| Abstract: | Summary The legal publishing industry has experienced waves of acquisition and consolidation, with almost all of the established players becoming affiliated with either Thomson or Reed Elsevier. A widespread assumption is that this consolidation is driving out the smaller participants in the market, especially in conjunction with the expansion of free Web sites for primary source material. It is presumed that the entrepreneurs who have smaller, profit-based companies are becoming less interested in the market due to financial pressures, increased difficulty of capturing market share, and threat of acquisition (friendly or hostile). In order to confirm or refute this assumption, the author reviews the industry consolidations, describes the delineation of representative small legal publishers, and analyzes their responses to questions about how the recent industry changes have affected their strategies, markets and product lines. The resulting picture is of an environment much different than that painted by current media pundits. Contrary to the presumption of a disappearing landscape of small players, there is a positive perception of “ripe opportunity” pushing companies into this marketplace-companies armed with new technology tools and strong convictions that they can reach customers ready and willing to do old business in new ways. The small publishers seem to be weathering the climactic industry changes, and have expectations of growth and expansion. |
