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(January 26, 2001) -- After two weeks of speculation, it is now official -- West Group today announced the acquisition of FindLaw, the pioneer in free online legal information and services and the Web's most highly trafficked legal portal. The acquisition gives West Group, the leading provider of e-information and solutions to the legal marketplace, an expanded presence on the Web for serving legal professionals and their clients, and provides FindLaw with the resources for continuing the development and expansion of its acclaimed content and services.

FindLaw will operate as an independent subsidiary of West Group and will maintain its operations in Mountain View (Silicon Valley), CA, said Mike Wilens, West Group president in a press release earlier today. No other terms of the agreement were disclosed.

"Our plan is simple: we're going to build on the formula that made FindLaw what it is," added Wilens. "Everything that exists on FindLaw today -- from caselaw to career services and Continuing Legal Education will remain. And we'll invest in the content and services to make the site even more powerful

"From the time we founded FindLaw, we had a vision," said Stacy Stern, founder, president and co-chair of the board of directors for FindLaw. "After five years, we were making that vision a reality, but had reached the point where we wanted to take a quantum leap. As we explored how to make this happen, we found out that West Group shared our vision of what FindLaw really could be. Now, we look forward to working with West Group to continue to deliver on that vision and to make FindLaw an even more powerful tool."

Also according to the company press release, FindLaw co-founders Stern and Tim Stanley will remain in their roles, as will other key technology, marketing and publishing managers.

FindLaw Inc., the pioneer and leader in online legal information and services, is the highest-trafficked legal Web site, providing the most comprehensive set of legal resources on the Internet for lawyers, businesses and individuals. These resources include legal search tools, case law (including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1893), legal news, real-time SEC filings, community discussion areas and online continuing legal education. FindLaw is home to the most complete online legal career center, with law firm salary charts, legal job listings, personalized legal job placement services and the "Greedy Associates" message boards. FindLaw's channels for businesses and the public provide comprehensive, plain-English legal information for non-lawyers.

Headquartered in Eagan, Minn., West Group is the foremost provider of e-information and solutions to the U.S. legal market. West Group is a division of The Thomson Corporation (TSE: TOC) and was formed when West Publishing and Thomson Legal Publishing merged in June 1996.

FindLaw - http://www.findlaw.com

West Group - http://www.westgroup.com

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Note to Readers: The full text of the West Group press release announcing this deal and additional reporting are avalable at http://www.llrx.com.