after sale of its online company
The Ohio State Bar Association’s OSBANet sold its ownership interest in Ohio Professional Electronic Network (OPEN) to its partner, Professional Electronic Networks (PEN) for $7 million, reaping a $5.9 million profit. This is the largest profit-making transaction in the bar’s 118-year history.
"There was quite an entrepreneurial spirit regarding this, and that’s not a term you normally use with the board of a bar association or any association," notes Denny Ramey of Columbus, executive director of the Ohio bar. OSBANet is the bar’s for-profit arm.
OPEN is a Columbus-based online gateway that allows lawyers and other subscribers to search public records at state government agencies. PEN, a consortium of telecommunications companies based in Kansas, is expanding its service nationally and is contacting other state bar associations for their participation. The expansion would have required a larger financial investment from OSBANet beyond the initial $1.1 million paid six years ago, and the bar did not want to participate in the expansion.
The friendly buyout was finalized July 31 and announced in mid-August. Both parties stated that OSBANet sold 100 percent of its shares, but each declined to specify the number of shares. The online service is still available to bar members.
The idea for the online service came after Ramey and then-Director of Member Services Kate Hagan (now assistant executive director) learned about a service called New Mexico TechNet while attending a National Association of Bar Executives meeting in the late 1980s.
The bar leaders approached various companies about establishing such an online service in Ohio, and finally formed the partnership with PEN in 1992.
PEN has about 10,000 users, which include legal and business professionals. PEN plans to expand its data sources and to refine a point-and-click interface to make the service more user friendly.
"Our project has grown beyond our expectations, and we’ve had a tremendous partner in the Ohio bar. Now we’re taking our business model and going forward," according to a PEN executive.
A bar committee will determine how the profit from the sale will be used. It may be used to stall a dues increase.
Anna Marie Kukec
