Legal IT Latest: Shearman swaps out OpenText for iManage Cloud; DISCO closes $100m funding in Q4; Onit acquires AXDRAFT

Shearman & Sterling LLP has swapped out its legacy OpenText document management system and gone live in the iManage Cloud.

The AmLaw Top 50 law firm has also selected iManage Work 10, iManage Security Policy Manager, and iManage Threat Manager across 23 international offices and 2200 legal professionals, becoming the largest New York headquartered law firm to move to iManage Work 10 in the cloud. Three regional iManage datacenters across the EU, the US, and Asia-Pac enable the firm to address its data sovereignty needs.

“Modernizing our information management with iManage allows us to better comply with fast-evolving client and regulatory demands,” said Meredith Williams-Range, chief knowledge & client value officer at Shearman & Sterling. “iManage’s ability to support a global firm of our size coupled with its advanced cloud security, assures our clients worldwide that their sensitive and privileged content is secured and governed at the highest levels.”

Lawrence Baxter, chief technical officer at Shearman & Sterling said: “With Work 10, we have an accurate single source of information for our professionals to quickly find and access whatever documents and data they need, saving valuable time. We see this as key to enabling our professionals to confidently service our clients, at any time, from anywhere, on any device.”

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In other major news this week DISCO announced the completion of its $100 million fourth-quarter financing, bringing total investment in DISCO to $235 million and valuing the company at $785 million. The financing includes the previously announced $60 million in equity from Georgian, LiveOak Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, the Stephens Group, and Breyer Capital, and an additional $40 million in debt from Comerica, closed this week.

With an additional $40M from Comerica, DISCO closes the quarter with $100M in funding.

“Legaltech is booming now, and the industry’s real growth has only just begun,” said DISCO CEO Kiwi Camara. “Over the next five to 10 years, legaltech will emerge as the next high-growth category of enterprise software. We are delighted to see investors acknowledge DISCO’s position as the category creator and category leader for legaltech. Legal departments and law firms are embracing the power of artificial intelligence to automate away the parts of the practice of law that don’t require human legal judgment, freeing great lawyers to do the work that only they can do.”

DISCO says it will continue to invest in building AI-powered solutions that address the entire litigation lifecycle. DISCO solutions include the DISCO cloud technology platform, software products like DISCO Ediscovery and DISCO Case Builder, and productized legal services like DISCO Managed Review. DISCO is aggressively expanding its sales and marketing capabilities in North America, and will continue to grow its presence in EMEA and APAC. The company is also building its strategic channel program and engagement with global service providers.

And Onit has acquired AXDRAFT, a Y Combinator-backed document automation company. The company is said to help corporate legal departments draft legal documents 10 times faster and complete contracts like nondisclosure agreements and service agreements in less than five minutes. Based in Kyiv, Ukraine, it was founded in 2017 and works with customers including Sandoz and Louis Dreyfus Company.

“The acquisition of AXDRAFT underscores our continued commitment to innovation for all of our offerings and particularly in the area of contract lifecycle management,” said Eric M. Elfman, CEO and co-founder of Onit. “In 30 days, we’ve added an AI-based contract management product that significantly streamlines contract review, and now with AXDRAFT, we offer lightning-speed, error-free and multilingual contract drafting.”

In November, Onit acquired legal AI company McCarthyFinch and immediately launched Precedent, its intelligence platform, and ReviewAI, software that also accelerates contract review.