The private equity firm Warburg Pincus has acquired NetDocuments, one of the leading cloud-based document management systems used by law firms and corporate legal departments, according to a report this morning by Legal IT Insider.

Warburg Pincus has acquired the company from Clearlake Capital Group, with existing investor Cove Hill retaining its stake in the company, according to Caroline Hill, editor-in-chief of Legal IT Insider.

The report quotes an unnamed source as saying the deal was valued at $1.4 billion, but NetDocuments’ CEO Josh Baxter declined to confirm that.

Baxter told Legal IT Insider that the new partnership is likely to result in an increase in acquisitions by NetDocuments, an area in which Baxter said the company has so far been conservative.

“Now we’re going to look at the things that accelerate the productivity of legal professionals and strengthen their ability to conduct the business of law and the work of law.”

“What we have in Warburg Pincus and Cove Hill are partners that share my vision of NetDocuments becoming the next Salesforce.com of legal,” Baxter said, “and their timing aligns with what we’re going to be doing in the next five to seven years.”

Read more at Legal IT Insider.

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Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.