LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Announces Exclusive Marketing Partnership with H&R Block.

Business Editors

NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 2004

LexisNexis(TM) Martindale-Hubbell(R), the leading client development company for the legal profession, today announced that it has entered into a multimedia marketing agreement with H&R Block, the world's largest tax services company, in which Martindale-Hubbell's lawyers.com Web site will be promoted to more than 15 million H&R Block clients through the company's 9,000 tax offices nationwide.

Under the terms of agreement, Martindale-Hubbell will distribute "Getting Started on Your Legal Legwork: The Consumer's Guide to Finding and Hiring Legal Counsel," a handbook available both in print and online at lawyers.com, to H&R Block clients. In addition, the company is sponsoring a link to the lawyers.com Web site -- which features a search engine to its proprietary database of 440,000 lawyers and law firms--from www.refundrewards.com, H&R Block's relationship marketing program. Martindale-Hubbell will also be marketing its lawyers.com database to H&R Block clients through a variety of other online and offline promotions.

"Lawyers.com is searched more than 9 million times each year by consumers and small businesses who are seeking a lawyer for their immediate needs, making it the number-one lawyer directory on the Internet," said Joseph Douress, vice president of business development and marketing at New Providence, N.J.-based LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell. "This agreement with a worldwide leader in tax services will make our database more accessible to consumers and small business owners in need of legal counsel."

According to Douress, links to lawyers.com will be prominently displayed on refundrewards.com from a number of sections on the site, including Retirement, Estate Planning, Career, Financial and House & Home.

"Providing the most credible and accurate information is the way to best serve our clients and Martindale-Hubbell is the world's leading source of attorney biographical information," said Scott Ragan, vice president of marketing for H&R Block. "Partnering with Martindale-Hubbell allows us to continue to deliver on our promise as a trusted advisor to our clients."

About LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell

LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell is the leading client development company for the legal profession and is the number-one resource for information about lawyers and law firms worldwide, consulted daily by lawyers, business executives and consumers. With more than 4 million searches per month, this unrivaled network connects lawyers and law firms with their clients and potential clients, facilitates communication between members of the legal profession, and makes available a wide range of biographical information and professional credentials regarding attorneys in private, corporate and government practice. It is powered by a database of more than 1 million lawyers and law firms around the world.

Martindale-Hubbell is also the leading provider of Web sites for lawyers and has recently announced a number of new products and services to facilitate client development initiatives for lawyers and law firms. These client development vehicles include opportunities to publish articles on the Web and in respected industry newsletters, invitations to speak at highly regarded professional conferences, and new products designed to market law firm practice area and industry groups. LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell is part of the LexisNexis Group, a member of the Reed Elsevier Group plc. For more information, visit www.martindale.com.

About LexisNexis

LexisNexis (www.lexisnexis.com) is a leader in comprehensive and authoritative legal, news and business information and tailored applications. A member of Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE:ENL)(NYSE:RUK) (www.reedelsevier.com), the company does business in 100 countries with 13,000 employees worldwide. In addition to its flagship Web-based research service, LexisNexis, the company includes some of the world's most respected legal publishers such as Martindale-Hubbell, Matthew Bender, Butterworths, Les Editions du Juris-Classeur, Abeledo-Perrot and Orac.

About H&R Block

H&R Block Inc. (www.hrblock.com) is a diversified company with subsidiaries that deliver tax, financial, mortgage and business products and services. It is the only major company with subsidiaries offering a full range of software, online and in-office tax solutions, combined with personalized financial advice about retirement savings, home ownership, and other opportunities to help clients build a better financial future. As the world's largest tax services company, H&R Block served nearly 21 million clients in the U.S. and 11 countries in 2003.