Page 15 - Leaders in Legal Business - a
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Leaders in Legal Business
The economic downturn in 2008 forced leaders of law firms and in-house counsel to focus more broadly
on the management of their organizations. These days, in addition to finding business development opportunities
and issues, law firms gather information on their competitors in order to improve their operations; meanwhile, in-
house counsel seek best practices to reduce outside counsel spending.
Additionally, clients keep pushing private practice attorneys into narrower niches and specialties. Instead
of being an intellectual property generalist, an attorney may now be defined as a specialist in patent litigation for
large global corporations with operations in the U.S. and Asia. This trend toward specialization has happened to
other professional services industries and is not expected to reverse.
The consequence of these shifts is that legal professionals have become more reliant on current awareness
offerings covering the practice areas and the markets they serve. They seek news tailored to their specific interests.
These developments are leading to the integration of business of law content with substantive (or practice
of law) content. This trend accelerated in 2011 when the large legal information providers — Thomson Reuters,
LexisNexis, and Bloomberg — moved to expand the news offerings available with their legal research systems,
resulting in increased partnership and acquisition activity. LexisNexis signed an exclusive license agreement with
ALM to provide its content through the Lexis legal research system. This was followed by Bloomberg’s
acquisition of BNA, a daily practice of law and current awareness provider focused on particular specialty areas.
In March of 2012, LexisNexis acquired Law360. Thomson Reuters responded by forming a partnership with
Wolters Kluwer, providing daily current awareness content to users of Thomson’s legal research system, Westlaw.
ALM acquired RivalEdge, a media company that allows lawyers to monitor a variety of sources for changes in
law firm activity and personnel. In October 2014, LexisNexis acquired Moreover Technologies, an online tool
that aggregates, monitors, and analyzes large volumes of news, legal, and social media data to help law firms and
corporations understand key market trends.
This increased investment in the legal professional news space has led to a new wave of experimentation
and innovation. The goal is to deliver exactly the content a legal professional needs to be successful.
Market Size
The worldwide legal current awareness market is estimated to be approximately $400-$500 million in
annual revenues with low-single-digit growth.
The U.S. market is the largest at approximately $300 million. ALM is the top player with $175-$200
million in revenues, or about 40 percent market share. Dolan Media is the second largest player with $50-$75
million in revenues.3 Law360 has estimated annual revenues of $25-$30 million, followed by Law Bulletin
Publishing with estimated $10-$15 million.4 The Daily Journal has revenues of $5-15 million.5
The United Kingdom is the second largest market with $25-$50 million in revenues. Three of the larger
players in the market are the Lawyer, Law Business Research, and Legal Week.
Publishers in the emerging markets are typically independent organizations owned and operated by the
founders. The largest of these rely on print products for the majority of their revenues.
Future Trends
A significant challenge to delivering a legal professional the information they need is the flood of content;
it can overwhelm. Recognizing this, the largest of the legal news and current awareness providers are developing
online platforms allowing for unified offerings tailored to the legal professional, requiring investment in metadata
and filtering technologies.
3 Dolan Co., Quarterly Report (Form 10Q) (November 12, 2013).
4 David Curle, U.S. Legal News and Current Awareness Market: Evolution and Prospects for Growth, OUTSELL INC. (September 18, 2012).
5 Daily Journal Corp., Annual Report (Form 10-K) (June 24, 2014).
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The economic downturn in 2008 forced leaders of law firms and in-house counsel to focus more broadly
on the management of their organizations. These days, in addition to finding business development opportunities
and issues, law firms gather information on their competitors in order to improve their operations; meanwhile, in-
house counsel seek best practices to reduce outside counsel spending.
Additionally, clients keep pushing private practice attorneys into narrower niches and specialties. Instead
of being an intellectual property generalist, an attorney may now be defined as a specialist in patent litigation for
large global corporations with operations in the U.S. and Asia. This trend toward specialization has happened to
other professional services industries and is not expected to reverse.
The consequence of these shifts is that legal professionals have become more reliant on current awareness
offerings covering the practice areas and the markets they serve. They seek news tailored to their specific interests.
These developments are leading to the integration of business of law content with substantive (or practice
of law) content. This trend accelerated in 2011 when the large legal information providers — Thomson Reuters,
LexisNexis, and Bloomberg — moved to expand the news offerings available with their legal research systems,
resulting in increased partnership and acquisition activity. LexisNexis signed an exclusive license agreement with
ALM to provide its content through the Lexis legal research system. This was followed by Bloomberg’s
acquisition of BNA, a daily practice of law and current awareness provider focused on particular specialty areas.
In March of 2012, LexisNexis acquired Law360. Thomson Reuters responded by forming a partnership with
Wolters Kluwer, providing daily current awareness content to users of Thomson’s legal research system, Westlaw.
ALM acquired RivalEdge, a media company that allows lawyers to monitor a variety of sources for changes in
law firm activity and personnel. In October 2014, LexisNexis acquired Moreover Technologies, an online tool
that aggregates, monitors, and analyzes large volumes of news, legal, and social media data to help law firms and
corporations understand key market trends.
This increased investment in the legal professional news space has led to a new wave of experimentation
and innovation. The goal is to deliver exactly the content a legal professional needs to be successful.
Market Size
The worldwide legal current awareness market is estimated to be approximately $400-$500 million in
annual revenues with low-single-digit growth.
The U.S. market is the largest at approximately $300 million. ALM is the top player with $175-$200
million in revenues, or about 40 percent market share. Dolan Media is the second largest player with $50-$75
million in revenues.3 Law360 has estimated annual revenues of $25-$30 million, followed by Law Bulletin
Publishing with estimated $10-$15 million.4 The Daily Journal has revenues of $5-15 million.5
The United Kingdom is the second largest market with $25-$50 million in revenues. Three of the larger
players in the market are the Lawyer, Law Business Research, and Legal Week.
Publishers in the emerging markets are typically independent organizations owned and operated by the
founders. The largest of these rely on print products for the majority of their revenues.
Future Trends
A significant challenge to delivering a legal professional the information they need is the flood of content;
it can overwhelm. Recognizing this, the largest of the legal news and current awareness providers are developing
online platforms allowing for unified offerings tailored to the legal professional, requiring investment in metadata
and filtering technologies.
3 Dolan Co., Quarterly Report (Form 10Q) (November 12, 2013).
4 David Curle, U.S. Legal News and Current Awareness Market: Evolution and Prospects for Growth, OUTSELL INC. (September 18, 2012).
5 Daily Journal Corp., Annual Report (Form 10-K) (June 24, 2014).
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