Over the weekend, I had a nice conversation with some of my peers in other law firm departments (Marketing, IT, and other administration leaders), about the American Association of Law Libraries’ (AALL) letter to Lexis, asking that Lexis cease their current sales requirement of tying Lexis Advance to non-related materials, including Law360, Lex Machina, print material, and other products. I think my colleague, Jean O’Grady did a great job covering this topic in her blog post, so I won’t re-hash the specifics of the letter. However, it is definitely an issue which those outside the law firm libraries should take notice, and be very concerned. This is something that affects the entire law firm, not just the law librarians.
Continue Reading Why Lexis’ Sales Approach Should Concern Law Firm Management and Leadership
westlaw
Alan Sugarman’s Review of Challenging Westlaw’s Copyright Claims in the 1990s
We take a break from Casey’s BS series and point you to a historical review of the “cutthroat” legal research industry as it moved from print, hardbound reporter sets, to the online legal research systems which we know today. Whenever an industry is disrupted by a new technology, the players within the industry can play…
WestLaw Story – The Musical
The talent at Columbia Law School apparently doesn’t limit itself to legal scholarship. The Law Revue put together a musical rendition of which online legal resource is the best “to cite… to cite.”
Whether it is the bribery of using Lexis, the snobbery of using Westlaw, or the lone man that uses Bloomberg, the Law…
Why Sole Provider Isn’t Really A Thing and I’m Not Going to Say It Any More
[Ed. Note: Please welcome back guest blogger, Marcia Burris, Research & Information Services Consultant for HBR. – GL]
A lot of attention has been given lately to the trend of law firms cancelling subscriptions to expensive online resources. This is often referred to as going “Sole Provider” since it has long been assumed…
Understanding the Technical Bias of Westlaw, Lexis Advance, Fastcase, Google Scholar, and Casetext
Definition of algorithm :
noun al·go·rithm ˈal-gə-ˌri-thəm – a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing some end especially by a computer
…
ITC Judge Requires Westlaw Cites for Unpublished Opinions
If you’re going to submit documents with citations to unpublished decisions to US International Trade Court Commission Administrative Judge Dee Lord, you’re going to have to make sure it has Westlaw citations and not Lexis. In Judge Lord’s ITC Order [pdf] she ordered the parties to change the “incorrect” LEXIS citations for unpublished decisions and resubmit the briefs and reply…
At the End of the 2nd Quarter, It's WestlawNext 80 – Westlaw Classic 20
According to Thomson Reuters’ Second-Quarter 2013 Results, the revenues coming in from WestlawNext has hit the 80% mark of total Westlaw revenues. For some of us, it may seem that it took a long time since the launch of WLN in early 2010 to hit this threshold, but with all the fluxuation in the…
Even Westlaw Knows It's a Tough Market – Law Graduates Can Keep Access Through November
![]() |
Image [cc] Salem State Library |
Maybe I’m reading a bit much into this announcement from the Dorraine Zief Law Library at the University of San Francisco, but, the fact that Westlaw has decided to allow graduating law students access to their law school Westlaw IDs through the end of November seems to be a sign…
Why Is Thomson Reuters' Legal Solutions Mimicking Bloomberg Law's Design??
Big hat tip to my friend Jason Wilson in pointing out the new rebranding of Westlaw into the new “Legal Solutions” product, and for pointing out that Thomson Reuters is using a very familiar looking color and layout design that seems to be borrowing heavily from the Bloomberg Law product. Perhaps Orange, Gray, Black, and…
Citation Wars…or Mine! Mine!
![]() |
Image [cc] mattlary |
It was a rough time for the Empire.
Online case services were multiplying fast and furious. Yes, even their vaunted reporter system had been compromised. The beginning of the end began in the late 1990’s, when even the Courts had ruled against them. It became more important than ever to just hold…