FindLaw Helps Consumers Navigate the Financial Crisis: From Wall Street to Main Street

Leader in Free Legal Information Delivers Expert Analysis and Crucial Resources for Today's Credit Crunch

EAGAN, Minn., Nov. 24, 2008 FindLaw, the most-visited legal Web site, www.findlaw.com, launched Financial Crisis: From Wall Street to Main Street, a special edition on its free legal information site dedicated to delivering legal information, news and commentary for anyone affected by today's credit crunch. Features and resources offer information on today's credit crunch and foreclosures and what consumers need to know to protect themselves legally. The Financial Crisis page, found at http://www.findlaw.com/financial-crisis.html, also provides the expert commentary and analysis FindLaw is known for and aggregates key articles from leading news publications, legal experts and pundits with a focus on the credit crisis and how it relates to the law.

According to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings spiked in October, with consumers filing some 106,266 bankruptcies. As home values sink and individual debts balloon, individual filings have exceeded 100,000 in a month for the first time since the U.S. Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act took effect. To help consumers avoid bankruptcy or manage a better result if it is unavoidable, the FindLaw portal provides imperative information for consumers on everything from tips to avoid foreclosure, introduction to the law of home ownership, bankruptcy law, strategies for rebuilding credit, and home equity do's and don'ts.

"The FindLaw credit crisis special edition was created as a unique online destination where consumers can learn about the current economy from a legal perspective," said Steve Noel, vice president for FindLaw.com. "With changes happening so quickly, it's a challenge to keep up and understand what they mean. Our goal is to empower people with information they can use to understand what is going on and what they can do to help and protect themselves".

The special section provides authoritative legal news and information specifically as it pertains to the financial world, including primary resources such as:

• Extensive specialized consumer information section, including:
• How To Reduce Your Mortgage Obligations
• When Debt Collectors Cross the Line
• Getting Your Retirement Money Early – Without Penalty
• Strategies for Rebuilding Your Credit
• Legal commentary on issues surrounding the financial crisis from FindLaw legal specialists, including FindLaw columnist and former federal prosecutor Edward Lazarus; Marci Hamilton, Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; author of Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children, Sherry F. Colb, Professor of Law and Charles Evans Hughes Scholar at Cornell Law School; and Vikram David Amar, professor of law at the University of California, Davis School of Law and co-author of a major constitutional law casebook.
• Latest topical market and business news from Reuters.
• Access to breaking legal documents as they pertain to the economy, such as Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, SEC Order Halting Short Selling in Financial Stocks, and Application for Ch. 11 Bankruptcy Protection by Lehman Bros. Holdings, Inc.
• FindLaw Poll of the Week, such as "Do you think the government's $700 billion bailout will help the economy?"
• Agency Profiles, FindLaw's look at the agencies overseeing the current financial crisis, including the Federal Reserve, Department of the Treasury and Securities Exchange Committee.

The FindLaw Financial Crisis: From Wall Street to Main Street is now available on http://www.findlaw.com/financial-crisis.html.

FindLaw, part of Thomson Reuters, is a leading provider of free intelligent legal information, online marketing and client development services providing the legal industry and consumers with the knowledge to act. The FindLaw team of designers and engineers create results-oriented Web sites for individual attorneys and law firms. FindLaw Web sites are strategically designed to attract and retain clients, as well as support lead generation by leveraging dynamic content and industry leading marketing tools. Attorneys can also be prominently listed on www.FindLaw.com, home to the largest online directory of lawyers that assists consumers in finding an attorney by practice area. FindLaw.com is the most popular legal Web site with nearly four million consumers visiting each month for free information about a legal topic, to solve a legal problem, or to find a lawyer.

Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minn., Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Toronto Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.