ALM Media hires Smith, Lancaster as reporters

ALM Media, the parent of American Lawyer, has hired two new journalists.

Patrick Smith has joined the business of law desk in New York as a reporter, where he’ll be covering national business of law news for The American Lawyer and other ALM publications, building a beat focused on law firm business development and marketing, including who got the work and why.

Smith has a varied background covering sports, business and spot news for Golf Magazine, The Bridge, the NewYork Daily News, NY1 and elsewhere. He has graduate degrees in journalism from Columbia University and global security studies from Johns Hopkins.

Alaina Lancaster joins the litigation desk as a litigation editor from Winsight, where she was an associate editor who focused on labor legislation within the restaurant and retail industries.

Lancaster, a University of Missouri grad, will join the desk as an editor and writer based out of the San Francisco office. She’ll be editing the West Coast-based litigation reporters and also focusing on the future of litigation in her stories, as well as writing about California litigation. She will also take over the What’s Next briefing.