e.law announced their purchase of the Wolters Kluwer Asia Pacific asset last week as part of their plans for future grown in the evidence management solutions market. The deal is expected to be finalised later this year.

While e.law already has an established foot in the computer forensics, electronic discovery and electronic court solutions market, the CCH addition will bolster the business to now also include print room services, litigation support and data room solutions.

"We see the businesses as complementary and we see them fitting together quite nicely," said Stanfield.

She added that while some areas of both businesses will overlap, e.law's work predominantly comes from large projects, while CCH tends to be the smaller scale "run of the mill" type work.

Stanfield said that clients will benefit from the integrated business given that all areas of evidence collection and presentation are now covered by the one solutions provider. "Whether they have electronic evidence or hardcopy evidence we're able to provide a solution that ensures we can collect the evidence and preserve the chain of custody right through to presentation of evidence in court," she said.

She added that with the courts keen to promote ediscovery, the acquisition should assist increasing market needs for ediscovery solutions in Australia. "Really, it's [ediscovery] becoming par for the course given that most discoverable material is no longer just emails and electronic files," she said.

The acquisition also grants e.law a presence in four capital cities - including Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth - while doubling their permanent staffing base from 45 to around 100.

- Angela Priestley