Legility, a Nashville-based provider of legal operations services for legal departments and law firms, has acquired Inventus, a Chicago- and London-based, international provider of e-discovery services, with locations across Europe, Asia and North America.

The result of the acquisition, Legility says, will be to “create the world’s preferred partner for technology-enabled services for the legal operations market, enabling access to services, expertise, and technology in more locations than ever before.”

The companies will combine operations early this year, they said.

“This combination creates tremendous value for our customers through the broader set of services that we can offer together and the upgraded capabilities coming from the combined team,” Legility CEO Barry Dark said in a statement. “This transaction increases our global footprint and expands our capabilities in e-discovery, as well as in non-litigation domains at the intersection of people, process, and technology.”

The combined company will go forward under the Legility brand, with Dark remaining as CEO. Inventus CEO Paul Mankoo will continue to be a key member of the executive team with responsibilities across the business, the companies said in a statement. The headquarters for the combined company will be in Nashville, with a significant office presence in Inventus’ former dual headquarters, London and Chicago.

With the acquisition, Legility will have more than 500 employees across 20 international offices, eight international data centers, and a talent pool of more than 1,000 flexible legal staff.

“We admire what Legility  has achieved in addressing the requirements of legal operations within corporate clients, and look forward to the combined company’s breadth and depth of service and coverage driving continued growth,” Mankoo said in a statement. “The combination represents an enormous opportunity to enhance and expand the types of services we deliver to our clients.”

Legility was founded in 2000 as Counsel on Call. After acquiring e-discovery company DSicovery LLC in September 2017, it changed its name in November 2018 to Legility, a portmanteau of “legal” and “agility.”

Inventus was founded in 1991 and changed its name to Inventus in 2009.

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Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.