Breaking News: Thomson Reuters and Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Joining Forces on Current Awareness

 

Back in December I wrote a post speculating on the possibility of a Wolters Kluwer Thomson Reuters Merger. While no merger has come to pass, a new alliance was just announced.

I have been noticing some positive changes at Wolters Kluwer for the past few months. I have had several conversations with  Bob Lemmond the new Vice President & General Manager, Law & Business.

He seems genuinely interested in understanding customer needs in the very changed legal marketplace. He also assembled the first ever Law Librarian Advisory group. On the product side the new product RB Source is a slick and highly intuitive version of the Securities Act Handbook that I think bodes well for the future. Since RB Source is using a new digital platform. it is an encouraging sign that WK may be preparing to step away from the troubled Intelliconnect platform. So with today's announcement  that WK and Thomson Reuters are going to collaborate on  current awareness products we may be witnessing the beginning of another major reshuffling of the legal information market.

What's in it for Thomson Reuters? Perhaps this the long anticipated response to Bloomberg Law's acquisition of the Bureau of National Affairs in 2011.

Here is what is happening:

• The new current awareness products on Westlaw will combine news, primary law such as statutes, judicial opinions and regulations, dockets, court wire content and other sources, and will be enhanced with legal analysis from attorney editors.
• The first two products launched will include Wolters Kluwer’s unique current awareness dailies, Employment Law Daily and IP Law Daily, and secondary source content across a range of practice areas in law and business compliance will be added to WestlawNext.
• Other new products that provide analysis and insight into key business topics are already being developed and will be rolled out over the next several quarters.
•  Moving forward, on-point information will be pushed to customers where they are, synthesized into usable formats, with links to deeper sources. 

 Here is the press release:

Thomson Reuters and Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Joining Forces on Current Awareness

The companies have entered into an agreement to offer Wolters Kluwer current awareness products on Westlaw, joint development of new products, bolsters Westlaw offering and extends Wolters Kluwer’s reach

Eagan, MN, (July 18, 2012) –Thomson Reuters and Wolters Kluwer Law & Business will join forces to offer select Wolters Kluwer current awareness content on Thomson Reuters Westlaw online legal research platforms. The exclusive agreement will add Wolters Kluwer’s current awareness products – daily awareness of breaking legal developments which have been analyzed and contextualized by attorney-editors – to the comprehensive legal research databases, news and tools on Westlaw. The two businesses also will collaborate on current awareness product development.

The new current awareness products on Westlaw will combine news, primary law such as statutes, judicial opinions and regulations, dockets, court wire content and other sources, and will be enhanced with legal analysis from attorney editors. The first two products launched will include Wolters Kluwer’s unique current awareness dailies, Employment Law Daily and IP Law Daily, and secondary source content across a range of practice areas in law and business compliance will be added to WestlawNext. Other new products that provide analysis and insight into key business topics are already being developed and will be rolled out over the next several quarters. Moving forward, on-point information will be pushed to customers where they are, synthesized into usable formats, with links to deeper sources.

The two businesses see an opportunity to leverage best-in-class analytical and authoritative Wolters Kluwer Law & Business content; current Westlaw news content, including more than 12,000 databases of news in the Thomson Reuters Newsroom collection and exclusive reporting from Reuters News; and the market-leading primary and analytical content on Westlaw, to bring a new level of market insight to the current awareness marketplace.

According to Leann Blanchfield, vice president of Product Development at Thomson Reuters, current awareness information is a key part of every attorney’s workflow. It helps legal professionals stay up to speed in today’s highly competitive environment, and attorneys also rely on news, analysis and insight to identify clients and create winning pitches. “Wolters Kluwer Law & Business current awareness content is unique and indispensable to busy lawyers who require expert analysis and contextualization of rapidly-changing areas of the law,” said Blanchfield. “Its current awareness products provide original, attorney-authored analysis that puts context around breaking legal developments. They are seen as an essential tool to help busy lawyers stay up-to-date on vital developments in their field. Working together, Thomson Reuters and Wolters Kluwer will create a unique marriage between current awareness and deep research for the legal marketplace.”

“Wolters Kluwer’s current awareness legal dailies are all created by attorneys for attorneys, and are an essential tool for lawyers to put breaking legal news, decisions, and rulemaking in broad context and apply the industry’s leading level of analysis to highly complex and rapidly-changing areas of the law,” said Robert Lemmond, vice president of the Legal Markets Group at Wolters Kluwer. “This collaborative relationship with Thomson Reuters will enable us to deliver breaking news content to the entire family of Westlaw customers, and we are looking forward to working with the Thomson Reuters team to develop new current awareness products for legal professionals that allow them to work more efficiently.”

Lemmond said the sweet spot for the market is the convergence of current awareness and deep primary and analytical content. “We are uniquely positioned to bring together domain expertise with specialized proprietary content, and add the insights of a seasoned team of attorney editors and analysts,” he said.

Blanchfield agreed. "The combination of Wolters Kluwer's reporting depth and domain expertise, with the breadth of Thomson Reuters news and current awareness capabilities and the insight and content of the Westlaw research service is quite powerful. For customers, it will mean a current awareness offering that promises an entirely new level of insight and foresight. We’re excited to be working together.”

ABOUT WOLTERS KLUWER LAW & BUSINESS

Wolters Kluwer Law & Business is a leading provider of research products and software solutions in key specialty areas for legal and business professionals, as well as casebooks and study aids for law students. Its major product lines include Aspen Publishers, CCH, Kluwer Law International and Loislaw. Its markets include health care organizations, law firms, law schools, corporate counsel and professionals requiring legal and compliance information. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, a unit of Wolters Kluwer, is based in New York City and Riverwoods, IL.

  ABOUT THOMSON REUTERS

Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial and risk, legal, tax and accounting, intellectual property and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs approximately 60,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.

CONTACT

Scott Augustin
Thomson Reuters
+1 612 226 5084
scott.augustin@thomsonreuters.com

Amy Wolfcale

Wolters Kluwer Law & Business
212-771-0868
917-576-8767
amy.wolfcale@wolterskluwer.com