Legal News and Views -  Asia Pacific and Beyond

Yesterday,... Friday 20 Jan ( thanks for alerting us USA Law Lib blog) West authors received the following message from Chris Parton, General Manager, Law School Publishing, and Pamela Siege Chandler, Senior Director, Law School Publishing.

It appears that it's been decided that it's time for student legal publishing to be discarded and to concentrate on the more profitable database business. But doesn't that mean there's less interaction between students and West products especially those students who only have access to the Lexis databases. HOB would suggest that if the business is as good as Parton suggests it is it'd just be good branding to retain the business.

A Message to our Authors about Changes at West

Earlier today, Thomson Reuters announced that it is exploring strategic options for its Law School Publishing (LSP) business consisting of the West Academic Publishing, Foundation Press and Gilbert imprints, including a potential sale. Although LSP is an outstanding business with a long history of serving law school faculty and students, the company has made the decision to focus on growing from its core of subscription-based research and reference products, workflow solutions, software and services.

We are just beginning the divestiture process and do not expect any potential sale to be completed until the second quarter of 2012 at the earliest. In the meantime, we will operate our business as usual. We will continue to deliver our products and honor our ongoing commitment to providing the quality and service you have come to expect throughout the business’s long and successful history.

Since 1908, our Law School Publishing business has been a successful part of what is now Thomson Reuters, Legal. It has market-leading brands, renowned authors and committed employees. Our course materials have played an important role in educating lawyers for over 100 years and our authors are a critical part of that mission. Should the company decide to move forward with the divestiture, Thomson Reuters will seek a buyer who values our author relationships, will be a good fit for the business and will position it for continued success for many years to come. To that end, the West imprint will transition with West-branded titles under a licensing agreement with the buyer. Also, be assured that the people in the business with whom you currently deal will continue to work with you and remain committed to our mutual success.

We understand that you, as our author, have a stake in a potential sale of our Law School Publishing business. We are committed to being as transparent with you as possible throughout this process and welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you might have.

Sunday 22 January.. Update

We've just heard from a second source that all the Aspen legal authors had received the above letter and as our source says .. West have 45% of the USA Legal Student mkt way ahead of the rest of the competition so it's a little odd that they want dump it so suddenly and quickly.