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Trendspotting @ LegalTech

By Ari Kaplan
February 28, 2008
Like the rest of the community, I make my annual pilgrimage to LegalTech New York ('LTNY') to see old friends, gauge where technology has taken us and to gain insight on the direction in which we are headed. (I also go to replenish my swag. My favorite item is still the crisp two-dollar bill from Lex on Demand, but a few companies were making luggage tags from business cards, which I liked, and others were giving away flash drives, which I needed. And Kroll Ontrack Inc.'s 10-minute massage was a nice addition to the mix.)

Consolidation

Speaking of Kroll, their recent acquisition of TrialGraphix, along with Thomson Corporation's acquisition of Contact Networks and Iron Mountain Inc.'s acquisition of Stratify, was part of a larger buzz about consolidation. Some companies with long-standing leaders, such as Tom Burke at World Software Corp. (maker of Worldox), Ron Collins at Gavel & Gown Software Inc. (maker of Amicus Attorney) and Dan Berlin at Software Technology, Inc. (maker of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster), have remained independent, but 2008 should yield continued M&A activity in the sector. The question people were asking at the conference was: Do the combinations benefit the consumer?

There is a notion that competition breeds better products. Reducing that competition may impact client service as smaller companies are arguably better equipped to provide greater personalization. 'There is a danger of important segments of the market not being served,' says Collins. For example, he notes that a company with mostly large law firm clients cannot necessarily apply the same strategy after acquiring an organization that focuses on the small and mid-sized market. These issues aside, though, the combinations appeared seamless and well integrated at the show.

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