In a marriage of two alternative legal services providers, Repario, a company with a focus on e-discovery and managed review, has acquired UnitedLex, a global company that provides a broader range of services spanning legal process outsourcing, legal operations, litigation, IP, contracts and technology. Repario said that by blending its agility and innovation with the […]
In a marriage of two alternative legal services providers, Repario, a company with a focus on e-discovery and managed review, has acquired UnitedLex, a global company that provides a broader range of services spanning legal process outsourcing, legal operations, litigation, IP, contracts and technology.
Repario said that by blending its agility and innovation with the operational depth and multinational scale of UnitedLex, the acquisition will create a technology-led legal services company capable of applying AI across complex legal workflows at enterprise scale.
“There have been significant concerns that using AI in legal means giving up control of your data, visibility into the process, and confidence the results will hold up,” David Moran, chief executive officer of Repario, said in a statement. “Clients deserve a higher standard of legal service and shouldn’t have to make that trade.”
UnitedLex has been owned since 2018 by private equity company CVC Capital Partners. Repario is owned by the private equity firm JLL Partners.
Repario has historically focused on e-discovery, digital forensics, managed review, data hosting, and related advisory services, handling collections, processing, hosting, review, forensic work, incident response, and discovery workflows.
UnitedLex is a broader ALSP that has focused on working with enterprise customers to transform or operate their in-house legal functions and workflows.
For customers of the two companies, Repario said, the combination pairs legal expertise with AI-enabled workflows engineered around human review and accountability.
“Together, Repario and UnitedLex provide clients the ability to reach case strategy sooner, with costs they can predict and AI they can defend,” Moran said. “That is how we deliver better outcomes from a partner clients can trust.”
The combined company supports law firms, corporations, and government agencies from centers across the United States, Mexico, India, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.
UnitedLex went through a period of turmoil in 2024 due to the sudden departure of its CEO James Schellhase, who had been in that role just a year.
In fact, on Oct. 1, 2024, Schellhase was a guest on my LawNext podcast to discuss his first year, which was notable because he was only the company’s second CEO since its 2006 founding.
But just a week later, he was suddenly out of that job, replaced by the company’s general counsel Renee Meisel. It later was revealed that he had been the target of a group that aims to expose child predators.
