# Jim Delkousis

> Jim Delkousis is the founder and CEO of PERSUIT, a New York-based legal technology company that helps corporate legal teams run competitive, transparent processes for hiring outside counsel. A former DLA Piper litigation partner with 25 years in BigLaw, he left the partnership in 2016 to build a platform that shifts legal buying from billable hours toward outcomes and value. PERSUIT now works with Fortune 1000 legal departments and thousands of law firms, and in 2025 expanded into legal spend and matter management by acquiring Apperio.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at PERSUIT
- **Organizations:** PERSUIT, DLA Piper, Mallesons Stephen Jaques (King & Wood Mallesons)
- **Nationality:** Australian
- **Known for:** Founded and scaled PERSUIT into a platform used by Fortune 1000 legal departments and thousands of law firms, Pioneered value-based pricing in the legal industry for more than a decade, Grew PERSUIT to manage more than $22B in legal spend data

## Career timeline

- **1995** — Became Senior Associate at Mallesons Stephen Jaques (now King & Wood Mallesons)
- **1999** — Made Partner at Mallesons, later leading its construction disputes practice
- **2007** — Left Australia to open DLA Piper's office in the Middle East - starting with no clients
- **2014** — Concluded his seven-year run building the Middle East practice from scratch
- **2016** — Founded PERSUIT in Melbourne, Australia
- **2017** — Relocated PERSUIT operations to the United States (New York)
- **2021** — Raised a $20M Series A led by Boston VC firm OpenView
- **2025** — PERSUIT acquired legal spend platform Apperio to build an end-to-end offering

## Achievements

- Founded and scaled PERSUIT into a platform used by Fortune 1000 legal departments and thousands of law firms
- Pioneered value-based pricing in the legal industry for more than a decade
- Grew PERSUIT to manage more than $22B in legal spend data
- Raised a $20M Series A in 2021 led by OpenView
- Led PERSUIT's 2025 acquisition of Apperio to add spend and matter management
- Built DLA Piper's Middle East practice from an empty desk over seven years

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — PERSUIT acquired legal spend-management platform Apperio, expanding from RFPs into end-to-end spend and matter management for corporate legal teams.

## Links

- Website: https://persuit.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-delkousis
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jim_persuit

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jim-delkousis
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-16