This has a bit of a peanut butter and jelly quality.
Or at least that’s what we called it before peanut allergies exploded… what should we call it now? Mashed potatoes and gravy? Hummus and pita? Maybe it’s a gin and tonic quality. Whatever the term, it’s a combination that makes a lot of sense.
AffiniPay, best known around legal industry parts as LawPay’s parent institution, announced this morning that it will acquire law practice management company MyCase. The tie-up brings massive providers focused on the two biggest needs of small and solo firms — running the practice and getting paid — under one roof.
The combined client base of the two firms will reach 65,000 law firms, and over 200,000 legal professionals across the United States and Canada.
“We are very excited to announce AffiniPay’s acquisition of MyCase. Together, MyCase and LawPay are uniquely positioned to meet the holistic financial and business needs of law firms,” said Dru Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer at AffiniPay. “For over a decade, our respective clients have trusted us to deliver innovative legal solutions that enable them to succeed as professionals. As a legal market leader, we believe in putting the law firm and their clients first; together, we remain focused on innovation, customer experience and partner integrations to ensure our clients continue to thrive.”
LawPay integration is already available in MyCase, but now the newly joined companies can begin work in earnest creating a unified platform offering soup-to-nuts service for legal professionals. Soup to nuts… more food cliches!
The new company will still be majority owned by AffiniPay’s majority investor TA Associates, with MyCase investor Apax (or “funds advised by Apax,” to get technical) will be a minority investor in the new entity.
Despite the massive client list, smalls and solos remain a fertile area for growth. Many still haven’t joined the tech train but it’s becoming harder and harder to sit on the sidelines. One integrated, cloud-based solution for everything a lawyer needs might be the value proposition a tech-skeptical lawyer needs to modernize the practice. For people like that, you really need to make the solution… easy as pie?
OK, that’s enough of the food stuff.
For folks interested in more, AffiniPay CEO Dru Armstrong and MyCase CEO Jim McGinniss will join the Friday Legaltech Week journalists’ roundtable to discuss the acquisition. That’s tomorrow, June 10, at 3 p.m. ET. You must register here if you’re looking to watch live. The show is available after the fact at the usual places.)
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
