Pinnacle announces major US investment

Global News

22
Jan
2019

Editor

Pinnacle has announced a significant investment in the US, restructuring and expanding its existing operations in response to growing demands for its business consulting and implementation services across both Elite 3E and Intapp portfolios.

It has appointed NexLaw Partners co-founder Bob Beach as Pinnacle US’s first CEO to oversee practice development and drive new business. He will look to double the size of the consulting team in 2019 to support projects being run out of US headquartered firms. While Pinnacle US will continue to assist Pinnacle UK with international work, the primary aim is to build up regional capabilities to serve Am Law 200 and NLJ 500 firms.

With immediate effect Pinnacle veteran and Elite specialist Beau Lynch will take up the new post of Elite 3E Practice Director. The move signals an intensifying of focus on the financial management systems space, as firms look for both technical and advisory input on data conversions, business intelligence, time and billing. The 3E practice will see immediate strengthening with new hires in application consulting, project management, BPO, and BI.  

Bob Beach will act in a similar role for the Intapp practice, with new business acceptance, compliant time, and pricing set for sustained growth in 2019. Both practice areas will be able to draw on Pinnacle UK’s team of 65 consultants, ensuring that additional functional and technical expertise will be readily available to US firms.

According to Bob, the expansion comes at a perfect time: “I firmly believe that the US legal market is under-served when it comes to high quality, competitive business and technology consulting. All firms are facing commercial, regulatory and technical challenges and, as a result, there is constant demand for expert, pragmatic help. Pinnacle’s distinctive blending of technical capability and legal business know-how, with our breadth and depth across the international spectrum, adds a substantial player into the mix to help meet that demand."

"Our values here in the US are aligned with those in the UK – the belief that we best serve our clients by working with them to optimize as much as we can: from getting maximum returns out of systems to finding better ways of doing things, from managing tech and projects more efficiently to innovating with purpose. We have a tremendous opportunity to bring that message – along with new skills and capabilities – to the US large law market.”

Pinnacle managing director Mike Bailey adds: “We have some excellent relationships and have been involved in an increasing number of projects in the US over the years but now is the time to take things to the next level, building out a substantial practice to better serve an active market. The UK and the US are legal powerhouses and while much of our work will continue to be across both jurisdictions, we know there is a big book of domestic business there, and that they will welcome the opportunity to work with our highly skilled local teams."

"We’re excited to have Bob on board as CEO and leading the expansion, and for Beau to step up and leverage his knowledge to build a leading Elite practice in the US. Everything is set to put Pinnacle very much at the forefront of legal tech consulting in the US.”