Page 26 - Leaders in Legal Business and The 1000 Leaders and Influencers - Draft 1
P. 26
Legal Business News John Malpas1
Publications
Publishing Director,
Legal Week
The birth of modern legal business news probably dates back to 1978, when Steve Brill
founded The American Lawyer magazine. Brill struck upon the idea of writing about the business
of law while studying law at Yale Law School when he saw a noticeboard on which law firms
were advertising for recruits. “I was writing magazine articles at the time,” he told David Lat,
founder of the online news site Above the Law, in a video interview, “and I remember thinking
to myself they [law firms] all can’t be the same — they have different people, some of them have
to be more energetic than others, more successful than others, some of them probably offer more
opportunities to non-whites than others… and I just kept thinking I’d like to write about a law
firm or two as an institution.”
The American Lawyer remains one of the world’s leading legal business titles, but it has
become a crowded marketplace. There
are several major magazines and
websites that specialize in business law
news and analysis, and these are not
confined to the world’s two leading
legal centers of New York and London.
In Germany, for example, there is
JUVE, while Italian lawyers seeking the
latest news about the local legal market
can turn to TopLegal.
The rise of the legal business
press has mirrored the transformation of
the legal profession into a multibillion-
dollar global business. When Brill
conceived the idea of writing about the business of law firms, they were relatively small,
privately-run institutions unused to public scrutiny. Brill recalled the resistance he received when
setting out to report on the inner workings of law firms, even when it came to such
straightforward issues as what deals they were acting on. Despite a move to public ownership in
some jurisdictions, the vast majority of law firms continue to be privately run. The world’s
leading commercial firms have grown exponentially since the 1980s on the coattails of
globalization. At the same time, in most jurisdictions, regulations restricting the ability of law
firms to advertise and market their services have steadily been lifted. The emergence of the
internet in the early 2000s provided an additional impetus to the legal press as it significantly
1 John Malpas is the publishing director of Legal Week, which is one of ALM Media’s flagship titles. He was previously editor and editor-in-
chief of Legal Week and was a senior member of the team that launched the magazine in 1999. Since its launch, Legal Week has established itself
as one of the world's leading media brands catering for the international business law community. This article is being republished with the
permission of ALM Media.
12
Publications
Publishing Director,
Legal Week
The birth of modern legal business news probably dates back to 1978, when Steve Brill
founded The American Lawyer magazine. Brill struck upon the idea of writing about the business
of law while studying law at Yale Law School when he saw a noticeboard on which law firms
were advertising for recruits. “I was writing magazine articles at the time,” he told David Lat,
founder of the online news site Above the Law, in a video interview, “and I remember thinking
to myself they [law firms] all can’t be the same — they have different people, some of them have
to be more energetic than others, more successful than others, some of them probably offer more
opportunities to non-whites than others… and I just kept thinking I’d like to write about a law
firm or two as an institution.”
The American Lawyer remains one of the world’s leading legal business titles, but it has
become a crowded marketplace. There
are several major magazines and
websites that specialize in business law
news and analysis, and these are not
confined to the world’s two leading
legal centers of New York and London.
In Germany, for example, there is
JUVE, while Italian lawyers seeking the
latest news about the local legal market
can turn to TopLegal.
The rise of the legal business
press has mirrored the transformation of
the legal profession into a multibillion-
dollar global business. When Brill
conceived the idea of writing about the business of law firms, they were relatively small,
privately-run institutions unused to public scrutiny. Brill recalled the resistance he received when
setting out to report on the inner workings of law firms, even when it came to such
straightforward issues as what deals they were acting on. Despite a move to public ownership in
some jurisdictions, the vast majority of law firms continue to be privately run. The world’s
leading commercial firms have grown exponentially since the 1980s on the coattails of
globalization. At the same time, in most jurisdictions, regulations restricting the ability of law
firms to advertise and market their services have steadily been lifted. The emergence of the
internet in the early 2000s provided an additional impetus to the legal press as it significantly
1 John Malpas is the publishing director of Legal Week, which is one of ALM Media’s flagship titles. He was previously editor and editor-in-
chief of Legal Week and was a senior member of the team that launched the magazine in 1999. Since its launch, Legal Week has established itself
as one of the world's leading media brands catering for the international business law community. This article is being republished with the
permission of ALM Media.
12
