We've reported before that venture capitalists are circling the Informa Group - best known in the UK legal IT market for the Islington Legal IT Show and the autumn Legal IT Forum aka GlenLegal although this year the event has been rebranded as the New Legal IT Forum and relocated to the rather less upmarket Celtic Manor near Swansea.
Earlier this month, UBM (United Business Media) dropped out of merger talks with Informa however since then at least four VC/private equity groups have expressed an interest: Blackstone, Permira, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and a consortium comprising Providence Equity, Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman.
Hellman & Friedman? Where have we heard that name before? Oh, yes! They are the people who helped buyout the Computer Software Group and create what today is the IRIS Legal Group, which now includes our old friends AIM, Laserform, Mountain and Videss plus GB Systems, Meridian and Opsis.
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Wednesday, July 30
IRIS Group VC's bidding for Informa?
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 30 Jul 2008 19:10 BST
Tuesday, July 29
Eclipse hoping to eclipse all other case vendors?
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 29 Jul 2008 10:12 BST
With endless tales of doom and gloom in the legal IT market, Eclipse Legal Systems is one UK vendor that reckons it is bucking the trend and enjoying its best year ever – arguably at the expense of its competitors, including the one-time market leader. Eclipse has now published some details of its latest trading results – official statement follows...
Case management software specialist, Eclipse Legal Systems, has reported a record trading year for 2007/8. The firm’s previous best results came in 2006/7, when it published a turnover of £4.25 million with profit levels of around the £1 million mark. The financial year 2007/8 – which ended on 30th June – saw Eclipse announce a turnover increase of approximately 20% to over £5 million, with similar profit levels. The company’s growth has been based upon a parallel focus of client acquisition strategies and strong ‘new business’ campaigns. In the financial year 2007/8, Eclipse recorded 76 new ‘greenfield’ client wins (not including existing client upgrades). Highlights from the last 12 months include: • Almost 2000 new Proclaim end-user licence sales, bringing the overall user figure to over 9000 • Staff headcount reaching 75, with the purchase of additional premises giving headroom for over 200 Eclipse sales director Russell Thomson said: “Given the uncertainty and misinformation that has surrounded many legal software vendors, law firms are understandably looking for a transparent and driven IT solutions partner. We are enjoying unparalleled success, and our long-term strategies are very much aligned with those of forward-thinking and expanding legal services providers.” Monday, July 28
Socha-Gelbmann - what's it good for ?
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 28 Jul 2008 11:40 BST
Over the past week the Insider in-box has been bombarded with messages from US-based litigation and e-discovery service providers announcing how well their respected products have faired in the latest Socha-Gelbmann electronic discovery survey report. It's big news in the US but we've always suspected that it's a 'so what, who cares' scenario on this side of the Atlantic – and that probably most people in the UK legal IT community think Socha-Gelbmann is the name of the actor who plays Ali G and Borat. (Actually that's Sacha Baron Cohen ...Ed). We therefore asked Andrew Haslam of lit support technology consultancy Allvision Computing for his thoughts on the report – and we follow it up with a round-up of the rankings...
"Various US (and UK) firms are starting to crow about their rankings in the Socha-Gelbmann electronic data discovery (EDD) survey, but what is it, and does it have any relevance to the UK marketplace? "The survey is an annual look at the vendors in the EDD marketplace, written by two independent consultants, George Socha and Thomas Gelbmann. The 2008 version has just been released after its nine month creation process, and is the sixth in the series. Vendors are ranked on how they operate in each of the stages defined by the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (itself an industry agreed model of the various stages of EDD). The executive summary is free, with the full report costing $5000. The word survey is possibly a misnomer, as the information gathered is self-selected by vendors submitting their own figures on company growth and revenue. The methodology used to arrive at the rankings is not explained, and in previous reports, firms have complained of seemingly arbitrary analysis and resultant ranking. "That being said, the document represents a fair stab at capturing an annual snapshot of the state of the EDD market, and how various companies have fared over the years. A bit like UK school league tables (well those before this year's debacle), the results of the survey give you a feel for the relative strengths of companies but are no substitute for meeting the vendors and evaluating their products." ...Andrew Haslam And now some of the announcements: • eMag was included as a top provider in three categories in the 2008 Socha-Gelbmann report. eMag was listed among the top 25 electronic discovery service providers + broke into the top 10 e-discovery software providers in law firm rankings + was also placed among the top 20 overall e-discovery service providers in law firm rankings. • Recommind's Axcelerate eDiscovery application was listed among industry leaders in customer satisfaction, and frequency of use. • IE Discovery has again been ranked as a top overall provider of electronic discovery services. The company also scored a top 5 ranking in experience and top 5 or top 10 in seven different stages of electronic discovery: identification, preservation, collection, review, analysis, production and presentation. • Autonomy Corporation announced that it was named a top 5 electronic discovery provider for its ZANTAZ e-Discovery software and service. Autonomy was named a top 5 provider in nine software and service categories, including preservation, collection, analysis, production, presentation, and law firm rankings. This marks the fourth consecutive year that the company has been ranked as a op 5 service provider in the report. • ONSITE3 announced it was ranked within the top 15 of all e-discovery service providers. • Guidance Software announced its EnCase software were given the highest ranking (top 5 provider) in the e-discovery software providers category. Guidance Software was also given the highest ranking by corporations in the survey’s electronic discovery service provider category and received the highest ranking in several other categories in the report. • Wave Software, a supplier in the de-duplication, regeneration and export of native electronic data sector, announced that it has been named at top electronic discovery software provider. • Anacomp announced that its CaseLogistix litigation support software had been named a top electronic discovery service provider. Thursday, July 24
Interwoven go on the acquisition trail
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 24 Jul 2008 22:21 BST
Legal sector DMS market leader Interwoven has just announced that it has entered into a
definitive agreement to acquire Discovery Mining, a leading
e-discovery provider to professional services firms and corporations.
Discovery Mining significantly streamlines and simplifies the discovery
phase of litigation and investigations with a software-as-a-service (SaaS)
solution for processing, reviewing and producing massive volumes of
electronic data.
Under the terms of the agreement, Interwoven will pay approximately $36 million in cash for all outstanding shares of Discovery Mining (which was founded in 2002) and vested stock options, and assume certain existing employee stock options. While the acquisition is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2008, the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. Commenting on the deal Interwoven CEO Joe Cowan said “The acquisition of Discovery Mining is consistent with that focus, as e-discovery has become an absolutely vital – yet challenging – component of the litigation process. We plan to leverage our market experience to bring leadership to what is today a fragmented market for e-discovery.” Most organizations do not have the infrastructure to handle large volumes of information, and are turning to companies like Discovery Mining to manage the e-discovery process for them. According to a recent report by Forrester Research, the North American e-discovery market, which in 2006 was $1.45 billion, will grow to almost $4.89 billion by 2011 – an increase of 238 percent in five years. In the 2008 Socha-Gelbmann* Electronic Discovery Survey, Discovery Mining was ranked by law firms as a top five provider of e-discovery services. It has worked with more than half of the Am Law 100 firms, as well as a number of Fortune 500 corporations. Key Discovery Mining clients include DLA Piper UK LLP, Greenberg Traurig LLP, Holland & Knight, Morrison & Foerster LLP, and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP. Discovery Mining’s highly scalable e-discovery service is optimized for the processing and review of massive volumes of electronic data. The service features powerful capabilities for accelerated review, including concept searching, clustering, analytics and email filtering. As a result, organizations can improve the productivity of reviewers, make more effective assessments and meet the pressing deadlines of litigation and investigations with greater predictability. * The Orange Rag will be publishing a separate story on Socha Gelbmann 2008.
Vinasty heading for a second act ?
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 24 Jul 2008 06:46 BST
If you are wondering what happened to Vin Murria after she sold CSG to the IRIS Group, then read this new posting by IT industry analyst Richard Holoway on his Holoway's HotViews blog – http://hotviews.blogspot.com –
"My involvement with Vin Murria came about through Elderstreet where she is a Director and I am an adviser to one of their funds. Indeed, our investment in Computer Software Group (CSG) – where Michael Jackson served as Chairman and Vin Murria as CEO - was the most successful for the fund when it was sold to HG Capital in March 2007 for c£100m. CSG was a consolidation play in the legal, not-for-profit, membership arena – and it worked very well for shareholders. Jackson and Murria stayed with the new entity which merged with Iris and was then sold to Helman & Friedman for c£500m – in hindsight, probably at the top of the market! "Well, now the duo are at it again. This time in the UK primary care arena. Via an AIM ‘shell’ called Drury Lane Capital plc, they have acquired (actually it’s a reverse takeover) Adastra for £12.2m (£4.8m in cash, rest in shares). Drury Lane (which I understand will change its name to Advanced Computer Software plc when the deal is consummated) is raising £14.6m by way of a placing of 86m shares at 17p. "Adastra was setup in 1994 by Lynn Woods and James Berry (both of whom will continue post the acquisition). In 2002 they acquired their main competitor, Owl Software. In the year to 29th Feb 08 Adastra had revenues of £10.6m, PBT of £1.7m and 150 staff. A significant majority (>70%) of revenues comes from recurring support revenue and from software sales to existing clients. Adastra’s main product is a specialist call management, data distribution and clinical recording systems for GP out-of-hours or urgent care. Adastra has more than doubled its revenues in the last five years. "Adastra has an almost clean sweep of out-of-hours systems in the UK with no direct competition. "If ever there was a UK market ripe for consolidation it is the Out of Hospital Care area (which goes under the acronym OoH) "Firstly, there are a whole array of relatively small companies who service the area. For example, EMIS (revenues c£50m) is one of the main suppliers of primary care/GP systems but partners with Adastra on out-of-hours. There has been speculation in the past that EMIS(*) might itself purchase Adastra – maybe it will be the other way around now! "Secondly, the benefits of ‘cross-selling’, which would accrue if the group was enlarged, are obvious. Don’t just think doctors – think dentists, opticians, pharmacists, walk-in-centres, polyclinics (the latest DoH buzzword) etc "Thirdly, the current disarray in the NHS IT Programme might play well with a consolidation exercise. The NHS has recently given greater flexibility for local trusts to work with local suppliers of their choice. This can only benefit the smaller established suppliers over the last remaining LSPs (BT and CSC). "Lastly, users of such systems are very loyal. Training and implementation costs are high so users only change as a last resort. That means that recurring revenues are both secure and significant – exactly the kind of model of businesses that work in a consolidation play. "Clearly,
this is a development I will watch with great interest. If anyone can
pull off a consolidation play in the primary care area, Vin can."
* The EMIS referred to in this story is the parent company if EMIS IT who operate in the legal IT market. Wednesday, July 23
July Insider out now
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 23 Jul 2008 08:47 BST
The July issue of the Legal Technology Insider newsletter is hitting desktops just about now. Top stories in this issue include:
• how Timeslice is proving a big hit in Slovenia • Winscribe offering a software as a service (SaaS) version of its digital dictation workflow software • and the exodus continues from Hummingbird with Phoenix Business Solutions winning two more contracts to help firms migrate from legacy Hummingbird/Open Text document management systems to Interwoven Worksite. The latest wins are Macfarlanes LLP and Cripps Harries Hall LLP - the latter having also evaluated but rejected (on the grounds it would take too long to implement) Microsoft Sharepoint as an alternative DMS platform. The next issue of the Insider is out in September but don't forget, along with our continuing breaking news coverage on this blog, we will also be launching the American Legal Technology Insider edition of the newsletter in early August. Friday, July 18
Billback about to change hands - again?
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 18 Jul 2008 10:33 BST
Readers (OK, some readers) will recall that Billback – one of the newer and more successful entrants on the cost recovery systems front – were acquired by the Australian-based business services group Espreon back in 2005. Now Espreon is itself the subject of a two-way deal involving an A$87 million takeover bid by the US V-C group Vectis, who will in turn sell the corporate services and cost recovery side of Espreon (which includes Billback) to the Oz stock market-listed Australian software developer Reckon for A$26 million.
We've been following this story for several weeks now and the latest reports from Australia suggest the deal is still going ahead. As far as we can see this is 'business as usual' for Billback and all that is happening is yet another of those background funny-money go-rounds much beloved of the venture capitalist community. Thursday, July 17
Digital dictation webinar now available
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 17 Jul 2008 10:20 BST
After some delays and hiccups caused by incomprehensible file and URL incompatibilities, we now have a new link to the digital dictation futures webinar the Insider did in conjunction with Winscribe about a fortnight ago. The link can be found here – and it includes access to all the webinars Winscribe have recorded in recent weeks. You can download the recording straight from the site or click a link to stream it from WebEx.
www.winscribe.com/webinar Wednesday, July 16
Lexis MuscleIn on LinkedIn
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 16 Jul 2008 16:17 BST
LexisNexis this afternoon announced an agreement with the creator of the world’s largest professional network – LinkedIn – that will see an enhancing of the position of the Martindale-Hubbell legal network as a networking destination for lawyers. The intention is to offer users instant visibility between lawyers they are searching on martindale.com and their personal LinkedIn relationships, which can serve as referral sources.
The deal follows on from the findings of a survey conducted on behalf of LexisNexis that show attorneys are increasingly looking for online networks that meet their specific business needs. The survey found: • While 54 percent of attorneys say they belong to an online social network, fewer than 10 percent say those sites help them work efficiently or cost effectively. • Meanwhile, 54 percent of corporate counsel and 41 percent of private practice attorneys view linking to other attorneys or expanding their network as the most important feature an online professional network could provide. • And, more than 40 percent of all corporate counsel and private practice attorneys report an interest in joining an online professional network for lawyers. Specifics about the LinkedIn and martindale.com arrangement LinkedIn connections on martindale.comare will be displayed in an easy to see and use fashion. When searching martindale.com for lawyers, users will see LinkedIn icons within the profiles of lawyerss who are members of that network, and within the law firm profiles when lawyers from that firm are LinkedIn members. If the martindale.com user is also a member of LinkedIn, he or she can access the LinkedIn connection with the designated attorney by clicking on the LinkedIn icon. Doing so presents the user with information about the person, as well as common LinkedIn connections between the user and the lawyers. In future updates to LinkedIn, abstracts and links to Martindale-Hubbell articles and other content will be distributed through the LinkedIn network.
US lit support vendors in London - and another one bites the dust
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 16 Jul 2008 07:58 BST
We've commented before on the tendency for US litigation support services vendors to launch themselves into the UK with a large fanfare – only to discover they haven't done their homework properly and find that the market for lit support and e-discovery (or e-disclosure as we call it) services over here is not as buoyant as they had imagined. They then spend the next 18 months sitting twiddling their thumbs in a London office, waiting for the phone to ring, before quietly packing their tent and slinking off back home. The latest supplier to discover they ain't in Kansas anymore and that we do things differently is the Lit Group.
Earlier this week, the head of litigation technology at a large London law firm contacted Lit Group's Texas head office because he could not get an answer from the company's Sun Street offices in London. He was sent the following press release (a press release that, despite its 20th May date, was news to him – and news to us)... Houston, Texas, May 20, 2008 — In a recent move to expand their service capabilities, Scarab Consulting has acquired DigIT Technologies, LIT Group Inc, and RLS Legal Solutions. The portfolio of companies will merge under Scarab Consulting, which will expand its operations to include offices in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, New York, Plano, and Dallas. The newly combined company will present the most comprehensive array of products and e-discovery services in the industry, including data collection and culling services via its world‐class proprietary software. “We are pleased to welcome DigIT Technologies, RLS Legal Solutions and LIT Group to the Scarab Consulting family,“ said Ken Naumann, CEO of Scarab Consulting. “The addition of these three companies and the substantial presence they bring with them coupled with Scarab’s already proven consulting services methodology will allow us to serve our clients with greater efficiency and responsiveness,” Naumann added, “Specifically, the addition of the New York office of RLS and the Texas offices of LIT Group will add significant processing capabilities and a broader national presence to the already impressive offerings of the Scarab facilities.” In the coming weeks, Scarab Consulting will be announcing unique packaging options for its wide array of product and service bundles. For additional information on services or products provided by Scarab, please visit http://consultscarab.com No mention is made of Lit Group's erstwhile London operations – nor do we know the fate of Mark Burrows, their main liaison man between the company and the UK legal market. As our law firm contact commented "a very quiet withdrawal from the UK market". |
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