ALM (formerly American Lawyer Media) is a media company headquartered in the Socony–Mobil Building in Manhattan, and is a provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal, insurance, and commercial real estate sectors. The company was started in 1979 by Steven Brill to publish The American Lawyer.

Organization

ALM owns and publishes 33 national, regional, and international magazines and newspapers, including Credit Union Times, The American Lawyer, the New York Law Journal, Corporate Counsel, The National Law Journal, The Legal Intelligencer, Legal Times, GlobeSt.com, and Real Estate Forum, as well as the Law.com and Law.com International brands. The company also produces conferences and trade shows for business leaders and the legal profession. Law Journal Press, ALM's professional book imprint, publishes over 130 treatises on a broad range of legal topics. Other ALM businesses include newsletter publishing, court verdict and settlement reporting, production of professional educational seminars, market research, and content distribution.

History

In 1997, Brill sold ALM to Time Warner, mainly for its CourtTV stake. ALM's legal publications were acquired from Time Warner by U.S. Equity Partners, L.P., a private equity fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., L.P., in 1998. Shortly afterward, it acquired National Law Publishing Company (parent of The National Law Journal and New York Law Journal) from Boston Ventures and the legal publications of Legal Communications (including The Legal Intelligencer) from Meridian Venture Partners. In 1999, U.S. Equity bought real estate publisher Schein Publications. In 2007, ALM was purchased by Incisive Media for US$630 million. Two years later, Incisive had to restructure the loan used to purchase ALM, and ALM once again became an independent company, owned by the lenders and Apax Partners. Wasserstein & Co. repurchased ALM in 2014. In 2015, ALM acquired Summit Professional Networks. In January 2016, the company acquired British legal magazine Legal Week.

Publications