Thomson Reuters, owner of legal magazine Lexpert, has acquired Canada Law Book, the producer of various
legal trade magazines.

Canada Law Book is a division of Cartwright Group Ltd., which also owns publisher CLB Media, D.B. Scott reports. The company will become part of Thompson Reuters legal scholarship division the Carswell group.

Scott writes:

“According to an August 3 blog posting on the legal publishing site SLAW, the merger was more or less dictated by the decline of the core business activities of the major legal publishers in an era when digital delivery is becoming the norm. 

“As for the rumoured acquisition of Canada Law Book by Carswell Thomson, it would spike Carswell Thomson’s revenue in the short term, but add nothing significant to the business in the long term. The product offerings of the two companies are too similar to make a difference.”