Avvo HQ Avvo headquarters in Seattle.

On-demand legal services group Avvo Inc. will be acquired by media and software services organization Internet Brands Inc., according to a news release from the company.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Avvo will keep its brand and continue to operate with its current leadership team out of its Seattle-based headquarters. Avvo will be acquired for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition comes at a time when Avvo and other on-demand legal services companies face pushback over the legality of their fee sharing and referral services. In June 2017, the New Jersey Supreme Court barred on-demand legal services companies from operating within the state. Other state bar associations, such as those in New York and Pennsylvania, have also declared that the fee structure of such companies violate their ethics rules.

Serving as legal adviser for the acquisition is Perkins Coie. Perkins was one of the three law firms who also advised on the $1.1 billion sale of Internet Brands to private equity group KKR in 2014.

With the acquisition of Avvo, Internet Brands, which was founded in 2010 and owns websites like ApartmentRatings.com, CarsDirect.com Inc. and WebMD, looks to grow its presence in the online legal resources market. Among the legal industry companies, Internet Brands holds interest in Lawyers.com, All Law and Martindale-Hubbell.

In the release, Bob Brisco, CEO of Internet Brands, noted that “Avvo's culture of rapid innovation with the mission of serving both consumers and attorneys mirrors the strategy that has guided the Internet Brands Legal portfolio to strong growth over the past decade.”

In the same release, Mark Britton, founder and CEO of Avvo, called Internet Brands “a uniquely great fit” for Avvo. He added, “With their commitment to and understanding of the legal vertical, we quickly envisioned a collective whole that would bring more consumers and lawyers together than ever before.”