Robert Ambrogi Blog
The law practice management company Paradigm has acquired LollyLaw, a cloud-based, all-in-one practice management platform designed for immigration law firms.
The acquisition adds immigration software to Paradigm’s portfolio of law practice products that already includes the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time and MerusCase; the payments platform Headnote; and the legal accounting software TrustBooks, which it just acquired in February.
LollyLaw, based in Meridian, Idaho, and in business since 2014, will continue to operate as a standalone product. Its cofounders, brothers John Levesque and Todd Levesque, are both joining Paradigm as co-general managers of LollyLaw. Its employees will also join Paradigm.
“Our mission is to give attorneys the best-in-class legal software solution for their specialty or other unique needs,” said Colin Li, CFO/CRO of Paradigm. “With LollyLaw, we can now offer immigration attorneys a single intuitive platform to streamline the major functions of their firm and manage the cumbersome, but ultimately rewarding, immigration process from start to finish.”
In an interview, cofounder John Levesque told me that he was inspired to start the company after seeing the challenges his wife, an immigration lawyer, faced in finding the right software to manage her own practice.
“First and foremost, we try to make this a very approachable, easy-to-use software, given that a lot of the things that immigration practitioners have to do these days have a high degree of complexity and need for accuracy at every stage in the process,” Levesque said. “So our software helps facilitate that.”
The way it helps facilitate that is through features that include:
- Fully native, all-in-one case management features including intake, calendaring, time and billing, document management, a client portal and SMS messaging.
- Immigration-specific workflows to automate case lifecycles.
- LollyForms, a one-of-a-kind feature that facilitates accurate form filing and accelerates the often tedious client-intake process.
- A comprehensive library of USCIS immigration forms updated within hours of their release.
Based on a demonstration Levesque gave me, the LollyForms form-filler is a particularly notable feature of the LollyLaw platform. Native to the platform, LollyForms automates the entire library of immigration forms, many of which are highly complex and can be arduous to complete.
The user is able to work on the forms while viewing them in their original PDF format. Client information is easily imported from LollyLaw to populate the appropriate fields. LollyForms presents the user with the appropriate forms based on the type of matter.
LollyForms allows forms to be worked on collaboratively in real time. This means that the attorney can invite the client to work together on the form, without having the client come into the office, simply by sending the client an invitation. Each collaborator can see what the other is doing within the form, much like working on a shared document in Google or Office 365.
“We are incredibly excited to partner with the Paradigm team.” Levesque said. “We want LollyLaw to be in the hands of every immigration firm in the country so it can help as many people as possible during some of their toughest moments. With Paradigm’s industry expertise and resources, we can make this vision a reality.”
Continuing Expansion
Paradigm was originally formed by Alpine SG (ASG), a software platform company backed by Alpine Investors. In October 2021, it was acquired by Francisco Partners, a major investment firm that specializes in investments in technology businesses.
Over the last few years, it has been steadily expanding its portfolio of law practice products since making its first acquisition of Bill4Time in 2017. That was followed by the acquisitions of PracticePanther in 2018, MerusCase in 2019, Headnote in 2020, and TrustBooks this year.
Earlier this year, Paradigm announced the expansion of its leadership team with the hiring of two executives, one who will oversee product management and the other marketing.
Joining Paradigm as vice president of product management is Marie Burgess, who was previously senior director of project management at Aderant. Joining as vice president of marketing is Mayowa Oyebadejo, who was most recently project leader at Boston Consulting Group.