AI Contract Management Company Evisort Raises $15M to Drive Next Phase of Growth | LawSites

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It has been quite a year for legal tech startup Evisort. Twelve months ago this week, the company introduced its flagship product, Document Analyzer, a cloud-based AI and text-mining application that helps enterprises analyze and manage their contracts. At the time, I wrote that it “might just be the hottest legal tech and AI company you’ve never heard of.”

After launching with angel funding from Amity Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, and Village Global, a VC firm whose backers include Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Reid Hoffman, the company earlier this year raised another $4.5 million in seed funding. Now today it is announcing that it has closed a Series A funding round of $15 million.

This latest round was led by Vertex Ventures, part of a global network of funds backed by Singapore-based Temasek, and Microsoft Corporation’s M12 Ventures, with participation by Amity and Serra Ventures. With this investment, Vertex general partner In Sik Rhee is joining Evisort’s board, and M12 head Nagraj Kashyap is joining the board as an observer.

Evisort was founded in 2016 by two Harvard Law School students, Jerry Ting and Jake Sussman (who both graduated last year), and MIT student Amine Anoun. Their vision was to build a platform that used AI to help companies mine their contracts for insights and key information by turning unstructured text into structured data.

Since launching their product last year, Ting told me earlier this week, they have expanded that vision to encompass any legal document that defines a business action or relationship, meaning not only contracts, but also statements of work, invoices, purchase orders, and SLA or rebate tables. That includes both pre-signature and post-signature stages of legal documents.

“Our goal is to relieve legal and procurement teams from the labor-intensive process of managing contracts and empower them with the insights they need to truly do their jobs,” Ting said. “We’re excited to deliver a solution that impacts their day-to-day and frees them up to do the core work they are experts at.”

“Evisort is focused on one of the most labor-intensive systems within mid to large-sized enterprises and is leveraging a robust AI engine to deliver mission-critical insights,” Vertex partner Rhee said in a statement announcing the investment. “By removing the friction these teams face with daily document processing, this elegant and simple use of powerful AI algorithms can impact a company’s bottom line.”

Evisort says it has brought in more than 100 enterprise customers this year, including Brooks Brothers, Cox Automotive, Fujitsu, TravelZoo and Sweetgreen. More than half of its customers deploy the product to multiple departments — including legal, finance, procurement and HR — within the first 30 days of their engagement. The platform can be deployed behind a company’s firewall or within a company’s private cloud environment.

Ting said the new funds will be used to add employees in various roles and for engineering to enhance and expand the company’s products. Over the past year, the company grew from nine employees to 35. Ting expect to double that number within the next six months.

The money will also be used to launch a new research and development office in Montreal, Quebec, where the company anticipates hiring 10 employees for its technical and engineering team. “Montreal has emerged in the last five years to be a center for AI expertise,” Ting said.

A major goal for the company is to build a true end-to-end product for managing legal documents within an enterprise, Ting said. While other AI contracts products focus on signed documents, none provide a solution that manages the full document lifecycle, he said.

“Historically, the management of purchase orders, invoices, statements of work and similar documents were left to ERP systems,” Ting said. “This data is contractual in nature, so why limit our platform to long-form contracts? If we can tie these things together, then what we’re building is a more holistic platform.”

For Ting, that also means using the data Evisort extracts from these contracts and other documents to build better workflows. When a contract is coming up for renewal, data can help build a workflow around who owns that contract and who uses the service. Analysis of employment documents can indicate who has yet to sign policy acknowledgements.

Another major area of focus for Evisort will be better integrating with Microsoft Sharepoint, which Ting said is used by 80% of his customers. He expressed hope that the investment by Microsoft’s M12 Ventures will help spur Evisort’s development in that area.

“Simply put, Evisort is creating the new command center for the operations team for mid- to large- enterprises,” M12’s global head Kashyap said in a statement. “Evisort’s AI algorithms draw out the deepest insights for legal, procurement, and financial teams, and are pushing the envelope on AI advancements.”

Earlier:

Evisort’s New Document Analyzer Offers Out-of-the-Box AI to Mine All A Company’s Contracts

Briefing: An unhappy new year for Zimbabwe – The Zimbabwean

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HARARE – Loveness January lost her three cattle and half her crop to last year’s drought, and fears another poor season will mean ruin for her family farming a small plot of land in Seke, 40 kilometres southeast of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

“If the rains don’t come we will suffer,” she said simply. “There is nothing more we can do – we need help.”

Drought and an economic meltdown have combined to push Zimbabwe to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe, aid workers warn, with levels of hunger rarely seen outside of war zones.

By early next year, some eight million people – half the population – will be short of food.

A series of interviews and visits to urban and rural parts of Zimbabwe this month by The New Humanitarian confirms the grim mood of official reports and warnings from aid agencies and local media.

In the countryside, after a season of poor rains, 5.5 million farmers – some of whom suffered total crop failure – will struggle to find food. In urban areas, where an inflation rate of 300 percent is forcing the poorest to survive on just one meal a day, 2.2 million people are affected.

“The numbers in need could easily climb well beyond six million in the rural areas by next year, and we could also see an increase in the urban areas,” World Food Programme country director, Eddie Rowe, told TNH.

The crisis is exacerbated by a formal employment rate of just 10 percent, an indebted government that is struggling to provide basic services, perennial shortages of fuel and foreign exchange, and regular 18 hour power cuts.

“If the government doesn’t act now, Zimbabwe is marching towards unprecedented food insecurity levels,” warned Rowe.

This briefing looks at the shortages of food, water, medical care and other services faced by Zimbabweans, and the challenges the government and aid agencies will face in the new year and beyond.

Watch for our in-depth coverage from Zimbabwe in early 2020.

How bad was the drought?

The 2018/19 rainy season was the driest in 40 years. The maize harvest was more than 50 percent down on 2018, and large-scale livestock losses mean households, like January’s in Seke, are deprived of key assets.

WFP estimates that 4.1 million people will be in urgent need of food aid by January. That includes 1.2 million mainly in northern districts bordering Zambia and Mozambique who have a food security classification of IPC 4 – emergency levels more often associated with conflict.

Consecutive droughts have sapped people’s ability to bounce back. In 2015, poor rains left 30 percent of rural people food insecure; in 2016 the number hit 42 percent; in 2018 it rose to 51 percent; and this year it has reached 59 percent – a sign of the growing impact of climate change.

Then there was the shock of Cyclone Idai, which tore through eastern Zimbabwe in March, directly affecting 270,000 people.

Next season is expected to be dry again, with forecasts predicting below average rainfall through to March.

“Donors and humanitarian partners should prepare for atypically high food assistance needs throughout 2020,” the USAID-funded food security watchdog FEWS NET said in its latest bulletin.

How will the food shortages be addressed?

WFP had originally planned to reach 2.7 million people from January to April 2020. That was predicated on a government commitment that it would feed an additional three million people.

But doubts over the government’s ability to meet that pledge have led WFP to expand its intervention to 4.1 million people, aid workers told TNH.

Scaling up so rapidly will be a challenge, Rowe acknowledged. “Reaching 4.1 million by the end of January is going to be tough,” he said. “We’ve bought in additional staff to help us get to that target.”

There is also a logistical problem. Zimbabwe’s banning of US dollar transactions and soaring inflation means that cash as aid is no longer viable. So, assistance must take the form of traditional in-kind aid – sacks of maize and bottles of cooking oil.

But after the drought there is little spare maize in the region. Zambia, the usual go-to country for food aid, has banned exports. Shipments from Mexico, another regular supplier, are months away in terms of transport time.

Zimbabwe banned the use of the US dollar in June with the launch of a new local currency - but that is depreciating and the country is unofficially

Aaron Ufumeli/TNH

Zimbabwe banned the use of the US dollar in June with the launch of a new local currency – but that is depreciating and the country is unofficially “redollarising”.

A further complication is that Zimbabwe will not accept genetically-modified maize. An alternative under consideration is GM maize from South Africa that has been milled and cannot propagate.

Zimbabwe is negotiating the purchase of 17,000 tons of maize from Tanzania, with the transport of the first tranche of 7,000 tons underway. But “questions around the government’s ability to import sufficient grains to fill the gap” remain, the WFP noted in a recent briefing.

What’s happening in towns and cities?

An urban poverty assessment by the government and aid agencies in August surveyed close to 11,000 households and found that 77 percent could not meet their food needs.

In all but one of Zimbabwe’s nine provinces, incomes were less than the poverty line, and 38 percent of all families were in debt. Typically, money was owed on rates to city councils and rents, with the resultant threat of evictions.

“People can’t afford the basics, prices are rocketing.”

GDP growth in Zimbabwe contracted by 7.5 percent in 2019, which has had a knock-on effect on a cash-strapped government’s ability to provide social services – from health, to education.

To win international backing, the government has instituted belt-tightening reforms. In June, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube abruptly ended a multicurrency regime in place for over a decade and decreed the new Zimbabwe dollar as the country’s sole legal tender – which began to depreciate almost immediately, further pushing up inflation.

“The biggest driver of the Zimbabwe crisis is the economic piece – that’s what’s breaking people’s backs,” said Gemma Connell, regional head of the UN’s aid coordination body, OCHA. “People can’t afford the basics, prices are rocketing.”

As a consequence of deepening poverty, aid agencies are warning of a potential rise in child trafficking, early marriage and transactional sex, and fear a rebound of HIV. School-aged girls are particularly at risk of being pulled out of school to help support their families.

A reversal of internal migration patterns is also underway, with people leaving towns and cities for the rural areas where life is cheaper.

Are drought and the lack of food the only elements to the crisis?

No, this is more than a food emergency. Junior doctors in Harare’s public hospitals have been on strike since September, demanding their salaries be pegged to the equivalent of $1,500 a month – a walkout that shows no sign of ending and is impacting people’s access to health care.

The government can solve the salary issue, a senior doctor at one of the main hospitals explained, “but it fears the ripple effect – if it adjusts for one class of worker it will cascade down and will mean a much bigger civil service budget.”

Senior doctors and consultants are providing a skeleton service – usually one doctor for each specialised unit – and respond to acute emergencies. Nurses, although not officially on strike, do not always show up for work.

Junior doctors have been on strike for three months demanding better pay and conditions - a walk out that has virtually closed public hospitals.

Aaron Ufumeli/TNH

Junior doctors have been on strike for three months demanding better pay and conditions – a walk out that has virtually closed public hospitals.

The problem goes beyond salary. “It’s also about equipment,” one junior doctor protesting outside parliament told TNH. “There is nothing to use to help the patients – nothing is working. It’s almost as if they were staying at home, there is no medicine, no equipment.”

Water and sanitation services are also crisis areas. Harare citizens don’t have clean water because the city can not afford the chemicals needed to treat it — though taps also regularly run dry. People have resorted to digging shallow wells on their property and are increasingly turning to open defecation as there is no water to flush toilets.

As leaking sewer pipes go unrepaired, fear of a cholera outbreak is growing. Last year, there were more than 10,400 cases and 59 deaths before the epidemic was brought under control.

Is there help for the poorest?

A pilot urban social safety net programme funded by the UK government is an exception to in-kind aid, using mobile money transfers. It aims to reach 100,000 people “at-risk” and could be extended to 200,000 if more financing is found.

Epworth, a once informal settlement 12 kilometres from Harare, is one of eight communities where the programme is being rolled out. Poverty levels there are among the worst in the country, with roughly half the population “cereal insecure” – meaning they can’t afford even plain maize. Some 4,000 households will receive the equivalent of $9 per family member a month, via a mobile money platform.

But even here, there are hurdles. One problem is the high transaction fees charged by retailers to convert the digital cash. The premium is at least 25 percent, and to purchase some demand-heavy commodities like maize meal, it can be as high as 40 percent.

Yet the small payments make a difference. Naume Tawawa’s husband works as a market porter in central Harare, and the family could hardly afford to feed their five children and keep the three youngest in primary school. The $64 she gets “helps substantially”. She can now afford more and better food, and sanitary products for her older daughters.

But “Epworth is no longer an isolated slice of poverty,” said Amnesty International country director, Jessica Pwiti. “There are Epworths all over Zimbabwe.”

Health kiosks expanding HIV services in Zimbabwe – The Zimbabwean

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If you drive through Zimbabwe on a typical Saturday or Sunday, you will see many places of religious worship. Some are static structures, while others are mobile. Some services are held under trees or in open spaces.

Many people in Zimbabwe follow a religious faith. The Apostolic community is a major religious sect that discouraged its members from seeking medical care, including HIV services, preferring to use prayer for healing―this led to many people becoming ill and dying from preventable diseases. However, with the implementation of so-called health kiosks, the community is now encouraging its members to access medical care.

David Adashe (not his real name), an Apostolic leader in Gokwe North, explained that health kiosks staffed by church volunteers trained by the Zimbabwe health ministry helped his congregation to access much needed information on HIV prevention. He described it as like, “Going from a thick cloud of darkness into a plane of light of splendour.”

Ms Adashe said that his congregation’s views about seeking medical assistance from health facilities have changed. They now seek out medical care, receive counselling from trained volunteers and are referred to a health facility for additional services, if needed. “I was naive and reluctant to take health issues seriously, but since the emergence of the health kiosk programme, I am now more empowered. I’m now encouraging my family to access health services from the clinic,” he said.

Since March 2018, World Vision Zimbabwe, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, has been empowering faith leaders like Mr Adashe and church volunteers through training and creating safe spaces to bring health information and services to their congregations.

A health kiosk volunteer in Gwanda said, “As a volunteer, I observed that previously it was difficult for some individuals to travel to the local clinic on their own to seek medical advice, but since the programme started it is easy now since they can access the information on their doorstep through the health kiosks.”

Many faith worship centres participating in the health kiosk programme have seen a threefold increase in the uptake of HIV and health information. Half of the people requesting information on HIV take an HIV test and receive their results. People who test positive for HIV are referred for antiretroviral therapy and supported to stay in care through the help of the trained church volunteers.

Faith leaders and church volunteers are essential in controlling the HIV epidemic. They provide care for their members, create safe space for information-sharing and are trusted by their members. Regular contact with the congregations enables the volunteers to bridge the gap in services for those who need them the most. The health kiosks also serve as effective and sustainable platforms to bring together both faith and non-faith communities to address the health needs of their members and to provide safe spaces to engage on other health matters.

“The findings from the health kiosk programme are promising for addressing the HIV epidemic. This is a key example of community-led responses by, for and within faith communities providing safe spaces and support for their members. These kinds of responses are essential for ending new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths and critical for reaching universal health coverage,” said Laurel Sprague, Chief of the UNAIDS Community Mobilization, Community Support, Social Justice and Inclusion Department.

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Kirkland & Ellis Offers Bonuses That Beat The Market… But Leave Associates Grumbling

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K&E made its reputation with associates by offering above-market bonuses. The firm swims in cash and makes its largesse a key recruiting point, promising associates a healthier bank account at the end of the year. This year, Kirkland managed to beat the prevailing market bonuses again, but associates aren’t particularly happy about it.

Kirkland is among those firms that refuse to offer lockstep bonuses or even lockstep bonuses with a discretionary kicker. Instead of providing the market transparency that associates can rely upon, K&E hands out individualized bonuses leaving associates to wonder if they’re making more, less, or the same as their peers. More importantly, it leaves Above the Law wondering if any individual tipster is representative of the firm’s policy or not. That’s why tips from associates are even more essential at black box firms.

First, the good news. Based on what we’ve received, associates working in the 2200-2400 range are routinely getting between 1.2 and 1.3 times the standard Milbank scale bonuses. There’s a lot of variation in between those poles, but most tipsters seem convinced that they’re falling somewhere in that range.

Normally, a market-beating bonus would be enough to salve associates, but folks at Kirkland have a keen sense of history and are aware of a troubling trend when it comes to comp. A few years ago, the firm was handing out 1.4x bonuses and set a 1.05x “floor” that no associate could fall below. Last year, the floor was gone and associates reported receiving between 1.25-1.33x. Now the tips we’re getting hew mostly to the 1.24-1.27x range. Is the firm regressing on comp while it continues to surge in revenue? Associates seem to think so.

A 2016 in the meat of the range reports that “people are generally very unhappy about bonuses” and a 2017 points to the considerable hours billed and notes that Katten Muchin would have paid an extra $7K for the effort. There haven’t been any complaints about Timmy in the office down the hall getting more for doing less. Though that’s probably bad news for the firm that associates are more annoyed with the trend in bonuses generally to be troubled with a black box spitting out disparate bonuses for the same level of work.

Kirkland is still paying above market, and associates are still generally happier to make more than less. But when associates start to wonder if the good times are leveling off, they start to ask whether it’s worth it to push themselves at a firm like Kirkland when they could make almost as much somewhere else. And for a firm that’s spent years waving cash to win the talent wars, that’s not a positive development.

Please help us help you when it comes to bonus news at other firms. As soon as your firm’s bonus memo comes out, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus”) or text us (646-820-8477). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts, please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish.

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

Morning Docket: 12.19.19

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* An attorney who put price tags for cheaper items on more expensive products at Walmart has just received a one-year stayed suspension from practice. [Bloomberg Law]

* A plaintiffs lawyer involved in litigation against Monsanto has been charged with extortion for offering to cease legal action against a large company in exchange for a $200 million consulting fee. Hasn’t Michael Avenatti taught this lawyer anything? [CBS News]

* Boeing has been hit with another lawsuit involving its 737 Max jets. [CNN]

* The first African-American Attorney General in the history of Kentucky was sworn in this week. [NBC News]

* An attorney has been suspended for among other things submitting fake expense receipts for an ABA conference. [Bloomberg Law].

* It’s been a while since Above the Law published a “Lawyerly Lairs” segment, but check out famed “Making a Murderer” attorney Kathleen Zellner’s pad, which just hit the market. [Chicago Tribune]

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

Fox Rothschild Has Had A Busy Day — See Also

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Fox Rothschild Slapped With Sexual Harassment Lawsuit — Fires accused attorney by noon.

Don’t Just Trust Your Partners — Sometimes they can steal from you.

Holiday Cards Are Fun — Don’t forget to vote for the winner.

Thinking This Guy Enjoys Fox News — Stanford Law grad not exactly doing the school proud with this incisive argumentation.

Unless This Is A New Hip-Hop Version Of Chicago… — It’s not a great sign when the lawyers start rapping in the courtroom.

That Invention No Lawyer Can Do Without

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What mainstay of the legal profession was invented in 1888 by Thomas Holley to find an economical use for manufacturing scraps?

Hint: The company Holley founded still exists today, though the product is now available from many different suppliers.

See the answer on the next page.

ATL Holiday Card Contest: The Finalists! (2019)

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The holidays are upon us again, and while partners hurry to wind up business and associates wait around for their bonuses, the firms are spreading holiday cheer through creative video cards to spread cheer to clients and colleagues alike.

We have ten nominees for our 11th Annual Holiday Contest, plus one honorable mention which we’ll talk about at the end. Without further ado:

1. Morse: The New England firm offers a list of things to do and see with loved ones during the holiday season. From the nominator: “As usual, everyone at the Firm was welcome to contribute to our Ultimate Holiday To-Do List, and we’re always pleased to see the mix of participation – from attorneys to staff to paralegals… Our employees are such great team players who took the time to consider their own holiday traditions and decided to share them with our clients, contacts and friends of the Firm – and now all of you! After all, how many other e-cards are crafted by more than just the Marketing Department?”

2. Heyman Enerio Gattuso & Hirzel LLP: BoHEGHian Rhapsody launches us on a journey that’s really just for that one title joke and it’s not all that imbued with holiday cheer, but the Delaware firm fully commits to the Wayne’s World premise.

3. Harness Dickey: The patent and IP attorneys of Harness Dickey forge the perfect marriage of holiday spirit and foregrounding the brand with a video card focusing on vintage patented works for the holiday season. The firm’s tagline is “Where IP Comes Alive” and the card plays right into that message.

4. Bilzin Sumberg: From the nominator: “Don’t be fooled by the simple, straight forward approach to the eCard (hey, who said lawyers are always long-winded?). Once you click, you will be transported to the wonderful world of wintertime in Miami. A magical place where you can find corporate attorneys riding bicycles around downtown and litigators drinking VitaCoco on the bay, you know typical winter activities. While they are at it, attorneys thank clients and friends for the opportunity to collaborate and wish them a Happy Holidays. Enjoy!”

5. McBrayer & MML&K Government Solutions: “We make our e-cards totally in-house, and it’s an opportunity for us to show some of our personality… our yearly holiday card is a chance to let down our hair a bit.” Indeed. This delightful take on the 12 Days of Christmas manages to be funny, warm, and inform the viewer about the firm all in one concise song.

6. Troutman Sanders: “As a law firm, we understand that a lot of life is spent on the go. Sometimes it is not so much about cooking the perfect turkey dinner, but about who you are spending your time with. We hope that however you spend your holiday, it is joyful, peaceful and inspiring.” Troutman may be hoping to spend the holiday with Pepper Hamilton.

7. Goodman Allen Donnelly: This card features original artwork by one of the firm’s founding partners, Michael Goodman and it’s clear he’s a very talented cartoonist (he’s been featured as an Editorial Cartoonist in the Richmond Times-Dispatch Sunday Business Section and his work has been nationally syndicated). This year the firm partnered with the talented animators at Webby Cards to bring Goodman’s artwork to life and tell the tale of Goodman’s 2019. “Santa has more than enough to fit under your tree, but as a Quid Pro Quo, he wants extra cookies and spiked egg nog,” Goodman explains.

8. Wolf Greenfield: The champions of the 2017 and 2018 ATL Holiday Card Contests return with another stop motion tale. As they put it, “At this time of year, it’s easy to get trapped in the hustle and bustle of the season without stopping to smell the freshly baked cookies—gingerbread is our favorite. Whether people are escaping on vacation or staying local, in snow or in sun, this year we hope they can kick back, relax and soak in the holiday spirit. After all, don’t we all deserve that?” There’s also a behind-the-scenes look at the stop motion animation process containing photos and a time lapse of the work in progress.

9. Larson • King: Another take on the 12 days of Christmas song, but this time changed to incorporate well-known holiday characters and their legal problems. The firm’s made the ATL finalists list before, but with a recent brand refresh, they’ve switched up their usual illustration style and animation this year.

10. Latham & Watkins: This is the Hallmark Channel movie entry of the year. If you wanted to know if lawyers have heart, here are profiles of Latham attorneys being good people and earning the love of friends and family this season.

Honorable Mention:

Davis Wright Tremaine: We wanted to recognize this one, a word-scramble game thematically tied to a contribution to Toys for Tots. It’s not exactly a holiday card as much as a holiday activity but it deserved mention for the work that went into it and the good cause.

Now it’s time for our audience to vote. We’ll keep the polls open through WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern time). This gives you ample time to campaign for your pick over the holidays (but please, please, please don’t cheat).

Thanks to all the entrants and nominators, good luck to the finalists, and happy holidays to everyone! Above the Law is happy to celebrate holiday cheer with you!

FTC moves to block Illumina’s $1.2B acquisition of PacBio – MedCity News

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Federal regulators are hoping to thwart a large diagnostics company’s efforts to acquire a smaller firm in the same space, saying that it is a move to reduce competition in the market.

The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that it would seek to block San Diego-based Illumina’s $1.2 billion deal to acquire Menlo Park, California-based Pacific Biosciences of California, also known as PacBio, alleging that Illumina had sought to eliminate PacBio as a potential competitor in the next-generation sequencing systems industry and thus unlawfully maintain a monopoly position in the U.S. market.

Shares of PacBio fell more than 8% on the Nasdaq when markets opened Wednesday.

The deal was originally announced in November of last year. At the time, Illumina said that buying PacBio would enable it to enter the long-read segment of the next-generation sequencing market, in addition to the short-read market in which it is already a leader. PacBio is considered one of the dominant players in long-read sequencing technology, which enables the retrieval of sequences that can be thousands of base pairs longer than those retrieved through short-read sequencing. The FTC acknowledged that Illumina employs short-read sequencing technology, while PacBio sells systems that use long-read sequencing.

Illumina objected to the FTC’s move. “We strongly disagree with the FTC’s decision and will continue to work through the regulatory approval process as we consider next steps,” read an emailed statement from the company. “We believe that the acquisition will benefit the industry and customers, and the facts of our proposed transaction support this.”

The FTC had alleged that the proposed deal is illegal because it may lessen competition in the U.S. market for NGS by eliminating competition and preventing future competition between Illumina and PacBio. In response, the commission said it would seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in federal court.

“When a monopolist buys a potential rival, it can harm competition,” FTC Bureau of Competition Deputy Director Gail Levine said in a statement. “These deals help monopolists maintain power. That’s why we’re challenging this acquisition.”

Photo: Ekkaluck, Getty Images

The Investigations Landscape: Findings From The H5 2019 Corporate Investigations Survey

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Today, corporations are under unprecedented scrutiny.  Companies are being investigated not only by federal, state, and foreign government agencies, but also by private plaintiffs in a wide variety of litigations that place corporate conduct under a microscope.  In today’s increasingly intricate international legal and regulatory environment, investigations are more crucial — and complicated — than ever. We here at Above the Law partnered with our friends at H5 to take a deeper dive into the investigations space in order to better understand this intricate landscape. We took an in-depth look at the principal actors and their perception of trends, differences among categories of investigations — such as due diligence, cybersecurity, employee/workplace, and regulatory matters — and how those might vary within industries and across companies of different sizes.

In order to gain a better understanding of the investigations space, we fielded a survey targeting those in all roles and at all stages of investigatory process. We heard from those involved with the management and strategy of investigations, those whose responsibility it is to select and manage vendors and resources, and those who respond to investigations — and asked them to share their experiences on everything from how technological tools are leveraged to how they see the field changing in coming years. 

Download the report to read about the insights they shared and the future they see coming!