American Lawyer Media launches new quarterly mag & conference series.

American Lawyer Media (ALM; New York), the publisher of 27 national and regional legal magazines and newspapers, will begin the publication of Small Firm Business, a new quarterly magazine, with a Spring issue.

The four-color magazine will be distributed on a controlled basis to 70,000 professionals at U.S. law firms and law offices with 40 or fewer lawyers. It will focus on management, financial and operational issues faced by small firms and will include news and advice from industry experts and practitioners on running a smaller law firm, including real estate, finance, technology, marketing, accounting/billing, risk management, client development, human resources, legal research and disaster preparation. It will also include case studies of successful firms and their operations.

ALM group publisher Kevin Vermeulen noted that smaller firms "face unique issues in managing and growing their practices and bottom lines. Now, for the first time, there will be a publication devoted exclusively to addressing the needs of this growing sector of the legal economy."

In related news, ALM and legal consultIng firm Zeughauser Group (San Francisco, CA) have entered into an agreement to produce a series of legal marketing and management conferences for leaders of the nation's largest law firms. The first event, "Inspiring Market-Leading Practice Groups," will be held June 8-9 in New York. A second conference for chairs and managing partners will be held in late 2004 and a third conference for law firm chief marketing officers will be launched sometime in 2005.