Robert Ambrogi Blog
There is a saying that once is luck, twice is coincidence, and three times is a pattern. If so, then we now officially have a pattern of legal technology companies rebranding, as it has happened three times in the last three weeks.
The latest to rebrand is AbacusNext, a provider of software for legal and accounting professionals, which today is rebranding as CARET, as in the typographical symbol (^) used by proofreaders to indicate where additional words should be included.
“A caret represents creating room for expansion and for what is to come, making it the perfect representation for the company’s future,” said Jennifer Sherman, chief product and experience officer.
This announcement follows two other recent rebrandings of legal technology companies: Documate’s rebranding as Gavel on Jan. 31 and Time by Ping’s rebranding as Laurel on Feb. 3.
Zola Suite Also to Rebrand
As part of the company’s new brand strategy, Zola Suite, the cloud legal practice management platform it acquired in July 2021, will rebrand to CARET Legal effective Feb. 28, just ahead of ABA TECHSHOW, which starts March 1.
In addition to Zola, other products owned by CARET are HotDocs, Abacus Payment Exchange (APX), AbacusLaw, Amicus Attorney and OfficeTools.
Founded in 1983, San Diego-based AbacusNext is among the most enduring brands in legal technology. In March 2021, it was acquired by Thomas H. Lee Partners, a private equity firm that invests in growth companies.
“Legal and accounting firms have an outsized impact on the world as the most important advisors to their clients,” said Keri Gohman, CARET’s CEO. “Under the CARET brand, we will offer firms the technology and automation they need to transform their practices with robust practice management, document automation and payment processing solutions to deliver the best results for their clients – all under one family.”
Along with the rebranding of Zola Suite as CARET Legal, the platform will now incorporate the HotDocs document automation software through a new advanced subscription option designed for larger, more complex law firms.
“We took considerable time and effort with partners, customers and our team to consider what we truly offer,” said Sherman. “We’re not a collection of products, but a family of solutions that remove administrative busywork and simplify workloads so these crucial professionals can focus on what really matters to them. Simply put, we create space for what matters, just like a caret.”