Martindale-Hubbell is an information services company to the legal profession[2] that was founded in 1868. The company publishes the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, which provides background information on lawyers[3] and law firms in the United States and other countries. It also published the Martindale Hubbell Law Digest, a summary of laws around the world. Martindale-Hubbell is owned by consumer website company Internet Brands.[1]

Martindale-Hubbell
Parent companyInternet Brands[1]
Founded1868
FounderJames B. Martindale
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters locationNew Providence, New Jersey
Nonfiction topicslaw
Official websitewww.martindale.com

History

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19th century

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Volumes of the 2004 edition of Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory on the shelf in the reference section of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in San Jose, California

Martindale's Directory was first published in 1868 by James B. Martindale, a lawyer and business person.[4] He wrote in the preface:

The object of the work is to furnish to Lawyers, Bankers, Wholesale Merchants, Manufacturers, Real Estate Agents, and all others who may have need of business correspondents away from home, the address of one reliable law firm, one reliable bank, and one reliable real estate agent in each city and town in the United States; also to give the laws of the several States on subjects of a commercial character that are of interest or importance to business men, or have a bearing on mercantile transactions and the collection of debts....[5][6]

The first edition of Hubbell's Legal Directory was published in 1870. By 1896, Martindale's Directory included basic information that still appears in today's Martindale-Hubbell Directory. This edition introduced law digests for all the states and provinces.[4][7] The same year, the 26th edition of the Hubbell's Legal Directory was published.[8]

 
The volumes of the 2003 edition of the Martindale Hubbell International Law Directory and International Law Digest above the volumes of the de: International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law on the shelves in the reference section of the National Library "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" in Sofia, Bulgaria
 
2007 Edition of LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Law Digest on CD-ROM

20th century

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By combining the Martindale's Directory and Hubbell's Legal Directory, the first edition of the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory was published in 1931 as a two-volume set.[9]

In 1951, a digest was added for Israel. Meanwhile, internal conditions as well as difficulties of communication with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania had made it necessary to withdraw publication of law digests for these countries. These law digests were revised and again published in the 1990s. Throughout the years Martindale Hubbell Law Digest, which was revised and published annually, has been considered as an incomplete encyclopaedia of comparative law in English.[10][11][12]

In 1990, Martindale-Hubbell was purchased by Reed International P.L.C.[13][14] Reed Elsevier came into being in 1992, following the merger of Reed International, a British trade book and magazine publisher, and Elsevier, the Netherlands-based scientific publisher.[15]

21st century

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Their directory went online in 2004, "free to legal professionals."[16] In 2007, the LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell[17] Law Digest became available only via CD-ROM and subscription on-line. In 2009, all the 150 Law Digests could be consulted free of charge on martindale.com.[18] In October 2013, Reed Elsevier entered into a joint venture with Internet Brands, LLC.[19] In March 2014, the joint venture was completed resulting in the combination of Martindale-Hubbell, Lawyers.com, and Internet Brand's Nolo legal division. The joint venture operates under the name of Martindale-Hubbell.[1]

Products and services

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  • Lawyers.com and martindale.com began offering free, online legal assistance to the public in June 1998, and has more than one million lawyers and law firms worldwide in its database.[20][21][22] The site contains a database of lawyers in the United States and allows users to search for lawyers using factors like geography, specialty, language and law school.[21] Lawyers in the database are assigned an ISLN (International Standard Lawyer Number).
 
2010 Edition of Martindale Hubbell Law Digest ON CD-ROM. This was the last published edition of the Law Digest.
  • The Law Blog includes posts from lawyers on issues, trends and news in the legal profession such as immigration, personal injury, estate planning, etc. In November 2011 the Lawyers.com blog launched a New Jury Roundup weekly news feature entitled, "Editor's Choice: Jury Awards Edition." The news feature reports on large jury awards won by individuals in recent personal injury cases.[23]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Internet Brands® and LexisNexis Announce Completion of Joint Venture Combining Professional and Consumer Legal Brands" (PDF) (Press release). Internet Brands. 2014-03-03. Retrieved 2015-02-27.
  2. ^ Artley, Meredith (2004-10-23). "Finding legal information online". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-11-21.
  3. ^ "Why Judges Tilt to the Right". The New York Times. January 31, 2015. Of the 975,000 lawyers listed in 2012 in the Martindale-Hubbell legal directory,
  4. ^ a b "About Martindale-Hubbell". Martindale.com. n.d. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  5. ^ Martindale, James B. (1874). Martindale's United States Law Directory for 1874: Containing the Names of One or More of the Most Reliable Law Firms, Banks, and Real Estate Agents in Each of the Principal Cities and Towns of the United States and Canada. Indianapolis, Indiana: J.B. Martindale & Co. p. iii.
  6. ^ The National Legal Directory. St. Louis, Mo.: Hubbell & Craven. 1870.
  7. ^ Martindale, James B. (1896). Martindale's American Law Directory (Annual) 1896 (28th ed.). Chicago: J.B.Martindale. p. 4.
  8. ^ Hubbell, J.H. (1896). Hubbell's Legal Directory for Lawyers and Business Men. New York: The Hubbell Publishing Company. p. 5.
  9. ^ The Martindale-Hubbbell Law Directory (Annual) (63rd ed.). New York: Martindale Hubbell Law Directory Inc. 1931.
  10. ^ David, Rene; Brieley, John E.C. (1968). Major Legal Systems in the World Today, An Introduction to the Comparative Study of Law (1 ed.). London: The Free Press, Collier-Macmillan Limited. p. 494.
  11. ^ Stoffel, Walter A. (1987). "National Reports, Switzerland". In Knapp, Viktor (ed.). International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law. Vol. I. Tübingen and Dorderecht, Boston, Lancaster: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck) and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. S-201.
  12. ^ See also, e.g., Rheinstein, Max; Glendon, Mary Ann (2011). "Inheritance". Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Deluxe Edition. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.
  13. ^ Prokesch, Steven (1992-02-09). "Britain's Low-Profile Publishing Giant". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-11-21.
  14. ^ "The Media Business; Martindale Sold to British Publisher". The New York Times. 1989-11-23.
  15. ^ Edward A. Gargan (6 October 1994). "Reed-Elsevier Building Big Presence in the U.S." New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2008.
  16. ^ "Directory of Experts & Services goes online". Advertising Age. December 9, 2004.
  17. ^ "LexisNexis Martindal-Hubbel, Spot Runner form alliance to deliver local TV advertising for law firms". Advertising Age. May 30, 2007.
  18. ^ LexisHub Staff (2009-10-09). "Press Release: Martindale-Hubbell Law Digests Now Available For Your Free Use". LexisNexis.com LexisNexis® Legal Newsroom Lexis Hub. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  19. ^ "LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® and Internet Brands® Announce Joint Venture". relx.com. 2013-08-30. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
  20. ^ Nusbaum, Marci Alboher (2000-05-11). "Untangling the Legal Maze by Surfing the Web". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-11-21.
  21. ^ a b Lee, Jennifer 8. (2001-02-22). "Legal Aid Online; Web's Law Library: A Partial Catalog". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-11-21.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ Sarji, Hani (2012-04-18). "Declining Health Is Scary: Estate And Financial Planning Can Protect You". Forbes. Retrieved 2012-11-21.
  23. ^ "New Jury Verdict Roundup Launched on Lawyers.com Blog". MarketWatch.com. 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2012-11-21.
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