About

Legal News Publishing Co. is one of Cleveland’s oldest family-owned businesses. The company publishes two newspapers – Daily Legal News and Geauga County Maple Leaf – and maintains a full-service commercial printing operation.

When Ralph C. Karlovec purchased Legal News Publishing Co. in 1919 from his brother-in-law, the Daily Legal News was being published in a print shop in a narrow parcel of land off Cleveland’s Public Square. In 1925, the company moved to Ontario Street, directly across the street from the Old Cuyahoga County Courthouse building and operated at that location until 1965 when the entire city block was demolished to make room for the Justice Center.

A flood in the early 1920s destroyed newspapers and corporate records from 1885 to 1903, except for the earliest bound volumes of the newspaper. All bound volumes and issues from the Daily Legal News from 1903 to the present have been donated to the Western Reserve Historical Society.

Published continuously since November 1885, the Daily Legal News is the only daily legal newspaper published in Cuyahoga County today. It is the designated newspaper of record for the Cuyahoga County court system and is the county’s official law journal. The Daily Legal News also is the designated newspaper of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio for publication of notices required by the Bankruptcy Act.

Recognized since 1903 as a newspaper of general circulation, the Daily Legal News circulates by periodicals postage to paying subscribers. The newspaper also can be found in public libraries and public office buildings in Cuyahoga County, and is sold at newsstands located throughout the county.

In the 1920s, Legal News Publishing Co. formed a commercial print shop, the Cadillac Press. Today, the Cadillac Press offers complete commercial printing services on web offset and offset presses. Commercial jobs include journals, booklets, tabloids and brochures.

Legal News Publishing Co. also prints The City Record, a weekly transcript of all proceedings of Cleveland City Council. The company has printed The City Record since the 1920s.

In December 2002, Legal News Publishing Co. purchased the Geauga County Maple Leaf, a weekly community newspaper of general circulation first published in late 1993. Today, the Maple Leaf is Geauga County’s premier news source and publishes legal notices for most county offices and departments, and is the newspaper of record for most townships, villages and municipalities in Geauga County.