Taking on legal tech providers: CLARIUS.LEGAL adopts a new shareholder structure and sets its sights on growth.

CLARIUS.LEGAL Rechtsanwaltsaktiengesellschaft is on course for growth. The legal service provider offers companies legal process outsourcing and legal tech services. To date, the law firm has operated primarily in Germany and was part of the Schalast Group. This is now set to change.

CLAG has so far focused on medium-sized and large companies. It offers them managed legal services and legal outsourcing services. These services are often supported by its own legal tech applications. With janolaw, CLAG is extending its offering to small businesses and self-employed professionals. These services are primarily software products supported by legal expertise. Combined with janolaw, CLAG will therefore offer the full spectrum from tech-assisted legal services to legal-assisted tech solutions.

The company’s founder and long-standing Executive Board member, lawyer Dr Georg Berger (54), is once again taking a majority stake in CLARIUS.LEGAL Rechtsanwaltsaktiengesellschaft. Following a merger with an acquisition company, Berger, together with lawyers Dr Johannes von Bismarck (57) and Nils Oberschelp (53), will in future hold approximately 90% of the shares in the company. Schalast & Partner Rechtsanwälte mbB will retain a minority interest, while Prof. Dr Christoph Schalast will remain a member of the Supervisory Board. With this step, CLARIUS.LEGAL Rechtsanwaltsaktiengesellschaft is consciously opening itself up to collaboration with other law firms.

CLARIUS.LEGAL intends to use this approach to grow nationally and internationally. An initial collaboration began in Austria on 1 September.

“We want CLARIUS.LEGAL to become Europe’s number one independent legal service provider. To achieve this, we will invest extensively in product development and make even greater use of our strength in combining legal and technical expertise. While this is problematic within a traditional law firm structure, the new shareholder structure gives us precisely this opportunity.” Berger says, explaining the decision.

Dr Ernst Georg Berger
(Photo: Anna Dittrich)

Nils Oberschelp
(Photo: Anna Dittrich)

Legal tech has often not yet achieved widespread adoption in legal departments because in-house lawyers frequently lack the time to deploy it in a way that precisely meets their needs. Yet technology only adds value when it is used in this way. “Companies are looking for solutions to problems, not simply more tech applications. Combining technology and law is something only technology-focused law firms can offer. We intend to use this strength so that we do not leave the legal market to legal tech providers,” says Berger.

Future independence is also crucial to the high-revenue legal process outsourcing segment, because CLARIUS.LEGAL does not see itself as a competitor to traditional law firms. Berger emphasises: “CLARIUS.LEGAL is something like an external in-house law firm with a tech department. We work like legal departments. We handle some matters jointly with traditional law firms, but also work for law firms, for example on interim projects. It helps that we are no longer affiliated with one particular firm.”

About the new shareholders:

Johannes von Bismarck is a lawyer in Berlin and sits on various advisory boards of media and technology companies. He has 25 years of transaction and investment experience in telecommunications, media and technology. He trained as a banker and holds a doctorate in comparative international law (Humboldt University of Berlin and UCT, Cape Town).

Nils Oberschelp is a lawyer with more than twenty-five years of management experience in the media and digital sectors. His roles have included serving on the management teams of Gruner + Jahr in Hamburg and Vienna, DPV Deutscher Pressevertrieb GmbH, Motor Presse Stuttgart and Delius Klasing Verlag.

Dr Johannes von Bismarck