When Avaneesh Marwaha stepped down as CEO of legal tech company Litera in 2022, becoming chairman of the company’s board of directors, it was a surprise to many in the legal technology community. 

Now Marwaha and Litera have another surprise: He has returned as CEO “to lead the company through the next chapter of integration and innovation,” the company said today.

The woman who had succeeded him as CEO, Sheryl Hoskins, a veteran technology executive, will continue to advise the Litera board through the end of 2024, the company said.

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I asked a company spokesperson if Hoskin’s departure was her decision or the board’s. He replied: “Sheryl, the board and Avaneesh have been working very closely together for the past two years to achieve operational excellence and build out Litera’s leadership team. This was a decision based on market dynamics and what we believe is best for our customers. Sheryl and Avaneesh will continue to do so as she transitions out of Litera.”

Redefining the Market

During his nearly six years as Litera CEO, from 2016 to 2022, Marwaha brought about almost a complete transformation of the company, including 14 acquisitions in just his last four years that expanded the company from an exclusive focus on document productivity tools to a much broader range of products spanning transaction management, due diligence, litigation, and firm intelligence.

Sheryl Hoskins

During his tenure, the company grew global users by over 1,500%, annual revenue by 1,200%, and headcount from 85 employees to over 850 worldwide.

In the announcement released today, the company said: “His industry expertise and passion for driving best-in-class customer experience will be key assets in Litera’s next chapter of growth as the company focuses on transforming the legal experience.”

The announcement said that he will focus on optimizing legal workflows with enterprise-grade solutions, further integrating Gen AI into Litera’s product ecosystem, accelerating user adoption, and securing a foundation of innovation.

The announcement credited outgoing CEO Hoskins for having brought a focus on operational excellence, building out the organization’s leadership team, and streamlining Litera’s processes, product portfolio and customer support.

“I’m proud of the achievements we’ve accomplished in the last two years at Litera, putting the company in a position to adapt to dynamic shifts in the legal tech market,” Hoskins said.

In an interview I conducted with Marwaha when he moved out of the CEO role, he said that he believed that Litera, under his leadership, had redefined the legal tech market and its potential – both for investors looking to get into the market and for startups looking to launch products.

“We’ve built a lot of trust in the marketplace with our approach, and we’ve given a lot of opportunities to startups that create businesses because they know there can be a good outcome for them,” he said.

“I think we’ve taken an industry that may not have always been looked at by investors as a place that’s investible, and I think we’ve changed that and shown that, look, there’s real stuff here. The legal market’s big enough and it’s exciting and firms and lawyers are looking for innovation and new ways of doing work.”

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

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.