West Group Acquires FindLaw

Posted on January 26, 2001

West Group has announced the acquisition of FindLaw, a high-trafficked online legal portal. The acquisition gives West Group, a provider of information and solutions to the legal marketplace, an expanded presence on the Web. FindLaw will operate as an independent subsidiary of West Group.

``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. Other services and solutions that will be developed or expanded include an online, on-demand continuing legal education service.

``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.''