LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® Enters Alliance With Altman Weil to Co-Produce Benchmarking Surveys of Corporate Law Departments; Compensation and Management Surveys Help In-House Counsel Spot Trends in Marketplace

Business Wire, May 1, 2006

NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J. -- LexisNexis, the leading provider of client development solutions for the legal profession, has entered into an agreement with Altman Weil Publications in which Martindale-Hubbell and Altman Weil will work together to conduct and disseminate the results from two annual benchmarking surveys of in-house law departments.

The surveys, Altman Weil's Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey and Law Department Metrics Benchmarking Survey, are annual nationwide studies that delve into how corporate legal executives are paid and how they manage their departments, respectively.

"Martindale-Hubbell is the authoritative resource for in-house legal professionals seeking to more efficiently locate outside counsel and manage their legal departments, so these surveys are important vehicles for us to monitor key management trends in the corporate legal community," said Barry Solomon, Esq., executive vice president for LexisNexis. "Likewise, in-house counsel rely on Altman Weil's research, which taps directly into the management structures and challenges of corporate legal departments, to benchmark their companies against their peers. With this alliance, we will be able to identify and share best practices in legal staffing, compensation and management with corporate counsel."

"Through this partnership, we will extend the reach of the surveys into more U.S. law departments, enhancing the depth and breadth of the survey data," said Dan DiLucchio, Altman Weil principal and Managing Director of Altman Weil Publications. "This furthers our goal of serving the in-house legal community as the unsurpassed resource for management information."

Under terms of the agreement, Altman Weil will continue to prepare the surveys, analyze the results and publish the reports. Martindale-Hubbell will leverage its nationwide network of in-house counsel to maximize participation by in-house law departments and to disseminate the surveys.

The two surveys will be sponsored by Martindale-Hubbell and Altman Weil, with the reports expected to be published in August and September of 2006. The two companies also have agreed to a series of promotional initiatives surrounding the release of the reports, including joint Webinars and the distribution of the reports through various sales channels.

About LexisNexis

LexisNexis(R) (www.lexisnexis.com) is a leading provider of information and services solutions, including its flagship Web-based Lexis(R) and Nexis(R) research services, to a wide range of professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting and academic markets. A member of Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE: ENL) (NYSE: RUK) (www.reedelsevier.com), the company does business in 100 countries with 13,000 employees worldwide.

LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell (www.martindale.com) provides client development solutions for the legal profession, partnering with its law firm customers to meet their practice development goals. An integral part of Martindale-Hubbell's service to the legal community is its Peer Review Rating system, which evaluates lawyers and law firms in the U.S. and Canada based on peer review. Peer Review Ratings attest to a lawyer's legal ability and professional ethics, and reflect the confidential opinions of members of the Bar and Judiciary. The Martindale-Hubbell database of more than 1 million lawyers and law firms, accessible at www.martindale.com and www.lawyers.com, is the number-one lawyer directory on the Internet (as measured by Nielsen//NetRatings). The company provides lawyers, business executives and consumers with detailed information to help them identify, evaluate and select legal counsel.

About Altman Weil

Founded in 1970, Altman Weil, Inc. (www.altmanweil.com) provides management consulting services to law firms, law departments, governmental legal organizations and legal vendors throughout North America, Latin America, the U.K. and Europe. The firm is independently owned by its professional consultants, who have backgrounds in law, industry, finance, marketing, administration and government. Altman Weil offers a broad range of consulting services, including strategy, management, governance, M&A, compensation, marketing, finance, organization and training.

Altman Weil Publications, Inc. (www.altmanweilpubs.com), a subsidiary of Altman Weil, has collected and published management information for law firms and corporate law departments for over thirty years. The company conducts market research and publishes numerous surveys of the legal profession including the Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey, the Law Department Metrics Benchmarking Survey, the Paralegal Compensation Survey and the Survey of Law Firm Economics. Altman Weil surveys are the industry standard and are often utilized in courtroom expert testimony.