What LawPay Acquires with MyCase (2022)

LawPay’s acquisition of MyCase highlights an market doubling down on constructing platforms, not resources. Is this what attorneys want? I really do not know. Is it what they want? Absolutely sure, some of them.

It is inherently complicated to build and sustain an all-in-a person regulation exercise administration technique (LPMS) like MyCase. By its extremely nature, it doesn’t combine with lots of other vendors. That’s the place, though—it should not have to combine with anything—it must all be crafted-in. This produces a single system for customers to operate their practices.

Alternatively, lifetime as an insert-on product or service like LawPay can be a fickle existence. Yes, your value is identified by how nicely you serve your client, but it also relies upon on how very well you integrate into the relaxation of your customer’s Legal Tech Stack.

With that, LawPay’s acquisition of MyCase will make perception. MyCase will get an excellent payment processor, whilst LawPay receives essentially every thing else. LawPay is now in the LPMS game, which is truthful engage in at this point.

The Unique Situation of MyCase

The problem for an all-in-a person is that the quality of your method rises and falls primarily based on your worst asset. This top quality isn’t commonly calculated in opposition to your direct competition. You’re measured versus the vendors of each and every component of your system. That is not to say that you have to be the best—but you have to be aggressive (i.e. MyCase’s internal conversation system will have to be equivalent to Slack).

MyCase has to possibly make or buy large-quality variations of each element of its platform to continue to be at the forefront of the marketplace. This clarifies the order of Soluno, CASEpeer, Woodpecker, and obviously involves ePayments (LawPay).

Sure, MyCase has its very own payment processor, but they still combine with LawPay for the reason that LawPay is the leader. But, when you are attempting to make an all-in-a person system, you want to avoid integrations if you can. And even greater, you want to make or purchase the chief (or, in this situation, have the leader invest in you).

What LawPay Acquires with MyCase

It turns out there’s a good deal of money to be designed in credit rating card processing. LawPay is now looking at quite a few rivals enter the marketplace (Clio, PracticePanther, Filevine, CosmoLex, and even TimeSolv, to name a couple of). Although LawPay currently has a competitive advantage—their capabilities are usually forward of the rest—how very long will that last?

LawPay excels at earning it straightforward for legislation firm consumers to shell out their expenses. The difficulty is, LawPay relies on other merchandise to handle all the remaining features of functioning a firm. In the conclude, they are an insert-on—a definitely very good one—but nevertheless an incorporate-on. 

So, what comes about when the goods you integrate with no longer need to integrate? Much more importantly, what takes place when the 300-pound centaur in the room starts off in on your industry?

Perfectly, if you are not attempting to enhance your integration potential, then you have possibly gotta develop it or buy it. And if you can find the money for it, MyCase will supply just about every little thing necessary to continue to be a chief in a speedy-rising lawful tech current market. When LawPay acquires MyCase, they attain a platform.

What Does This Suggest?

Setting the specifics of this individual deal apart, we are in a time of rampant acquisition. Lawful tech suppliers are moving absent from developing a single device and much more towards creating a system. Even the king of integration, Clio, is starting to carry a great deal of their features in-household.

This makes sense. Platforms are sticky. The system on which you operate your practice is not fungible. The software you use to keep track of your time and billing, nevertheless, is.

Unfortunately, the exercise of regulation is not a monolith. I have nonetheless to see two lawyers who solution their operations equally. Far more importantly, while, lawyers do not like remaining advised how to practice—even if it is right. The additional insular these platforms get, the considerably less customizable they become for a user’s certain wants. (That’s just the character of restricting choice.)

Yet, there is one thing about currently being able to piece jointly my possess platform from individual, discrete, well-developed equipment that resonates with to me. And while I’m not their best customer, I do not assume I’m the only one. To be clear, LawPay’s acquisition of MyCase does not stress me. They are equally responsive to their client needs, and do a excellent job of remaining as multipurpose as achievable. I’m just mourning the decline of selection. But, as I reported before, less option, and less complexity is a superior detail for a whole lot of lawyers.

Zack Glaser is the Legal Tech Advisor at Lawyerist, in which he helps the Lawyerist neighborhood in being familiar with and deciding on correct technologies for their practices. He also writes merchandise assessments and develops legal technological know-how material handy to attorneys and regulation companies. Zack is targeted on helping Modern-day Legal professionals come across and develop remedies to enable assist their shoppers more correctly.

Final up-to-date June 12th, 2022.