RealPractice, Inc. Deepens Legal Technology Focus with Key Executive Hires and New Funding

Aug. 3, 2010 - PRLog -- RealPractice, Inc., a leading provider of legal technology products and services, today announced the addition of three key executives to its senior management team, each who brings significant experience spanning marketing, new product development and technology. The company also announced that it has closed a round of funding with broad participation from original angel investors, former employees and lead investors, Rustic Canyon Partners and Miramar Venture Partners.  

“With the addition of our new senior team members, we now have talented and capable leadership with deep knowledge and experience spanning technology and legal industries.  I look forward to their contributions in helping to propel RealPractice during its next phase of growth,” said Carey Ransom, RealPractice CEO.  “Equally as critical is our additional funding, which will accelerate our ability to bring new products to market and to grow and serve our client base.”

Brad Cooper joins the company as Senior Vice President of Marketing and General Manager of Online Channels.  Cooper is an Internet industry pioneer and marketing veteran with nearly 20 years of experience at companies including Apple, MGM Studios and Xerox. Prior to RealPractice, Cooper was Vice President of Marketing for CircleUp, where he helped forge partnerships with companies like Active Networks and Blackbaud.  Prior to CircleUp, Cooper was the Vice President of Media Operations for WebVisible, where he dramatically increased the performance and efficiencies of marketing programs for small business customers, including thousands of attorneys.  Cooper holds a BS in Marketing and Management from the University of Virginia.

Matt New joins the company as the Vice President of Product and brings over 10 years of experience in managing Internet and technology products. Previously, New was Vice President of Products at Ripple Networks where he led a new product development team in creating advanced products to engage and monetize the Ripple audience. Before Ripple, New oversaw the Messenger and Music Engine products at Yahoo! New holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Claude Ciocan joins the company as Vice President of Engineering.  Ciocan brings 10 years of software engineering and management experience. Prior to RealPractice, he led the engineering team at Ripple Networks, where he designed and developed a nationwide retail IPTV network from the ground up. Ciocan holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

The new hires round out the extensive legal industry background and expertise resident in the company.  RealPractice boasts more than 10 years serving the legal industry, has many of the nation’s top law firms as clients and has senior team members with extensive legal experience serving at law firms including Orrick and Paul Hastings.

The additional financing will allow the company to expand its product set and reach and serve new customers. “With this new round of funding, we are showing our commitment to the RealPractice vision of providing incredibly valuable and innovative solutions to attorneys and law firms,” said Tom Unterman, Founder and Managing Partner at Rustic Canyon Partners.  “We are pleased with their continued growth and are encouraged by the great team they have assembled.”

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RealPractice helps attorneys and law firms to “realize the potential of their practice.” For more than 10 years, the company has been providing innovative and trusted technology products and services to thousands of legal professionals, from the solo practitioner to some of the largest law firms in the country. RealPractice’s people have decades of combined experience in legal and technology industries and come from some of the largest law firms in the country, as well as some of the world’s best technology companies. The company is backed by venture capital firms Rustic Canyon Partners and Miramar Venture Partners, as well as by prominent angel investors. A 2008 member of the Inc. 500/5000 list of fastest growing companies in the United States, the RealPractice product suite includes SmartRules™, SmartRules Enterprise, RealCourtDocs™, RealDealDocs™, RealDealDocs Enterprise, Real Knowledge Management™ and RealDealForms™.