New York-based legal service provider Epiq has acquired legal management consultancy Fireman & Co for an undisclosed amount in a bid to broaden its data and knowledge management expertise. 

The deal adds a significant boost in scale for both sides, with Epiq gaining more than 20 employees specialised in data and knowledge management solutions while Fireman is gaining an opportunity to further scale its product thanks to Epiq’s broad international reach that spans more than 80 offices across Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the Americas. 

Founded in 2012 in New York, Fireman currently counts more than half of AmLaw 100 firms as clients. It specialises in developing legal data models that power document management, enterprise search, experience management and intranets to help law firms improve their digital adoption rates. 

Joshua Fireman, the firm’s founder and president, said: “For a decade, our clients have trusted us as their partners, and together we have transformed the practice and the business of law [...] With  Epiq,  we  can  scale  and  extend  our  innovative  work  with  law  firms  and  corporations around the world.“

Epiq said the deal also builds on its acquisition of legal operations consultancy Hyperion Global Partners in 2020, a move that strengthened its legal document processing, records management ediscovery and information governance technology services. 

“The constant change in the legal industry has accelerated the need for law firms and businesses to gain more value from their information assets, and stronger knowledge management and data management are key drivers for gaining a competitive advantage,” said Ziad Mantoura, senior vice president of Epiq’s legal and consulting solutions arm. 

Mantoura added that Epiq would never shy away from seizing opportunities that helped its client base “transform the delivery of legal services while meeting their strategic business goals”. 

Epiq has made several other high-profile acquisitions over the past couple years. It bought Crawford & Co’s legal services arm Garden City Group in 2018 and absorbed legal dispute resolution service provider Garretson Resolution Group the following year. 

Last December, it acquired Canadian alternative legal service provider (ALSP) Simplex Services for an undisclosed amount. The company, born out of a merger with Document Technologies that went live in 2016, launched its own flexible resourcing offering, Epiq Counsel, in the US in an effort to carve out a space in the ALSP market in 2021. 

Last month, Cincinnati-based legaltech SurePoint acquired Cole Valley Software, the maker of a customer relationship management (CRM) platform targeted at legal professionals, in a deal that promised to  create the first legaltech platform that integrates real-time CRM into practice management and financial data. 

Elsewhere, UK law firm Fieldfisher set up an outpost in Berlin to serve as a base for its new tech-powered specialist group litigation unit, Fieldfisher X, in a bid to leverage legaltech to target the booming German mass litigation market.