McCarthyFinch Appoints James Schellhase as New Executive Chairman and Announces New Round of Funding

McCarthyFinch^TM, a leading innovator of AI solutions to automate and improve legal processes for corporate legal departments and law firms, announced today the appointment of James Schellhase as Executive Chairman. The appointment of Schellhase follows a multi-million dollar round of funding for the expansion of sales and marketing.  Led by founding investors Goat Ventures and MinterEllisonRuddWatts, the round was comprised of select high-profile investors from Australasia and the U.S. including K1W1, First NZ Capital Securities Limited, New Zealand Venture Investment Fund, and Fantail Ventures.

McCarthyFinch is capitalizing on growing interest in AI and the law. Lawyers spend tremendous amounts of time reviewing documents and making correlations. The McCarthyFinch platform leverages AI and deep learning to approach complex legal tasks by understanding contextual nuances and applying corporate standards it learns. The company participated in TechCrunch Battlefield in San Francisco in September 2018, the first NZ company to ever be invited to do so.

Schellhase brings extensive executive leadership, corporate strategy, growth planning, and acquisitions experience to the position.  Before joining McCarthyFinch, he was the CEO of DiscoverReady, a leading provider of end-to-end eDiscovery and information governance services. At DiscoverReady, Schellhase launched an organic growth plan that increased revenue 250%, exceeding $100M in less than two years, resulting in a successful exit to a strategic buyer. Before joining DiscoverReady, he was a global executive with IBM, where he led worldwide operations and strategy for a comprehensive portfolio of information management and governance businesses.  Schellhase has an MPA degree from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

“Corporations currently experience incredible inefficiencies in legal, compliance, and risk management processes,” says Schellhase. “Corporate legal departments are facing significant pressure to improve the bottom line by reducing costs. AI-powered workflow platforms will play a significant role in reducing the time and number of tasks attorneys perform today.”

“We are delighted to welcome James to the Board as Executive Chair during this period of exciting growth for McCarthyFinch,” says Nick Whitehouse, Co-founder and CEO. “James brings an incomparable wealth of experience and strategic vision to the business having led software companies specialized in governance, legal, and artificial intelligence. His commercial and governance experience is invaluable as we scale to meet the demands of corporate legal departments.”

About McCarthyFinch

McCarthyFinch delivers innovative AI solutions to automate and improve legal processes for corporate legal departments and law firms. Initially funded by leading law firm MinterEllisonRuddWatts and Goat Ventures, a strategic boutique VC firm, McCarthyFinch has brought together lawyers, technologists, and data scientists to address the deepest needs of the legal professions and create rapidly deployable AI solutions. For more information, visit McCarthyFinch.com and follow McCarthyFinch on Twitter and LinkedIn.