business merger

If you're a legal services platform with designs on seeing the world, offering contract management solutions might be a step in the right direction. Take Wolters Kluwer, a global information services company based out of the Netherlands that recently acquired Legisway.

Stationed in France with a user base of 55,000 people, Legisway's contract management platform deals primarily in litigation and was developed to streamline content creation, validation and storage processes. It can also operate on the cloud, which fits in with pre-existing Wolters Kluwer's products such as Effacts or Kleos and might help both brands gain a better foothold in corporate legal departments across Europe.

“Legisway complements Wolters Kluwer's product portfolio with a mature solution for contract management, a key driver for the adoption of software in [corporate legal departments],” Salvador Fernandez, CEO of Legal Software at Wolters Kluwer, said.

“By adding Legisway to our portfolio, and together with Effacts, we can cover the full range of legal department needs from smaller, more generalist departments to larger specialized departments,” he explained.

Jerome Teissier, president and CEO of Legisway, believes that being part of Wolters Kluwer, which boasts customers in 22 countries, will help Legisway expand its global footprint beyond France and continue to innovate its platform to incorporate new consumer segments.

He does not expect pre-existing Legisway users to experience significant changes in their service as a result of the acquisition, but the company's tech support service will be kicked up to a 24/7 response rate with backup from Wolters Kluwer's global IT operations team.

“It's really business as usual for Legisway customers and they will continue to work with the Legisway product and service teams as they do today,” Teisser said.

Examining all of the possible compatibility between the products originating within its own legal software unit and Legisway's platform will remain a priority for Wolters Kluwer moving forward.

“In the coming months, the Wolters Kluwer Legal Software and Legisway teams will look for ways to have the teams work closely together as we look to further invest, innovate and expand Legisway's solution,” Fernandez said.