VLex and Fastcase, two of the largest and fastest-growing legal technology companies, announced today that they are merging to form one of the world’s largest law firm subscriber bases with more than one billion legal documents from more than 100 countries, according to a press release. As part of the merger, Oakley Capital and Bain Capital Credit are investing in the combined business to expand its global reach and accelerate the company’s legal artificial intelligence, or AI, lab. The lab develops AI tools that streamline research, tracking, writing, and filing documents for the legal industry.
“The legal profession has been a late adopter of technology, but lawyers are gaining more of an appetite for artificial intelligence tools in recent years,” said vLex CEO Lluís Faus in a press release. “Bringing these two highly successful businesses together will help democratize the law for legal professionals worldwide through a dynamic and robust platform that improves legal research accuracy, efficiency, and affordability.”
The new combined entity will be called vLex Group, and its products will retain the name of vLex in global markets and Fastcase in the United States, according to the press release. It will maintain headquarters offices in Washington, D.C., Miami, and Barcelona, Spain.
The new company will reach the majority of lawyers in the U.S. (approximately 1.1 million subscribers out of 1.3 million lawyers in the U.S.) in partnership with state bar associations and include legal materials from more than 100 countries around the world. The combined library contains over one billion legal documents, including judicial opinions, statutes, regulations, court rules, docket sheets, briefs, pleadings, motions, authored treatises, and legal news articles.