Starting in 2016 LexisNexis will manage all ALM print and digital news contracts and provide customer support for the 200 largest law firms in the US. This means that the firm’s LexisNexis Account Manager will now be responsible for negotiating ALM contracts. The accounts that are being transitioned on January 1 will be the accounts that are managed by LN for the period of the contract—5 years.
This is not the first time that Lexis has become the sole source for a third party publishers content. Back in 2005 LexisNexis entered into an agreement with Dow Jones which gave Lexis exclusive control over the legal market customers. Law firms can no longer purchase corporate contracts for the Wall Street Journal or Factiva fron Dow Jones. That agreenent applies to all law firms. The ALM – Lexis agreement only applies to AmLaw200 firms – which I assume will present special challenges since law firms periodically rotate on and off the AmLaw200 list.
The Benefits
The letter to subscribers highlights how the new arrangement will benefit AmLaw 200 subscribers: : One account, one password, one invoice.”
- Single sign on. One password will provide access to Lexis and ALM.
- ALM charges will now appear as a line item on the firm’s Lexis bill.
In a phone call today, Molly Miller, ALM’s CMO and Chief Content Officer indicated that large firm customers will benefit from the new arrangement because Lexis has a much larger sales and support staff than ALM, which has only 5 support staff for the large firm market.
What about changes to the AmLaw200 List?
If firms fall out of the AmLaw 200, they won’t fall out of the group of accounts. IF new firms enter the AmLaw200, they won’t be added.
What ALM Content Will Not Be Managed by Lexis?
As far as I can tell, ALM Legal Intelligence Products and Law Journal Press publications will not be managed by the Lexis reps and ALM staff will continue to manage these subscriptions.
Will this impact access to ALM content on Lexis?
If the ALM archive is excluded from a firms existing contract, there will be no impact. ALM content will be charged at premium rates. The problem I see with this situation is that the archive also includes current ALM stories — which can be searched for free on the ALM platform under the firms ALM contract.
How Does ALM Benefit From This Arrangement?
ALM’s Miller outlined the benefits as follows: Since we have 5 reps and LexisNexis has 50, not only will our top accounts get a higher level of service, we will be able to provide 10x coverage to drive site licenses—we’ll have more newsletters going out, more traffic to our sites, more app downloads etc. In terms of a better customer experience, we will be able to address the #1 complaint from top accounts—the archive—since we are building the capability for AmLaw200 to pass directly through to the pre-6 month content.
__________________________________________
Here is the letter which ALM sent to AmLaw 200 firm subscribers:
November 9, 2015
Dear ,
I am writing to tell you about some exciting developments in the way that ALM will be working with you and your firm starting January 1, 2016. We have extended our agreement with LexisNexis to provide exclusive access to ALM content—but we have taken it a step further. Starting next year, you will have one point of contact for your LexisNexis and ALM content—your LexisNexis account manager.
We know how important it is to simplify your management of the many offerings you provide your firm—and we are excited to share how this partnership supports that very important goal.
One major benefit is the ability to provide a single sign-on so that your partners and associates will only have to enter one ID and password to access both LN and ALM content. This integration will streamline the entire news to research experience providing direct-access to our archives and improved interlinking between information platforms.
And there is more. Because of this deeper integration, your ALM billing will be included in your LN invoice—no more additional invoices to track. We know from our many conversations how important this is to you.
One account manager, one password, one invoice. We hope that this makes your life easier and that you are in an even better position to support your firm and their daily consumption of news and information from ALM.
We will be sure to provide updates in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I’d like to set up time to answer any questions you have about these changes. Please email me at jsilveira@alm.com to schedule a call. Also, your LexisNexis Client Manager will be in touch with you shortly to prepare for the January 1 transition.
Sincerely,
Jessica Silveira
Director, Sales Circulation and Subscription
ALM
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271