Courtesy of Factor

Axiom Managed Solutions, one of two businesses spun off from alternative legal services provider Axiom in 2019, is rebranding as Factor and intends to double in size with a renewed financial commitment from its initial investors.

Chris DeConti, head of strategy for the company, said that after a decade in business, the company understood it occupied a unique role in the New Law ecosystem, with a focus on relatively complex work such as contract negotiations rather than commoditized work like e-discovery.

"We're acutely aware of the market's frustration with the amount of hype in the industry," said DeConti, emphasizing his two and a half decades of experience in the space.

"Twenty-five years ago, people were talking about innovation, and they're still talking about it today, but the legal market still looks the same way," he continued. "We think that's because legal innovation has been focused on the margins rather than the center."

Chris DeConti, Factor. (Courtesy photo)

DeConti argued that the company's scale set it apart from traditional law firms, and its focus distinguished it from other alternative providers, outsourcing operations and the Big Four's legal arms—which largely handle what he dismissed as "form-filling work."

The company is home to approximately 500 employees, more than half of whom are attorneys.

"Our average typical resource isn't a junior paralegal sitting far away in an offshore location, it's somebody with six years of experience, sitting in one of our centers, benefiting from technology-enabled process management," DeConti said. "That way we're bringing together the old world and the new."

Following the spin off from Axiom, which continues to operate as a flexible legal staffing company, the business now known as Factor saw substantial interest from a number of investors, according to its news release. But ultimately, leadership elected to stick with the original investors, led by private equity firm Carrick Capital Partners and venture capital firm Benchmark Capital.

"The company's market leadership and the sophistication of what it does positions it very well for growth," Carrick co-founder Jim Madden said in a statement.

DeConti said that the investors' renewed support would allow Factor to add more lawyers and make new investments in technology.

"We're not necessarily developing our own technology," he said. "We're investing in the best out there and our own proprietary configurations of that technology."

In the last five years, DeConti and colleagues have recognized the importance of "productizing" the company's offerings, rather than simply promoting capabilities like "process management" when they go to market.

"We find you need to encapsulate those capabilities into specific offerings that address client needs," he said.

Examples include capital markets documentation, which is reliant on data analytics capabilities and process management, life sciences procurement contracting, where work is driven by sensitivity to data privacy and speed to market, and technology and telecom contracting, a competitive market where speed is also critical.

"We look forward to continuing to work with Factor as they mark this important turning point," Christian Sommer, group legal director at longtime client Vodafone, said in a statement. "For years we have entrusted them to handle important and valuable work and have seen very positive results. We have other solutions for low-complexity, commoditized work but our team at Factor handles sophisticated contract negotiations that previously would have been handled by senior in-house lawyers."

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