Big merger announcement in eDiscovery! Today, Complete Legal announced mergers with L2 Services and Precise Legal! Below is part of the announcement.

Complete Legal Makes Moves To Create an Independent eDiscovery Powerhouse Fully Owned and Operated by Industry Veterans with Decades of Service

Emphasis On Empowering Employees To Provide World-Class Service Will Unlock Untapped Value For Clients Across the Legal Industry

Chicago, Ill.; Kansas City, Kan. and St. Louis, Mo. – Complete Legal of Kansas City today announced mergers with eDiscovery and litigation support services provider L2 Services of Chicago, Ill., and full-service legal discovery provider Precise Legal of St. Louis, Mo. As part of the merger, L2 Services and Precise Legal will become Complete Legal.

Eric Singer, CEO of L2 Services, will become CEO of the new Complete Legal. Eric Kelting and Jeff Dreiling, co-founders of Complete Legal, will serve as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, respectively. Adam Hunter, CEO of Precise Legal, will become Chief Revenue Officer. The Kansas City office will serve as the company’s headquarters, with full-service hubs in Chicago, New York City and St. Louis, and an office in Boston.

“Today marks a true milestone in the legal industry as we integrate Complete Legal, L2 Services and Precise Legal into an independently owned full-service eDiscovery and litigation support powerhouse focused on delivering customer value above all else,” said Eric Singer, CEO of Complete Legal. “We have observed the industry’s transition over the past two decades from a service-driven model to a shareholder-value model, often prioritizing financial gains over client service. This merger charts a new course with a veteran-led, full-service firm that places exceptional service first. Our evolution remains anchored to our core values, and we are excited to introduce our collective expertise to the market.”

“Combining our respective firms into an employee-owned, full-service eDiscovery and litigation support company will strengthen our focus on developing deeper partnerships with all of our clients,” said Eric Kelting, Chief Operating Officer of Complete Legal. “Relationships are where we deliver exceptional value, and this merger allows us to scale how we deliver that value. Once we’ve worked with a client and understand their process and their people, we can help them streamline their entire approach to information governance and data management.”

“Since day one at Complete Legal, we’ve known we can only grow as far as our employees are willing and able to grow. This merger allows us to accelerate the shaping of an environment that cultivates our team members’ growth,” said Jeff Dreiling, Chief Strategy Officer of Complete Legal. “We’re building this culture by empowering our employees to closely align with our clients to craft tailored solutions using industry-leading technology. Our independent structure allows us to concentrate on delivering extraordinary value by enabling employees to find new ways to grow and scale their service. In short, we will let our team do what they do best: Provide world-class eDiscovery and litigation support services for our clients. The rest will take care of itself.”

Kelting and Dreiling co-founded Complete Legal in 2014 after a combined 25 years of experience working with some of the industry’s largest legal and discovery services firms. Those firms changed ownership more than 10 times throughout their careers. During each change, Kelting and Dreiling saw the focus shift away from employees and clients. They founded Complete Legal because they believed building through employees and clients was and is a better way to create value and grow.

L2 Services was founded in 2019 in Chicago by Eric Singer. Like Complete Legal, Singer founded his company to regain control of the service levels his team delivered to their clients.

Precise Legal, founded by Adam Hunter in 2018, was born out of a need for service. Previously, Hunter worked inside larger organizations in St. Louis. The corporate legal support firms were leaving behind many of the clients that helped him achieve success, and they asked him for more customized services.

Based on what I know about the three companies (and having partnered with the Complete Legal team in my past life), the report that Complete Legal announced mergers with L2 Services and Precise Legal is notable and I’ll be very interested to see how they progress from here. A lot of talented people on those respective teams!

So, what do you think? Are you surprised that Complete Legal announced mergers with L2 Services and Precise Legal? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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