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Type of business | Legal |
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Headquarters | Eagan, Minnesota |
Owner | West (Thomson Reuters) |
Founder(s) | Stacy Stern, Martin Roscheisen, Tim Stanley |
Key people | ⦁ Steve Hasker (President & CEO, Thomson Reuters) ⦁ Wendy F. Gomes (Executive Assistant to the CEO, Thomson Reuters) ⦁ Paul Fischer (President, Legal Professionals, Thomson Reuters) ⦁ Mary Alice Vuicic (Chief People Officer, Thomson Reuters) ⦁ Kirsty Roth (Chief Operations & Technology Officer, Thomson Reuters) ⦁ David F. Wong (Chief Product Officer, Thomson Reuters)Contents |
URL | www.findlaw.com |
Commercial | Yes |
Launched | December 13, 1995 |
FindLaw is a business of Thomson Reuters that provides online legal information in the form of state laws, case law and codes, legal blogs and articles, a lawyer directory, DIY legal services and products, and other legal resources. The company also provides online marketing services for law firms. FindLaw was created by Stacy Stern, Martin Roscheisen, and Tim Stanley in 1995, and was acquired by Thomson West in 2001. [1]
FindLaw.com began in Silicon Valley in 1995 when the original founders compiled a list of attorney resources for a group of law librarians in Northern California. Based on the positive sentiment from the librarians, the founders decided to publish this information as a public legal resource on the domain FindLaw.com. Though there was a formal launch of FindLaw.com on January 9, 1996, the domain was first registered December 13. 1995. The website soon offered a wide array of legal content and resources for both attorneys and consumers, including a lawyer directory, an online career center and message boards like the famous "Greedy Associates" which exists today on the FindLaw.com website as a popular blog. [2]
In 1995, two attorneys compiled a list of lawyer resources for a group of California law librarians and then published that list online. The attorneys registered the domain findlaw.com on December 13, 1995. They had an official public launch of the website in January 1996. By June 1996, there was an interactive online continuing legal education course offering. The following year saw the launch of LegalMinds, followed the year after by JusticeMail (sunsetted in 2021).
FindLaw.com won gold medals for best legal website in 1997, 1998, and 1999. [3]
By end of 1999, FindLaw had both acquired LawyerMarketing.com to launch FindLaw Lawyer Marketing and made available free access to legal briefs. In 1999 it also launched its FirmSite service, providing website design and content services for attorneys.
In the start of 2000, FindLaw created partnerships with The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN Interactive, Earthlink, Quicken, USA Today, and other media for sharing content.
By midyear of 2000, FindLaw offered the first legal portal to support personalization through “My FindLaw." By October of the same year, FindLaw launched an extensive and comprehensive lawyers and law firm directory for the entire United States.
In 2001, Thomson West (formerly West Publishing company, currently Thomson Reuters) acquired FindLaw. [4]
FindLaw surpassed $100 million in yearly revenue in 2007, and $200 million in 2012.
It launched Web Advantage and video services in 2008. In 2009, FindLaw expanded internationally by acquiring Contract Law in the UK (divested in 2012). It began providing website services to international law firms the following year.
Between 2010 and 2013, FindLaw significantly increased its footprint in the online legal network and directory space by acquiring SuperLawyers (2010), a business that recognizes the top attorneys in the U.S., [5] and LawInfo.com (2013). The LawInfo acquisition included Abogado.com, a Spanish language website that provides legal information and a lawyer directory to Spanish speakers in the U.S.
Also in 2010, FindLaw provided a blog option to its website clients, allowing for consistent, fresh content. The posts were later promoted on Facebook when FindLaw launched social media services (2015).
FindLaw debuted do-it-yourself estate planning and business formation services in 2022, allowing consumers to create simple estate plans and form simple business entities. [6]
Today, FindLaw.com receives more than 100 million visits a year.[ citation needed ]
FindLaw.com is a free legal information website.
The website FindLaw.com includes extensive legal information presented in the form of U.S. case law found on caselaw.findlaw.com, [7] [8] [9] and in comprehensive review like in the case of Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969) [10] [11] [12] [13] that helped define first amendment rights of students in the United States. FindLaw.com also presents state and federal statutes like in the legal summary of California Marijuana Laws [14] [15] that details the legality of possession and use of cannabis in the state of California. U.S. codes are published on codes.findlaw.com [16] [17] [18] and present common codes like New York’s consolidated laws for labor laws. [19] FindLaw.com also offers legal articles and blogs on a wide range of historical and new legal cases and codes like the 2022 overturn of Roe v Wade. [20] [21] [22]
The website FindLaw.com also includes a free attorney directory on lawyers.findlaw.com [23] [24] [25] that allows consumers to browse and select lawyers by their geographical location and practice areas of the law.
The website FindLaw.com also offers DIY services and products for consumers in need of legal assistance. [26] [27]
The company also published the magazine Writ, whose contributors (mostly legal academics) argued, explained, and debated legal matters of topical interest.
Westlaw is an online legal research service and proprietary database for lawyers and legal professionals available in over 60 countries. Information resources on Westlaw include more than 40,000 databases of case law, state and federal statutes, administrative codes, newspaper and magazine articles, public records, law journals, law reviews, treatises, legal forms and other information resources.
LexisNexis is an American data analytics company headquartered in New York, New York. Its products are various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper search, and consumer information. During the 1970s, LexisNexis began to make legal and journalistic documents more accessible electronically. As of 2006, the company had the world's largest electronic database for legal and public-records–related information. The company is a subsidiary of RELX.
Legal research is "the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a problem and concludes with the application and communication of the results of the investigation."
MH Sub I, LLC, doing business as Internet Brands, is a digital media, marketing services, and software company based in El Segundo, California, United States, that operates online media, community, e-commerce, and SaaS businesses in vertical markets.
Dykema Gossett PLLC, is an American full-service law firm. Founded and headquartered in Detroit, it has offices in various locations around the United States including California, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin. Dykema's largest office is in Chicago but its combined Southeast Michigan offices are collectively larger. As of 2020, it was the 118th largest law firm in the nation.
West is a business owned by Thomson Reuters that publishes legal, business, and regulatory information in print, and on electronic services such as Westlaw. Since the late 19th century, West has been one of the most prominent publishers of legal materials in the United States. Its headquarters is in Eagan, Minnesota; it also had an office in Rochester, New York, until it closed in 2019, and it had an office in Cleveland, Ohio, until it closed in 2010. Organizationally, West is part of the global legal division of Thomson Reuters.
LegalZoom.com, Inc. is an American online legal technology and services company launched in 2001. It helps its customers create legal documents without necessarily having to hire a lawyer. Available documents include wills and living trusts, business formation documents, copyright registrations, and trademark applications. The company also offers attorney referrals and registered agent services.
Legal advertising is advertising by lawyers (attorneys), solicitors and law firms. Legal marketing is a broader term referring to advertising and other practices, including client relations, social media, and public relations. It's a type of marketing undertaken by law firms, lawyers (attorneys) and solicitors that aims to promote the services of law firms and increase their brand awareness.
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a Canadian multinational information conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and maintains its headquarters in that city's Bay Adelaide Centre.
Avvo.com is an online marketplace for legal services, that provides lawyer referrals and access to a database of legal information consisting primarily of previously answered questions. Lawyer profiles may include client reviews, disciplinary actions, peer endorsements, and lawyer-submitted legal guides.
LegalShield is an American corporation that sells legal service products direct to consumer through employer groups and through multi-level marketing in the United States, and Canada. It was available in the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2021. According to LegalShield's income disclosure regarding associates selling the product: "For Associates with 0-2 years of experience who made at least one sale, average annual earnings were $798 for 2019. Approximately 73% of all Associates across experience years made less than $1,000 in 2019."
WeedMaps is a tech company serving the cannabis industry, founded in 2008 by Justin Hartfield and Keith Hoerling.
Bloomberg Law is a subscription-based service that uses data analytics and artificial intelligence for online legal research. The service, which Bloomberg L.P. introduced in 2009, provides legal content, proprietary company information and news information to attorneys, law students, and other legal professionals. More specifically, this commercial legal and business technology platform integrates Bloomberg Law News with Bloomberg Industry Group's primary and secondary legal content and business development tools.
Rocket Lawyer is an online legal technology company founded by Charley Moore in 2008, based in San Francisco, California. It provides individuals and small to medium-sized businesses with online legal services—including incorporation, estate plans, and legal document review. The company also provides a network of attorneys that consumers and small businesses can consult with on legal issues through its On Call service. In 2012, Rocket Lawyer UK was launched.
The National Law Review is an American law journal, daily legal news website and legal analysis content-aggregating database. In 2020 and 2021, The National Law Review published over 20,000 legal news articles and experienced an uptick in readership averaging 4.3 million readers in both March and April 2020, due to the demand for news regarding the COVID-19 Pandemic. T
Law360 is a subscription-based, legal news service based in New York City. It is operated by Portfolio Media, Inc., a subsidiary of LexisNexis and delivers breaking news and analysis to more than 2 million U.S. legal professionals across 60 practice areas, industries and topics, including a free section dedicated to Access to Justice, which reports on "access of individuals and disadvantaged populations to adequate, equitable, and essential criminal and civil justice systems as well as the noteworthy initiatives and individuals who promote such a cause."
Leafly is a website focused on cannabis use and education. The company says it has more than 120 million annual visitors and over 10 million monthly active users. Leafly provides a wide range of information on cannabis, including 1.5 million consumer product reviews, more than 9,000 cannabis articles and resources, and over 5,000 verified strains in its database. Leafly additionally provides 4,500+ retailers and 8,000+ cannabis brands with e-commerce tools such as digital storefronts, embedded menus, point-of-sale integrations, targeted advertising, and more. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and from 2012 to 2019 was owned by Privateer Holdings, a private equity firm focused on the emerging legal cannabis industry. Leafly is now a publicly traded company with 160 employees.
Public law libraries provide access to primary legal sources and secondary sources used in legal matters. In most U.S. states, public law libraries are part of the trial court system, a department of the state or county government, or an independent local government agency managed by a board of trustees. Public law libraries serve several user groups with different information needs: judges and their support staff, attorneys in all types of practice, and the general public.
Leafbuyer Technologies, Inc. (Leafbuyer) is a marketing technology company for the cannabis industry and is an online cannabis resource. The primary function of the company's website is to serve as a coupon directory for cannabis patients and recreational users.
Justia is an American website specializing in legal information retrieval. It was founded in 2003 by Tim Stanley, formerly of FindLaw, and is one of the largest online databases of legal cases. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California. The website offers free case law, codes, opinion summaries, and other basic legal texts, with paid services for its attorney directory and webhosting.