M. Lee Smith celebrates 25th anniversary, looks to a future of aggressive vertical growth.

In the late 1960s as a recent graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, M. Lee Smith joined the Washington, D.C. staff of Senator Howard Baker and from there moved on to become the executive assistant to Tennessee Governor Winfield Dunn. In 1975, at the close of Dunn's term of office, Smith parlayed his political experience, a penchant for commentary, and the "little cash" he had on hand into the launch of The Tennesse Journal, a weekly newsletter on that state's politics which is still going strong today at $197/year.

At the same time, Smith began writing a political newspaper column that he finally quit after the 1992 elections. Smith colleague David Carew says, "While many Tennesseans throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s knew Lee Smith's name and face from his syndicated newspaper column and political commentary on Nashville TV news programs, far fewer were aware of the rapidly growing, unique company he was spearheading at the same time."

After the successful launch of The Tennessee Journal, Smith followed with Tennessee Attorneys Memo, a weekly summary of Tennessee appellate court decisions, which remains profitable to this day ($437/year). He was by then seriously bitten by the newsletter bug.

In 1979 he purchased a small printing and mailing shop from two elderly ladies. Not satisfied with printing only his own newsletters, he began to look around for others. In the mid-1980s, one particular client--John Carroll of the Chattanooga-based Tennessee Employment Law Letter--sparked his interest.

Smith not only took over Carroll's printing, mailing, marketing and circulation management but also became determined to repeat the newsletter in other states. To NL/NL, he recalled thinking, "We can do a lot of these newsletters in a lot of states. I went to Atlanta to find a law firm to work with. I got off to a very good start starting a Georgia version and then became very aggressive in finding others in other states."

Smith now publishes a state-specific Employment Law Letter for every state m the Union, as well as a state-specific Environmental Law Letter for twelve states--plus a handful of other newsletters on real estate law, tort law, health law, and law enforcement. Add in a couple of directories, as well as compliance manuals and guidebooks, and M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC now counts more than 125 titles and a readership of more than 54,000 human resources professionals, attorneys, environmental-compliance officers, health care executives, and law enforcement officials.

Smith's production services now print and mail newsletters for publishers "from Manhattan to San Diego," including John Wiley & Sons, Harcourt Brace Professional Publishing, Securities Data Publishing, and Aspen Law & Business.

Smith develops his state-specific newsletters by finding, in each state, a reputable and appropriate law firm to provide the editorial. Asked if he had any "war stories," Smith responded that dealing with 80 different law firms does have its complications ("And there are four or five we wish we had never met"), but "It's been relatively smooth sailing. The law firms like to do the newsletters with us because it becomes a marketing tool for them--it's good exposure.

He says they provide good quality content almost always on time "because it's counterproductive to their own reputations to be either sloppy or late."

Smith's five managing editors receive the copy either by e-mail or by disk and then perform some modest editing, mainly for clarity and grammar, and then return the finished copy to the law firm for final approval.

As far as marketing goes, Smith says, "When we market these newsletters, we stress, for instance, that it's a Texas publication on Texas employment law for Texas companies written by Texas employment law experts."

Unlike most newsletter publishers today, Smith has no trouble getting good mailing lists. Human resources remains a growth industry.

Last year M. Lee Smith Publishers took advantage of the electronic revolution by introducing Employment Law Centers (NL/NL 11/15/99). Upgrading one's subscription to membership in a Law Center gives members access to searchable electronic databases, a large volume of original source material, and all state (not just the member's own) and federal laws and regulations.

The cost, for example, is $137/year to subscribe to Pennsylvania Employment Law Letter and $277/year to be a member of Pennsylvania Employment Law Center. There are a number of other benefits of membership, including access to the other 49 states' Law Letters, quarterly reports, and a monthly two-page summary of one's state employment law trends and developments.

Smith has 40,000 subscribers to the 50 state law newsletters and has converted about one-third (13,000) to memberships.

Since he has saturated all 50 states with his law letters, we asked him what the future might hold. How about expanding the environmental compliance base from 12 to 50 newsletters? He said that field is relatively stagnant right now.

Instead, Smith is expanding vertically: "Our #1 priority is our Human Resources product line, adding other products to the group, offering more electronic options and services. That's where more than 50 percent of our revenue comes from.

"We now have $18 million in annual revenue--$5.5 million from production services and $12.5 from publishing."

Housed in a new, 42,000-square-foot facility in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, and with 140 employees, Lee Smith reveals a disarmingly simple approach to publishing--but one that has done him quite well:

"I view the internet as our greatest threat and our greatest opportunity. We intend to minimize the threat and maximize the opportunity."

Friends in high places

In honor of M. Lee Smith's 25th anniversary year, the Tennessee General Assembly recently adopted a special proclamation honoring M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC.

Smith's employees also are marking this special year for him, initially by honoring him with two big surprises. First, more than 100 of his employees showed up unexpectedly at a recent Vanderbilt University basketball game (where Smith always has a front-row seat) and unfurled a huge banner for him reading "Congratulations M. Lee Smith Publishers--25 Years of Nothin' But Net!"

Then, shortly thereafter--at what Smith believed was to be a standard, company-wide business meeting--he was treated to a surprise audio-video presentation honoring his 25 years in business. Recorded congratulations came from many of his old friends, including former Tennessee governors Lamar Alexander and Winfield Dunn and former U.S. Senator and White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker, among other colleagues.