Thomson Reuters is set to expand the geographic footprint of its legal business in the Middle East with the acquisition of Lexgulf Publishers, a leading provider of English translations of business laws of key Middle East markets.

Lexgulf is a valuable addition to the market leading Westlaw Gulf online research service and The Brief magazine already supplied by Thomson Reuters Legal Mena.

With the rapid development of business legislation in Gulf, both local and international lawyers are keen to access a high quality legal information service to help improve the way they work across these markets, said the leader in source of intelligent information.

This acquisition comes in line with Thomson Reuters’ strategic vision to expand its coverage to the rest of the region and lead the move to advanced information, software and online services for the Middle East legal information industry, said a senior official.

“Westlaw Gulf was launched at the end of last year to meet the demand for an authoritative source of translations for lawyers operating across the Gulf region,” remarked Basil Moftah, the managing director for the Middle East, Africa and Russia.

“This acquisition is an exciting addition to our legal offering in the Middle East, it confirms our commitment to offer customers locally the most comprehensive source of laws covering the region,” he stated.

Currently, Westlaw Gulf provides lawyers with expertly written English translations of the most commercially relevant and widely used laws and cases from the UAE.

Lexgulf has one of the longest established publishing programs in English covering Middle East business law, spanning the past 30 years. The company is recognized for the high quality of its translations.

'With the addition of a substantial body of authoritative translations of laws of Gulf states as a result of this acquisition, Lexgulf will enable Thomson Reuters to expand its legal information services into new jurisdictions in the region including Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman, in addition to the UAE,' said Moftah.

Alastair Graham, the managing director of Lexgulf, said, “We are very pleased to be supplying our high-quality translations alongside Westlaw Gulf. Lexgulf’s subscribers include both national and international law firms in the Gulf, Europe, and the US besides general counsels of major corporations doing business in the Gulf and university law libraries.”-TradeArabia News Service