alm_logo

When the news broke a few days ago that ALM, formerly American Lawyer Media, was going to put up for sale, reaction from legal information professionals seemed subdued at best.  Yet we cannot help but wonder what this means for an industry that is still struggling to find its footing in the wake of one of the worst global economic downturns we have seen in recent generations.  Has the independent legal news and analysis been the biggest victim of the ongoing recession?

It was just three years ago that upstart Bloomberg Law rocked the legal information world by acquiring the venerable, and once fiercely independent, BNA.  It turns out that this was only the first salvo in the latest battle for industry consolidation.  Just a year later, LexisNexis lept into the fray when it bought the attorney-preferred Law360.  Neither company was acquired cheaply or quietly.  The acquirers proceeded with fanfare and promises not to detract from the reasons people loved their new acquisitions.  Legal researchers and consumers, of course, proceeded with caution and concern.

Something feels different this time around, however.  Perhaps we can attribute the lack of outcry over the potential sale of ALM to the fact that so many saw this coming.  Maybe it really was just a matter of time.  Or maybe it is just a matter of waiting to see where the company lands.  It could be too that chage has become such a constant in our industry that we have learned, as professionals, to weather the storms that so constantly reshape the legal information landscape.  After all, each and every upheaval hides an opportunity to build something bigger and better as soon as the dust settles.

So the waiting game is on.  Anyone care to place any bets on where the ball will drop in this latest round of legal publisher roulette?

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of John DiGilio John DiGilio

As an information professional and visionary, John DiGilio has over 20 years of large law firm library and legal information vendor experience. He has proudly been affiliated with some of the largest law firms and information vendors in the industry. An award winning…

As an information professional and visionary, John DiGilio has over 20 years of large law firm library and legal information vendor experience. He has proudly been affiliated with some of the largest law firms and information vendors in the industry. An award winning writer and popular speaker, John believes in the value of information and the power it can bring when harnessed wisely and efficiently.

John is the Firmwide Director of Library Services for Sidley Austin LLP. He has written for numerous regional and national publications as well as taught college and graduate courses in such topics as business ethics, e-commerce, fair employment practices, research methodology and business law.