Thomson Reuters Acquires CaseLogistix from Anacomp

Darwin Watch: In what signals a significant move into the e-discovery market, Thomson Reuters has purchased CaseLogistix from San Diego's Anacomp. Terms of 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 long-time 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 slow-down 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 CL, by itself, doe snot 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 CL," says Ball. "What fills the big hole left by CL — 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!

Comments

[Marc]

Am I the only one who sees the game of corporate hot-potato with
Caselogistix as a bad thing?

CLX is a great program. So were Time Matters and PCLaw. Then they got
Lexified. Now they're expensive programs with onerous maintenance costs.

When I had a problem with CLX, which was infrequent, I sometimes ended up
talking to a programmer. How long will that keep happening?

It should be no surprise that TR added CLX to its arsenal. It is no
surprise that EDD and discovery management is a growth industry. But I
can't wee why I should be happy about this. I don't understand why your
columnists are either.