and Government regulators on early case assessment to file review and electronic presentations.

Audio Search Provider Nexidia Secures $23 Million In Funding

2010-10-19T07:03:00.001-05:00

ATLANTA, GA. – Oct. 18, 2010 – Nexidia, the market-leading provider of audio search and speech analytics solutions, today announced that the company has received over $23 million in new equity funding to extend business growth and technology leadership in its key markets. The funding will be used to further develop and protect original research in its core technology and intellectual property, and to increase the company’s operational capacity in the contact center and other markets worldwide.

New investors in this round are BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, Sandbox Industries and HarbourVest Partners. They join existing investors HIG Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, Boston Millennia Partners, Morgan Stanley and Cordova Ventures, all of whom added to their equity stake in the company.

"When we invest in high growth companies we look for reliable predictors of commercial success," said Ian Lane, Vice President at HarbourVest Partners. "The company must have a differentiated and defensible technology, provide a substantial and tangible ROI to their customers, show demonstrated traction addressing a large market opportunity, and be led by a management team with a proven ability to execute in a fast paced environment. In Nexidia's case, the team has utilized their patented phonetic technology to create a portfolio of applications that address the universal challenges of creating better products, delivering more effective customer service, and improving profitability."

D4 Forms Alliance with Canadian eDiscovery Leader Commonwealth Legal

2010-10-16T11:34:00.000-05:00

Rochester, NY October 9, 2010 -- D4, LLC, headquartered in Rochester, NY, USA and Commonwealth Legal Inc., of Toronto, Canada have officially bridged their end-to-end eDiscovery services across the border, forming the first alliance of its kind in the eDiscovery industry.

“No other organization in this industry spans all of North America,” says John Holland, CEO of D4. “Our coverage just became the largest in the continent! For some time it’s been our goal to offer local coverage of our services throughout the U.S. Expanding our reach across Canada, in conjunction with Commonwealth Legal, seems like a natural fit and a good progression to our model of serving local markets.”

D4 offers eDiscovery and Computer Forensic services and maintains offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, Omaha, Denver, Lincoln, Grand Rapids, Charlotte, Washington DC, Tampa, Buffalo and Rochester and is currently in the process of opening new offices in Boston and Albany.

“It just made sense,” says Peter Coons, Senior Vice President of D4. “There are countless companies in both Canada and the US that are forced to deal with cross-border litigation. This relationship allows both companies to provide clients with seamless cross-border eDiscovery by addressing and solving jurisdictional issues, differentiations in data hosting requirements and differences of law. The alignment also allows both companies to better serve current client bases and combine our expertise and efforts to essentially form an all-in-one eDiscovery juggernaut.”

IBM Acquires PSS Systems

2010-10-14T08:21:00.001-05:00

ARMONK, NY — October 13, 2010 — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it has acquired PSS Systems, a privately held company based in Mountain View, Calif. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

PSS Systems' software helps organizations analyze, automate and implement information governance policies across massive amounts of electronic business information and dispose of that information in an automated way. These capabilities are critical elements to remaining responsive to legal obligations while reducing data storage costs.

As information continues to grow at exponential rates, companies across a wide range of industries are looking for ways to reduce the costs of collecting, processing, reviewing and storing information by setting information disposal policies that can meet legal requirements.

To improve the management of data and these increasing legal obligations, Chief Legal Officers and CIOs are investing in software to automate and implement routine enforcement of information governance and retention policies. Needlessly retaining information increases business risk, impedes the ability to respond to legal requests, and puts costs restraints on organizations in every industry.

StoredIQ Secures $10 Million Investment

2010-10-13T06:50:00.001-05:00

Austin, TX. – October 12, 2010 – StoredIQ Inc., a leading provider of Intelligent Information Management solutions for eDiscovery, records and compliance management, today announced that it has closed $10 million in new investment financing and expanded its management team in preparation for accelerated growth. The financing round, led by PerformanceEdge Partners and existing lead investor S3 Ventures, provides the company with the funds needed to extend its marketing and sales initiatives and grow new partnerships. The company also announced that it has appointed Phil Myers as the new CEO and H.E. Buddy Wilson as vice president of business development to lead those efforts.

StoredIQ has rapidly gained traction with customers across several vertical industries, including financial services, healthcare and oil and gas. This successful round of funding continues StoredIQ’s impressive momentum and growth marked by expanded partnerships with Symantec and Dell, the recent launch of StoredIQ Intelligent Information Management Platform 6.0 and its market-leading eDiscoveryManager application, as well as numerous industry recognitions including KM World 100 Companies that Matter, Network Products Guide 2010 Product Innovation Award, and Info Security 2010 Global Product Excellence Award.

“StoredIQ’s unique approach to addressing real and critical problems that large organizations face in understanding and managing the unprecedented growth of their information repositories is changing the game for its enterprise customers,” said Phil Myers, CEO of StoredIQ. “80 to 85 percent of corporate data today resides in unstructured files, email, SharePoint and other sources that are largely invisible to the company, creating high risk and management costs. I am delighted to join StoredIQ’s leadership team and capitalize on the tremendous market opportunity that now exists to solve this critical information management problem.”

Stroz Friedberg Receives $115MM Investment from New Mountain Capital

2010-10-03T11:19:00.001-05:00

September 30, 2010 -- NEW YORK -- Stroz Friedberg’s unsurpassed expertise in managing digital risk and uncovering digital evidence has helped attract a $115 million investment from New Mountain Capital to fuel and accelerate the company’s growth.

“This investment is with the perfect partner and happens at the perfect time,” says Eric Friedberg, Co-President of Stroz Friedberg. “Over the next three years, the firm plans to expand to key markets in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as broaden its service offerings beyond digital forensics, electronic discovery, cyber-crime response, and investigations to include forensic accounting and intelligence services for businesses. New Mountain is the ideal partner given its strong experience and skill in scaling successful mid-sized organizations into larger companies worthy of public investment.”

Founder and Co-President Edward Stroz says the investment will help Stroz Friedberg meet clients’ increasing digital needs.

“Our clients are demanding more of our expertise for malware analysis, forensic accounting, and e-discovery,” says Mr. Stroz, “and New Mountain Capital shares our vision about the best way to scale and deliver our expertise in the marketplace.”

New Mountain Capital, a New York based investment firm, currently manages more than $9 billion in aggregate capital commitments.

“Data security and digital forensics represent a challenge that touches all businesses, and considering the heightened technological and regulatory risks of today’s world, the need for these services will only intensify,” says Alok Singh, Managing Director of New Mountain Capital. “Stroz Friedberg is a company with a sterling reputation based on the superior quality of its work and its people. We’re excited to be able to help this firm build upon its existing successes.”

New Mountain Capital will own approximately 50 percent of Stroz Friedberg, with the remaining ownership shared by Greenhill Capital Partners II LP, Stroz Friedberg’s initial private equity investor, and Stroz Friedberg’s employees.

Document Technologies, Inc. Acquires Daticon EED

2010-09-24T08:13:00.002-05:00

As I noted in a recent post, the fourth quarter seems to be shaping up to be very active in regards to funding in the eDiscovery space.

ATLANTA – September 20, 2010 – Document Technologies, Inc. (DTI), the nation’s largest independent provider of comprehensive discovery and on-site facilities management services, announces its acquisition of Daticon EED, one of the original and most widely recognized leaders in the electronic discovery services industry. DTI and Daticon EED’s combined operations strengthen its position as a top tier discovery service provider that can offer both corporate law departments and law firms the infrastructure of a large, national company. Clients will receive personal service from local experts based in more than 20 offices nationwide. The acquired company will be called “EED, A DTI Company.”

“As one of the first providers of electronic discovery services, Daticon EED brings an unparalleled level of knowledge and expertise in directing technologies and processes to significantly reduce the overall cost, time and risk of discovery,” said Document Technologies, Inc. CEO John Davenport, Jr. “At the same time, Daticon EED’s clients will benefit from our ‘best-in-breed’ philosophy and financial stability.” DTI is now a $130 million company, including more than $70 million in revenue from discovery services. Discovery revenue combined with the consistent revenue of its facilities management services division have helped the company achieve profitability in 35 consecutive quarters.

The acquisition further expands DTI’s national footprint and advances the company’s ability to provide local service and expertise across the U.S. The deal also adds an impressive roster of leading discovery consultants and skilled project managers as well as world-class IT infrastructure to further strengthen the company’s ability to provide expert advice and high-quality service. The former headquarters of Daticon EED in Seattle will serve as DTI’s newest Regional Technology Center, providing clients with access to large data centers on both coasts. Between its state-of-the-art National Technology Center in Atlanta, Regional Technology Centers in Seattle as well as Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, and Norwich, Conn., and facilities in local markets nationwide, DTI now has the capacity to process 4.5 terabytes of data on a daily basis and host 1.4 petabytes of data for document review.

Investment Fund Seeking eDiscovery Acquisition Opportunities

2010-09-19T11:34:00.002-05:00

Overview
A private investment fund (investor) has formed to locate, acquire, and operate a small to mid-sized company while increasing its value using proven management methodologies and capital restructuring as needed. Investor is looking for profitable companies in the e-discovery industry. Investor represents the capital and experience of a team of seasoned operators, entrepreneurs, and investors that are dedicated to creating long-term value. Investor’s energetic management team is committed to ensuring the long-term growth while preserving the culture, reputation, and customer relationships of any investment it undertakes. Investor has the ability to close deals quickly without the need for extensive bank financing and they offer attractive liquidity options for owner/operators seeking to exit the day to day management of their business.

Investor provides liquidity to business owners, supply capital for growth and ensures continuity to customers, employees and the community. Investor operates in an ethical and principled manner based on deeply held values of integrity, hard work, fairness, and transparency.

Objective
Investor’s mission is to build long-term value through acquiring, operating and growing a privately held business. Value creation may include extensions of existing product and service lines, augmenting sales and marketing functions, improving internal work processes, and employing innovative incentive and HR programs. It may also include external growth, when appropriate, through additional acquisitions and expansion into new service lines and geographic territories. Investor seeks to partner with highly ethical management teams that share our enthusiasm and hands-on approach to building and growing world-class enterprises.

Investment Focus
Financial:
- Revenues between $8-50M
- EBITDA $1.5-6M
- EBITDA Margin of 15% or greater
- Transaction value of $10-50M

Company:
- History of strong free cash flow and profitable operations
- Recurring revenue streams
- Senior management seeking to exit or partner with a new management team

Industry:
- Well positioned in the eDiscovery industry or sub-industry
- Opportunities to create sustainable competitive positions
- Large market with fragmented industry structure

Situational:
- Committed to management team
- Committed to growth
- Owner seeking liquidity and transition of operational responsibility

Value Proposition
As entrepreneurs themselves, investor recognizes that selling a business is an emotional process. Successful businesses are the product of years of hard work and dedication. Investor's team is comprised of a well respected group of executives, entrepreneurs, and investors, with extensive and diverse experience in managing, investing in, and growing businesses. The collective experience of the managing partners and the advising team allows investor to anticipate issues early in the process, enabling investor to facilitate a smooth transition. Investor understands that a long, drawn out sale process puts significant stress on the organization. Investor has capital ready to deploy and will work diligently to complete a transaction within the time-frame and terms originally agreed upon. Investor's number one priority is the continued success of the business and all of its stakeholders.

Investor is interested in acquiring a business at a fair market value that represents the company’s history of success and potential for growth. Investor's partnership structure provides them with flexibility to tailor a transaction to meet a business owner's needs with regard to liquidity options, tax issues and family members who may want to remain involved in the business. Investor support owner’s continued involvement in the business.

All discussions are held in the strictest of confidence.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact me at jenkins.bradley@gmail.com and I will be happy to make an introduction. Serious inquiries only please.

eDiscovery Funding Activity Picks Up

2010-09-18T15:02:00.004-05:00

Although there has not been much funding news lately, investment interest and activity does seem to be picking up. Over the last couple weeks I have talked to companies and individuals on both the sell side and the buy side of the E-Discovery space, that are looking for opportunities. As an example, I received calls from two companies looking for equity and debt investors, and have talked to a couple active Investment Banking firms that are currently looking for acquisition targets. I expect the fourth quarter to be fairly active with funding news. Stay tuned...

IE Discovery Invests in Discovery Workflow Provider eDirect Impact

2010-09-04T06:30:00.001-05:00

AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwire - August 10, 2010) - IE Discovery, a leading provider of comprehensive Discovery Management solutions to the legal community, announced today it has acquired a majority interest in eDirect Impact. The investment will provide eDirect Impact with additional funding for development of its market-leading discovery workflow management technology, eManage. In addition to its equity stake, IE Discovery has an exclusive license to deploy eManage workflow management technology in the corporate and government markets.

As more clients wish to deploy disparate technology solutions, eManage fills a critical need for a universal platform to connect and integrate popular e-discovery products such as IPRO and review tools such as Concordance, Summation and iConect, as well as IE Discovery's proprietary discovery platform, InfoDox. eManage ties together the tools of choice for clients and their outside counsel, providing the management platform required for true centralized project management of discovery projects across firms, projects and technologies. "Our ultimate objective is to provide a platform that integrates seamlessly with existing e-discovery products and services," said Chris May, CEO of IE Discovery. "This strategy will allow us to be more technology agnostic and will remove many barriers of adoption."

eManage is built, in part, on the SharePoint platform that is already in place at more than two-thirds of companies(1). It simplifies the project management aspect of electronic discovery, while automating workflow and providing real-time reports to clients and counsel. It works across platforms and increases client control by providing real-time visibility into all discovery, no matter what technology is being applied or which law firm is handling the matter. eManage reduces discovery risk by providing detailed, real-time information enabling greater control over projects, while lowering the overall costs of discovery by creating time and cost efficiencies throughout the discovery process. IE Discovery's equity investment will allow eDirect Impact to continue to enhance the functionality of eManage and provide greater integration with a wider array of electronic discovery applications and review platforms.

Thomson Reuters Acquires CaseLogistix From Anacomp

2010-07-15T06:18:00.003-05:00

Monica Bay reports in Law Technology News on July 14, 2010

In what signals a significant move into the e-discovery market, Thomson Reuters has purchased CaseLogistix from San Diego's Anacomp. Terms of the deal were not announced.

CaseLogistix offers document review, data ingestion, and production tools to help litigation teams manage the electronic discovery review process, says TR. "The acquisition is a critical next step in furthering the Thomson Reuters litigation strategy," says Allison Guidette, TR Legal's vice president and general manager of litigation (and formerly an executive with Merrill Corp.). The CaseLogistix team will be under her umbrella.

Tom O'Connor, a longtime member of LTN's Editorial Advisory Board, served as an independent consultant for CaseLogistix from 2006-2009, writing white papers, and conducting webinars and focus groups about e-discovery processes. The acquisition, he says, shows that there's been no slowdown in the efforts of large companies aquiring small EDD firms, in order to create "end-to-end" offerings. "More specifically, this signals to me that TR is serious about that market, and is finally taking steps to counter the immense EDD and litigation support market presence of LexisNexis."

Says Craig Ball, LTN's EDD columnist, says "it's exciting to see Thomson dipping its toe in the e-discovery ocean. Acquiring CaseLogistix suggests the emergence of a broader EDD strategy, because CaseLogistix , by itself, does not an EDD vendor contender make." The more intriguing question is what the sale means for Anacomp's future, as it had reportedly divested itself of at least one other acquisition to focus on CaseLogistix ," says Ball. "What fills the big hole left by CaseLogistix -- a flagship product -- if Anacomp plans to stay in the industry?"

Will Thomson Reuters Legal look in the neighborhood for its next EDD acquisition? Time will tell.

Monica Bay is editor-and-chief of Law Technology News, and is a member of the California Bar.

Veritext Acquired by Investcorp

2010-07-06T16:16:00.001-05:00

NEW YORK, July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Investcorp, a global provider and manager of alternative investment products, announced today that it has acquired Veritext Holding Company, a leading national provider of deposition and litigation support services to law firms, Fortune 500 corporations, and regulatory agencies in the United States. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Veritext was acquired from an investor group led by The Riverside Company and members of the management team that bought the company in August 2005.

Veritext has its headquarters in New Jersey and operates within the stable and growing legal services industry through its 30 locations across six core geographic regions in the largest legal markets in the United States. The company provides technology and services that capture testimony during a deposition which is a critical part of the discovery phase of most civil litigation cases in the United States.

"Over the past several years, Veritext's management team, led by CEO Michael Sandler and COO Nancy Josephs, has built a market leading company by leveraging its proprietary technology to offer a variety of highly differentiated deposition services," said Chris McCollum, a Managing Director in Investcorp's private equity business. "We believe that Veritext has multiple ways to grow. It has a leading position in the growing deposition services market, the capability to generate strong free cash flow and the opportunity to complete further add-on acquisitions.

Unify and Daegis Merge to Become Industry’s Most Comprehensive eDiscovery Company

2010-07-03T08:04:00.002-05:00

ROSEVILLE, Calif. and SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., – June 29, 2010 – Unify Corp. (NASDAQ: UNFY), a global information management company, and Daegis, a leading eDiscovery solutions provider, today announced that they have merged. Together, the companies will deliver industry-first solutions that integrate information archiving with electronic discovery management to bring organizations flexibility, scalability and predictability across the entire litigation lifecycle.

Under the terms of the agreement, Unify will pay approximately $38 million in a combination of cash, seller financing and stock, detailed more fully below. For the twelve months ended April 30, 2010, Daegis generated approximately $23 million in revenue and $6.5 million in adjusted EBITDA.

By merging, Unify and Daegis will bring new solutions to market that uniquely address the convergence of archiving, information governance and eDiscovery. The combination of Unify’s archive repository and Daegis’ eDiscovery services and technology will facilitate a new level of data management and cost savings for corporate legal departments and law firms. Clients can strategically manage their data within the firewall and, by leveraging Daegis’ eDiscovery Analytics Consulting (eDAC), benefit from intelligent selection of responsive data early in the process. The integration of technologies will enable the preservation and repurposing of valuable attorney work product across multiple matters. These solutions will reduce costs, increase defensibility and furnish a blueprint for repeatable success across the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM).

Precise, Inc. Acquires eDiscovery Software Provider LitSoft LLC

2010-06-16T16:58:00.001-05:00

Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) June 15, 2010 -- Precise, Inc. (www.precise-law.com), a trusted provider of electronic discovery solutions and trial support services, today announced the completion of an agreement whereby it has acquired LitSoft LLC, a provider of eDiscovery software as a service (SaaS) founded in 2006 in Annandale, VA. The purchase of LitSoft is a strategic addition to Precise’s rapidly expanding suite of eDiscovery solutions. Specifically, Precise will make use of LitSoft’s flagship product, LitScope, an online document review application featuring an intuitive user interface built to enable fast, reliable, and efficient review with minimal training requirements.

The acquisition will extend Precise’s portfolio of discovery and document review offerings for its corporate and law firm clients. Precise will leverage LitScope’s review platform by emphasizing and building upon the application’s streamlined architecture, specifically designed to simplify the document review process and reduce the costs associated with the review and production of electronically stored information (ESI). The addition of LitSoft’s technology to Precise’s existing array of services reinforces the firm’s commitment to providing a complete suite of litigation support technologies including a full range of trial support services and eDiscovery solutions, from forensic data collection to full-scale document review.

Precise’s CEO, Peter L. Mansmann, Esq., states, “The acquisition of LitSoft supports our company’s mission of continued expansion in the eDiscovery market in direct response to ongoing demand for our services. Incorporating LitScope’s proven review technology into our current breadth of eDiscovery expertise further reinforces our position as a trusted provider of comprehensive discovery and trial support services to the legal community.”

Steve Jreige, former managing partner of LitSoft added, “The LitSoft team and I are extremely excited to join Precise, particularly given its outstanding reputation in the industry. We look forward to continuing to develop and bring to market leading edge eDiscovery technology, and I believe this acquisition greatly enhances our ability to do so.”

AccessData Corporation and CT Summation Announce Merger

2010-06-10T09:16:00.001-05:00

LINDON, Utah and NEW YORK, June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- AccessData Corporation and CT Summation today announce they've signed an agreement to join forces and merge into a single company, AccessData Group, LLC. The new company will deliver an end-to-end eDiscovery software solution capable of addressing all phases of the litigation workflow.

As the leader in in-house eDiscovery collection, processing and analysis, AccessData brings to the merger an unsurpassed technology portfolio, designed to enable the world's largest companies to take control of eDiscovery and dramatically reduce costs. Its AccessData eDiscovery software is currently the most comprehensive eDiscovery solution on the market, enabling organizations to address litigation hold, automated collection, processing, and analysis prior to attorney review.

CT Summation, the premier provider of litigation workflow and eDiscovery solutions to law firms and corporate legal departments, brings to the deal a comprehensive suite of software products that are the gold standard throughout the legal community. CT Summation's iBlaze, Enterprise, WebBlaze, CaseVault, CaseVantage and Discovery Cracker products have received more than 45 legal industry technology and "Reader's Choice" awards since 1997. CT Summation is part of Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services, which operates under the CT brand. Wolters Kluwer will remain as a strategic investor in the new AccessData Group, LLC, with a minority stake in the company.

By combining these complementary workflow solutions, AccessData will be able to deliver the first, true end-to-end eDiscovery software solution for corporations and law firms that supports the litigation process from litigation hold through trial.

Altegrity to Acquire Kroll, the World's Leading Risk Consulting Firm, from Marsh & McLennan

2010-06-07T16:58:00.001-05:00

NEW YORK and FALLS CHURCH, Va., Jun 07, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MMC), the global professional services firm, and Altegrity, Inc, an international screening and security solutions company, today announced a definitive agreement under which Altegrity will acquire Kroll Inc. from MMC in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.13 billion. Altegrity is owned by Providence Equity Partners, the leading global private equity firm specializing in equity investments in media, entertainment, communications and information companies.

The transaction, which is expected to close by late September, is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Altegrity CEO Mike Cherkasky, who also served as President and CEO of Kroll from 2001 to 2004, said: "Our clients look to Altegrity for information and insight to make smarter decisions. The combination of Kroll and Altegrity broadens our capabilities with the addition of a portfolio of industry-leading services to help clients identify and manage risk. Altegrity and Kroll will leverage their combined resources to develop new and innovative solutions for government and commercial clients across a global platform. Both Altegrity and Providence look forward to working with Kroll CEO Ben Allen and the entire Kroll team to deliver the highest quality service offering in the industry and to grow the combined business."

"This transaction represents exciting new opportunities for Kroll," said Ben Allen, CEO of Kroll. "Over the past several years, we have taken significant steps to improve profitability and enhance collaboration across our business units. Kroll is now poised to continue its historical track record of growth, which will be accelerated by the combination with Providence and Altegrity."

Navigant Consulting Acquires Daylight Forensic & Advisory

2010-05-17T16:04:00.001-05:00

CHICAGO, May 17, 2010 - Navigant Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: NCI) announced today that it has acquired Daylight Forensic & Advisory LLC, an international regulatory consulting and investigative firm specializing in financial investigations, AML consulting, regulatory compliance, forensic technology services, and fraud risk management. Combining Daylight Forensic & Advisory’s industry expertise with Navigant’s Disputes and Investigations practice creates a significantly enhanced global investigative service offering, and reinforces Navigant’s strong New York presence.

“This combination is clearly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts,” said William M. Goodyear, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Navigant. “Daylight’s market leading expertise in corporate investigations and compliance around AML, FCPA and fraud risk management, combined with Navigant’s deep forensic accounting capabilities, creates a comprehensive offering in the global investigations and compliance space. This combination comes at a critical time for our clients who are facing increasing regulatory pressure and risks associated with global business transactions.”

Daylight Forensic & Advisory is headquartered in New York City and the majority of their 65 consulting professionals are based there. Daylight Forensic & Advisory was founded in 2006 by Ellen Zimiles, Chief Executive Officer, and Joseph Spinelli, Chief Operating Officer. Zimiles has more than 25 years of litigation and investigation experience, including 10 years as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. She is a leading authority on AML programs, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, fraud control and public corruption matters.

Advanced Discovery Services and American Data Services Merge

2010-05-05T07:24:00.002-05:00

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Advanced Discovery Services and American Data Services announced today that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement to merge. The combined company is well positioned to address the specific needs of today's law firms and corporate legal departments with regards to regulatory, investigatory and legal matters. Both companies provide services in electronic discovery, computer forensics, early case assessment, web hosting, document review and paper discovery.

The combined company will operate under the name of Advanced Discovery. David Vandygriff, chief executive officer of American Data Services, will be chief executive officer of the combined company. Thadd Hale, chief executive officer of Advanced Discovery Services, will be chief operating officer of the combined company, Advanced Discovery. The combined company will support nine strategic locations serving clients worldwide.

"This merger represents a huge win for our existing and future clients," said David Vandygriff, CEO of American Data Services. "Law firms and corporations need a true partner to help them efficiently and cost-effectively resolve their litigation support needs. We will build on our complementary strengths, resources, vision as well as proven track records to best partner with our clients."

DOAR Litigation Consulting Acquires Inference Data

2010-04-27T05:42:00.004-05:00

NEW YORK, April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- DOAR Litigation Consulting ("DOAR") and Inference Data today announced that the companies have reached a definitive agreement under which DOAR will acquire Inference Data, a leader in analytics and electronic discovery software.

Inference Data, based in New York, NY, is a strategic addition to DOAR's already extensive discovery management practice. Inference Data provides next-generation software for analytics-driven assessment, meet-and-confer preparation, and accelerated legal review. The company's key product, Inference, applies conceptual search and analysis to prioritize document collections and to identify key documents for faster and more cost-effective document review. It has been used by DOAR and other clients in some of the largest, most complex civil and criminal litigation matters.

The acquisition will extend DOAR's portfolio of analytics and electronic discovery offerings for its corporate and law firm clients. DOAR will continue to build upon Inference Data's electronic discovery platform by enhancing its analytics-driven assessment and review technology, which is specifically designed to streamline document review and reduce the costs associated with the management, review and production of electronic discovery. The addition of Inference to DOAR's discovery management and expert witness practice reinforces DOAR's emphasis on reducing the time and cost associated with the manual review of documents through the use of legally acceptable, defensible methodologies and advanced technologies.

Paul Neale, DOAR's President & CEO, states, "The acquisition of Inference allows us to expand its market presence as an analytical review platform while incorporating its proprietary technology into DOAR's automated document review methodology. Automated document review, technology-driven review and production of electronically stored information, is clearly the future of the electronic discovery market and we intend to remain a leader in this arena."

The 451 Group Releases E-Discovery and E-Disclosure Report

2010-04-24T09:53:00.003-05:00

According to the "3rd Annual eDiscovery Survey of Illinois Lawyers," an end user survey of 185 legal professionals conducted to understand their level of exposure and experience with electronic discovery vendors and products included mentions of companies such as Applied Discovery, Kroll Ontrack, FTI Consulting and Huron Consulting.

Four of the key findings noted in the Executive Overview are:

Corporate e-discovery in-sourcing continues as customers adopt software and services over reliance on law firms or wholly outsourcing the process.
Many companies still lack repeatable business processes for litigation, and rely on existing internal resources for meeting e-discovery requirements on an ad hoc basis – but half of the users in our survey intend to buy e-discovery products/services in 2010.
Judicial guidelines and international regulations defining e-discovery protocols are still emerging, lagging actual e-discovery practices.
Information governance systems and e-discovery-enabled archives have gained traction for proactive litigation preparedness as enterprises struggle with data growth and fragmented information management.

The Bottom Line noted in the Executive Summary is:

Despite a flat, recessionary 2009 for many e-discovery vendors, there is significant opportunity in the market at the right price and functionality, especially for tools with a broader information governance use case – most businesses still lag in adoption and have not committed to a vendor or product strategy.

The report can be found on The 451 Group website.

DMC and Global EDD Group Form Joint Venture - Asia Legal Technologies

2010-04-02T10:42:00.002-05:00

Cleveland, Ohio, USA - (31 March 2010) – Global Electronic Discovery & Disclosure Group (“Global EDD Group”), a boutique consulting firm that provides innovative legal technology solutions across the globe, today announced the formation of Asia Legal Technologies™ (“ALT”), a strategic alliance and joint venture with Data Management Corporation (“DMC”), a document and data processing solutions company based in Singapore. ALT combines the experience, knowledge and resources of DMC and Global EDD Group to provide innovative arbitration, due diligence and litigation support services throughout the Asia-Pacific Region.

Asia Legal Technologies is uniquely able to meet the needs of the most challenging projects by leveraging a vast network of technology and operational resources along with facilities in Hong Kong, China (Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou), Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo and Dubai. From these facilities and on-site locations throughout the region, ALT provides a wide range of services including:

• Data Collection & Preservation,
• Imaging & Coding,
• Early Case Assessment (ECA),
• Data Filtering, Analytics & Processing,
• Asian Language Support & Translation, and
• Document Hosting & Review.

Marsh & McLennan Seeking To Sell Kroll For $1.3 Billion

2010-03-11T17:24:00.002-06:00

3/8/2010 -- Insurance brokerage Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. (MMC: News ) has put Kroll, its corporate investigations division, up for sale for about $1.3 billion, according to a report in the Financial Times on Monday.

According to the FT report, the sale has attracted private equity firms including the Carlyle Group, Apax Partners and General Atlantic. These firms entered bids by the deadline for first expressions of interest in late February, while BCPartners might be a potential buyer alongside one or two trade bidders, the report noted, citing people familiar with the situation.

Other expressions of interest for Kroll include from its founder, Jules Kroll, who sold the business to Marsh in 2004 for $1.9 billion. The founder of Kroll recently launched a new boutique investigations firm called K2. He no longer owns a significant stake in Marsh.

RR Donnelley to Acquire Bowne for $481 Million in Cash

2010-03-01T10:34:00.001-06:00

CHICAGO & NEW YORK, Feb 23, 2010 -- R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (NASDAQ:RRD) and Bowne & Co., Inc. (NYSE:BNE) jointly announced today that they have signed a definitive agreement pursuant to which RR Donnelley will acquire Bowne & Co., Inc., a provider of shareholder and marketing communications services. The all cash deal is valued at approximately $481 million, or $11.50 per share. The agreement has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to RR Donnelley's earnings in the first full year after the closing of the transaction, which is expected to occur in the second half of the year. The completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval and approval of Bowne shareholders.

The combination with Bowne, which has operations in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia, will expand and enhance the range of services RR Donnelley offers to its customers, while also creating an opportunity for RR Donnelley to provide its comprehensive line of products to Bowne's clients.

Bowne, headquartered in New York, had revenues of approximately $675 million during 2009 and offers digital one-to-one printing services for healthcare, transactional communications, financial services, marketing communications and other applications.

Iron Mountain Acquires Mimosa Systems

2010-02-23T09:12:00.003-06:00

BOSTON, Feb 22, 2010 -- Iron Mountain Incorporated, an information management services company, today announced it has acquired Santa Clara, Calif.-based Mimosa Systems, Inc., a leader in enterprise-class content archiving solutions, for approximately $112 million in cash, subject to closing adjustments. The deal provides Iron Mountain with an integrated archive for email, SharePoint data and files, and gives the company an on-premises archiving option to complement its existing cloud-based archives.

The ability to archive and manage data both onsite, inside the customer's firewall, and remotely in the cloud makes Iron Mountain a one-stop shop for data capture, archiving and management. It also provides the company's customers with greater flexibility and choice for managing their information.

Additionally, the company can now capture and manage a broader range of enterprise information from so-called "edge-of-the-network" devices like desktop PCs and laptops as well as from company repositories like email stores, SharePoint servers and file systems. Many larger businesses still prefer to keep this data on their premises today. Finally, the acquisition allows Iron Mountain to extract intelligence from the information it manages both on-premises and in the cloud, advancing the company's larger strategy to help enterprises lower the costs and risks associated with storing and managing information.

Litigation Support Software Comparison Chart

2010-02-20T11:25:00.004-06:00

The American Bar Association recently published a report on litigation support software and online document review tools.

Some of the software products compared are:

Case Logistix
Concordance and FYI
CT Summation iBlaze
iCONECTnXT
ImageDepot
NextPoint

Below is a description of the report as found on the ABA website, which can be downloaded as a PDF by clicking the link below.

Litigation support software is designed to aid lawyers in the process of litigation, and generally includes databases for organizing, searching, and reviewing discovery material including deposition transcripts, produced documents, and correspondence. The comparison chart below includes information on features of several brands of litigation support software. As vendors may offer other packages, please check each vendor's website for additional details and contact information. The information in this chart originates from the vendors, is not a comprehensive review of litigation support software, and does not constitute endorsements of any kind.

Investment Fund Seeking Acquisition Opportunity in Legal Outsourcing Industry

2010-02-18T11:20:00.005-06:00

A private investment fund formed by a team of experienced operators, entrepreneurs, and investors is looking for acquisition opportunities in the legal outsourcing industry.

The seasoned team of investors are looking for the following characteristics in acquisition candidates:

A strong track record of growth

Revenues of $5m or greater with 15% or better EBITDA margins

Senior management looking to exit or bring on a new partner

If you are interested in learning more, please contact me at jenkins.bradley@gmail.com and I will be happy to make an introduction. Serious inquiries only please.

Actis Invests US $50 Million in Integreon

2010-02-17T15:27:00.001-06:00

16 February 2010 -- Actis announced today that it has invested US $50 million to acquire a substantial minority stake in Integreon, the leading global provider of legal support, research and business services to law firms, financial institutions and corporations.

As part of this investment, JM Trivedi, Actis’s Head of South Asia, and Gautham Radhakrishnan, a Director at Actis, will join Integreon’s board of directors.

Actis has invested alongside Ayala Corporation, the oldest and one of the leading conglomerates in the Philippines, which initially invested in Integreon in 2006 through LiveIt Investments, its business process outsourcing holding company. Ayala Corporation will continue to hold a majority stake in Integreon.

Today, professionals at leading organisations including 11 of the top 50 global brands such as Microsoft; 32 of the AmLaw 50 such as Clifford Chance and DLA Piper US LLP; and 9 of the top 10 global investment banks focus on their ‘highest and best use’ by trusting high-quality research, document, and legal solutions from Integreon. Integreon revenues have grown at an 83% CAGR since 2006 to an $89 million revenue run rate in Q4 2009.

With Actis’s investment, Integreon plans to grow its range of services and technologies, launch new delivery centres, and seek strategic acquisitions.

Flex Discovery Solutions Acquires ImageWorks Digital Document Solutions

2010-02-11T16:05:00.001-06:00

Houston, TX -- 2/10/10 -- Today Flex Discovery Solutions announces the acquisition of Houston, Texas based ImageWorks Digital Document Solutions (ImageWorks). ImageWorks is a litigation support services provider to leading law firms and corporate counsel, both locally and nationally. The company announced that the acquisition is complete as of today and that ImageWorks will operate as Flex Discovery Solutions.

Flex Discovery Solutions will retain 100% of the current ImageWorks staff, including Stephen T. Silkwood, ImageWorks’ CEO and Co-founder, who will become a Vice President and executive team member. Mr. Silkwood has very deep and successful roots in the document management industry, having started with NightRider in Houston helping to grow that organization into the largest legal copy service in the United States. Following the successful sale of NightRider to IKON Office Solutions, Steve went on to serve many executive roles at IKON before launching ImageWorks, including Chief Operating Office of the Legal Document Services division which grew from $12M to $750M during his tenure.

Intermediate Capital Group acquires significant stake in CPA Global

2010-02-08T09:54:00.001-06:00

Intermediate Capital Group (“ICG”), a leading independent investor and fund manager, announces that it has acquired a significant minority stake in legal services firm CPA Global, investing alongside the company’s senior management team and the founding shareholders.

The acquisition has received the required approvals from CPA Global shareholders as well as the Jersey courts, which sanctioned a new Scheme of Arrangement that came into effect today. The terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Founded in Jersey in 1969, originally to manage patent renewals, CPA Global has expanded over the years to become a multinational company that is the clear market leader in the global intellectual property (IP) services market and one of the world's leading providers of broader legal services outsourcing, including litigation support, document review and contract management. The legal services outsourcing sector is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years, with estimates of the potential market value in the tens of billions of dollars.

Iron Mountain Merger and Acquisition Activity

2010-02-06T12:26:00.003-06:00

Came across this article that asks the question "Will Iron Mountain Acquire Mimosa?".

Here is an excerpt:
For what was once a fairly staid Old Economy business, Iron Mountain (IRM) has done a better job than most companies in acclimating itself to the digital age. The records management vendor has accomplished that with eight acquisitions over the past half-decade, picking up technology for online backup and e-discovery, among other offerings. The $158m purchase of e-discovery provider Stratify stands, in many ways, as Iron Mountain’s marquee acquisition for its digital business. It has maintained the Stratify name and, last November, turned its whole digital subsidiary over to Ramana Venkata, the founder and former CEO of Stratify.

After that purchase in October 2007, Iron Mountain stayed out of the market for more than two years, despite many adjacent sectors that it could buy its way into. (And, from what we remember of the past two recession-wracked years, prices for startups weren’t particularly steep.) The M&A drought ended last month with the pickup of a San Francisco-based services company, Legal Imaging Technologies, that provides electronic document conversion. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Iron Mountain's Stratify Acquires E-Discovery Company

2010-01-29T07:30:00.004-06:00

Boston-based Iron Mountain Inc. reports that its California-based electronic discovery subsidiary Stratify has acquired Legal Imaging Technologies Inc., a San Francisco area company specializing in electronic document conversion and imaging processing.

Adding LIT’s processes and products into Stratify’s e-discovery capabilities will triple Stratify’s production capabilities in its data center operations that support the North America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific markets, according to Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) officials.

No financial details of the acquisition were disclosed.

Founded in 1993, Legal Imaging Technologies started as a high-volume, paper-based litigation support services company for firms located in the San Francisco Bay area. The company developed its own high-performance software tools that focused on efficient conversion, stamping, optical character recognition (OCR) and other electronic discovery processes as the e-discovery market grew, officials said.

Iron Mountain paid $158 million to acquire Stratify Inc., based in Mountain View, Calif., in October of 2007.

Lighthouse Document Technologies Raises $200,000

2010-01-18T08:42:00.003-06:00

As noted in John Cook's Venture Blog.

Lighthouse Document Technologies -- a Seattle company led by David Rostov -- raised $200,000 in equity and debt financing, according to a filing. Rostov is the former chief financial officer at InfoSpace, Apex Learning, drugstore.com and Nextel International. The company provides electronic discovery services to law firms.

U.S. Legal Support Completes Acquisition of Array Technology Group

2010-01-15T09:37:00.001-06:00

HOUSTON - U.S. Legal Support, Inc., a leading provider of full-service court reporting, record retrieval and legal placement & staffing services has announced the completion of its acquisition of Array Technology Group LLC, a premier electronic discovery, trial consulting and training services company.

“This acquisition is a significant step in U.S. Legal Support’s strategy to accelerate growth, enhance our coverage in targeted markets, and more importantly, enables us to offer a convenient, one-stop shop for our clients. With the acquisition of Array Technology now complete, we’ve added a fourth solution line to expand our portfolio of litigation services,” said Charles F. Schugart, president and CEO, U.S. Legal Support, Inc.

With 25 years of experience, and a complete line of litigation support services from discovery to verdict, Array will be blended into U.S. Legal Support’s litigation services. James Bruni, EVP of sales & marketing stated: “We will develop integrated plans that build on the U.S. Legal Support brand and provide clients with a more comprehensive line of products and service.”

Array’s president, Peter Sattin, will assume the role of divisional president of U.S. Legal Support’s fourth solution line and will be based in New York. Sattin said, “I have always believed that there are tremendous opportunities in the legal market for a firm encompassing best-of-breed products and services. The synergies gained by the combination of Array’s litigation and trial services with U.S. Legal Support’s core businesses and nationwide presence directly benefit our clients with a fully realized litigation resource, a complete relationship.”

Gartner MarketScope for E-Discovery Software Product Vendors

2010-01-09T09:01:00.005-06:00

Excerpts from the December 2009 research report found on Gartner's site.

E-discovery is a maturing market with entrants from multiple categories, including storage and archiving, search and information access, content and records management, and workflow, as well as tools designed as end-user applications for legal professionals and forensic data collection tools aimed at security professionals, regulators and law enforcement agencies. All of these categories of software vendors have added e-discovery to existing suites or purport to cover various aspects of the e-discovery process. There are also pure-play e-discovery vendors to consider.

Enterprises purchasing e-discovery software can reduce the costs of litigation by improving their control over unstructured content, and semistructured content, most notably e-mail. Our client references consistently report that they have cut costs and risks by taking control of litigation hold, litigation-hold-tracking, file collection, file processing and legal review, instead of outsourcing these functions.

Market Growth and Trajectory
The e-discovery product market received a boost from the recession of 2008 to 2009. Because all costs began to be scrutinized, including previously immune legal budgets, corporate legal departments had to start looking for a way to cut their costs. In addition to the recession, awareness of the 2006 changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) in the United States (see Note 3) and parallel efforts on the part of the European Union, South Africa, Australia and Canada continued to grow among the legal profession, providing further growth stimulus. As a final impetus to growth, the Obama administration stimulated demand among government agencies, particularly regulators, by giving them a mandate to make government more transparent. In addition, in 2009, for the first time, our client inquiry showed accelerating interest and awareness of discovery and disclosure in Europe, particularly regarding privacy versus disclosure.

User Wants and Needs: E-Discovery Moves In-House
In 2009, enterprises became clearer about their actual needs and what part of the e-discovery process they wished to manage themselves. Enterprise demand began to coalesce around a set of features and functions. The consolidation in the market has been around a set of features and functions most desirable to in-house applications. As in previous years, we will use the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) to describe both the process of e-discovery and how the vendors fit their products into the model. Despite some credible argument that the model is "not detailed enough," it still makes a good starting point for vendor categorization. The EDRM is shown in Figure 1, so that clients can reference it for the purposes of vendor analysis. The main deficiency in the model has proved to be that it lacks a definition of "early case assessment," which many vendors discuss, and which is high on the list of functionality that corporate buyers want.

Market/Market Segment Description
The criteria for vendor inclusion in this year's MarketScope have changed because the market has changed. The emerging nature of the market justified inclusion of smaller vendors in 2008, but this year's revenue cutoff of $15 million reflects the growing maturity of the players, as well as their consolidation and growing revenue bases. With the amount of interest and activity in this market, smaller players with interesting technology are likely acquisition targets. Without major differentiating technology, the barrier to successful entry into the e-discovery market became higher this year, and vendors without the budget to create awareness or to develop the necessary channels to market will not be able to rise above the "noise" around e-discovery.

Changes in the Vendor Landscape
There have been a few significant acquisitions in 2009. Autonomy acquired Interwoven, and EMC acquired Kazeon. Clients can expect more changes in the market, including mergers, acquisitions, exits, entries and repositioning. The predicted level of activity in the market is based on the facts that it is fast-growing, and contains large, established players and smaller, technology-rich startups. In addition, the evidence continues to accumulate that corporations can save costs and reduce risks by adopting e-discovery technology in-house, and so the growth of the market will continue. In these fertile conditions, a high degree of movement and change is inevitable.

By the end of 2011, as the market moves from emerging to early-stage consolidation, and the early adopters continue to report their results, there will be 25% fewer vendors in the e-discovery market as a result of mergers and acquisitions and vendors exiting the market.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
To be included in this MarketScope, a vendor must meet the following criteria:

- Have a software product that can be licensed for implementation and use inside a company's firewall or by a third-party service provider.
- Cover at least three of the functional areas of the EDRM.
- Have e-discovery-related product and maintenance revenue of at least $15 million.

Added Vendors
We added EMC, CT Summation (Wolters Kluwer) and Concordance (LexisNexis) to this year's MarketScope. EMC's acquisition of Kazeon means that the two are now evaluated together.

Dropped Vendors
We dropped Nuix from this year's MarketScope as it did not meet the revenue criterion. We dropped i365 as the company has effectively exited the market.

Iris Data Services Acquires Lexsum, Inc.

2010-01-04T14:41:00.000-06:00

KANSAS CITY, January 4, 2010 — Iris Data Services, a leading provider of eDiscovery solutions, announced today that it has acquired Lexsum, Inc., a regional provider of litigation support including document services such as copying, scanning, imaging and coding. Lexsum’s downtown Kansas City location at 106 W. 11th Street, Suite 100, Kansas City, MO 64105 will be Iris’ second metropolitan location; their national data center is in Olathe, Kansas. Iris Data Services is a leading supplier of electronic discovery solutions including tape restoration, computer forensics, eDiscovery, and online review utilizing their proprietary review platform, Unify™.

“The addition of Lexsum’s service offering and experienced staff solidifies our leadership in the Kansas City market,” said the president of Iris, Major Baisden. “Lexsum’s document services compliment our eDiscovery product offering, and allows us to offer end-to-end litigation support to area law firms and corporate legal departments.”

“We are excited about joining the Iris family,” said TJ Collins, former president of Lexsum and Iris’ new worldwide Director of Operations. “This will allow us to offer leading eDiscovery services to our clients, giving them one company to turn to for all their document management needs.” In his role as Director of Operations, Collins will oversee Iris’ worldwide production including offices in the U.S., China and Australia.

Lateral Data Unveils an All-in-One e-Discovery Software Platform: Viewpoint 4.5

2009-12-22T06:31:00.001-06:00

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--e-Discovery technology leader Lateral Data, LP today announced the availability of Viewpoint™ 4.5, an all-in-one e-Discovery platform that covers the primary components of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM). Offered as a licensed solution for OEM or in-house installations, Viewpoint 4.5 gives e-Discovery service providers, corporate legal departments and law firms, a breakthrough in broad functionality, value, speed and advanced features for managing the large amounts of data associated with modern litigation.

Viewpoint 4.5 does the work of multiple tools, lowering both costs and resource needs for anyone involved in litigation support. Featuring a familiar Outlook-style interface, the technology can execute pre-processing, processing, analysis, review and production at speeds two to five times that of other leading products. Furthermore, it offers advanced capabilities including complex analytics, email threading, visual conceptual analysis and near-duplicate comparisons to keep pace with the needs of sophisticated requirements.

“Today’s legal requirements and data volumes have created a more mature and knowledgeable market where service providers and corporations must become more efficient to survive. Viewpoint’s simplicity allows our clients to utilize one robust platform where historically, they’ve needed four or five products to complete the solution,” said Dean Kuhlmann, VP of Business Development at Lateral Data. “Users are genuinely excited using Viewpoint over other alternatives. Viewpoint’s combination of technology and pricing structure are proving to be market disruptive making it an easy decision for anyone serious about e-Discovery.”

Mimosa Systems raises $4 Million

2009-11-28T07:42:00.001-06:00

Based in Santa Clara, California, Mimosa Systems, a maker of software that archives email and other data, has raised $4 million of a $5.5 million round of debt, rights and securities, according to a filing with the SEC. The company is backed by August Capital, Clearstone Venture Partners, Dot Edu Ventures, Focus Ventures, Jafco Ventures and Mayfield Fund.

As reported by VentureBeat, the company last raised money in June, bringing in $3 million in debt financing. Founded in 2003, Mimosa Systems is in a vertical trajectory growth mode that has allowed it to expand beyond the U.S. to the UK, France, Germany, China, Australia, Japan and Canada. "The key driver of Mimosa's growth is the explosion of content and the need for electronic information such as email and documents to be retained as a business record," says T.M. Ravi, Co-Founder, President and CEO, Mimosa Systems. Currently, there are about 300 employees in the company.

According to the company, the explosive volume of electronic information, coupled with the requirement to retain email records for regulatory compliance and legal discovery, has created a hot market for email active-archiving solutions. It also claims that the Mimosa NearPoint solution is the only integrated offering for archival, eDiscovery, DR, and storage management that can economically scale to meet the demands of today's enterprise. Recently, the company announced that the Stockbridge Real Estate Funds has deployed the Mimosa NearPoint archiving solution to deliver eDiscovery compliance readiness and end-user self-service for its email environment while optimizing overall performance of its Microsoft Exchange servers.

RELM Holdings Inc. Executes a Letter of Intent for Acquisition of a South East Electronic Document Management Company

2009-11-10T13:34:00.003-06:00

RELM Holdings Inc. (PINKSHEETS: RELM) announced today that it executed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire 100% of the equity interests in a well established Electronic Document Management company with facilities in the South East and Midwest.

Management noted that the target company will remain undisclosed pending the execution of definitive agreements per customary non-disclosure terms agreed on by the parties. The Company, founded in 1990, provides high-quality document management services to its clients in the pharmaceutical, legal, financial services, healthcare and commercial markets through electronic discovery, computer forensics, litigation support, commercial imaging, online collaboration, forms processing, and other services. Revenues for 2009 are expected to exceed $3,300,000.00. With this acquisition, Relm's annual technology revenues will exceed $5,000,000.00. Management will provide consolidated pro-forma statements once due diligence has been completed.

Management plans to operate the Company within the newly formed Relm Technology Group (RTG) and the Company's key executives will become members of the RTG Executive Management Team.

Dolan Media Acquires Majority Interest in DiscoverReady

2009-11-06T08:37:00.001-06:00

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 6, 2009-- Dolan Media Company (NYSE: DM), a leading provider of professional services and business information to the legal, financial and real estate sectors in the United States, said today that it acquired an 85% equity interest in DiscoverReady, LLC, a leading provider of outsourced discovery management and fixed-fee document review services to major companies and their counsel.

With headquarters in New York City and an office in Charlotte, N.C., DiscoverReady assists major corporations and their counsel in litigation and regulatory matters by providing integrated discovery solutions that drastically reduce legal costs while delivering high quality, defensible document review. Its customers include leading law firms, major banks and Wall Street firms, and Fortune 500 corporations.

Dolan Media Company Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer James P. Dolan said that DiscoverReady will become the third business line offered by Dolan Media’s Professional Services Division.

Avalon Document Services Acquires Exacta Legal

2009-11-04T07:13:00.004-06:00

Buffalo NY based Exacta Legal was acquired by Avalon Document Services.

Avalon Document Services announced the acquisition of one of its local competitors, Exacta Legal, in a move that formalized a long-standing relationship between the two litigation support services firms. The companies are part of a growing local presence in the electronic document management and discovery business that includes IKON, D-4 LLC and Toshiba Business Solutions, all with offices serving Buffalo.

Though Avalon first looked into acquiring the company last summer, J.P. Midgley, managing partner at Avalon’s Buffalo office said they felt the time wasn’t right, and only last month revisited the idea. The transaction was finalized last Thursday.

Midgley said he expects the acquisition to allow his company to branch out in both “pre-litigation preparedness and trial services,” and distinguish themselves from the competition. The market for legal document services and support has seen steady growth as more Western New York courts are moving toward electronic discovery as the norm in handling court cases.

“The big thing for us, is that they (Exacta) had a much longer-standing tradition of being a great service provider in Buffalo while we are the new people in town over the last year and a half,” Midgley said. “I am hoping it opens some doors and allows us to work with some people that they have had those long-standing relationships with.”

Avalon employs over 90 people in offices in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Utica. Exacta Legal had a staff of four operating out of its downtown Buffalo office. Midgley said those employees were relocated to Avalon’s offices and have been retained. He also didn’t rule out future acquisitions for what has now become Buffalo’s largest litigation support firm.

Integreon to Raise $100 Million to Fund Acquisitions

2009-10-28T14:38:00.001-05:00

Mumbai, Oct 25 (PTI) Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) firm Integreon is looking to raise about USD 80-100 million through private equity to fund acquisitions in India and overseas. "We are looking to seek commitment to the level of USD 80-100 million (solely through private equity) and whenever there is an opportunity, we will use that capital for an acquisition," Integreon Chief Operating Officer, Asia Pacific, Lokendra Tomar, told PTI here.

He said the company intends to complete fund-raising in the next one or two quarters. Integreon provides outsourced knowledge, legal, and administrative support services mainly to banking, legal, consulting, IT and pharma firms in the US and Europe.

The US-based firm employs about 1,200 people at three delivery centers in India and plans to further up head-count through an acquisition. The KPO recently added a 1,000-seat facility in Mumbai.

"There is a strong likelihood that our next acquisition most likely will be in India and that will add a number of head-count to India (operations). We are looking to use the capital in 6-12 months, but if we get a good opportunity, we can accelerate the process," Tomar said.

Integreon is scouting for financial research firms in India as it wants to balance its offerings between legal and research services.

Altep Acquires Chicago Based Integrated eSolutions

2009-09-30T18:20:00.002-05:00

Altep, Inc of Texas announced it had acquired Chicago based Integrated eSolutions for an undisclosed amount. Altep reports that it acquired a strong presence in the important Chicago legal market, and Integrated eSolutions will benefit from the advanced technology and low cost processing offered by Altep from its El Paso, Texas headquarters.

RenewData Raises $6.1M in Funding

2009-09-27T19:35:00.000-05:00

RenewData Corp. has raised a $6.1 million round of funding.

Austin-based RenewData, which provides electronic discovery services for law firms and corporations, received the funding from 12 investors, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

CEO Steven Horan couldn’t be reached for comment.

RenewData, founded in 2001, employs about 175 workers.

In 2006, the company raised $30 million series C round of funding, and in 2007, it raised a $5 million Series D round of funding. It’s two investors have been Baltimore-based ABS Capital Partners and CIBC Capital Partners, which operates offices in Canada and Boston.

In August, RenewData completed its first acquisition when it bought New York-based Digital Mandate LLC for an undisclosed amount. ABS Capital Partners and CIBC Capital Partners funded the deal.

EMC to Acquire Kazeon Systems, Inc.

2009-09-02T07:56:00.002-05:00

HOPKINTON, Mass. - September 1, 2009, EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), the world leader in information infrastructure solutions, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Kazeon Systems, Inc.– a leading eDiscovery software provider for corporations, legal service providers, government entities and law firms. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2009, subject to customary closing conditions and is not expected to have a material impact to revenue or EPS for the full 2009 fiscal year.

With Kazeon, EMC will be able to offer end-to-end, in-house eDiscovery and litigation readiness solutions as part of the EMC SourceOne family for integrated but modular eDiscovery, archiving and compliance. Kazeon allows organizations to quickly and reliably identify, preserve, collect, process, analyze and review information in accordance with the widely accepted EDRM (Electronic Discovery Reference Model) framework. Core to Kazeon is its ability to handle Electronically Stored Information (ESI) that resides anywhere in the enterprise environment -- including content on laptops, desktops, content management repositories (including, EMC Documentum), Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange, Lotus Domino, email archives and file shares.

Click here to read the full release.

Follow up post is that EMC paid $75 million for Kazeon.

E-discovery industry seeing slower growth, more mergers

2009-08-23T11:40:00.004-05:00

Below are a few interesting comments from a recent e-discovery article in the ABA Journal, which mentioned the following companies: SPI Global Solutions, Onsite3, Integreon, Discover-e Legal, D4, Ivize, TechLaw Solutions and Kroll Ontrack.

From the article: A funny thing happened on the way to amending the federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 2006: That watershed event triggered a surge of investment in e-discovery software and services, fueling a mini tech bubble. The number of players exploded from a few dozen in 2000 to about 600 these days.

“It was almost like a gold rush,” says John Bace, research vice president of Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn. “People saw e-discovery as a quick and easy way to make money.”...

Commercial spending in this young niche is expected to increase this year by 20 percent to $4.05 billion, according to consultant George J. Socha Jr., who co-founded the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, an industry consortium that sets guidelines and standards.

But growth has slowed sharply from annual rates of more than 40 percent just a few years ago, according to Socha’s surveys. And it’s getting much harder to compete profitably in an industry that is coming of age during the worst economic downturn in decades. For one thing, clients no longer are willing to write open-ended checks for services that easily can exceed $1.75 million for an average case....

Gartner estimates that by the end of this year, one in four software vendors will be acquired, merge or exit the e-discovery business. Socha, founder of St. Paul, Minn.-based Socha Consulting, sees even more shrinkage over time; he estimates consolidation will reduce the number of service and software providers by about two-thirds to as few as 200. There will always be room for smaller service players, he says, but “the market truly cannot support this many vendors in the long haul.”...

EMC Rumored Buying eDiscovery Vendor Kazeon

2009-08-23T11:35:00.001-05:00

Recent post on BNET...

EMC looks set to expand its document management and storage business with the adjunction of ediscovery specialist Kazeon Systems.

EMC and Kazeon are already partners, so EMC knows exactly what it’s getting, and an acquisition would ensure that Kazeon doesn’t get snapped up by rivals like Oracle, HP or Microsoft, which also provide application suites intended to help enterprise customers manage their vast stores of data. The deal also illustrates the success that vendors are having in convincing enterprise customers that ediscovery software can be a more strategic tool than simply a way to ensure compliance with government regulations and litigation rules.

In fact, EMC also partners with two other ediscovery vendors, Clearwell and StoredIQ, but those vendors sell more limited point solutions geared uniquely to legal applications, while Kazeon has more rounded expertise in enterprise search. Kazeon is thus a more compelling acquisition because EMC can position its search technology and expertise as a more strategic application and expand further into enterprise search, which is one of the few sectors of the software industry that didn’t miss a beat despite the downturn.

RenewData Receives $4M in Funding, Acquires Digital Mandate

2009-08-15T12:15:00.002-05:00

RenewData grabs $4M in funding

Information management company RenewData Corp. has received $4 million of a planned $6.1 million financing.

Austin-based RenewData got the funding from four investors, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Earlier this week, RenewData officials revealed that the company had acquired New York-based Digital Mandate LLC for an undisclosed amount.

RenewData Acquires Digital Mandate, Adds Innovative Vestigate Document Review Software to eDiscovery Technology Portfolio

AUSTIN, TX - August 12, 2009 - RenewData, a leading provider of services for the discovery, archiving, and governance of electronically stored information (ESI), today announced it has successfully completed an acquisition of Digital Mandate, provider of discovery lifecycle management solutions including Vestigate document review software. This acquisition further strengthens RenewData's commitment to investing in technology that delivers market leading information governance solutions, significantly lowers costs to clients, and meets requirements for both legal and IT professionals. To support the acquisition and other growth initiatives, existing investors ABS Capital Partners and CIBC Capital Partners provided the equity financing.

Encore Discovery Solutions Retires Long-Term Debt

2009-07-20T07:41:00.001-05:00

Phoenix, AZ, July 15, 2009 - Encore Discovery Solutions, an industry leading knowledge-based provider of electronic discovery and related services, today announced that it has retired its long-term debt and, except for a revolving line of credit to finance accounts receivable, now operates 100% debt free.

With no long-term debt, Encore is better positioned than most electronic discovery service providers to fulfill long-term obligations to its clients. "Our clients can remain secure in the knowledge that Encore will be here to serve them," said Greg Mazares, Encore's CEO. "Our balance sheet is strong and our positive operating performance indicates that we will be an industry leader for a long time."

Encore has invested in reinventing itself from a paper-based imaging company to a knowledge-based provider of electronic discovery, web hosting and related services. Elimination of debt service requirements will allow the company to invest further in talented professionals and technology. "We have enjoyed much success since embarking on our strategic transition in 2006," added Mazares. "We will continue to deliver outstanding service and results by supporting our clients with great people, sophisticated tools and innovative solutions."

Anacomp Receives $7.5 Million in Financing from Bridge Bank

2009-06-10T13:52:00.001-05:00

San Jose, CA - June 9, 2009 - Bridge Capital Holdings (NASDAQ: BBNK), whose subsidiary is Bridge Bank, National Association, a full-service business bank headquartered in the Silicon Valley region of California, announced today, it has provided financing to Anacomp® Inc., to support its eDiscovery initiatives.

"This credit agreement provides increased financial flexibility and liquidity," said Jeff Cartwright, Anacomp's Chief Financial Officer. "Our ability to access incremental capital in this difficult credit and economic climate underscores the success of our company's ongoing transformation, most notably in the eDiscovery market, where our penetration into the AMLaw250 and corporate client base, as well as the reseller community serving these customers, demonstrates our momentum in becoming a market leader in this fast growth industry."

Anacomp® Inc., is a leading business process solutions company, which has obtained a $7.5 million credit facility to accelerate its various strategic initiatives, which include expanding its presence in the eDiscovery market as a leading provider of litigation support consulting, services and solutions.

USIS Acquires Professional Services Firm Labat-Anderson

2009-05-20T11:15:00.000-05:00

FALLS CHURCH, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--US Investigations Services, Inc. (USIS), the largest commercial provider of security investigation services to the federal government, a leading provider of pre-employment screening solutions, and a top provider of information services to the insurance industry, announced today the close of the financial transaction and acquisition of Labat-Anderson, Incorporated, a professional services firm serving government agencies in the areas of litigation support and information systems and services. Terms of the transaction were not announced.

“The Labat-Anderson business and its team of professionals adds to the solutions we provide our government customers and creates additional momentum behind our corporate strategic growth initiatives in the government markets we serve,” said Mike Cherkasky, Chief Executive Officer of USIS. “This is another significant step forward for our growth initiatives in the government sector of our business, adding another suite of solutions that we can deliver to the markets we serve.”

Labat-Anderson, with its more than 700 employees, will operate as a stand-alone division in USIS’ Government Solutions Group (GSG), joining the Investigative Services Division and the National Security Division. With its headquarters in Falls Church, Va., USIS GSG already has more than 6,500 employees that support business operations in all 50 states, U.S. territories, and overseas.

USIS and its controlling stockholder, Providence Equity Partners, are receiving legal advice from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

Kazeon Secures $10 Million in Funding

2009-04-27T14:16:00.001-05:00

Kazeon Systems, a company that specializes in software used for electronic investigations and discovery of buried network information, just brought in $10 million in sixth-round funding from JK&B Capital, Clearstone Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures and Redpoint Ventures, reports peHub. Based in Mountain View, Calif., the firm had previously banked $65 million in capital since its inception in 2003.

Among the processes it streamlines, Kazeon focuses on information management for advanced security and privacy, record-keeping and compliance and risk calculations.

Unify to Acquire AXS-One

2009-04-17T06:09:00.001-05:00

ROSEVILLE, Calif., – April 16, 2009 – Unify Corp. (NASDAQ: UNFY), a global provider of application development, database and migration products, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire AXS-One (OTCBB: AXSO), a leading provider of integrated content archiving software solutions. The acquisition, which is subject to approval by the stockholders of Unify and AXS-One, is expected to close by the end of Unify’s fiscal first quarter, ending July 31, 2009.

Through the agreement, Unify will purchase all outstanding shares and debt of AXS-One in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $8.0 million, based on Unify’s closing stock price yesterday, subject to certain closing adjustments.

The acquisition is expected to create a more competitive, cost efficient company with a larger customer base, increased maintenance revenues and a significant growth potential. AXS-One’s 2008 revenues were $13.4 million, up 12% over 2007, including approximately 48% recurring maintenance revenue. Based on the expense reductions previously implemented by AXS-One and the further cost savings expected post closing, Unify expects the transaction to be accretive on a non-GAAP basis by the end of its fiscal second quarter, ending October 31, 2009.

Legal Support Industry - Investor Report: by VRA Partners

2009-04-16T17:49:00.008-05:00

This report, published by VRA Partners in April 2009, provides details about the following topics & trends in the legal support industry: Litigation Support, Law Firm Technology & Services, Sector M&A, Sector Private Equity and Sector Public Markets; along with a list of the transactions (listing target and acquiring companies) dating back to January 2008. Below are a few excerpts.

Introduction:
The United States legal support sector is unique in both its size and importance. The country’s predilection for litigation and complex regulation supports an industry that has the most lawyers, and the most lawyers per capita, of any country in the world. As a benchmark of the legal support sector’s size, the U.S. supports approximately 250,000 law firms that represent a $235 billion market. Historically, this market has exhibited consistently strong growth. According to Hildebrandt International, law firms experienced unprecedented double-digit annual revenue growth between 2001 and 2007. Due to these size and growth characteristics, the legal support sector has been an increasingly attractive sector for technology and service providers, as well as investors.

Impact of Recession:
Though the legal market has historically demonstrated strong growth and resistance to economic downturns, productivity began to decline in 2007 as the economy softened. 2008 marked the worst year in the legal market in 20 years due to sharp downturns in real estate, structured finance and transactional practices, such as capital markets and merger and acquisition activities.

“Current economic conditions will further prompt corporations and law firms to utilize cost-lowering technologies, low-cost service providers and additional
outsourcing.”

Trends Unrelated to the Recession:
Notwithstanding the current economic environment, significant trends have influenced the legal support sector. Two of the most significant trends are:
- Increased complexity of the discovery process due to the proliferation of electronic documents and communications
- Growth, consolidation and globalization of law firms to meet the needs of their growing, global corporate clients

“We expect to see significant merger activity over the next 12 to 24 months between firms whose growth has stalled and are unable to generate significant, consistent profitability due to the required infrastructure and the volatile nature of the revenue streams they are generating.”

“The cost of review is estimated to be approximately $5 to every $1 of EDD processing, which would estimate the total market for review services to be over $10 billion.”

Recent M&A Issues:
- Overall market conditions and credit crisis
- Several failed sale processes of EDD businesses due to the inability to achieve desired valuations
- Track record of private equity (“PE”) firm investments in the sector that have either failed, sold for a fraction of cost, or restructured to survive

Why the sector is still attractive for M&A and private equity:
- Long-term growth sector
- Dynamic market
- Many companies are still achieving very attractive margins (20%+ EBITDA)
- Importance of scale
- Significant market fragmentation

You can download the entire 15 page Legal Support - Industry Review report from the VRA Partners' website.

StoredIQ Secures $8 Million Financing

2009-04-16T06:29:00.001-05:00

Austin, TX. – April 14, 2009 — StoredIQ Inc., a leading provider of Intelligent Information Management and eDiscovery technologies, today announced that it has closed an $8 million investment financing from its existing investors, including S3 Ventures and Techxas Ventures. The company also announced that it has added industry veterans Dan Junk as vice president of business development and Ellis Ishaya as vice president of partner development to its management team.

"StoredIQ’s product offering is unique, because it provides a unified, easy to deploy platform that meets the compliance, eDiscovery and information management requirements of the enterprise, while contributing to immediate cost and risk reductions," said Christine Taylor, analyst with Taneja Group. "Couple a great product with substantial market demand, add this type of funding in the current economic climate and StoredIQ is well-positioned to become a market leader."

StoredIQ will use the financing to expand its award-winning information management and eDiscovery solution, grow its industry partnerships and accelerate the company’s marketing and distribution initiatives to take advantage of the significant market opportunity that lies ahead. The eDiscovery market, which is about $3 billion to $4 billion in size, is expected to double in three years, according to Robert W. Baird & Co analyst Andrea Wirth, quoting industry findings.

Litigation Support Company For Sale

2009-04-06T11:15:00.002-05:00

The following overview was sent to me by BCMS Corporate . I have no additional information about the company other than what is listed below, but thought it may be of interest to my readers. If you are interested in receiving additional information, please see contact information at the bottom of the post.

Key Facts:
Location Mid-Atlantic Region
2008 Revenue $1.70 Million
Employees 15

Business Overview:
• A business to business service company that provides premium-quality professional and mission critical document management services to the business and legal industries

Specialty Areas:
o Proposal Production – complex and deadline driven document printing and assembly of multi-million dollar proposals – “white glove service”
o Litigation Support – time sensitive and intricate paper and electronic data discovery and trial support services
o Document Production – Total management and preparation of business meeting, conference documents and other materials
• Exceptional client service provided by a team of industry professionals
• High quality products produced in a state-of-the-art facility with the latest industry technology and equipment that accommodates complex last minute alterations and production

Customers and Markets:
• Business - clients range from small consulting firms to Global Fortune 100 companies
o firms in need of proposal production services to secure government contracts. The value of client proposals supported is in the tens of billions of dollars.
o companies that need meeting, conference, presentation and training materials
o companies that need paper and digital archiving
• Legal - clients include a spectrum of tier-1 law firms, general practices and corporate counsel of private and public companies
• Associations and non-profit organizations – in need of meeting, conference, presentation and training materials

The Opportunity:
• A rare opportunity to acquire a Company with a proven process in delivering excellence to both niche and conventional industries
• A client base comprised of many tier-1 businesses including relationships that extend to the senior leadership level
• A firm with an applicable and scalable business model
• Excellent future growth potential
• A Company with 99% customer retention rate
• Business based on referrals as a result of proven quality assurance processes and professional client service standards
• Ability to successfully perform large, complex, and time-sensitive digital document production projects
• The Company consistently performs above demanding clients expectations
• The Company is very active in a resilient economic region and supports Companies that pursue state, local and federal government opportunities

Contact Information:
For more information or to request a NDA please e-mail or call Alon Hillel-Tuch at 212-520-8373 or alon.hilleltuch@bcmscorp.com.

The information one would receive after an executed NDA would be a full memorandum with company identity, operational overview, 3 year’s historical financials and future projections.

Article Overview - Fragmented e-discovery space to see spike in deal making

2009-04-02T07:22:00.003-05:00

Here is an interesting article by Bijoy Anandoth Koyitty posted on Reuters about how acquisitions will play a part in the growth plans of some of the larger companies in the e-discovery space. You can click on the heading above to view the entire article. A few key exerpts....

BANGALORE (Reuters) - In mid-2000, as the dotcom boom was peaking, executives of information protection firm Iron Mountain Inc noticed an interesting trend while doing PC back-up and e-mail archiving for their clients.

Customers were increasingly demanding a system that would help them search and retrieve documents from complex file back-ups for producing as evidence in litigation, internal investigations and regulatory inquiries.

Nine years since, the technology, known as electronic discovery, has spawned a highly fragmented $3 billion industry, and the bigger players are now eyeing acquisitions to broaden their customer base.

"There are many smaller players with revenue, but not many with critical mass. Some have decent products. So the business is ripe for consolidation," Sidoti & Co analyst David Gold said.

In the nascent years of e-discovery, Iron Mountain responded to its customers by offering existing solutions. Later, in 2007, when it found that time was ripe for serious investments, it got aggressive with the acquisition of e-discovery firm Stratify.

Along with Iron Mountain, several other companies like FTI Consulting, Epiq Systems and Guidance Software and privately held firms such as consulting giants Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, are competing for a bigger share of the market.

In the last five years, the market saw as many as 18 acquisitions, according to technology research firm Gartner.

Recent ones include business advisory firm FTI Consulting's deal for Attenex and Seagate Technology's acquisition of MetaLINCS.

Larger players such as IBM, EMC Corp and Symantec Corp operate in the technology platform solution segment of e-discovery.

... Analysts believe it is important for companies to focus on acquisitions that are technology specific and build a complete platform at this point in time, than go in for roll-up acquisition that targets a rival's turf.

Companies will not be able to gain considerable market share through roll-up acquisitions presently because of the fragmented market, and any such action would be a "very risky process," analyst Mark Schappel of Benchmark Co said.

"We will consider acquiring technology that rounds out our core capabilities and integrates well with our technology," Guidance Software CEO Victor Limongelli said.

... The years that followed saw regulations getting stringent on e-discovery and an amendment in December 2006 made it mandatory to include electronically stored information in initial disclosures.

"E-discovery is something that organizations have to do these days, regardless of other technological investments," said John Bace, an analyst with Gartner.

Iron Mountain Planning Investments in E-Discovery

2009-03-19T05:56:00.001-05:00

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Iron Mountain Inc (IRM.N), which provides information protection and storage services, is eyeing firms with expertise in electronic discovery as it plans to expand in the fast-growing litigation support services market.

"It is an area we intend to invest very aggressively," Chief Executive Bob Brennan told Reuters in an interview.

E-discovery helps firms gather, restore, search, organize and deliver electronic data for using it as evidence in litigation, internal investigations and regulatory inquiries.

An increasingly litigious society, a growing number of federal, state and industry regulations, and the requirement for more information are the key trends helping e-discovery to grow, Brennan said.

"We believe it will be quite a large market opportunity for us for a long time," said Brennan.

Boston, Massachusetts-based Iron Mountain entered the e-discovery market in 2007 by acquiring privately held Stratify. In 2008, revenue from the unit rose more than 30 percent.

iDiscovery Solutions Acquires iFramework

2009-03-13T08:18:00.001-05:00

March 12, 2009 -- Intelligent Discovery Solutions, Inc. (iDS), announced today, effective December 31, the acquisition of iFramework, an innovative litigation support software company. iFramework's tools are used by litigation support departments of large law firms and corporate legal departments around the country.

According to CEO, Dan Regard, "Our corporate and law firm clients have repeatedly told us that project management, not data processing technology, is their greatest concern. iFramework meets that need and compliments the consulting and expert services that iDS is known for. Better yet, it is a technology that we can train, or that they can modify themselves."

The technology embodied in iFramework is proven, repeatable, and shareable. "With iFramework, iDS finally provides litigation support teams with the only tool specifically customized for the efficient and effective execution of electronic discovery projects. We are finally enabling companies to truly, "Do-it themselves."

"We are excited about the opportunity to merge with iDS," said John Rowley, President of iFramework and now Director with iDS. "iFramework has made significant strides over recent years in transforming ourselves into an organization that is squarely focused on creating easy-to-use software tools that meet the needs of our litigation support clients. In addition, the acquisition will increase our capacity to deliver even more innovative and client-focused tools to our litigation support clients."

RVM Acquires G-9 Technologies Forensic Practice

2009-03-10T17:59:00.003-05:00

New York, NY- March 9, 2009 -- The acquisition of G-9 Technologies forensic practice allows RVM to provide complete, end-to end discovery services to RVM's clients. Certified computer forensic engineer, Greg Cancilla,leads the RVM forensic team.

Mr. Cancilla, the former president of G-9 Technologies, was frequently retained by Am Law 100 law firms, Fortune 500 companies and entities within the European Union with matters before the Federal Courts, Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and the Security and Exchange Commission. Mr. Cancilla has forensically collected and analyzed data in the United States, Europe and Asia. Additionally, Mr. Cancilla has collected and analyzed data in accordance with the Federal Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") and the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act ("HSR Second Request").

"We are excited about the acquisition of G-9 Technologies," said Vinnie Brunetti, CEO of RVM. RVM will now offer its clients a complete solution from early case assessment through production. G-9's team of highly skilled data professionals, possessing years of experience in data collection and harvesting is a tremendous addition to RVM's already talented team.

The team at G-9 Technologies is experienced in preservation, identification, extraction, documentation and interpretation of computer data using computer forensic tools.

About RVM, Inc.
RVM provides legal technology consulting, data forensics and litigation support services. Its team of experts, including industry savvy consultants, top-flight project managers and seasoned support personnel, assist law firms and corporations with their most demanding discovery and edata processing assignments. Paired with its proprietary e-data processing software, RVM delivers consistent, repeatable, and defensible results on time and under budget.
To learn more about RVM, call 1-800-525-7915 or visit www.rvminc.com

LuciData Acquires eDiscovery Provider Juritek.net

2009-02-26T02:21:00.000-06:00

MINNEAPOLIS, February 23, 2009 — LuciData Inc., a leading provider of eDiscovery and computer forensic investigative services and solutions, today announced it has acquired Juritek.net, Ltd, a Minneapolis based provider of eDiscovery services and solutions.

The combined company will operate under the LuciData, Inc. name and will offer law firms and corporate legal department’s eDiscovery services ranging from initial data collection, preservation, forensic analysis, complex search capabilities, online review and also document production services.

The acquisition is LuciData, Inc.’s first and is a reflection of their rapid growth and desire to expand into new eDiscovery services and markets. LuciData’s core business of computer forensic collection and analysis represents the beginning of the eDiscovery process as defined by the EDRM model (www.edrm.net). The addition of Juritek, which provides electronic data processing, review, and production services, allows them to offer a broader range of services to their clients and is more cost effective and easier to manage.

“More of our clients are looking for vendors that can provide a range of eDiscovery services under a single engagement model, said Jeremy Wunsch, founder and CEO of LuciData, Inc. Juritek shares our common vision of providing excellent customer service and cost effective services while leveraging the very latest in eDiscovery technology. They were a natural fit for the LuciData organization”.

Integreon Pays $9 Million for Bankrupt Onsite

2009-02-23T07:10:00.004-06:00

As a follow up to my previous post titled Integreon Purchases Onsite3's Secured Debt Before Onsite3 Files Chapter 11 , it has been reported that Ayala Corp., the holding company of Integreon, paid $9 million for the bankrupt Onsite.

BussinesWorld Online News Story:
Rufino Luis T. Manotok, chief finance officer of the country’s oldest conglomerate, told BusinessWorld the firm, through BPO unit Integreon Managed Solutions, Inc., had bought Virginia-based On-site Sourcing, Inc. for $9 million.

"The company will focus on investing in the BPO industry. While its growth rate might slow down, the industry will still grow," Mr. Manotok said in an interview on Friday.

Last year, revenues of the local outsourcing industry went up by more than a quarter to $6 billion and are expected to grow by as much as a third this year.

"In times of stress that’s when opportunity will arise, and we do not want to be caught in a situation where there is [an acquisition] opportunity and we do not have the cash," he said.

Gartner MarketScope for E-Discovery Software Product Vendors 2008

2009-02-16T09:29:00.004-06:00

Gartner evaluated 20 vendors across a number of criteria such as: Business Model, Customer Experience, Market Understanding, Sales Execution/Pricing, Offering (Product) Strategy, Product/Service, Sales Strategy and then rated them based on their findings.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
To be included in the MarketScope report, a vendor must meet
the following criteria:
- Have a software product that can be licensed for implementation and use inside a company's firewall.
- Cover at least three of the functional areas of the electronic discovery reference model (EDRM).
- Have e-discovery related product and maintenance revenue equal to or greater than $10 million.

Overall rating of the Market/Market Segment was Positive.

Milestone Partners Back Callidus Acquisition of Black Letter Discovery

2009-02-10T17:20:00.003-06:00

Black Letter Discovery is the first acquisition by Callidus, a new litigation support consolidation platform sponsored by Milestone, as noted in a recent press release.

Press release: Milestone Partners (“Milestone”) announced that it closed on capital commitments of approximately $230 million for its latest fund, Milestone Partners III, L.P. (“Milestone Partners III”), exceeding its $200 million fundraising target.

Once again Milestone has attracted a diverse investor base, including a wide range of institutional investors, family offices and entrepreneurs. In addition to the participation of nearly all of the investors in the $120 million Milestone Partners II, L.P., Milestone Partners III includes several new institutional limited partners, including public pension funds, insurance companies and funds of funds.

John Shoemaker of Milestone Partners remarked, “Everyone at Milestone appreciates the confidence that both our pre-existing investors and our new investors have demonstrated in our firm, especially in a difficult fundraising environment. We look forward to continuing our disciplined approach to investing in the new fund.”

Milestone has already completed four acquisitions through the new fund, including: Fatz Cafe, a casual dining restaurant chain; Safemark Systems, a provider of in-room hospitality safes; Global Connection, a marketer of prepaid wireline phone service; and Black Letter Discovery, the first acquisition by Callidus, a new litigation support consolidation platform sponsored by Milestone.