The American Lawyer

Name

The American Lawyer

Legal name

ALM Global, LLC

Website

https://americanlawyer.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Industry Media and Market Intelligence

NAICS

Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Legal & Regulatory Publishing (Case Law, Statutes, Treatises) (MPAJACAA)

Keywords

• Legal industry news
• Law firm rankings
• Legal media platform
• Business of law
• Legal technology coverage

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription and Membership Revenue: The American Lawyer generates revenue primarily through digital membership subscriptions and premium content access. The platform offers various subscription tiers including individual user subscriptions with credit card purchase options and membership communities such as Global Leaders in Law and Private Client Global Elite.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The American Lawyer is a legal industry media publication and data platform operating under the Law.com network (owned by ALM Global, LLC). It provides news, editorial analysis, and annual rankings of U.S. and global law firms, complemented by data-driven tools such as Law.com Compass, Law.com Radar, VerdictSearch, and Scholar for litigation tracking, firm benchmarking, and case research.

Product overview

The American Lawyer is a leading legal industry media platform under the Law.com umbrella (operated by ALM Global). It operates as a platform-plus-modules architecture, combining editorial content with data-driven analytical tools. The core offering centers on news, rankings, and industry reports, with flagship products including the Am Law 100, Am Law 200, and A-List rankings that evaluate law firm performance. Supporting tools include Law.com Compass (data exploration), Law.com Radar (litigation alerts), VerdictSearch (case results), and Scholar (research), complemented by subscription tiers (Pro, Mid-Market) and resources like the Legal Dictionary.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Law.com Compass A dynamic data exploration and benchmarking tool that lets users explore and compare data on law firms, companies, individual lawyers, and legal industry trends. Targeted at legal professionals, law firm management, and in-house counsel.
• Law.com Radar Real-time litigation alerting platform providing new state and federal case filings, unlimited complaint access, expert case summaries, and AI-enhanced trend detection. Targeted at litigators and legal researchers.
• VerdictSearch Featured verdicts and case results database providing searchable outcomes for legal professionals researching litigation history and case precedents.
• Law.com Scholar Research and scholarship platform for legal professionals supporting legal scholarship, academic research, and article discovery.
• Am Law 100 Rankings The definitive annual ranking of the 100 largest U.S. law firms measured by revenue and profitability.
• Am Law 200 Rankings Annual ranking of the 200 largest U.S. law firms providing comprehensive benchmarking across the broader Am Law market.
• A-List Annual ranking recognizing the top 20 U.S. law firms based on revenue per lawyer, pro bono work, diversity metrics, female equity partner percentages, and associate satisfaction.
• Global 200 Rankings International ranking of the top 200 global law firms by revenue and headcount.
• NLJ 500 National Law Journal's annual ranking of the 500 largest U.S. law firms.
• Pro Bono Scorecard Annual report tracking and ranking pro bono work performed by major U.S. law firms.
• Legal Dictionary Comprehensive online legal terminology reference tool for legal professionals and the public.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• JD Supra: JD Supra is a legal content publishing platform where attorneys contribute commentary and firms distribute thought leadership. It intersects with American Lawyer's audience but emphasizes user-generated content and email distribution rather than original reporting and rankings.
• Lexology: Lexology is a global legal content network aggregating thought leadership from law firms and in-house counsel. It overlaps with American Lawyer's audience and competes for attention through free daily newsletters, but emphasizes user-generated content over original reporting.
• Above the Law: Above the Law is a legal news and commentary site targeting the same Am Law audience. While it competes primarily on opinion and analysis rather than data products, it represents a free-content alternative that could pressure subscription value propositions.

Broad incumbents

• Reuters Legal (Thomson Reuters): Thomson Reuters provides comprehensive legal information services through Westlaw and other products, serving the same law firm and corporate counsel audience. While broader in scope (primary law, practice tools), its news and analysis offerings directly overlap with American Lawyer's editorial coverage.
• Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory: Wolters Kluwer offers legal and regulatory information products including legal news, compliance solutions, and practice tools. As a global incumbent in legal publishing, it competes for corporate legal department spend that could otherwise flow to American Lawyer subscriptions.

Others

• LawSites Blog / Bob Ambrogi: LawSites covers legal technology and innovation news, targeting a subset of American Lawyer's legal technology audience. It represents adjacent coverage rather than direct competition but reflects the broader proliferation of free legal media.

Direct peers

• Law360: Law360 is a direct competitor delivering daily legal industry news and analysis to law firms and corporate counsel via subscription. It targets the same B2B audience as The American Lawyer with comparable subscription pricing and beats it on real-time news velocity.
• National Law Journal: National Law Journal is a sister publication under the ALM Global/Law.com umbrella. While both are within ALM, NLJ targets national law firm coverage and overlaps directly with American Lawyer's audience; internal cannibalization is a relevant competitive dynamic.
• ABA Journal: ABA Journal is the flagship publication of the American Bar Association, covering the legal profession with news, analysis, and trend reporting. It targets a slightly broader audience than American Lawyer but overlaps on national legal industry coverage.
• Bloomberg Law: Bloomberg Law combines legal news with integrated primary law, dockets, and analytics, serving large law firms and corporate legal departments. It directly overlaps with American Lawyer's news and Compass/Radar data products while competing on integrated workflow.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AmericanLawyer
• Facebookfacebook.com/theamericanlawyerALM

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The American Lawyer