U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers to Rank Law Firms

-Venture to include America's Best Law Firms and Best Law Firms to Work For-

WASHINGTON, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. News Media Group, the nation's leading
source of rankings and service journalism, and Best Lawyers, the leading
survey of lawyers worldwide, today announced the expansion of the U.S. News
signature "America's Best" series to include rankings of law firms. The
venture will kick off with an announcement sent to more than 35,000 lawyers
across the United States, followed by a detailed survey that will be conducted
this fall.

The U.S. News/Best Lawyers Law Firm rankings will evaluate more than 3,000 law
firms across the United States using a wide range of objective data as well as
individual assessments from more than 40,000 private practice lawyers, 20,000
clients, and thousands of law firm employees. The results of this evaluation,
as well as articles about legal careers and the law, will be featured in a
variety of print and online products focused on both consumers and legal
professionals.

"U.S. News has more than two decades of experience in providing the public
with the most accurate and in-depth rankings of a wide range of institutions,
including our America's Best Law Schools rankings," said Tim Smart, Executive
Editor of U.S. News & World Report. "This experience, coupled with our growing
reputation as a leading career information resource, makes these law firm
rankings a logical next step."

The law firm rankings will be featured on USNews.com. Starting this fall, the
site will also host Best Lawyers' search engine, which contains profiles of
51,315 individual lawyers worldwide, covering 78 legal specialties and based
on more than 4.2 million evaluations of leading lawyers by their peers at the
top of the legal profession.

"U.S. News is the world's leading publisher of institutional rankings based on
both objective data and peer evaluations," said Steven Naifeh, President of
Best Lawyers. "We look forward to combining this expertise with Best Lawyers'
experience of providing rankings of individual lawyers based on peer reviews
for more than a quarter of a century. By combining hard data with peer
reviews, and client assessments, we can provide users with the most thorough,
accurate, and helpful rankings of law firms, both as providers of legal
services and as places to work."

About the U.S. News Media Group
The U.S. News Media Group is a multi-platform digital publisher of news and
analysis, which includes the monthly U.S. News & World Report magazine, the
digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, www.usnews.com, and
www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Money & Business, Education,
and Public Service/Opinion, the U.S. News Media Group has earned a reputation
as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the
quality of life of its readers. The U.S. News Media Group's signature
franchises include its News You Can Use(R) brand of journalism and its
"America's Best" series of consumer guides that include rankings of colleges,
graduate schools, hospitals, health plans, and more.

About Best Lawyers:
Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the
legal profession. For a quarter century, the company has helped lawyers and
clients find legal counsel in distant jurisdictions or unfamiliar specialties.
The upcoming (2010) edition of The Best Lawyers in America includes 40,267
lawyers covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia and is based on
more than 2.8 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers. At
www.BestLawyers.com, Best Lawyers also publishes peer-reviewed listings of
lawyers in most of the world's major legal markets. Best Lawyers(R) lists are
excerpted in a wide range of general interest, business and legal publications
worldwide, reaching an audience of more than 17 million readers.

SOURCE US News & World Report

Liz Putze of U.S. News & World Report, +1-202-955-2136, or Carl Dawson of Best
Lawyers, +1-803-644-1676