COMPANY PURPOSE

Established in 1991, Legal Publication Services produces a health and safety newsletter, books and CDs for business and government customers in the field of federal mine safety and health law and regulation.

While publishing the newsletter and the legal digesting system is the mainstay of the business, Legal Publication Services also offers significant research services on mine safety and health law. Our staff provides timely, vital, readable business and government information with expert analysis developed through extensive contacts in and concentration on the mining industry.

Legal Publication Services staff is always available to help with problem-solving, MSHA compliance or training needs.

Need help? Have a question?

Legal Publication Services' staff offer their expertise in helping you with mine safety and health questions. Legal Publication Services does not offer legal planning or legal advice.

Ellen Smith is the owner of LPS and directs all news coverage. She has been covering mining issues since 1987 and has won 23 journalism awards for her reporting. Most recently, Ellen won three awards for reporting on the 2006 Sago Mine Disaster, including the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi award for Public Service in Newsletter Journalism -- the second time in her career.

She has been recognized for her analytical and interpretive reporting on Freedom of Information Act, and credit card abuse at the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Other awards include an Investigative Journalism awards for her coverage of the Williams Station Mine Disaster, the "all white center" coal industry dust sampling controversy, coverage of the issue of closed meetings at the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission and the Freedom Bell Award for Accuracy in Reporting. Ellen can be reached at 585-582-3211 or by email.

Melanie Aclander is an attorney and the legal editor for Mine Safety and Health News and the Cumulative Digest of Mine Safety and Health Decisions.  She has been covering the legal aspects of mine health and safety law since 1979, when she first worked for the Bureau of National Affairs. Melanie attends every meeting at the FMSHRC and provides up-to-the-minute news of legal cases. A graduate of New York Law School, and a member of the D.C. Bar, she brings a wealth of experience to Legal Publication Services. Melanie can be reached at 301-277-8882 or by email.



Kathy Snyder is the Washington, D.C. correspondent for Mine Safety and Health News. She worked at the Mine Safety and Health Administration's press office for 26 years, where she briefed the press on mining accidents, wrote speeches for the Assistant Secretary of Labor, and had helped direct FOIA policy.

Kathy is the winner of three journalism awards, and brings a wealth of information and knowledge of MSHA programs and policy to our company.

Kathy can be reached by email via our contact form.