Euro-owned LexisNexis buys Juris Inc.

After 21 years serving smaller law firms, Brentwood company is snapped-up by multinational

Email | Print By Milt Capps

Steve Collins

Information services giant LexisNexis today announced its acquisition of Juris Inc., the Brentwood based software firm that serves small- and medium-sized law firms nationally.

LexisNexis spokesperson Holly Michael this afternoon declined to provide NashvillePost.com financial details of the transaction.

LexisNexis is owned by twin parent organizations based in London and Amsterdam, respectively: Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. Total Reed Elsevier revenue is $9.9 billion, including $2.9 billion earned by the global LexisNexis Group.

In a statement released earlier today, LexisNexis Senior Vice President Ralph Calistri said Juris offerings would be integrated into the company's practice-management product group.

Michael confirmed that a LexisNexis executive is now on the scene here to integrate the company and its now 62 employees into the New York City-based acquirer. Today's LexisNexis statement says President Stephen Collins will remain aboard to assist in the transition.

Juris Chief Operating Officer Marshall Martin this afternoon deferred to LexisNexis in responding to questions, but noted that founder Tom Collins and son Stephen are "out of the country" and not available to take questions.

Michael said there are no plans for immediate changes at staffing levels at Juris, and noted there had been no reductions in recent years following two earlier LexisNexis acquisitions in the same industry.

The younger Collins became president of Juris three years ago, after a stint as chief financial and chief information officer with New York City-based e-commerce phenom DoubleClick Inc. At the time of his arrival, he told a reporter the company employed about 80 persons and served an estimated 2,000 customers. Current figures are not immediately available.

In 1986, father Tom Collins had founded Juris after acquiring and renaming the data-services division of then-Nashville-based Endata. Juris' typical law-firm customer had fewer than 15 attorneys.  The elder Collins is expected to continue his law-firm management blog, located at MorePartnerIncome.com