Robert Ambrogi Blog
Nikki Shaver, CEO of Legaltech Hub (LTH), is leaving the company Dec. 1 to join law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell as chief AI and knowledge officer. Shaver and her husband, Chris Ford, founded LTH in 2020 as a legal tech directory, and she oversaw its growth into a highly regarded legal technology insights and analysis company.
Jeroen Plink, who joined LTH in 2022 as a major investor and chief operating officer, will now become CEO. Plink is a veteran legal tech entrepreneur and investor who formerly led Practical Law Company US and served as its CEO through its acquisition by Thomson Reuters. He currently serves on the boards of Verbit, Definely, Cognia, and Alt Legal, and previously served on the boards of Casetext, Kira Systems, and Leopard Solutions.
Nikki Shaver
LTH also announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Baretz+Brunelle, a growth advisory firm serving the legal industry, and its innovation arm, LexFusion, led by B+B partners Joe Borstein, Evan Shenkman and Paul Stroka.
“The partnership with B+B and LexFusion will help facilitate a new stage of growth for LTH,” the companies said in a press release. “With B+B’s overlapping client base and offerings, it will play an active role in LTH’s acceleration. LTH will remain market agnostic, and its team will continue to seamlessly serve its existing clients, subscribers, and vendor partners.”
Last year, B+B acquired LexFusion, a company founded by Borstein and Stroka that provided go-to-market sales representation for a portfolio of legal tech companies. In September, B+B brought on Evan Shenkman as a partner. He previously led innovation and KM at Fisher Phillips and Ogletree Deakins.
LexFusion now encompasses LexFusion Acceleration, a legal tech growth advisory; LexFusion Labs, which provides AI advisory services and applied innovation capabilities; and LexFusion Intelligence, which delivers market and competitive insights.
Mutual Expertise in Legal Tech
By email, I asked Plink and B+B cofounder Spencer Baretz to elaborate on what the partnership will mean for each company and its clients. Baretz responded that the partnership will focus on the two companies’ mutual expertise in legal tech and on providing best-in-class insights, analysis and advice.
“For LTH clients, that will mean access to insights and products that are unique to the B+B team,” Baretz said, citing Borstein’s and Shenkman’s experience in the market. “For B+B clients, that means access to a much more comprehensive level of understanding of legal tech and how it is changing.”
Asked whether this partnership will result in any changes for LTH’s business, Baretz replied, “We do not have any plans to change the LTH business, but we do plan to make it stronger with new creative ideas, perspective and extensions (which B+B is known for bringing to bear).”
I also asked whether the partnership is a prelude to the acquisition of LTH by B+B. “For now,” Baretz said, “we know it’s a strong commercial partnership and we’re not speculating beyond that.”
‘Moving in the Same Direction’
In an open letter, Shaver thanked her coworkers, clients, partners and contributors.
“I have always believed that transformation can only occur when both external and internal forces are moving in the same direction,” she wrote. “Having spent five years driving change from outside of a firm, I’m excited to work again on the inside.”
Her husband is also leaving LTH. They both will remain shareholders.
“We are all extremely excited for Nikki as she embarks on an exceptional new opportunity,” said Plink in the press release. “Nikki and Chris have played foundational roles in building Legaltech Hub into the trusted industry resource it is today.”
Baretz, also in the press release, said he believes the partnership “makes so much sense” in the current market.
“Beyond the fact that we have known and loved the LTH team since inception, the marketplace continues to signal an urgent need for more and more intelligence and analysis of the legal tech landscape,” he said. “B+B and LTH could not be a better pair to serve that need.”