Thomson Reuters Closes Banks-Baldwin Cleveland Suburb Office

The Banks-Baldwin Law Publishing Co. was the oldest law publishing house in the U.S. It was established as Gould & Banks in New York in 1804 to publish law books that would be less expensive that those imported from England. William E. Baldwin, who founded the Cleveland-based Baldwin Law Publishing Co. in 1919, acquired the Banks Company in 1926. In 1933 he merged both companies to form Banks-Baldwin Law Publishing Co., with corporate offices in Cleveland. In 1993, Banks-Baldwin was acquired by West Publishing and became part of the West Group when acquired by Thomson.

Before the 1993 acquisition, Banks-Baldwin was slated to move its operations to the Cleveland suburb of Independence, OH in 1995. Cleveland.com is reporting that this last brick-and-mortar remnant of what once was the oldest legal publishing house in the US is now being closed by Thomson Reuters. Work performed by its 132 full-time employees will be shifted to New York, Minnesota, the Philippines and India. The first round of layoffs occurred April 9. Six additional rounds of layoffs will occur between June 18 and December 31.