Breaking News: Fastcase/vLex Merger

Hello Friends in the Computer,

I’m not a “breaking news” coverage type of gal, and I generally don’t do hot takes or posts in the middle of the day, but I’m so excited by this news that I have to vomit out a post or I won’t be able to think about or do anything else for the rest of the day.

(This is one of those time I miss posting on Twitter because I’d do a 10 tweet thread over the course of the day and get it out and exchange feedback/thoughts with everyone. Just join Mastodon already and give me the attention I need there.)

So anyway, FASTCASE AND vLEX MERGED.

I tried to explain to my dad why this was exciting

but he kind of wanted to go back to watching WGN so here we are.

Generally speaking, I am not excited when I hear news about legal tech companies merging. First of all, there’s a lot of business stuff which I don’t find interesting. But also, this means there’s a consolidation of resources, which often does not benefit the consumer. Remember, I came to legal tech through the legal research wing and saw aaaalllll the downsides of a consolidated market with few advantages.

However, especially ironic since this is a legal research merger, I feel like opposite is true. I already felt that Fastcase was a viable alternative to the WEXIS duopoly, but this solidifies that, expands their reach to a global audience, and gives them access to capital (ETA: and more content) to continue to do cool stuff.

And Fastcase does cool stuff, for many meaning of the word “cool.”

I first met Ed Walters back in the summer of 2009 at AALL in Washington, DC. Our relationship did not start out well. See, I made a wiki for the conference to help my fellow attendees find restaturants, info about transit, etc. I logged in one day and there were a TON of ads for this scrappy new company called “Fastcase” all over it and I was like “WTF?” That was not cool. It turns out, possibly after I shared a tweet that called Ed a less that polite name 😳, that it was all a misunderstanding from an ambitious marketing person and Ed is actually a really thougtful and nice guy.

Through the years, I’ve watched Fastcase make really interesting acquisitions such as NextChapter and DocketAlarm, create groundbreaking products like BadLawBot and legal research visualizations, partner with other innovative companies like Clio and LexBlog, and make moves in tradition legal publishing spaces with journals and books. (And you better believe my cornpone ass SO appreciates that they called it “Full Court Press.” <chefs kiss>) And! They support the community through Bar Association partnerships (which is a business deal for them to be fair but has allowed attorneys that otherwise would not have access to services like this to do so for just the cost of a bar membership), free services during disasters, and the Fastcase 50 awards.

(Full disclosure: I somehow was in the inaugural class for that back in 2011.)

(Also, shout out to the Fastcase Suite at AALLs which literally kept me fed and watered <cough> “watered” <cough> during some lean years.)

And they did it all while fighting against the duopoly of Lexis/Westlaw who had a choke-hold on legal information.

And I think because the people at Fastcase ARE good people and understand that law is, and of right aught to be, free and open to all, they have worked to support Free Law causes and do what they can to ensure an open and equitable legal information ecosystem. (Including taking these issues to court.) Most recently this has taken the form of Fastcase-r Damien Riehl being a major hand behind the work of SALI but I can think of several examples where people have been like “I’d like to build this thing” and Ed has pointed them to the Fastcase API or otherwise lent a hand way beyond anything people had experienced with other legal research companies.

My prediction is that this merger will be good for legal research and analytics innovation, good for access to legal information, and good for global adoption of standards, all of which I love dearly.

Plus, I’m hoping this means Ed Walters has “fuck you” money which will be fun to watch.

Congratulations to Ed, Dr. Phil, and the rest of the Fastcase team. The past two decades have been a Hell of a run and I’m thrilled the rest of the world will get to watch you do your thang.

Take care,

Sarah