MyCase Quietly Makes Two Key Acquisitions Of Legal Tech Companies

The law practice management company MyCase has quietly acquired two legal technology companies in recent months, without announcing the acquisitions to the public.

On March 31, MyCase acquired CASEpeer, a case management platform for plaintiffs’ attorneys.

Around the same time, MyCase acquired Woodpecker, which provides legal document automation software for solo and small law firms.

These are the first acquisitions ever by MyCase, which has previously taken a “build not buy” approach to new products and features.

These acquisitions come after MyCase was acquired last September in a $193 million deal by private equity firm Apax Partners. Last January, Apax named a new CEO for MyCase, Jim McGinnis, who most recently was EVP/GM of Wolters Kluwer’s Tax and Accounting North America Professional Segment.

No announcement has been made of either acquisition and the Apax website’s listing of its portfolio companies does not include either CASEpeer or Woodpecker.

However, PitchBook, a service that tracks private equity deals, shows that MyCase acquired 100% of CASEpeer on March 31, 2021, in a deal backed by Apax.

With regard to Woodpecker, this blog received information confirming the acquisition.

In addition, a recent job posting by Woodpecker for a software engineer describes the company as “recently acquired” and a question on the job application form asks, “Will you now or in the future require visa sponsorship for employment at MyCase?”

In a brief interview today, McGinnis confirmed the acquisitions. He said that MyCase had not discussed them publicly because they are still working on the strategies around how best to accelerate the growth of the two companies.

But he said that this is an exciting time for legal technology and that he is thrilled to be part of it through his role at MyCase. He also said that more acquisitions by MyCase are likely in the future.

The management teams at both CASEpeer and Woodpecker will remain, McGinnis said.

CASEpeer, founded in 2015 and based in Newport Beach, Calif., is a cloud-based case management platform for plaintiffs’ personal injury lawyers.

Gabriela Cubeiro, who cofounded the company, has been its CEO since January 2020. Cofounder Darren Fancher was previously CEO.

Woodpecker, based in Boston and founded in 2017, provides AI-enabled legal document automation software. Its founder and CEO is Alex Melehy.

At the 2020 ABA TECHSHOW Startup Alley Pitch Competition that I run, Woodpecker was one of the top three winners.