Acquisition enhances position as the market leader for legal template management.

BigHand announces the acquisition of PayneGroup, to further strengthen its template management and metadata management offering in North America. The joining forces of both businesses will complement BigHand’s existing template management solution “BigHand Document Creation”, ILTA’s number one product for template management and strengthen our metadata management solution.

PayneGroup, under Donna Payne’s leadership, has supported in excess of 700 clients across its solutions for more than 25 years. It was first to market with a metadata product 20 years ago and since then has maintained a leadership position in the space. Following several months of discussions, Payne, who plans to step away from the business, selected BigHand as a new home for both her employees and customers due to the strong similarity in culture and client success.

Eric Wangler, President of BigHand North America, commented:

“We’re very excited about this acquisition and the benefit it will bring to our template management and metadata offering. We have seen a huge uptake of our template management solution in the past several years emphasizing the demand from the market for tools like this. Merging with PayneGroup means that we can support a greater audience and make bigger investments to support and enhance these products. Donna is very well known and respected in the industry for her expertise and strong client relationships, which was evidenced at the Annual ILTA Conference where she was named the recipient of the International Legal Technology Association’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award. We look forward to continuing to support PayneGroup’s clients in North America to even higher standards than they have become accustomed to.”

Donna Payne, CEO of PayneGroup commented:

“When I decided to move on to the next chapter in my career, I wanted to ensure that our customers and employees would be well looked after. Following a thorough review of the market, BigHand became the obvious choice. Their reputation, infrastructure, and experience reassure me that I am passing the business on to capable hands who can take the company to the next level. I would like to personally thank the people at PayneGroup, our loyal clients, partners and organizations such as Microsoft and ILTA.“

Daniel Canning, Director, Microsoft 365 Ecosystem commented:

“Microsoft 365 is the world’s productivity cloud. Partners who deliver customized experiences are key to putting customers at the center of solving modern productivity challenges. We are excited about our work with PayneGroup and other industry-leading partners and look forward to working with BigHand to transform the way work is done in industries, like the legal vertical, through investments to extend the value of Microsoft 365 to our joint customers.”

The extended PayneGroup team will join the BigHand team immediately, working from their existing Seattle office. Together the teams plan to meet with all Payne and existing BigHand clients in the coming weeks to continue with a client-led innovation strategy.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.