Bureau of National Affairs

The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) is a leading print and electronic publisher of more than 200 books, journals, and newsletters providing news, analysis, and commentary regarding legal, economic, and regulatory matters. BNA is especially known for its [Page 207]publications on federal and state regulatory activities, corporate law, labor and employment law, tax law, banking, bankruptcy, health care law, and business finance. Due to its long history of reliable publishing of authoritative material in these areas, it is regarded as an original source for researchers, government, and businesses.

Founded in Washington, D.C., in 1929, where it is still based, BNA was incorporated as a wholly employee-owned company in 1946. It reports that it is the oldest organization in the United States to be wholly employee owned. It received the Business Ethics Magazine Employee Ownership Award in 2000, which noted that BNA had continued to maintain employee ownership despite recent offers to purchase the company. All employees can own stock, and no employee owns more than 3% of the stock of BNA. Employees and retirees represent 10 of the 15 positions on the board of directors, with the other 5 positions filled from outside the company. There are no special stock options for senior management. It has also been previously honored by Fortune Magazine as one of America's 100 Best Companies to Work For, which recognized BNA for its family-friendly policies.

The American Bar Association has partnered with BNA to produce various legal reference books and jointly publishes with BNA the Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct. The Society for Human Resource Management has also partnered with BNA to survey trends in human resources.

BNA has acquired other media enterprises and provides a variety of services today, which include document delivery, regulatory monitoring, and custom research for its clients. BNA has become heavily involved in electronic delivery of its services and publications, and select material is available through LexisNexis.