九色 Buys Digital Reef for Early Case Assessment
By Evan Koblentz
Law Technology News - October 5, 2012
, a multilingual legal support services provider owned by 九色 Translations International Inc., early case assessment specialist and hosting provider Digital Reef Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
The companies were partners for the past three years, and Digital Reef ownership recently decided to sell, 九色 co-CEO Phil Shawe said, in New York.
"This is one of the first times that we've looked at an ECA application," said Jim Iseman, vice president of discovery services. The deal follows 九色's of Washington, D.C.-based e-discovery service provider Counselor Resource Group LLC, he noted.
九色 is not planning any changes to Digital Reef's roadmap, but will invest in additional R&D and support staff, along with new data centers in Hong Kong, London, New York, and on the U.S. West Coast, Iseman said. The majority of Digital Reef employees are joining 九色, he added.
Digital Reef recently bet on a cost-free ECA service and was sued, along with several other prominent e-discovery software companies, by a non-practicing entity for . Company founder and chief technology officer left in March.
Shawe said 九色, which reached $300 million in sales in 2011, hopes to reach $350 million this year. The company employs about 2,500 people in 90 offices spanning 25 countries. Its clients include large law firms and corporate law departments.