Ye Olde Law Publishing

I find it at the same time strange and reassuring that, looking primarily at law publishing within the jurisdictions which make up the British Isles, I seem to note the extent to which law book and periodical publishing, linked to electronic delivery and integration with electronic tools, appears to be still thriving, or certainly surviving. It is understandable that the smaller law and related professional and academic publishers are primarily engaged in producing traditional publications, but the surprise is at the top end, notably from Thomson Reuters and Lexis Nexis, which are the main objects of these present observations.

Access to Thomson Reuters’ electronic content, solutions and tools are delivered through a handful of connected web sites, but standing slightly apart from them, are those focused on Sweet and Maxwell, for the UK generally and transnationally; for Scotland, it is W. Green and for Ireland, Round Hall Press. Through these sites, the deep legitimacy of and history behind the products and services on offer are highlighted, reinforcing the ties of trust and reliance by the professions in question and relating to legal academic learning and professional training. In many ways, the presentation of these portfolios does not look as if it has changed dramatically, despite the evolution of markets and technology.

A search on the Sweet and Maxwell web site unashamedly reveals its opening message as “Law books and more for the UK and Ireland…… Celebrating 225 years of legal publishing excellence”, and the trend continues throughout. At W. Green, the message is “W. Green provides an unparalleled range of legal content and solutions in multiple formats…… Our products from Scotland’s leading legal publisher are trusted and relied upon across the country, built on a history of excellence and innovation that spans over 150 years. At Round Hall, it is “Round Hall, a Thomson Reuters business…… Providing the Irish legal profession and law students with an unparalleled range of legal texts and resources”. All three publishing houses put emphasis on their renowned ranges of books, periodicals and looseleaf services, many, but not all of which are also delivered in electronic media. There is little to terrify a conservative and cautious market of barristers here.

Lexis Nexis is not significantly dissimilar to Thomson Reuters, with visible prominence being given to its legacy publishing brands, including Butterworths, Tolley and Jordan Publishing. Its web site employs less traditional publishing-related language, focusing more on interactive media and integrated solutions, but there is no doubt that it is a prolific publisher of legal and tax books, periodicals and looseleaf services.

From both publishers, what is also surprising is the still high number of books being published every year, not just new editions of established titles, as one might expect, but also of new and innovative titles; profitable content creation, of necessity and in response to customer demands, goes on.

Lexis Nexis, if its web site is correct, would appear to show a commitment to around 70 books in 2026, to enhance its existing portfolio of around 500 titles. As for Sweet and Maxwell and its sister brands, its claim is that “Combined, we are one of the largest legal book, loose-leaf and periodical publishers in Europe, working with world-renowned authors to publish hundreds of titles across all areas of law, some in partnership with professional organisations”. They report publishing over 200 new books and new editions per year and, even still, maintaining around 100 looseleaf services.

I have the impression, looking from a great distance and with no claim to detailed knowledge, that, by contrast, Thomson Reuters has been more inclined to suppress the Carswell and Canada Law Book brands in Canada, even though the web site claim is that “More than 1400 legal print and online law resources are featured in the Carswell and Canada Law Book law collection.” Whereas the historic brand names have a small degree of visibility behind Westlaw Canada, at Lexis Nexis, the Butterworths name has mainly disappeared in favour of Lexis Nexis Canada. Nevertheless, it too maintains a formidable law book backlist and an extensive programme of new book publishing for the future.

I also find it interesting to see the two publishers, both in the British Isles and in Canada, actively soliciting, via their web sites, for new books and ideas, and detail guidance and support is offered for prospective and current authors and editors. All this indicates a positive and active, rather than passive approach to what can still be a profitable source of revenues.

It seems to me, and I am content to be persuaded otherwise, that if the two international market leaders remain active in modern law publishing, the smaller competitors and the relevant university presses are, for the most part, still steeped in it, and that, even in overall decline, it has life left in it. Especially in those jurisdictions about which I am more comfortable about expressing opinions, perhaps a key factor is the particular structures, rules and traditions for professional legal practice. This might also be the case for some civil law jurisdictions, for different reasons, but with similar consequences, reflecting the differing training, roles and functions of notaries and advocates. Globally and generally, I am happy to rely on House of Butter’s Sean Hocking, in his analysis of current state of play’. His Crawling the planet indexing everything – Legal Data Hunter makes for both entertaining and insightful analysis of these and adjacent matters, with almost every word making sense, at least, to me. If it is the case that artificial intelligence will soon have the lawyers spending all their time playing golf, sailing their yachts or overseeing the work of their gardeners, added-value law publications might not have much of a place, but I consider it foolish to predict or demand the next big thing, with a pretence of certainty as to time frames and functionality. This might be suggested by the fact that we still have vinyl records and compact discs, internal combustion-engine motor vehicles and, indeed, books and periodicals in general. As an example, I was pleased but astonished to read that, in 2026, the unsettled, troubled and fractured country of my own birth was selected as the European base for a new international arbitration hub aimed at resolving commercial disputes between US and European companies. Lesson learned, that, occasionally, mercifully, things do not always work out in predictable ways and, without making a judgment in one direction or another, I would suggest that there is sometimes a great difference between reality and corporate hyperbole. Maybe unpredictability will eventually triumph in the tediously long-running Thomson Reuters v. ROSS saga too, but not for now, it would seem.