History of Forster-Long, LLC

Forster-Long, LLC. is the publisher of THE AMERICAN BAR including The Canadian Bar, The Mexican Bar and The International Bar. We have served the legal community by providing a quality reference publication of leading firms around the world since 1918. We have also provided the industry standard reference on the American judiciary with THE AMERICAN BENCH: Judges of the Nation. Since 1977, it has been the definitive biographical reference on America's judges. The company has gone through several transformations, however, our dedication to the quality of our products has never changed.

THE AMERICAN BAR began publication in 1918, listing ranking lawyers in the United States and Canada. In 1956, an International section was added to the book. In 1964, the name of the 46th Annual Edition of the publication was changed to THE AMERICAN BAR-THE CANADIAN BAR-THE INTERNATIONAL BAR. In 1995, with the 77th annual edition, The Mexican Bar was added and the official name changed again to THE AMERICAN BAR including The Canadian Bar, The Mexican Bar and The International Bar. The publication is still sometimes referred to as just THE AMERICAN BAR, even in international circles, but it does include listings of firms in over 100 countries.

James Clark Fifield and colleagues originally founded the company in 1917 as the James C. Fifield Company to publish THE AMERICAN BAR. Reginald Bishop Forster became president of the Company in 1937, and in 1963 changed the company name to Reginald Bishop Forster & Associates, Inc.
The current president, Jay W. Long, joined Reginald Bishop Forster & Associates, Inc. in 1967. He came from Ford Motor Company to start with this publishing company in a sales capacity. He became president in 1973 and began making major improvements to THE AMERICAN BAR with the 1973 edition, changing the format and adding useful indexes. The company created and began publishing THE AMERICAN BENCH in 1977, a comprehensive biographical reference work on the American judiciary.

Jay W. Long became the owner of Reginald Bishop Forster & Associates, Inc., in 1983 and moved the Company to its present location in the capital of California, Sacramento. In 1988, the company name was changed to Forster-Long, Inc. In 2009 the company was sold and the name was changed to Forster-Long, LLC.

The Company continues to make improvements to meet the needs of today's legal market. We welcome any comments and suggestions you may have. Please Contact Us if you have any feedback for us about the products or this site.

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Timeline

1917
James C. Fifield and his wife, Effie W. Fifield, and others organized James C. Fifield Company, a Minnesota Corporation to publish THE AMERICAN BAR.

1918
The first edition of THE AMERICAN BAR was published, listing all of the top lawyers in the United States and Canada.

1937
Reginald Bishop Forster became president of James C. Fifield Company.

1956
An international section was added to the publication.

1963
The name James C. Fifield Company was changed to Reginald Bishop Forster & Associates, Inc.

1964
The title of the directory was changed to THE AMERICAN BAR-THE CANADIAN BAR-THE INTERNATIONAL BAR.

1973
Jay W. Long was named president of Reginald Bishop Forster & Associates, Inc.

1977
The first edition of THE AMERICAN BENCH: Judges of the Nation was published by Reginald Bishop Forster & Associates, Inc.

1988
Company name changed from Reginald Bishop Forster & Associates, Inc. to its current name, Forster-Long, Inc.

1995
The Mexican Bar was added and the title was changed to its present official title, THE AMERICAN BAR including The Canadian Bar, The Mexican Bar and The International Bar.

2001
THE AMERICAN BENCH went from being a biannual publication to being an annual publication, completely updated every year.

2002
The website, www.americanbar.com, added the searchable database of listed firms to the site, allowing searches using multiple criteria, such as practice areas.

2003
www.americanbar.com added complete listing information online, making THE AMERICAN BAR available to a wider audience than ever before.