WordRake
WordRake is a Seattle-based legal editing software company that sells a Microsoft Word and Outlook add-in using 50,000+ patented algorithmic rules to improve clarity and concision for law firms, government agencies, law schools, and business professionals. Acquired by BriefCatch in February 2026.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersRedmond, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What WordRake does
WordRake is a Seattle-based software company that develops professional editing software for legal and business writers, distributed as a native add-in for Microsoft Word (Windows and Mac) and Outlook (Windows). The product uses more than 50,000 proprietary algorithmic rules — protected by 12 U.S. patents — to identify and suggest corrections for wordiness, passive voice, nominalizations, and other writing problems, presenting suggestions in the familiar Microsoft track-changes style. All processing occurs locally on the user's machine with no cloud communication of document content, which the company positions as a confidentiality advantage for attorneys handling privileged material. The algorithmic rule base was derived by founder Gary Kinder from teaching over 1,000 writing programs to AMLAW 100 firms, Fortune 500 companies, and government agencies, and from analysis of writing by Supreme Court Justices and published novelists.
WordRake sells primarily through subscription licensing (12, 24, or 36-month terms) via a self-serve website channel with a 7-day free trial, supplemented by direct enterprise sales and an OEM agreement with LexisNexis Pacific (integrated into Lexis Draft Pro). Customer segments include law firms and litigators, corporate counsel, government agencies subject to plain-language requirements, law schools, and general business professionals. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and enterprise contracts require sales-team engagement; the company does not report revenue publicly.
On February 12, 2026, BriefCatch acquired WordRake's core product, technology assets, and patent portfolio in an asset purchase, with CEO Scott Johns transitioning to a Strategic Advisor role at BriefCatch. Existing WordRake subscriptions remain active through their terms and existing customers are being transitioned to BriefCatch Next, which combines WordRake's sentence-level clarity technology with BriefCatch's document-level legal analysis.
WordRake firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- WordRake
- Legal name
- WordRake Holdings, LLC
- Website
- https://wordrake.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- WordRake is a Seattle-based legal editing software company that sells a Microsoft Word and Outlook add-in using 50,000+ patented algorithmic rules to improve clarity and concision for law firms, government agencies, law schools, and business professionals. Acquired by BriefCatch in February 2026.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
WordRake industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Legal Writing Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (51321)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Content Generation & Writing Assistance (copy, emails, reports) (HDAAADAG)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Document Creation & Office Suites (BPAMAMAD)
Keywords
Where WordRake is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Redmond
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
WordRake business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Software License Subscriptions: Annual subscription licensing model with license terms of 12, 24, or 36 months. Standard licenses require manual key activation; enterprise licenses have automatic activation with no cloud communication. Trial licenses available for 7 days.
- Enterprise Licenses: Custom enterprise license agreements created in coordination with technical team, with organizational information embedded in the license. No cloud communication required for enterprise activation.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Standard License - Individual professional user subscription |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Enterprise License - Organization-wide deployment |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Trial License - 7-day free trial |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
WordRake product offering
Product offeringCore offering
WordRake is a professional editing software that runs as an add-in within Microsoft Word and Outlook, using over 50,000 patented algorithms to identify wordiness, passive voice, nominalizations, and other writing problems. Suggestions appear in the familiar track-changes style to help lawyers and professionals produce clearer, more concise documents. The software processes content locally with no cloud communication, ensuring confidentiality for sensitive legal and government documents.
Product overview
WordRake offers a suite of professional editing software products designed as add-ins for Microsoft Word and Outlook. The core product portfolio consists of WordRake (available for Word on Windows and Mac, and Outlook on Windows) with two editing modes: Brevity Mode and Simplicity Mode. The software uses over 50,000 patented algorithms to provide inline editing suggestions in the familiar track-changes style, helping professionals improve clarity, brevity, and simplicity in their writing. The company operates under a licensing model offering standard licenses (12, 24, or 36 months) and enterprise licenses with enhanced security features. As of February 2026, WordRake's core product and technology assets, including 12 U.S. patents, were acquired by BriefCatch and are being integrated into BriefCatch's platform.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- WordRake Professional editing software that runs as an add-in within Microsoft Word and Outlook, using over 50,000 patented algorithms to provide inline editing suggestions in the familiar track-changes style for legal and professional writers.
- WordRake for Word Editing add-in for Microsoft Word on Windows and Mac that provides one-click editing suggestions appearing as track changes, improving clarity, brevity, and simplicity of professional and legal writing.
- WordRake for Outlook Editing add-in for Microsoft Outlook on Windows that reviews emails and provides context-specific editing suggestions for concise, professional email communication.
- WordRake Enterprise Enterprise license tier for organizations that includes automatic license activation upon installation and never communicates with the cloud, ensuring maximum data security for confidential documents.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 50,000 editing algorithms providing real-time suggestions
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use WordRake
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
WordRake technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
Feature5 records
WordRake partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.
- IntellekcoreStrategic partnership with Intellek, a market leader in learning and development software. Partnership brings together industry leaders to revolutionize training for and adoption of legal writing improvement solutions. Intellek provides technology competence assessment tools that work with WordRake.
- Georgia Southern UniversityminorPartnership to bring WordRake software to students in Technical Writing and Plain Language classes in Writing and Linguistics Program within College of Arts and Humanities for Fall 2021 semester.
- LTC4 (Legal Technology Core Competencies Certification Coalition)coreDocument competency collaboration through the Effectiveness Project - an international working group of legal professionals led by WordRake's Ivy B. Grey. The collaboration established best practices and baseline skills for creating effective legal documents, resulting in a free best practices guide and training modules.
- Midlands Technical CollegecoreCollaboration with Paralegal Studies Program within School of Education and Public Service. Spotlighted role of paralegals in document creation and importance of strong legal writing. Extended for multiple academic years.
- Access to Justice Tech Fellowship ProgramminorCollaboration for Summer 2020 and 2020-21 academic year to help lower barriers to justice by improving written communication in legal documents and making legal analysis more accessible.
- Suffolk University Law SchoolcoreMulti-year legal writing collaboration. Nearly 360 incoming 1L students received one-year WordRake license. Faculty also received licenses. Collaboration extended and expanded in subsequent years, with Suffolk Law tripling access to WordRake software and achieving 78% increase in adoption.
- LexisNexis PacificflagshipLicensing agreement to integrate WordRake professional editing software into the newly-released Lexis Draft Pro legal drafting and review software suite. First comprehensive legal-market solution to integrate advanced technology and legal content for proofreading and document quality improvement.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
WordRake competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- BriefCatch: Direct competitor and acquirer of WordRake. BriefCatch offers document-level legal analysis and editing for lawyers, and the combined WordRake/BriefCatch Next platform now integrates sentence-level and document-level legal editing.
- ProWritingAid: Subscription-based writing assistance software that focuses on style, clarity, and concision. Like WordRake, it offers algorithmic suggestions for improving professional and business writing across multiple document types.
- Hemingway Editor: Writing clarity tool that highlights wordy sentences, passive voice, and complex constructions, directly overlapping with WordRake's brevity and simplicity editing modes for professional and business writers.
- PerfectIt: Editing add-in for Microsoft Word used by lawyers and professional writers for consistency, style, and house-style enforcement. Targets the same legal-writing workflow within Word as WordRake.
Broad incumbents
- Grammarly: Broad incumbent in AI-powered writing assistance. While not legal-specific, Grammarly serves overlapping professional writing use cases and competes for the same productivity software budgets inside law firms and corporate legal departments.
- Microsoft Editor: Built-in editor within Microsoft Word and Outlook, the same platforms WordRake integrates with. Microsoft Editor offers grammar, clarity, and concision suggestions, and is bundled with Microsoft 365, creating a free alternative for some WordRake use cases.
- LexisNexis (Lexis Draft Pro): LexisNexis Pacific integrated WordRake into Lexis Draft Pro as an OEM partner, and continues to offer legal drafting and review software that overlaps with WordRake's positioning in legal document quality.
- Litera Microsystems: Large legal technology vendor offering document drafting, proofreading, and review tools used by law firms. Litera competes indirectly with WordRake's track-changes editing approach within the broader legal-editing software market.
Emerging players
- Draftwise: AI-powered legal drafting assistant for law firms and in-house legal teams. Targets overlapping legal writing improvement use cases with a more modern AI-native product positioning relative to WordRake's rules-based engine.
Regional players
- Clio: Leading legal practice management software platform. While primarily a practice management suite, Clio is a named WordRake customer and an adjacent legal-software platform where WordRake-style editing capabilities could be natively embedded or competed against.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
WordRake social profiles
Digital presenceWordRake financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
WordRake leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
WordRake funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
WordRake M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about WordRake
What does WordRake do?
WordRake is a professional editing software that runs as an add-in within Microsoft Word and Outlook, using over 50,000 patented algorithms to identify wordiness, passive voice, nominalizations, and other writing problems. Suggestions appear in the familiar track-changes style to help lawyers and professionals produce clearer, more concise documents. The software processes content locally with no cloud communication, ensuring confidentiality for sensitive legal and government documents.
Is WordRake a public or private company?
WordRake is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was WordRake founded?
WordRake was founded in 2012. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is WordRake based?
WordRake is headquartered in Redmond, United States, in the North America region.
How does WordRake make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Software License Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are enterprise Licenses.
Who are WordRake's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are BriefCatch, ProWritingAid, Hemingway Editor and PerfectIt. Broad incumbents are Grammarly, Microsoft Editor, LexisNexis (Lexis Draft Pro) and Litera Microsystems. Draftwise is listed as an emerging player. Clio is listed as a regional player.
Does WordRake have an API?
No public API is recorded for WordRake.
What industry is WordRake in?
WordRake's product category is Legal Writing Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAADAG, Content Generation & Writing Assistance (copy, emails, reports), with a secondary code of BPAMAMAD, Document Creation & Office Suites. Its NAICS code is 51321 and its SIC code is 7372.