Milt Capps
Published Tuesday, August 12, 2008 9:49 am
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Many will remember Brentwood-based Juris Inc. sold out to Lexis/Nexis, with many of its employees then offered jobs in the new parent's Cary, N.C., technology center.
By year's-end, nothing of Juris, itself, will remain here, although some talent has been preserved by Juris execs joining local firms like PureSafety.
Life goes on: A week ago, Deloitte, which has a major tech complement at Hermitage, announced its Electronic Discovery Services Solutions Center here in Nashville, making a business out of helping law firms with every aspect of electronic-management of the discovery process.
They come and go: Two years ago, entrepreneur Roe Frazer moved his CaseLogistix firm to Nashville from Jackson, Miss. The company was sold to San Diego-based Anacomp a year ago, and Frazer left the enterprise, shortly thereafter. Some software development and sales staff remain in Franklin.
There are smaller examples: Walt Brown, (at left) a veteran of FISI-Madison (Cendant) bank marketing venture here, is now selling FindLaw websites for law firms in Middle Tennessee. FindLaw is a Thomson Reuters business. Brown told VNC he's backed-up by a 200-person office in Egan, Minn.
It's not all technology, of course. This past Friday, Brentwood-based Advocate Capital, which employs about 15 persons, announced a new financial service, "settlement funding." Serving as a factor, Advocate buys at a discount a portion of a law firm's fees from a completed settlement -- mainly in personal-injury cases -- thus allowing law firms to accelerate their income. For the past 10 years, Advocate has offered "case expense funding," which allows lawyers to get advances-at-interest against their filed reimbursable expenses.
There are law-related ventures elsewhere in Tennessee: Within the past week, Knoxville-based Courthouse Retrieval System bought Realty EYES. The firms provide tax-related information to Realtors, law firms and others. ♦