SurePoint’s Bold Move: How the Acquisition of ZenCase is Redefining Legal Technology 

Bob Ambrogi Interviews SurePoint CEO Eric Thurston 

The legal tech landscape is evolving rapidly, and SurePoint is at the forefront of this transformation. In a recent episode of the LawNext podcast, legal industry expert Bob Ambrogi sat down with SurePoint CEO Eric Thurston to discuss the company’s latest acquisition of ZenCase and what it means for the future of legal practice management.  

Their conversation covered SurePoint’s vision for innovation, the integration of ZenCase and Leopard Solutions, and how AI and automation are shaping the next generation of legal technology. Below are highlights from their discussion. 

Strategy Behind the ZenCase Acquisition

Bob Ambrogi: What was the strategic thinking behind SurePoint’s acquisition of ZenCase?  

Eric Thurston: SurePoint was founded by accountants developing accounting software specifically for law firms, and that remains our core strength. Those solutions became what we now know as Practice Management with the best accounting capabilities in the market. However, our customers increasingly need a more intuitive, innovative user experience for the front office employees, typically attorneys. Ease of use and speed are critical for fee earners, and while our product and engineering teams have been enhancing LMS and Coyote Analytics, we were also collaborating with ZenCase to improve the front-end experience. 

As we became more familiar with ZenCase and its capabilities, we saw an incredible opportunity to combine our industry-leading accounting software with ZenCase’s modern, lawyer-centric platform. This acquisition allows us to accelerate our innovation by approximately three years, immediately delivering a best-in-class front-end experience to our customers. 

Additionally, last year, we acquired Leopard Solutions, giving us access to the most comprehensive legal data analytics in the industry. We’ve already integrated key Leopard Solutions reports into ZenCase, providing firms with critical insights on hiring, growth strategies, and market intelligence. Whether firms are looking to expand, make acquisitions, or refine their business strategies, we now offer an unparalleled suite of tools to support their success. Our goal is to continually evolve and deliver the solutions our customers need, and this acquisition is a major step toward that vision. 

Enhancing the Front-End Experience for Attorneys

Bob Ambrogi: What does ZenCase bring to the equation that SurePoint didn’t previously provide? 

Eric Thurston: ZenCase significantly enhances SurePoint’s capabilities by delivering a more intuitive, user-friendly experience tailored to how lawyers work. A great example is time entry—an essential but often cumbersome task for attorneys. ZenCase streamlines this process, allowing them to focus more on practicing law rather than administrative burdens. 

Beyond user experience, ZenCase offers robust workflow automation and efficiency-driven features, all seamlessly integrated with SurePoint’s industry-leading accounting software. While many solutions in the market focus on the front-end experience, they often fall short when it comes to integrating with core accounting functions. SurePoint, on the other hand, has built the most sophisticated accounting products for law firms. Now, with ZenCase, we combine that expertise with a best-in-class front-end solution, creating a truly unified practice management platform. 

However, it’s critical to note that this acquisition isn’t just about technology—it’s about making the transition seamless for our customers. Our priority is ensuring firms can easily adopt ZenCase while integrating with their existing SurePoint back-office solutions. We recognize that change is never simple, but we are committed to making this process as efficient and effective as possible for our customers. 

What's Next: Integration and Innovation

Bob Ambrogi: Now that you've completed this acquisition, what happens next? What’s the plan for integration? 

Eric Thurston: Our first step is integrating ZenCase with Coyote Analytics to deliver a fully unified experience. Future integrations will extend to LMS, ensuring a seamless connection across all platforms. The key challenge—and our priority—is making sure we build these integrations in a way that aligns with how our customers actually want to use them. 

To do this, we’ve hosted customer forums and engaged with partners across the industry to gather feedback. Unsurprisingly, every firm has a different perspective on how integrations should work. Our role is to distill those insights, create a clear plan, and provide flexible options that firms can tailor to their needs. 

Beyond integration, we’re also committed to ongoing modernization. By acquiring ZenCase, we’ve fast-tracked our innovation timeline by three years. That said, continuous improvement remains a priority, and we will keep refining our accounting solutions while enhancing the overall customer experience. 

One trend we’re seeing in mid-sized firms is a shift away from outdated technology with no clear future. Firms want to know that the solutions they invest in are continuously evolving. It’s been incredibly rewarding to hear customers tell us, “The future doesn’t have to be perfect, but we need to know you have a vision and are investing in it.” That’s exactly what we’re delivering. 

Leopard Solutions Leading Legal Insights

Bob Ambrogi: You’ve talked about Leopard Solutions. Where does that fit into all of this, and how will it continue to evolve? 

Eric Thurston: I’m glad you asked. While ZenCase is our most recent acquisition, Leopard Solutions has actually been the biggest game-changer for SurePoint. It started as a tool for legal recruiters, but over the past two decades, it has evolved into the most comprehensive legal data and analytics platform available. 

Leopard provides detailed insights on lawyers, their career trajectories, firm performance, diversity statistics, and financial benchmarking. This data is invaluable not just for recruiting, but for law firm growth, strategic planning, and competitive intelligence. Firms use Leopard to identify hiring trends, assess attorney retention risks, and even evaluate potential acquisitions. 

What’s particularly exciting is that we’ve already integrated Leopard’s analytics into ZenCase. Now, when a lawyer or managing partner logs into ZenCase, they immediately have access to relevant market data—without having to purchase an additional solution. For example, if a firm is handling a case against a specific attorney, they can instantly access background insights, previous case strategies, and potential connections that might help with case resolution. 

With Leopard and ZenCase, SurePoint isn’t just providing practice management software—we’re equipping firms with the intelligence they need to operate more strategically. This integration allows us to disrupt the market by offering not only superior legal accounting and case management solutions but also unparalleled data analytics. 

SurePoint's AI Strategy: Real, Functional AI-Driven Insights Firms Can Leverage

Bob Ambrogi: We can’t have a conversation about legal technology without discussing AI. How does SurePoint’s approach to AI set it apart? 

Eric Thurston: AI is a big buzzword in legal tech right now, but at SurePoint, we’re focused on delivering actual intelligence—real, functional AI-driven insights that firms can use today. 

With ZenCase’s modern platform and Leopard Solutions’ vast legal data, we have a unique AI story. Unlike companies that announce AI initiatives before they’ve built them, we already have the technology in place. For example, lawyers can use AI-powered search within Leopard to analyze market trends, identify hiring risks, or evaluate practice area performance—all in real-time. 

By combining a modern SaaS platform (ZenCase), the industry’s best legal analytics (Leopard Solutions), and AI-driven insights, SurePoint is positioned as a true market disruptor. Firms no longer have to choose between powerful accounting, intuitive practice management, and cutting-edge analytics—we provide all three in a single, integrated solution. 

Conclusion: SurePoint is Redefining Legal Practice Management

SurePoint’s acquisition of ZenCase is more than just a technology upgrade—it’s a strategic leap forward in redefining legal practice management. By integrating ZenCase’s modern, lawyer-focused platform with SurePoint’s industry-leading accounting software and Leopard Solutions’ legal data intelligence, the company is creating an end-to-end solution that enhances efficiency, insights, and overall firm performance.  

As AI and automation continue to reshape the legal industry, SurePoint is well-positioned to lead the way. Listen to the full LawNext podcast episode to hear more about how SurePoint is driving innovation and what’s next.