For more than a week, credible but unconfirmed rumors have been flying through the legal information community that LexisNexis was going to acquire legal analytics startup Lex Machina.. This morning I received the press release confirming the acquisition.
Needless to say, I will follow up later with  more musings on this latest legal merger.

For now I will just say this is certainly a brilliant move for LexisNexis:  “Well done LexisNexis.”

Here it is:

LexisNexis Acquires Premier Legal Analytics® Provider Lex Machina

 Legal professionals will benefit from new, next-generation solutions that drive more informed decisions to craft winning case strategy and close business

November 23, 2015 — NEW YORK – LexisNexis® Legal & Professional today announced that it has acquired privately held Lex Machina, Inc., creator of award-winning Legal Analytics®, a next-generation technology platform that transforms how law firms and companies excel in the business and practice of law. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Lex Machina, based in Silicon Valley, delivers a Software as a Service platform that helps lawyers predict the behaviors and outcomes of different legal strategies by mining, tagging, categorizing and enhancing millions of Federal court dockets and documents. The technology allows lawyers to make strategic, data-driven decisions and develop winning litigation strategies using competitive intelligence on opposing parties and counsel, track records and key decisions by presiding judges, as well as reveal trends by case outcomes.

 “Data and analytics are integral to the future of the practice of law and the addition of Lex Machina solidifies the LexisNexis position as a leader in providing analytic decision tools for legal professionals,” said Sean Fitzpatrick managing director of North American Research Solutions at LexisNexis. “We are excited to welcome a company at the forefront of innovation, and we plan to leverage our extensive resources to bring the benefits of Legal Analytics to lawyers everywhere.”

The combination of the LexisNexis technology and content with the unique capabilities of Lex Machina creates a scalable infrastructure to build next generation Legal Analytics solutions across a wide variety of practice areas. Further, integrating analytic capabilities into existing LexisNexis solutions, such as Lexis Advance®, will bring new decision-insights to lawyers.

 In particular, the collection of court dockets and documents from LexisNexis CourtLink® provides a deep and comprehensive resource for Lex Machina technology that will deliver an unprecedented view of lawyer and law firm performance, legal market trends and judicial tendencies that are needed to make critical decisions about a case. The acquisition also serves as a catalyst to enhance existing LexisNexis analytical decision tools such as LexisNexis® MedMal Navigator® and LexisNexis® Verdict & Settlement Analyzer.

 The Lex Machina Legal Analytics platform has become a “must have” technology for 45 of the Top 100 IP law firms, as well as multi-national companies such as eBay, Google, IBM, AstraZeneca and Nike. Through the acquisition, Lex Machina gains access to the considerable resources of LexisNexis, including an extensive base of content, a state-of-the-art global technology platform and a top-flight sales organization that covers all segments of the legal marketplace.

 “We’re proud to have brought transparency to IP litigation with Legal Analytics. The only thing inhibiting our entry into other areas of the law is access to content,” said Josh Becker, CEO of Lex Machina. “By joining the LexisNexis family, we will accelerate the introduction of Legal Analytics to more practice areas and enhance insights for our customers with the advanced technology of the Lexis Advance platform.”

 Because LexisNexis recognizes the importance of the leadership and culture at Lex Machina to the creation of innovative Legal Analytics solutions, it will operate as a stand-alone entity within the North American Research Solutions group within LexisNexis Legal & Professional.

The acquisition of Lex Machina is part of the ongoing LexisNexis commitment to offer modern, next-generation legal research solutions that harness the power of Big Data through natural language processing and machine learning to help legal professionals work more efficiently, make more informed decisions and drive success for their clients, practice and business.