France’s DiliTrust Buys doeLEGAL For US Expansion

In a sign of continued consolidation in the legal tech sector, Paris-based DiliTrust, a multi-capability platform for corporates, has bought Delaware-based Enterprise Legal Management (ELM) software company doeLEGAL. The deal also gives the French company its first major base in the US.

The deal follows yesterday’s news that ALSP Elevate is buying tech and eDiscovery group Redgrave Data.

DiliTrust started in 2005 and has ‘2,400 clients in 64 countries’. It covers a wide range of offerings, which include: entity management, matter management, e-billing, and e-discovery solutions. They’ve also invested into AI for some time. They have offices across the world, including Canada.

The deal marks DiliTrust’s fourth acquisition in two years since the investment by its financial backers Cathay Capital, Eurazeo, and Sagard in 2022, the company noted. Following the acquisition, the DiliTrust group now will have over 300 employees around the world.

They work with AccorHotels, Royal Bank of Canada, BNP Paribas, Commercial Bank of Dubai, LVMH, Veolia, and Vivendi, to name a few.

Meanwhile, doeLEGAL also has a strong client portfolio, including multiple Fortune 500 companies in the healthcare and insurance sectors.

They describe themselves as providing ELM solutions for ‘cost savings and performance improvements for in-house legal teams’, while the company’s flagship product, Ascent ELM, ‘simplifies billing, vendor and matter management while delivering business insights when and where legal teams need them’.

So, all in all a big step for the French company and one that opens up greater access to the world’s largest legal market, namely the USA. And as noted, it’s another example of consolidation in the legal tech sector – although, that said, there are still literally hundreds of independent legal tech businesses out there on a global basis.

Yves Garagnon, Global CEO of DiliTrust, said: ‘In-house legal teams are facing increasing pressure to do more with less. Our acquisition of doeLEGAL enables us to provide a holistic platform that addresses these challenges head-on, leveraging AI to drive even more efficiency, cost savings, and ultimately empowering their business partner role within the organization.’

While Bruce Kuennen, President of doeLEGAL, added: ‘DiliTrust and doeLEGAL share a vision of simplifying and streamlining legal operations through innovative technology. By combining our decades of expertise with the DiliTrust Governance Suite, we can further empower legal teams to achieve greater productivity and deliver more strategic value to their organizations.’