Pennsylvania-headquartered software and services business Wilson Legal Solutions is to merge with UK London-headquartered CRM and business development consultancy Stanton Allen in a bid to help their professional services clients better meet growing data-driven demands around BD. The move follows the growth of Wilson’s London office with the recent hire of former Fieldfisher LexisOne lead Lindsay Barthram. The post-merger London office will employ 20 people.
“Our agreement with Stanton Allen is part of a larger initiative to align Wilson’s offerings with what we see as a key shift in the industry to focus on business development challenges, including but not limited to CRM,” said Bruce Wilson, managing director and CEO of Wilson Legal Solutions. “Combining our expertise with Stanton Allen’s accelerates our ability to meet these needs.”
Norm Mullock, VP of strategy for Wilson Legal Solutions, who we revealed in September 2017 was leaving Intapp for Wilson, added: “CRM is going through a significant evolution in the professional services sector. Beyond using CRM to enhance client services, it’s expected to fuel business development. Firms are now tasked with using data to provide insight into clients, targets, and opportunities. It’s becoming much more of a multidisciplinary effort, drawing data from a wide array of systems. The organization we’re creating with Stanton Allen uniquely positions us to help the industry through this transition.”
The consolidation more rapidly expands the reach each firm could achieve on its own. Michael Warren, founder and director at Stanton Allen, says, “Professional services organizations are much more focused on using data to make smarter decisions about how to run the business. By joining Wilson Legal Solutions, we’ll be able to mobilise more people to help firms use their systems and data more strategically, especially in support of the focus on an experience management approach to business development. This step also gives us instant scale in the U.S. Likewise, Wilson is able to draw upon our scale in the U.K. It’s truly an exciting opportunity for both companies.”
Wilson Legal Solutions operates from seven offices across the United States, Canada, and the U.K., including one in London, where Stanton Allen is based. The consolidated company will employ nearly 100 employees and there are no plans to make staffing or location changes for either company, however a new company name is on the horizon.
Terms of the agreement and its timeline are being finalized.