Henchman

TLDR

Henchman was a Ghent-based legal AI company acquired by LexisNexis (US) in July 2024, having grown to 170+ law firm customers with AI-powered contract drafting tooling.

Overview

Founded in Ghent by Gilles Mattelin, Jorn Vanysacker, and Wouter Van Respaille, Henchman built an AI-powered contract drafting assistant that integrated directly into Microsoft Word and the document management systems used by law firms. The tool analyzed a firm's historical contracts to suggest pre-approved language, reducing the time lawyers spend on routine drafting tasks.

In July 2024, Henchman was acquired by LexisNexis, the US legal data and analytics giant, at which point the company had over 170 law firm customers. The acquisition gave LexisNexis a ready-made AI contract intelligence capability to integrate into its broader legal research and workflow platform.

Henchman's exit is one of the cleaner examples in Belgian legaltech of a product with genuine workflow fit attracting a strategic acquirer in the legal software consolidation wave triggered by generative AI. The company operates in the same Ghent ecosystem that also produced LegalFly.

Key People

• Gilles Mattelin - Co-founder
• Jorn Vanysacker - Co-founder
• Wouter Van Respaille - Co-founder

Funding History

• Acquired by LexisNexis (US), Jul 2024. 170+ customers at acquisition.