{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Fastcase Founder Ed Walters On the Implications of Clio\u2019s Acquisition of vLex","description":"The biggest deal of 2025 \u2013 in fact, the biggest deal ever in legal tech \u2013 was legal tech company  Clio\u2019s acquisition of vLex for $1 billion. A global legal research company founded in Spain, vLex had, just two years earlier,  merged with the U.S. legal research company Fastcase, and the union of those two companies \u2013 which also included the Docket Alarm trove of court docket data \u2013 had further accelerated the development of Vincent, vLex\u2019s generative AI technology.&amp;nbsp; Now, with Clio\u2019s acquisition of vLex, comes a combustible combination that has the potential to unify the fuel of all that vLex legal research and docket data with Clio\u2019s cloud practice management technology to create an unprecedented, AI-driven platform that unifies both the business and practice of law. Against this backdrop, I sat down with Ed Walters, the founder and CEO of Fastcase, during ClioCon in October, to discuss the acquisition and its implications for the legal industry. Walters cofounded Fastcase in 1999 along with his former Covington &amp;amp; Burling colleague Phil Rosenthal. After Fastcase merged with vLex, he became vLex\u2019s chief strategy officer. Since the Clio acquisition, he is now Clio\u2019s vice president of legal innovation and strategy.&amp;nbsp; Note: As of this recording, Clio had not yet closed its acquisition of vLex. The deal  did finally close on Nov. 10.&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; Thank You To Our Sponsors This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out.   Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, MerusCase and LollyLaw; the e-payments platform Headnote; and the legal accounting software TrustBooks.   Briefpoint, eliminating routine discovery response and request drafting tasks so you can focus on drafting what matters (or just make it home for dinner).   Eve, taking care of the tasks that slow you down so you can operate at your highest potential   &amp;nbsp; If you enjoy listening to LawNext, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts. &amp;nbsp; ","author_name":"LawNext","author_url":"https:\/\/lawnext.com","html":"<iframe title=\"Libsyn Player\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/39648325\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/fb7373\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/item\/39648325"}