LexisNexis Butterworths Canada in Negotiations to Acquire Quicklaw
Combined Company Would Offer Powerful Range of Legal and Business Research Services in Canada

KINGSTON AND MARKHAM, ONTARIO, Canada, May 27, 2002 - Quicklaw Inc., Canada’s leading online legal information service, and legal publisher LexisNexis Butterworths Canada said today they are in final negotiations for Quicklaw to be acquired by LexisNexis Butterworths. The agreement would bring together Canada’s market-leading online legal research service and one of the country’s most respected legal and business information publishers.

The companies expect the deal to be finalized in the very near future. The new consolidated company will have headquarters in Kingston, Ontario (visit www.lexisnexis.com/lnquicklaw for updated information). Professor Hugh Lawford, the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Quicklaw, will become CEO of the new organization. Quicklaw co-founder Dick von Briesen will become Executive Vice President.

“Quicklaw decided that LexisNexis is the best partner to help ensure Quicklaw continues providing legal researchers in Canada with the most comprehensive, current and technologically advanced services possible,” said Lawford, in explaining his decision to seek a buyer for the company he and von Briesen started in 1973. “The combined resources of Quicklaw Inc. and LexisNexis Butterworths Canada will ensure that Canadians continue to receive the best, most affordable online products, and benefit by speedy development of new print and online products and desktop tools.”

“As Quicklaw and LexisNexis Butterworths join forces, we have the unique opportunity to provide unmatched legal research services to our current and future customers. That’s right on target with the LexisNexis Group vision to be the global information partner to legal and professional customers,” said Lou Andreozzi, Chief Executive Officer of North American Legal Markets of LexisNexis. “I enthusiastically support Professor Lawford’s vision to help Quicklaw fulfill its destiny as Canada’s premiere online legal research service.”

The combined company will market a growing array of online products and services under the Quicklaw brand name and leading secondary legal information print products under the LexisNexis Butterworths name. The Quicklaw service provides Canada’s largest single source of full-text Canadian court, board, and tribunal decisions, and the largest collection of Canadian caselaw summaries.

LexisNexis Butterworths serves the Canadian legal, accountancy and other professions by publishing timely and accurate legal information in a variety of formats, including textbooks, journals, newsletters, looseleaf services, law reports, newspapers and CD-ROMs. The combined company’s offerings will also include LexisNexis’ leading online and print products from the U.S. and around the world.

“Quicklaw is the undisputed leader in providing online legal research services to the Canadian legal market,” Andreozzi said. “Combining this strength with LexisNexis Butterworths’ excellent print publications will be a major step forward in meeting our customers’ needs for superior products, technology and services.”

“We will continue to communicate regularly with customers and employees as more details become available. We anticipate little or no disruption in how customers will perceive our products, services or processes as the merger proceeds,” said Lawford.

The combined company will be part of LexisNexis North American Legal Markets, reporting to Andreozzi. North American Legal Markets is part of LexisNexis Group, the leading global legal information and publishing arm of Reed Elsevier plc with 2001 revenues of $1.9 billion U.S.

Quicklaw has offices in 10 Canadian cities and approximately 200 employees. Both Lawford and von Briesen were members of the law faculty of Queen’s University at the time they founded the company, and Lawford became Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in 1999 from Queen’s.

LexisNexis Butterworths, headquartered in Markham, is a member of LexisNexis North American Legal Markets. It employs about 125 employees.

About Quicklaw Inc.

Quicklaw Inc. (www.Quicklaw.com) provides Canada’s largest single source of full-text Canadian court, board and tribunal decisions, and the largest collection of Canadian caselaw summaries. QUICKCITE™, Canada’s most current and accurate case citator, contains parallel citations, case histories, citing cases and judicial treatments for nearly half a million unique cases.

Quicklaw is Canada’s largest online legal publisher, providing 2,500 databases of statutory materials, caselaw, current awareness NetLetters™ and legal commentary. Quicklaw offers access to collections from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the European Union, Australia, Africa, Malaysia and the Caribbean.

About LexisNexis Butterworths Canada

LexisNexis Butterworths Canada serves the legal, accountancy and allied professions by publishing timely and accurate legal information in a variety of formats, including textbooks, journals, newsletters, loose-leaf services, law reports, newspapers, CD-ROMs and online services.  The publication of 135 subscription products keeps customers up-to-date with relevant changes in the law.

LexisNexis Butterworths Canada publishes a number of law report series. The Ontario Reports, one of the most widely utilized report series in Canada, is published weekly by agreement with The Law Society of Upper Canada.

Its electronic products publishing program includes CD-ROM titles and the LexisNexis Canada online services, while the Newspaper Division publishes two newspapers: The Lawyers Weekly for the legal market and The Bottom Line for accounting and financial professionals.

About LexisNexis

LexisNexis™ is the global leader in comprehensive and authoritative legal, news and business information and tailored applications. Its online services combine searchable access to over three billion documents from thousands of sources. A member of Reed Elsevier Group plc [NYSE:  ENL; NYSE:  RUK], LexisNexis is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, USA, and does business in 100 countries with 12,000 employees worldwide.

The company offers an extensive range of online and print legal and regulatory information products, tools, customized web applications and critical filing services that help legal professionals reach confident decisions and comply with the law. In addition to LexisNexis Butterworths, LexisNexis includes some of the world’s most respected legal publishers such as Martindale-Hubbell, Matthew Bender, Butterworths, Les Éditions du Juris-Classeur, Abeledo-Perrot and Orac. For more information on products or services, please visit www.lexisnexis.com.

About Reed Elsevier

Reed Elsevier Group plc is a world-leading publisher and information provider.  It is owned equally by its two parent companies, Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV.  The parent companies are listed on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges, under the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RUK and ENL.  In 2001, Reed Elsevier made adjusted profit before taxation of £848 million ($1.2 billion U.S.) on turnover of £4,560 million ($6.5 billion U.S.).  The group employs 37,000 people, including approximately 22,000 in North America. Operating in the scientific, legal, educational and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high value and flexible information solutions to professional end users, with increasing emphasis on Internet delivery.  For further information, please visit the company Website at www.reedelsevier.com.