In what is Litera’s largest acquisition since Kira, the ever-growing legal tech group has bought Peppermint Technology, the well-known Microsoft partner and developer of the CX365 CRM, ERM, and matter management platform. The M&A deal follows a competitive bidding process.
The UK-based Peppermint will be integrated into the Litera stack, in particular with its Foundation product and range of features, which has a focus on creating value out of law firm operational data. In fact, this is all about data – see interview below with CEO Avaneesh Marwaha, who last year returned to helm the business’s growth strategy.
As Litera explained: ‘This strategic acquisition significantly elevates the value law firms derive from their Microsoft applications, adding innovative marketing, business development, and case and matter management solutions to Litera’s suite of legal technology capabilities that manage the end-to-end legal experience.’
Gary Young, CEO of Peppermint Technology, said of the sale: ‘We are very excited to become part of the Litera family, where our shared vision and offerings will deliver even more benefit to our customers and the wider legal sector. It is the right time in Peppermint’s growth journey to bring our businesses together, having similar cultures and ambition for our people, customers, and partners.’
CEO Avaneesh Marwaha Interview
Clearly, getting deeper into the Microsoft ecosystem is a key part of the deal with Peppermint, and as Marwaha explains: ‘We are big believers in Microsoft, we’ve always had an eye on this ecosystem. With Peppermint we can now go faster and deeper with CRM and other areas.’
All well and good, but what is the big picture here? What is Litera’s wider strategy – which is backed by Hg Capital?
Marwaha sums it up nicely: ‘We focus on driving the right data, to the right place, at the right time.’
And the goal of that is to improve the working lives of law firm partners. Or put another way: ‘I believe in bringing insights to the workflow.’
I.e. Litera is not about disrupting how law firms work, but rather using tech to tap the data that is generated within them, then organising it, and then creating insights and value from it. From there the goal is to help lawyers apply all of this to their work, whether that’s around client relationships, managing a matter, or helping to figure out where useful information is to help price, staff, and improve that work.
So, how did we get here, and especially after so many M&A deals over the years?
‘From about 2017 the focus was on drafting [technology], next was the Kira deal and then Foundation, which expanded us into AI and ‘experience data’,’ Marwaha explains.
‘This deal is the next big step and we are looking at this in terms of the impact we can have on managing partners of law firms. They care about client development, client happiness, and we can help to give real insights,’ he adds.
They can perhaps even provide some predictive insights as well, based on the data they’ve gathered.
Now, we have to talk about genAI.
Marwaha is not swayed by the prospect of buying one of the new genAI companies that have sprung up since 2023.
The main reason is that as foundation genAI models keep improving, and therefore make some of those ‘skills’ used in the legal sector commoditised, he’s not certain that company X or Y will retain its value for customers over the long-term. I.e. the genAI moat in some areas could be eroded quite fast, and then Litera might wonder why it had shelled out a load of money for that particular legal tech business.
Instead, Marwaha wants to keep the focus on data, on workflows that are already there, and on making law firm management teams happy.
And last question: will there be more deals in 2025? Marwaha says that nothing is set in stone, but they’re certainly open to possibilities. Plus, one can add, any new deal will have to help support the overriding strategic goals set out above, i.e. data, workflows, happy partners.
Either way, Litera is still on a growth drive and they are certainly not finished with building out their platform yet.
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