Combined business creates the clear world leader in modernizing eDiscovery and information governance with a technology-first focus

Lighthouse, a leader in technology-enabled eDiscovery, compliance and information governance services, today announced it will acquire H5, the industry's leading provider of sensitive data classification, analytics and eDiscovery solutions for complex litigation and regulatory compliance challenges. The investment in H5 underscores the company's commitment to bringing innovative technology and services to its global information governance, compliance and eDiscovery clients.

"We are thrilled to welcome the H5 team to the Lighthouse family," said Brian McManus, chief executive officer of Lighthouse. "Not only do we share similar cultures, but we also share a vision that finding the right information in the most efficient manner is best accomplished with technology and analytics expertise, and a conviction that our combination will reshape the future of review. H5's technology and consulting capabilities fill a critical gap for Lighthouse clients and, when paired with our Prism AI technology, will allow us to address the document review segment of the market with a highly differentiated offering that will dramatically reduce the need for manual linear review."

This transaction marks Lighthouse's first entry into the document review space with the addition of advanced search and analytics technology, and experts focused on helping clients find and classify sensitive data and automate key review workflows with unparalleled speed and accuracy. With H5, Lighthouse is acquiring the leading review efficiency technology in the industry, that enables its consultants to accurately and efficiently perform key document identification and responsiveness review faster than manual review teams. This solution is currently being used by many of the world's leading corporations and law firms and applies broadly to all document review.

Founded in 2003 by Eoin Beirne, Jeff Kangas and Nicolas Economou, H5 was the first company to offer technology-assisted review as a service, before it was even called TAR. As part of H5's commitment to continued innovation, the company later expanded its offerings to include H5 Key Document IdentificationÆ, full-service eDiscovery, H5 Matter AnalyticsÆ and H5 Matter Intelligence. As the company expanded its solutions, it remained uniquely grounded in its roots of combining human expertise, linguistics and highly advanced technologies to meet the growing challenges of the modern legal ecosystem.

"The combination of Lighthouse and H5 is a perfect, and perfectly-timed, strategic and cultural fit. The merger, under Lighthouse's leadership, creates an unmatched suite of AI, data-analytics and advisory solutions to meet the exacting needs of corporate legal and GRC departments globally,"said Nicolas Economou, chief executive officer of H5. "The technology-enabled benefits that Lighthouse can deliver to global corporations with sophisticated eDiscovery and information governance workflows are entirely unique."

Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor and Buchalter served as legal advisor to H5 in the transaction, which is expected to close in third quarter 2021, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval.

Lighthouse will now offer a comprehensive set of consulting, review, eDiscovery and information governance technologies and services that spans the entire client data lifecycle and fully embraces the rapid shifts to cloud and hybrid environments. Clients expect and trust Lighthouse to innovate — reengineering review with H5 solutions is just the latest example.

For more information, please contact info@lighthouseglobal.com.