2022 has seen some big changes at Johnson Hana, most notably the completion of our funding round, which raised €10.5 million.
In this article we’ll take a look at some of the highlights of a year that has seen further incredible growth, despite a macro context of market uncertainty, and the ongoing fallout of the covid pandemic.
Johnson Hana raises €10.5 million
In our biggest news of the year, November saw Johnson Hana complete a funding round, raising €10.5 million.
As our CEO, Dan Fox, announced at the time:
“That fact is that this is the largest fundraise within the legal marketplace (by an ALSP or otherwise) in the history of the Irish state.
And the fact that the investment is being led by AIB, one of Ireland’s largest banks and a pillar of the business and financial services sector, is newsworthy because it sounds a resounding note of approval for the ALSP model.”
The significance of the fundraise meant that it was widely covered both in Ireland and internationally.
Those who will benefit most from this investment are our clients, and the wider legal services market in Ireland. As Sinead Garnett, Johnson Hana’s Managing Director of Legal Operations & Solutions put it: “Demand for our services is accelerating, and investing now in the breadth and scale of the team means that we prevent any shortfalls. Simply put, [the investment] allows us to keep up with the work, without having to lower our high standards.”
New joiners over 2022
Before the fundraise had completed, 2022 had already seen Johnson Hana grow our HQ team in a number of areas. Most notably we welcomed Michael Doran, as a Director of our Managed Legal Services Team, Keith Blizzard, as a Director of our Legal Solutions Team, Chris Murnane, as a Legal Solutions Architect, Sean O’Reilly and Amy O’Dowd as Consultant Managers, and Aidan Browne, titan of transatlantic legal services, as a Senior Advisor.
Additionally, the number of consultants Johnson Hana has engaged in projects throughout 2022 reached just under 200.
The plans for next year are to double the size of the HQ team from 35 to 70, and increase the number of consultants to over 500.
A new website, a brand refresh, and a simple message – Don’t get left behind.
February saw Johnson Hana launch our new website, alongside a brand refresh. The key objective of our new website was to more clearly communicate how we provide our services, and included a range of process flows (such as the one below) to illustrate how this works in practice.
Sample Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) Process:
DSAR
Data
DSAR
Data
Reporting
Assurance
Alongside our new website and brand refresh we also went to market with a new campaign and a simple message: Don’t get left behind.
The reason for this message was to speak clearly to our, very specific, audience. Essentially, our clients are other lawyers: in-house lawyers, general counsels, chief compliance officers, et cetera.
And, as lawyers, we are an innately risk-averse group. The consequence of that risk-aversion reflex is that a disruptive element can be perceived as a risky partner, regardless of whether (as is true in our case) the factors that make us disruptive are that we are able to provide higher quality services at a lower cost.
Therefore, we put the focus of our campaign on the other, less discussed, side of the risk equation: the potential consequences of inaction.
In other words, our clients are your competitors. “Don’t get left behind.”
A library of insightful content
2022 saw Johnson Hana greatly expand our content output, a trend that will accelerate in 2023.
Highlights of just a few of these pieces include:
- A whitepaper providing practical advice on Replacement Standard Contractual Clauses: How to conduct the repapering exercise.
- A webinar on The New SCCs and their alternatives.
- A blog on The three key challenges of loan portfolio management.
- A podcast on Legal Operations and Legal Tech – Practical Tips for In-house Counsel.
- A whitepaper on How Alternative Legal Service Providers add value through project management.
You can view the full range of our content via the Knowledge Hub on our website.
What’s ahead for 2023?
As we discussed in last year’s retrospective, the past few years have seen incredible growth for Johnson Hana. What will be different for 2023 is the breadth and scale of that growth, which will be exponential due to the combined factors of the fundraise and ever increasing market demand.
As many are discussing at the moment, market volatility, general uncertainty in the geopolitical environment, and spiralling cost of living, are all adding to a sense of unease for the near future outlook.
However, as is always the case in turbulent times, there are beneficiaries as well as those that are squeezed. And, as Johnson Hana actually help legal departments defend their bottom line, we are seeing market demand for our service grow. (As are many of the innovative legal tech suppliers we work with.)
So while we may be heading into uncertain times more broadly, the future looks very bright for Johnson Hana and our clients.
About Johnson Hana
Johnson Hana is Ireland’s leading alternative legal solutions provider. That means we disaggregate legal advisory and legal process work, and focus on the latter.
We offer:
Legal Process Outsourcing – whereby a specific legal process is carved out and outsourced to us
Legal Process Secondments – to augment a busy legal team or fulfil a temporary requirement for an experienced legal professional.
Historically, legal advisory and legal process work were tackled and billed in the same way. This means that all legal work has been as costly and time consuming as legal advice.
It doesn’t need to be.
We deliver legal process work through a combination of innovative legal technologies, robust project management methodologies, and expert lawyers. This approach reduces client legal spend by over 50%, while also providing totally transparent reporting and billing. This leaves our clients free to focus on the strategic, advisory work that really adds value.
