Building on the FindLaw vision

The acquisition gives FindLaw, which will operate as an independent subsidiary, new resources and reach to even better serve legal professionals, businesses and individuals in North America and around the world. "From the time we founded FindLaw, we had a vision," said Stacy Stern, founder, president and co-chair of the board of directors for FindLaw. "After five years, we were making that vision a reality, but had reached the point where we wanted to take a quantum leap. As we explored how to make this happen, we found out that West Group shared our vision of what FindLaw really could be. Now, we look forward to working with West Group to continue to deliver on that vision and to make FindLaw an even more powerful tool."

Mike Wilens, West Group president, said FindLaw will operate as an independent subsidiary of West Group and will maintain its operations in Mountain View, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley. FindLaw co-founders Stern and Tim Stanley will remain in their roles, as will other key technology, marketing and publishing managers. "Our plan is simple: we're going to build on the formula that made FindLaw what it is," said Wilens. "Everything that exists on FindLaw today - from caselaw to career services and Continuing Legal Education will remain. And we'll invest in the content and services to make the site even more powerful in the future," he noted.

A powerful Web presence

The FindLaw/West Group combination will result in the legal industry's most powerful collection of community, content, solutions and services. This will give West Group a powerful new channel for connecting to the legal community and to the individuals and businesses who need legal information or counsel, according to Wilens.

"The FindLaw acquisition plays an important role in West Group's Web strategy," said Wilens. "We'll leverage FindLaw traffic to deliver more enhanced West Group information and solutions to our customers. FindLaw also adds a powerful new dimension to our West Legal Directory service - dramatically expanding its reach and value and giving West Legal Directory a high-traffic Web presence unmatched by any other legal directory service in the world."

Other services and solutions that will be developed or expanded include an online, on-demand continuing legal education service. Additionally, Wilens said FindLaw's popular legal news service and legal jobs center can now take advantage of West Group editorial and technology resources to provide even greater value to FindLaw users. Wilens said the acquisition is a key step in the company's drive to create the most comprehensive Web presence for legal professionals, businesses and individuals. "This is really about the convergence of community, content, technology tools, commerce and services," he said. "FindLaw is a unique and successful site. Together, we plan to make it even better."

About FindLaw
FindLaw Inc. (http://findlaw.com) the pioneer and leader in online legal information and services, is the highest-trafficked legal Web site, providing the most comprehensive set of legal resources on the Internet for lawyers, businesses and individuals. These resources include legal search tools, case law (including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1893), legal news, real-time SEC filings, community discussion areas and online continuing legal education. FindLaw is home to the most complete online legal career center, with law firm salary charts, legal job listings, personalized legal job placement services and the "Greedy Associates" message boards. FindLaw's channels for businesses and the public provide comprehensive, plain-English legal information for non-lawyers.

About West Group
Headquartered in Eagan, Minn., West Group is the foremost provider of e-information and solutions to the U.S. legal market. West Group is a division of The Thomson Corporation (TSE: TOC) and was formed when West Publishing and Thomson Legal Publishing merged in June 1996. For more information, please visit West Group's Web site at www.westgroup.com.