In a strategic move set to reshape the landscape of legal technology, LexisNexis Legal & Professional announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Belgium-based contract drafting company Henchman. The acquisition aims to integrate Henchman’s advanced document management system with LexisNexis’ resources to expedite document drafting processes.
Henchman’s technology is renowned for its ability to enhance a law firm’s internal work product by creating a layer of intelligence on contract databases, thus accelerating the drafting process. Jeffrey S. Pfeifer, Chief Product Officer for LexisNexis Legal and Professional, emphasized that the union will enable LexisNexis to deliver customized generative AI solutions to its global clientele. “The acquisition will combine Henchman’s document management system data enrichment with trusted LexisNexis drafting guidance content to deliver a personalized generative AI experience,” Pfeifer said.
The immediate plan is to synergize Henchman’s capabilities with LexisNexis’ own retrieval augmented generation technology, which powers the Lexis+ AI legal research platform and Lexis Create, the Microsoft 365 add-in that facilitates generative AI drafting within Microsoft Word, Outlook, Teams, and Copilot. Pfeifer noted, “We believe the combination of our teams and technology will allow customers to make informed decisions faster, generate better work product, and drive economic value for their organizations.”
Henchman’s technology integrates with both legal-specific document management systems (DMS) and general enterprise content management systems, and is language agnostic. It interacts with the DMS of a law firm or corporation, indexing the organization’s contract documents at the clause level to provide valuable insights and streamline the drafting process.
Henchman cofounder Gilles Mattelin expressed optimism regarding the merger, stating that it would further their mission of providing proactive, valuable insights to customers. “We believe the combination of our teams and tech will empower customers to make informed decisions faster, generate outstanding work, and drive economic value for their organizations,” Mattelin said.
Founded in 2020, Henchman boasts a client base of more than 170 legal and corporate customers globally. LexisNexis has projected that the deal will close in the early second half of 2024.
For more detailed information on this development, you can view the original announcement here.