LexisNexis (www.lexisnexis.com), a leading global provider of content-enabled workflow solutions, announced that the European Company Lawyers Association (ECLA), a confederation of national company lawyers’ associations organised in 22 European countries, has joined the Martindale-Hubbell® Connected Alliance Partner program. ECLA is committed to building recognition of the professional status of company lawyers and legal professional privilege, as well as providing legal education and networking opportunities. To further this mandate, ECLA becomes the third and most recent global legal organisation to join the Martindale-Hubbell Connected Alliance Partner Program. Martindale-Hubbell Connected (www.martindale.com/connected) is the premier global online network for legal professionals.
As an Alliance Partner, ECLA will host a dedicated online community within the network where company lawyers across Europe can connect and where ECLA’s 34,000 plus members will network and collaborate with each other and with the larger legal community. ECLA will be leading discussions within Martindale-Hubbell Connected on the topic of legal privilege, an increasingly important issue for company lawyers in Europe following the Court of First Instance’s ruling in the Akzo Nobel case. ECLA is an intervener in the proceedings in the appeal at the European Court of Justice whose decision is expected in 2010.
A part of LexisNexis®, Martindale-Hubbell Connected is designed specifically for the needs of company lawyers, law firm lawyers and other legal professionals to enable them to connect, network, communicate and collaborate with colleagues internationally in a trusted and authenticated environment. Martindale-Hubbell Connected launched on March 31, 2009 with 3,000 members. The network has since grown to more than 8,000 members spanning more than 110 countries.
The Alliance Partner Program for Martindale-Hubbell Connected offers legal associations and other select non-profit legal organisations secure and dedicated network communities – enabling a quick and easy method for these organisations to greatly expand their members’ networking and collaboration capabilities while also integrating their group within the premier global online network for legal professionals. Other global Alliance Partners include Lex Mundi and TerraLex. U.S.-based Alliance Partners include the Council on Litigation Management, Pro Bono Net, the National Association of Women Lawyers, and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.
“Martindale-Hubbell Connected provides us a platform to reach a broader audience of lawyers who may be interested in matters concerning company lawyers in Europe,” said Han Kooy, President of ECLA. “Our participation in this dynamic online community will help us to promote greater understanding of the issues facing our group today namely, obtaining recognition for company lawyers as professionals in their own right, and recognition of legal professional privilege before the EU institutions and before national institutions, including the national competition authority of each member country.”
“We are honoured that Martindale-Hubbell Connected can play a role in providing access to legal education and networking opportunities for company lawyers in Europe, but also serve as a forum for discussing issues as important and significant as legal privilege,” said Ralph Calistri, senior vice president of Global Client Development at LexisNexis and CEO of Martindale-Hubbell. “Martindale-Hubbell Connected’s global reach and robust legal forums offer users much more than just professional networking.”
About Martindale-Hubbell
Martindale-Hubbell an international law firm directory (www.martindale-hubbell.co.uk) offers members the ability to expand their professional legal network with authenticated contacts, to uncover new relationships and trusted referrals, to share information and insights, and to efficiently collaborate in a virtual community. It also offers access to compelling, user-generated content contributed by peers as well as authoritative content such as statistics, counsel-created research, competitor profiles, marketing trends, ratings and client reviews, and online events and forums.
The launch of this network is part of a broad transformation of Martindale-Hubbell into the preeminent online destination for legal professionals. Other elements of this transformation include an agreement with LinkedIn offering martindale.com users direct access to the LinkedIn network, the integration of Chambers ratings within lawyer and law firm profiles on martindale.com, legal content and more.
About LexisNexis
LexisNexis® ( www.lexisnexis.com ) is a leading global provider of content-enabled workflow solutions designed specifically for professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting and academic markets. LexisNexis originally pioneered online information with its Lexis® and Nexis® services. A member of Reed Elsevier [NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK] ( www.reedelsevier.com ), LexisNexis serves customers in more than 100 countries with 18,000 employees worldwide.
About European Company Lawyers Association
ECLA is a confederation of national company lawyers’ associations organized in European countries, and recognizes that European company lawyers are the key to accessing justice for companies throughout Europe. Since its foundation in 1984, ECLA has gained recognition as the leading European representative body for European company lawyers’ associations and – indirectly – for their individual members. With its unrivalled leadership position, ECLA provides an ideal platform for responding to and influencing the European in-house counsel network and European organizations. For more information, please visit www.ecla.org .
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Media Contacts:
Jacqui Hurd, LexisNexis
+44 207 347 3747 [email protected]
Francesco Benigni, ECLA
+39 340 3700862
[email protected]
lawyer locator service (www.martindale-hubbell.co.uk)
+44 207 347 3700
[email protected]
