Article: The Sun Never Sets on the Thomson Reuters Empire: On Restructuring for the 21st Century’s New Normal

This article published on Law Librarians Blog by the ever informed Joe Hodnicki is a must read as he delves into TR West’s legal global approach to legal publishing as we head into the second decade of this century.. Africa (see previous story), Brazil, India & China


If i were actually interested in working for a legal publisher again TR West legal are without doubt stealing the lead on the rest of them at the moment. They actually seem to understand development, education, R&D etc is the way to go.? And… i might be wrong but it also appears that they want to work with rather than dominate.

Be interesting to see if Bloomberg see this and start funding legal educational programmes in? Africa and South America next year.

Here’s the first part of Hodnicki’s article – link top read the full piece

The Sun Never Sets on the Thomson Reuters Empire: On Restructuring for the 21st Century’s New Normal

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/2010/11/the-sun-never-sets-on-the-thomson-reuters-empire-on-restructuring-to-the-new-normal.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LawLibrarianBlog+(Law+Librarian+Blog)

Thomson Reuters adjusts to ‘new normal’, a recent Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune story, paints a far less rosy picture than the local Citypages did in its April 29, 2009 story, Westlaw rises to legal publishing fame by selling free information:
[When Thomson acquired West, people] “doubted that Thomson would be able to squeeze more profit out of West, which was already posting 25 percent returns. But since its takeover, Thomson has consistently managed to attain 30 percent or higher profit margins. Legal information seems to be the sponge that won’t dry.
But as Outsell’s legal publishing industry analyst David Curle said back in January of this year, ?The party is over for our industry.? Curle was referring to the US law firm market sector.
According to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune story, more than 425 employees were laid off from the Thomson Reuters legal and editorial services group between Jan. 1, 2009, and this past Oct. 31. “The recent headcount reductions ended a decade-long employment surge from 4,000 in 1998, when Thomson acquired West Publishing, to a peak of about 7,400 in early 2009. Part of the hiring resulted from information technology jobs added to support the legal division, as well as Thomson Reuters’ globe-spanning tax/accounting, health care and financial information businesses.”
In the article, John Shaughnessy, TR VP of Communications, explains:
We have moved some content-production work to our global service centers in India and the Philippines. It’s primarily keyboarding, data entry and some software testing. We’re not just serving lawyers in the U.S., but in different parts of the world. We’re trying to follow the sun in updating legal databases. We have Westlaw service in China and Japan. And we just acquired a legal publisher in India.

The New Normal Dictates Moving into Growth Markets for Global Legal Publishing. I believe Shaughnessy’s reference is to the Company’s July 2009 acquisition of the Indian legal database vendor IndLaw Communications. (Correct me if I’m wrong, John. I don’t mean to be putting words in your mouth.) About the acquisition, the aptly named PaidContent.org reported:
With the recent global meltdown, financial information services companies have been suffering from loss of clients globally. The acquisition of Indlaw by Thomson Reuters is an example of how large information companies are looking at fast growing markets like India for expanding their footprint.
Other more recent legal publishing acquisitions not mentioned in the article include TR’s August 2010 acquisition of Canada Law Book, a division of the Cartwright Group Limited [Press Release], and, much more significant, the May 2010 acquisition of Revista dos Tribunais, one of Brazil’s major legal publishing houses that employs nearly 300 staff members throughout the country and has 43 branches. About the Brazilian acquisition, TR explained in its Press Release:
The acquisition of Revista dos Tribunais presents a strategic opportunity for Thomson Reuters to lead the move to advanced information, software and online services for the Brazilian legal information industry ? one that remains dominated by print resources until now.
Strategic opportunity indeed. Brazil is the largest national economy in Latin America, the world’s eighth largest economy at market exchange rates and the ninth largest in purchasing power parity according to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Brazil’s economy is considered one of the world’s fastest growing major economies and has been predicted to become one of the five largest in the world in the decades to come. The Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domic?lios estimated the country’s population in 2008 at approximately 190 million. According to the UN, Brazil’s projected population for the year 2015 is almost 202 million. All of which leads up to this quote from TR’s press release: “The legal profession in Brazil is significant and growing ? the country has among the highest number of lawyers per capita after the U.S., with a growing base of medium and large law firms.”
Restructuring for the New Normal by Expanding Beyond Legal Publishing. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune story mentions TR’s widely publicized recent acquisition of Indian legal processing outsourcing firm Pangea3 but failed to mention two other very significant recent non-publishing related acquisitions.
In June 2010, Thomson Reuters acquired Complinet, a leading provider of global compliance information solutions for financial services institutions and their advisers. From the Press Release:
Regulation is a major driving force shaping financial services globally, and every indication is that this trend will only increase. Complinet, which is based in London and has more than 200 employees, brings a leading market position, powerhouse brand, strong management team, and assets across the entire global regulatory compliance workflow to Thomson Reuters.
?Across the globe, our customers are increasingly focused on information and software solutions that address their needs in governance, risk and compliance. The acquisition of Complinet, when coupled with the deep resources of our existing legal and financial services businesses, will take Thomson Reuters to a leadership position in this fast-growing market,? said Thomas H. Glocer, chief executive officer, Thomson Reuters.