Technology is accelerating the evolution of law in ways unprecedented in the practice's long history, and some companies are already making the leaps needed to move them into the future. Axiom has accepted technology's impact as paradigm by utilizing it to provide legal services, and on Jan. 14 the company announced an agreement to acquire the general counsel practice of Cognition, a Toronto-based legal services provider that, like Axiom, utilizes tech in its delivery.

In completing the deal – which is expected to close in the first quarter – Axiom hopes to extend its reach “across the border” into the Canadian market, where Cognition has built a client roster with 60 global corporations, a statement by Axiom said.

The deal will result in Cognition – which Axiom said shares its “cultural alignment” and “mission to modernize the legal market” – separating into two entities. The first of these is Axiom Cognition, which functions as an Axiom corporation that serves corporate clients that have in-house legal departments. The other is Caravel Law, which serves as a law firm that caters to small- and medium-sized enterprises that don't have internal legal departments. Cognition officials said in a statement that “the reorganization” of its business is to “align more specifically” to the company's primary customer lines.