Law Firm Comparison Tool From LexisNexis

LexisNexis ^® Martindale-Hubbell^® Introduces Law Firm Comparison Tool on Martindale.com, Enabling Quick Evaluation of Prospective Counsel

New Providence, N.J. - Press Release - January 4, 2006 - LexisNexis, a leading provider of client development solutions for the legal profession, has introduced an enhanced version of its LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Web site at www.martindale.com, featuring an innovative side-by-side comparison tool that allows users to compare the credentials of various law firms or individual lawyers.

The new comparison tool on martindale.com enables buyers of legal services to simultaneously compare up to four law firms or lawyers based upon specific decision support criteria, such as areas of practice, size of firm, office locations, educational background and attorney bar admissions.

Media Contacts: Daryn Teague for Teague Communications (661) 297-5292 dteague@teaguecommunications.com

"This is a great new tool that increases the value of Martindale-Hubbell's database because it allows those of us who are frequently selecting outside counsel to do 'apples to apples' comparisons of various law firms with whom we're exploring prospective relationships," said Jerry Temko, Vice President & General Counsel, Europe, of Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. "The net benefit is that we are able to make quicker and more informed buying decisions about the most appropriate law firm for any given matter we need to assign to outside counsel."

"The law firm comparison tool not only gives law firms an opportunity to showcase their credentials to prospective clients and grow their practices, but also provides valuable benefits to corporate counsel who rely heavily upon martindale.com to identify, evaluate and select outside counsel," said Mike Walsh, senior vice president of large and national law firm markets at LexisNexis. "By populating the data fields on martindale.com as richly as possible with detailed information about their firms, our law firm customers can enhance their visibility among in-house counsel and improve the likelihood of being favorably compared against competitors."

In addition to the new law firm comparison tool, the newly released version of martindale.com includes a simplified search form, a new "browse" capability for lawyer and law firm searches, and other new functionality for enhanced Web searching directly from the law firm profile pages. LexisNexis provides client development, research solutions, practice management and litigation services solutions to help legal professionals improve productivity, increase profitability and grow their practices.

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About LexisNexis

LexisNexis^® (www.lexisnexis.com) is a leader in comprehensive and authoritative legal, news and business information and tailored applications. 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. In addition to its flagship Web-based Lexis^® and Nexis^® research services, the company includes some of the world's most respected legal publishers such as Martindale-Hubbell, Matthew Bender, Butterworths, JurisClasseur, Abeledo-Perrot and Orac.

In the United States, LexisNexis offers its customers total practice solutions comprised of an extensive range of online and print legal, regulatory, news and business information products, tools, customized Web applications and critical filing services that help legal professionals achieve excellence in the business and practice of law.