Robert Ambrogi Blog
In a major leadership change at one of legal technology’s largest companies, Chris Cartrett will step down as president and CEO of Aderant, effective Aug. 1, the company announced today.
He is leaving the legal industry to become chief executive officer of ImageTrend, a provider of software and data analytics for emergency medical services, fire departments, hospitals, and public safety agencies.
To bridge the transition, Deane Price, who served as Aderant’s CEO from 2017 to 2021, will rejoin the company as interim CEO beginning July 20, while a formal search is conducted for the company’s next chief executive.
Since leaving Aderant in 2021, Price has held executive leadership roles across the portfolio of Roper Technologies, Aderant’s parent company, including as interim CEO of the insurance technology company iPipeline and as an advisor on strategic growth and M&A initiatives.
Cartrett’s departure ends a 12-year run at the Atlanta-based company, which develops business management and practice-of-law software used by many of the world’s largest law firms.
He joined Aderant in 2014 from Thomson Reuters as senior vice president of strategy and growth, was promoted to executive vice president in 2017, and became president in 2021 and CEO in 2022.
“It has been the privilege of my career to serve as president and CEO of Aderant,” Cartrett said in a statement announcing the change. “I am incredibly proud of what our team has accomplished and am grateful for the relationships we’ve built with our clients and partners. The opportunity to lead Aderant has been an honor, and I leave knowing the company is stronger than ever.”
In the announcement, the company emphasized continuity, saying its executive leadership team remains unchanged and that it will continue to execute its 2026 business priorities and long-term strategy “without interruption.”
Cartrett himself pointed to the depth of that bench, singling out two executives he has worked alongside for more than a decade, Josiah Chaves, who was named chief client officer last year, and Aisling Fenelon, who earlier this year became the company’s first female chief revenue officer.
“Having worked alongside leaders like Josiah Chaves and Aisling Fenelon for more than a decade — and watching them grow into the leaders they are today — gives me tremendous confidence in the future of this company,” he said. “They, along with the broader executive team, are exceptionally well positioned to lead Aderant into its next chapter.”
Chaves, Aderant’s chief client officer, returned the sentiment — invoking the company’s wolf-pack mantra in the process.
“It cannot be denied the immense impact Chris has had on Aderant and the legal community,” Chaves said. “At Aderant, our mantra is the strength of pack is the wolf, and the strength of wolf is the pack.
“Our strategy has been set by the collective leadership team with input from stakeholders across the organization and grounded in a shared vision for where the legal industry is headed and how Aderant will help law firms succeed.”
Mike Corkery, senior vice president and group executive at Roper Technologies, thanked Cartrett for his leadership, saying that under his guidance, “the company has become the clear leader in delivering solutions to help law firms run better.”
The move comes at a high point in Aderant’s trajectory. When I interviewed Cartrett on my LawNext podcast just over a year ago, in an episode recorded live at Aderant’s Momentum Global 2025 conference in Dallas, he described 2024 as a record-breaking year for the company, with 2025 on track to be even stronger.
In that conversation, he talked about the three priorities that defined his tenure as CEO: driving the company’s cloud-first transformation, embedding generative AI throughout its product suite, and doubling down on customer service.
That cloud mission was no small task for a company that is nearly 50 years old and whose customer base included many firms still running the on-premises version of its software.
I hope to speak with Cartrett later today about his decision to leave Aderant and legal tech, and will report on that conversation in a follow-up post.