LexisNexis launches professional network

Business Publisher, May 1, 2009

LexisNexis (New York) has launched its online professional network, Martindale-Hubbell Connected, a new source that "combines the largest global resource of legal contacts, including more than one million lawyers and law firms around the world, with social networking technology," the company said. The network is designed to enable corporate counsel and private practice attorneys to "uncover new relationships and trusted referrals, share information and insights, and to identify their connections to firms, corporate legal departments or other lawyers."

The network has been in beta development since June 2008, and launches with 3,000 members and six alliance partners, including the Minority Counsel Association, Lex Mundi, the Council on Litigation Management, Pro Bono Net, the National Association of Women Lawyers and TerraLex. The network is open to any private practice attorneys and corporate counsel and will include law school faculty, students, law firm marketing directors, paralegals and other qualified legal professionals beginning later this year. Registration (martindale.com/connected) is free.

All members have access to the site's basic features and functions while corporate counsel have complimentary access to premium functions, as do lawyers whose firms maintain a paid profile in the Martindale-Hubbell directory. Basic features of the network include network connection identification and proactive suggested contacts made by matching one's career and educational background with the full set of lawyers from the martindale.com service. Additionally, the network mines court documents to identify useful connections between a member and other lawyers he or she has teamed with or faced in court.

The network also allows access to user-generated content including blogs, podcasts, more than 27,000 pieces of counsel-created research, online events, and related content. And, an agreement with LinkedIn offers members visibility between lawyers they are searching and access to their personal LindkedIn profiles. The network's Connected Alliance Partner Program offers legal associations and select non-profit legal organizations resources that allows them to host dedicated communities within the network.

Martindale-Hubbell CEO Ralph Calistri said "using professional networking technology, we are transforming a traditional legal database into the preeminent online community for legal professionals, custom designed to enable them to connect and collaborate with each other to solve legal and business issues."