Dear Customers
I am writing to update you on the status of Irwin Law. As you may be aware our parent company, Quicklaw, has entered into an agreement for the sale of Quicklaw to LexisNexis, a US-based subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Reed Elsevier. Under Investment Canada rules respecting “cultural industries” foreign owners are expressly prohibited from acquiring a majority ownership in Canadian book publishing firms. As a result Quicklaw had to divest itself of Irwin Law prior to the sale to Lexis.
I am very pleased to announce that the current management team at Irwin Law has successfully negotiated an agreement to purchase the company from Quicklaw, effective July 15, 2002. We anticipate no interruption in order processing, fulfillment, customer service or in our production schedule as a result of the purchase. For a short period Irwin Law texts that appear on Quicklaw will be unavailable. Because of the change in ownership of both Quicklaw and Irwin Law the databases have to be removed from QL until we have a new licensing agreement between the two companies. I am pleased to inform you that all Irwin Law databases will be back on Quicklaw on Friday, July 19, 2002. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our authors, our customers, and our suppliers for your continued encouragement and support. We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead and we are ever mindful that the quality of our publications and our attentiveness to customer service are the hallmarks of our success to date.
Yours sincerely, Jeffrey Miller, President and Publisher