"Back to HyperLaw In the News"
"Back to DOJ Antitrust Review of Thomson/West Merger Page"
To AALL members and other interested parties:
As president of the American Association of Law Libaries, I attach below for
your information a letter sent today, February 22, 1997, by Robert L.
Oakley, Washington Affairs Representative of AALL, to Judge Paul L.
Friedman, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Writing on
behalf of AALL and under the direction of the Association's Executive Board,
Oakley has requested a thirty day extension of time for comment about the
final disposition of the settlement in the matter of the merger of West
Publishing Company with the Thomson Corporation.
This basis for this action is explained in the text of the letter, but I do
wish to emphasize that it is consistent with the role that the Association
has maintained in this matter since our original letter to the Department of
Justice in March 1996. Representing the consumers of the products of the
legal publishing industry--not only our nearly 5,000 members but also the
patrons of the 1,900+ libraries we oversee--AALL has continuously and
strenuously advocated for a resolution that would ensure a robust and
vigorous legal information marketplace. AALL has forcefully expressed the
concerns of law librarians and other legal information consumers in this
matter, centering on the "larger goal of ensuring the continuation of high
quality legal information products at reasonable prices in a healthy
competitive environment" (Letter of Robert Oakley, AALL Washington Affairs
Representative, to Craig Conrath, DOJ Antitrust Division, July 29, 1996).
I also wish to state, without equivocation, that this position emanates
entirely from policy-based grounds, in particular the Executive Board's
determination of the appropriate role for AALL--as an Association--to take
in an antitrust proceeding. No promises were made, no deal was cut--AALL
received nothing, nor does it expect to receive anything, "in return" for
the stance that it took, and continues to take, regarding the West/Thomson
merger. We have acted with complete regard for the mission of our
Association "to provide leadership in the field of legal information and to
foster a spirit of cooperation among the members of the profession." (AALL
Bylaws, art. II)
In recent days there have been a number of law-lib postings, as well as
private communications with me and other members of the Executive Board,
that have asked about AALL's position regarding the latest developments in
this matter. I regret that circumstances and the complex nature of the
issues involved combined to delay an Association response. However, I can
assure all members that the Board, with the assistance of the Washington
Affairs Office, has been closely monitoring developments in this matter and
working hard to determine what actions to take. On behalf of the Executive
Board, I wish to thank those who have made comments and expressed their
concerns, both publicly and privately. While we understand that, as your
elected leaders, it is our responsibility to make decisions and act on your
behalf, we do not do this in a vacuum. We invite your input, not only on
this subject but on all matters of interest to you, and, more important, we
listen.
In this regard, I have set aside a significant portion of the Spring meeting
of the Executive Board (February 28-March 1, 1997, Chicago) to discuss the
topic of publisher relations and relationships. To enrich and inform our
discussion, I have invited several Association members with demonstrated
knowledge and interest in the topic, including the chair of the Committee on
Relations with Information Vendors (CRIV), to participate. We recognize that
this is a subject of profound interest to our members and welcome all
comments, both now and in the future.
Frank G. Houdek, President
American Association of Law Libraries
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 21, 1997
The Honorable Judge Paul L. Friedman
United States District Court for the District of Columbia
U.S. Courthouse
3rd & Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20001
SUBJECT: Proposed Merger of West Publishing with Thomson Corporation
Dear Judge Friedman:
I am writing today on behalf of the American Association of Law Libraries
(AALL) to request a thirty day extension of time for comment in the final
disposition of the settlement in the matter of the merger of West Publishing
Company with the Thomson Corporation.
The American Association of Law Libraries is a nonprofit educational
organization headquartered in Chicago with nearly 5,000 members nationwide.
Our members build legal and law-related collections in over 1,900 libraries,
and they respond to the legal and governmental information needs of
attorneys and law students, judges and legislators, and the general public.
We are probably the largest single identifiable consumer group for the
products of the legal publishing industry.
The American Association of Law Libraries has viewed with great concern the
merger of the two largest publishers of print legal materials in America
today. As our immediate past-President Patrick E. Kehoe said when the
merger was first announced: "the merger of Thomson and West will change
legal publishing forever." As a result of those concerns, while we did not
oppose the merger outright, we did file comments with Anne K. Bingaman,
Assistant Attorney General of the United States, in March 1996, and with
Craig Conrath, Chief of the Merger Task Force, in July 1996. Copies of
those filings are attached for your information. Our original position of
neutrality on the issue reflected the fact that we saw no real alternative
to Thomson as the purchaser, and we know Thomson to be a dedicated legal
publisher. Nonetheless, we have always been concerned about the potential
impact of the consolidation of substantial parts of the legal publishing
industry under one owner. Many members of our Association continue to
believe that the proposed settlement is not adequate to ensure a healthy
competitive environment in the legal information marketplace.
AALL only recently became aware that there might be another opportunity to
comment on the proposed settlement. It was reported on an electronic
discussion group for law librarians that the Court had some concerns about
the proposed divestiture of the package of print products to LEXIS and the
subsequent decision by LEXIS that it will no longer oppose the merger. It
was further reported that the Court was concerned that there was no one left
to represent the public interest and that it had invited comments to be
submitted to the Department of Justice. So far as we know, there was no
official notice given of the opportunity to make those additional comments
and, even though AALL had commented previously, we were not separately
notified. As the largest identifiable consumer group for the products of
the companies involved, law librarians are probably in the best position to
inform the Court about the impact of the merger and whether or not the
proposed divestiture of print products and the other aspects of the
settlement are sufficient to protect the competitive environment, or
whether stronger steps -- such as divesting entire companies -- would be
more appropriate.
The American Association of Law Libraries would like an opportunity to
present its views to the Court. The AALL Executive Board is scheduled to
meet on the weekend of March 1, and one of the items on the agenda is the
merger and its impact on law libraries nationwide. If it were acceptable to
the Court, we could be prepared to present our views within a week to ten
days thereafter. Accordingly, we respectfully request a thirty day
extension of the time in which to file comments.
Thank you for considering this request.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Oakley
Frank G. Houdek
Law Library Director & Prof. of Law
Southern Illinois University School of Law
Carbondale, Illinois 62901-6803
(618)453-8788/////FAX (618) 453-8728
e-mail: houdek@siu.edu