FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 1997                              (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

              JUDGE APPROVES THOMSON/WEST SETTLEMENT


Larry Fullerton, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Merger
Enforcement in the Antitrust Division, issued the following
statement today after the District Court in Washington, D.C.
approved the Thomson/West settlement:

     "The Department is pleased that the court recognized that it
is in the public interest to approve the settlement of this
merger along the lines agreed to by the parties.  We now expect
quick completion of the 52 product divestitures and other relief
required in the decree, which definitely will help to preserve
competition for consumers of legal information.  

     "I am also very pleased at the unprecedented level of
successful cooperation between the Department and the seven state
attorneys general in investigating this merger and in developing
an appropriate settlement for our joint challenge of it."

     The U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., Judge Paul
Friedman presiding, today approved the final judgment proposed by
the parties in settlement of the $3.4 billion Thomson/West legal
publishing merger announced last June.  

     The court's approval came after a long and detailed review
process in which the judge carefully considered comments and
arguments from all interested persons on the many issues touched
on by the proposed decree.  

     After requiring only a few minor changes and clarifications
to which Thomson, West, the Department of Justice, and seven
state attorney general plaintiffs all agreed, the proposed decree
was determined to be in the public interest.

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97-101