With over 300 law firm customers, including many very substantial firms, and a staff of about 150, Visualfiles is the latest of a long line of “independent” legal software suppliers to be acquired by a larger organisation – Laserform was acquired by Computer Software Group only a fortnight earlier. In this case, Visualfiles has been a “partner” of LexisNexis for some time and, given the wider ambitions of LexisNexis in integrating legal information products with technology tools, the acquisition points to furtherance of that LexisNexis strategy rather than a “fire sale”.
Josh Bottomley, MD of LexisNexis Butterworths, said regards Visualfiles as “the pre-eminent and most innovative provider of workflow applications. H confirmed the motivation behind the acquisition: “Adding productivity tools to LexisNexis’ client development, research and compliance solutions, Visualfiles will strengthen our ability to combine proprietary content and technology to drive the commercial success of our customers.”
The new company – now renamed LexisNexis Visualfiles – will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of LexisNexis Butterworths, with both Mark Woodward, as managing director, and Neil Ewin remaining with the business. Both will join the board of LexisNexis in the
Solicitors Own Software (SOS), which has had a 15-year partnership with Visualfiles (integrating back-office and front-office systems), was quick to reassure its client base that the relationship between LexisNexis Visualfiles and SOS will continue unchanged. They say that both companies will continue to maintain and enhance their applications providing continuing support to those existing customers and further reasons why new customers should choose to purchase the integrated suite of applications.
Michael Platt, Managing Director, Solicitors Own Software said:
“This is exciting news for the sector. SOS has enjoyed a positive working relationship with Visualfiles for over 15 years and both parties are confident clients will benefit as our partnership evolves within this new framework. We are looking forward to being associated with this very powerful force in the legal market.”
