Thomson Reuters has acquired HighQ, a collaboration platform for the legal and regulatory market. Based in London with offices in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and India, HighQ offers a secure cloud-based platform for business collaboration, workflow automation and client engagement.

Long-time interest

HighQ currently serves more than 400 customers, including more than half of the Global 100 largest law firms. Thomson Reuters has been interested in HighQ for some time. This acquisition will expand on the  strategic objective to provide more cloud-based software offerings and will meet a growing market need for legal professionals, aligning with Thomson Reuters focus on legal, tax, compliance and risk. Jim Smith, president and ceo of Thomson Reuters, said “This acquisition will position us with an open best-in-class platform at the heart of the legal software ecosystem. It provides us with an opportunity to leverage our channels to sell HighQ to thousands of large and medium-sized law firms and corporate legal departments globally. It also brings impressive software development talent into our organization.” Brian Peccarelli, coo, customer markets at Thomson Reuters and head of its legal professionals segment, said “Legal professionals are being disrupted by technology change and are seeking software solutions to help them improve costs and increase productivity.”

Transformation

Ajay Patel, cep and founder of HighQ, explained “Our intelligent workflow platform allows legal professionals and in-house corporate legal departments to collaborate on projects, matters and transactions, transforming legal service delivery and creating compelling digital experiences for clients and business. We are excited to expand our global footprint and leverage the Thomson Reuters network to support and serve across several vertical industries and geographies.” Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Investment is being led by private equity firm Insight Partners with involvement from the company’s Series A backer, Dubai-based Eagle Proprietary Investments.