Legal Commentary

More evidence that compliance is moving front-and-center in the legal technology world: Thomson Reuters has acquired Serengeti Law, and has launched a new governance, risk, and compliance business unit.

The new GRC unit is housed within the Thomson Reuters Legal division, and led by David Craig, who assumes the title of president. (He previously served as TR's chief strategy officer.) GRC brings together several existing brands, including Complinet, Paisley, Westlaw Business, West's Capitol Watch, Oden, and Westlaw Compliance Advisor. GRC services address global regulatory and securities intelligence; business law research; contract and deal-drafting tools; internal policy management; e-learning, anti-money laundering; and audit, filing, board of director, and disclosure.

Serengeti Law's flagship software, Serengeti Tracker, provides data and analytic tools to help law departments track, control, manage, analyze, and report on worldwide legal activities. Serengeti is now aligned with TRL's corporate, government, and academic business unit, under the direction of president Mike Suchsland. Tom Melling, former vice president of product management at Serengeti, has been promoted to president. Serengeti will keep its name and brand identity now that it's under the TRL umbrella. Its 50 employees will join TR, and remain based in Seattle and Chicago. Founder Don Murray "will continue in his current sales capacity to set us up for success as we transition," says Suchsland.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. More: EDD Update.