Contact: David Carew
(615) 661-0249
ext. 8077
dcarew@mleesmith.com

‘Alabama Law Weekly’ Purchased by Tennessee-based
M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC

New Publisher Says Ownership Change To Be ‘Virtually Seamless,’
With Enhancements to Follow

BRENTWOOD, TN, August 30, 1999—Alabama Law Weekly, the newsletter that keeps hundreds of Alabama attorneys up-to-date on new court decisions affecting their cases, has been purchased from Huntsville, Alabama-based Dyall Publishing Company, Inc. by M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC of Brentwood, Tennessee.

The first issue of Alabama Law Weekly: A Weekly Summary of Alabama Legal Developments published by M. Lee Smith Publishers will appear in September 1999. A full-year’s introductory subscription (52 weekly issues) will be priced at $265 for law firms and $235 for sole practitioners.

Founded in 1975 by Tennessee attorney M. Lee Smith, M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC today is one of America’s most widely-respected sources of information products and services for attorneys, human resources professionals, and business executives. The company publishes Alabama Employment Law Letter, along with 49 other state-specific employment law newsletters, plus numerous other newsletters, guidebooks, videos, software, and electronic-research services.

Alabama Law Weekly was modeled on Tennessee Attorneys Memo, the first newsletter ever published by M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC, which is still the company’s flagship newsletter after 24 years of publication.

"For that reason and others, we believe the ownership change will be virtually seamless" Smith said. "Highly respected Huntsville attorney Joan-Marie Kettell will continue to serve as editor. And the editorial focus will remain the same, with the newsletter

continuing to provide time-saving summaries of all decisions from Alabama appellate courts, along with decisions rendered by the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals that pertain to Alabama law.

"As publishers, we will now assume all administrative, printing, and mailing functions for Alabama Law Weekly," Smith said. "We’ll also offer customers a fully-staffed customer service center available via toll-free hotlines."

Smith noted, however, that specific changes—such as re-design of the masthead—already have been made, and others will be forthcoming.

"To offer the readership even greater value, we’ll be enhancing and expanding Alabama Law Weekly in the weeks ahead," Smith said. "In this way, we’ll insure that the newsletter never fails in its central mission—to deliver the time-saving, authoritative, on-point information Alabama attorneys need to be most efficient and effective."

About the Editor

Joan-Marie Kettell has served as editor of Alabama Law Weekly since August 1997. A 1988 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law, she was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1989. She practiced insurance defense litigation with Lanier, Ford, Shaver and Payne in Huntsville, Alabama for three years, after which she practiced commercial law and general litigation with Wolfe, Jones and Boswell in Huntsville for an additional three years. In 1996, she opened her own practice, specializing in family law.