PacerPro, the workflow automation and experience-capture platform for federal court filings used by 47% of Am Law 100 law firms, announces its expansion into coverage of state court dockets and the hiring of Dhana Bala, a veteran Silicon Valley engineering leader, as chief technology officer.
Both developments signal a new phase of aggressive expansion for the nine-year-old company, fueled by a $5 million investment from Berkley Capital, LLC, the private equity investment subsidiary of a Fortune 500 insurance company.
“As law firms have come to see the value of our products for automating workflows and data collection for federal court filings, we have heard from them that they want the same functionality for state court filings,” said Gavin McGrane, PacerPro cofounder and CEO. “We’re thrilled to be able to provide that.”
Initially, PacerPro’s expansion into state courts will cover courts in CA, NY, expanding over the next year to cover the top ten major legal markets.
“State court access is a logical and thoughtful addition to PacerPro’s already robust platform, delivering enhanced standardization and process improvement, while improving the quality of our records.” said Gene D’Aversa, Senior Director of Knowledge Management and Technology at the law firm Husch Blackwell.
“From case research and document downloading to PDF2Go and the ability to integrate with DMS systems PacerPro has become an indispensable tool in all aspects of the litigation process here at McKool for both Federal and now state courts, ” says Ed Miller, Managing Clerk at the law firm McKool Smith.
The company’s new CTO Dhana Bala, a Silicon Valley veteran with more than 17 years of experience in software engineering and leadership, will be leading the product expansion, including state courts.
Bala most recently was CTO at Deep Sentinel, a security systems company, and previously led software engineering at a variety of companies. She has a master’s degree in computer engineering from San Jose State University and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Kerala.
“It’s clear that the legal industry is at a tipping point where big data and software automation are transforming service delivery, as we’ve seen in so many industries,” said Bala about her decision to join the PacerPro team.
At PacerPro, Bala will work closely with Director of Design Brian Tharp, a leader in human-centered design who previously worked with Yahoo!.
Last March, Berkley Capital invested $5 million in PacerPro in a Series C investment round.
“We chose to partner with PacerPro because of the company’s strong market position, experienced team and numerous growth opportunities,” said Bud Ghegan, Managing Director at Berkley Capital. “Our investment will accelerate product development as PacerPro continues to expand the scope of its SaaS solutions.”
“We are very pleased to have Berkley Capital as our first institutional investor,” said Gavin Mc-Grane, PacerPro CEO. “Berkley Capital accesses a permanent source of capital, and we believe their support will provide an excellent foundation for our future growth and product development.”
PacerPro's mission is to empower better decision making and stronger institutions by making facts, the bedrock of legal analysis, readily and easily accessible. Launched in 2014 as a simple overlay to the PACER system, today our service is the standard for integrating federal court data into workflow and knowledge systems for BigLaw and leading litigation boutiques. This success is due to innovative technology matched with best-in-class customer success and deployment teams.
For more information contact Anna McGrane, COO at PacerPro.
