Comparing Two Major Legal Research Tools: Making the Right Choice for Your Law Firm

Summary

Legal research can be a daunting task for lawyers, as there are a huge range of tools on the market. Two of the most popular tools used for legal research are LexisNexis and Westlaw. When it comes to determining which is the better tool, no definitive answer can be given. It really depends on the individual's needs and preferences.


Westlaw is a popular legal research tool that gives users access to a huge range of databases and resources, including court opinions, legal news, an encyclopedia of statutes, and more. It is comprehensive and user-friendly, making it ideal for both beginner and experienced legal researchers. Westlaw also has a variety of interactive features, such as a legal research assistant and a database of legal terms that can be searched by keyword.

LexisNexis also provides users with access to a wide range of legal resources, including legal news and decisions from various jurisdictions, statutes, practice materials, and more. It also offers a variety of features, such as workflow tools, analysis tools, and a legal research assistant. LexisNexis' user interface is a bit more complex than Westlaw's, so it may not be ideal for beginner legal researchers.

When it comes to pricing, LexisNexis is generally more expensive than Westlaw. However, LexisNexis also offers more features and resources than Westlaw. This may make it worth the extra cost for some users.

In conclusion, no definitive answer can be given as to which legal researching tool is better - Westlaw or LexisNexis. Both offer a wide range of features and resources and have their own advantages and disadvantages. It's important to evaluate your individual needs and preferences when choosing which tool is right for you. When it comes to pricing, LexisNexis is generally more expensive than Westlaw. Ultimately, the decision as to which tool is best for you depends on what you need and your budget.
 

Legal Researching Tools

Legal research is an essential part of the law profession as it involves a lot of research in order to interpret laws, analyze cases and create strong arguments. Legal researchers often use two different tools to research legal topics: electronic databases and print sources. While both tools can be used on the same topic, they often yield different types of information.
 

Electronic Databases

Electronic databases are the primary tools used by legal researchers because they offer the most timely and up-to-date information on the law. It can be a great asset for lawyers because legal research databases typically include summaries of cases, statutes, regulations, and other types of legal content. In addition, some databases also offer research guides, practice forms and other helpful resources. The main advantage of electronic databases is that they are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and can be accessed from any computer with internet access.
 

Print Sources

Print sources can also be used for legal research. These include law books, legal journals, and other publications that are published in print. Print sources are usually used for more in-depth legal research because they provide detailed analysis and critique of the law. Print sources can also be helpful in understanding how the law applies in different jurisdictions. The main disadvantage of print sources is that they are not as easily updated as electronic databases and often contain outdated information.
 

Comparison of Legal Researching Tools

When it comes to legal research, the decision between using electronic databases or print sources comes down to preference. Both tools have advantages and disadvantages. Electronic databases are more up-to-date and often contain more information than print sources. On the other hand, print sources can provide more in-depth analysis and may be better for understanding how the law applies in different jurisdictions. Ultimately, it is up to the researcher to decide which tool is the best choice for their research needs.

Thomson West is headquartered in Eagan, MN, and prides itself as ''a provider of integrated information solutions to the U.S. legal market.'' In the business since 1870, the company functions within The Thomson Corporation as a result of a merger between West Publishing and Thomson Legal Publishing back in June 1996. Their flagship product is Westlaw, an online legal research service that is available on the Internet and through their proprietary software WestMate.

Headquartered in Dayton, OH, LexisNexis provides ''comprehensive and authoritative legal, news, and business information and tailored applications.'' Apart from its flagship Web-based Lexis® and Nexis® research services, the company boasts some of the top legal publishers such as Martindale-Hubbell, Matthew Bender, Butterworths, JurisClasseur, Abeledo-Perrot and Orac.

In the business of legal researching, these two companies are going head to head to provide the ultimate in legal services to their customers. West and Lexis-Nexis offer a range of tools and services to meet the growing demands of their customers.

''Both electronic and print materials are central to the academic and practicing legal professions,'' said Gail Partin, Law Librarian at the Sheely-Lee Law Library at the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University. ''One cannot state a legal theory or proposition without some authority to back it up…such as case law, statues, regulations, constitutions…so the major print and electronic tools are used heavily.''

Ms. Partin said that legal researchers expect the tools available to be reliable, accurate, current, and cost effective, and they must meet the needs of their customers or may find themselves out of the market. ''There is no room in the legal research marketplace for inferior, inaccurate products because good lawyering depends on good research,'' Ms. Partin said.

Lexis and Westlaw are the most popular resources for legal research. ''Westlaw contains nearly 20,000 databases of information that range from the entire body of U.S. case law, including briefs and related court documents to state and federal codes, regulations and statutes to business information, news, and public records to more than 4,000 treatises, analyzing and contextualizing the above-stated information sets,'' said Maurine DeRoy-Everett, Thomson Legal & Regulatory North American Legal/West. ''It is a comprehensive collection that meets nearly every research need of any legal professional.''

Integrated with Westlaw are tools like KeyCite, a citator service that can determine whether cases used in an argument are still good law. StatutesPlus is a statute-searching tool that helps find, verify, read and interpret statutes and determine if one's research is complete and thorough. Westlaw tools also include ResultsPlus, WestClip, and others that assist legal professionals with their research.

Ms. Deroy-Everett said lawyers and law firms can use Westlaw for all of their research needs, which can all be done in one location. She said a lawyer in any practice area, jurisdiction, or segment can benefit from the content sets and the tools, adding that different content sets are used for different tasks. ''For example, a corporate attorney in New York City conducting due diligence on a potential acquisition will find the business news and information critical to his/her success. While a family law solo practitioner in Madison, WI, will benefit from the Wisconsin annotated statutes and practice series.''

Beyond Westlaw and online legal research, West also owns Thomson FindLaw, which provides free legal information, as well as Thomson Elite, a leading provider of integrated practice and financial management systems for professional service firms worldwide. The company also provides online continuing legal education (CLE) services through the West LegalEdcenter portal.

Then there is Lexis-Nexis, which starting in 1973 with its Lexis service and has catapulted as a major force in the $5.7-billion legal publishing market. Published under the LexisNexis and Michie names are the complete federal and state case law and statutes, including the U.S. Code Service, and other primary law content; online annotated codes in 48 states; millions of headnotes, and case law summaries written by LexisNexis lawyer editors; LexisNexis CourtLink docket information and Strategic Profiles. Their legal content will also include secondary content from Matthew Bender, CCH and BNA; SmartLinx reports; Martindale-Hubbell directories; and Shepard's citation services.

''LexisNexis uniquely understands attorney workflow and has developed unique applications like LexisNexis Total Search and LexisNexis TimeMatters. Both integrate legal research into workflow tasks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the attorney,'' said Jeffrey S. Pfeifer, Sr. Vice President and Publisher, LexisNexis Large Law Firm Market. ''In the case of Total Search, our solution integrates firm work product and LexisNexis content into a powerful, unified answer set. TimeMatters integrates legal research seamlessly into the case-management process to streamline client file development, billing and matter tracking.

LexisNexis also has File & Serve, an Internet-based service that allows law firms to electronically file legal documents directly with courts and serve documents among litigants at any hour or time of day. More than 50,000 attorneys, law firm staff, judges, and clerks have registered with LexisNexis File & Serve systems across the country.

There is also Courtlink, a new service for online retrieval of court docket information that is available to law firm, corporate, and government legal professionals. Customers of the LexisNexis CourtLink services include the largest 250 law firms in the United States, as well as leading banks, insurance companies, and media companies.

And beyond legal research, Lexis-Nexis has focused on helping lawyers grow their practices through such services as Billing Matters to electronic discovery services and automated document preparation through Hot Docs. LexisNexis Market Intelligence is a recent addition to Lexis-Nexis and will assist law firm marketers in monitoring litigation trends, evaluating growth opportunities with clients and prospects, and for determining current share of clients' work.

''I think that online research databases such as those offered by Lexis-Nexis and West are very important to today's practice of law, but they do not provide the complete picture,'' said Tina Dumas, Reference Librarian for Nixon Peabody LLP in San Francisco and President of the Northern California Association of Law Librarians. ''There are still some materials that are not available online, and researchers need to be aware of what they might be missing.''

Ms. Dumas said she has used a number of research tools in her 11 years working in three different law firms, but that Lexis and Westlaw seem to be the largest, with the broadest range of resources available. She currently uses both Lexis-Nexis and West but admits that neither resource has all the materials she may need for a particular research project. She said that each database vendor has particular specialties or features that are appropriate to the moment.

''Lexis has a feature that tells you how many of your search terms are in each document, while Westlaw can weed out duplicate news articles from your search results. West, logically, has a lot of their own treatises available, while Lexis has a number of Matthew Bender treatises. Both keep track of the searches you have already done in a day, which is helpful if you need to follow up on earlier research,'' said Ms. Dumas. ''So, I like them both, but for different reasons, specifically, which resources they have, and which features I need for a particular project.''

Both West and Lexis-Nexis continue to develop and improve their research tools to meet the needs of their customers.

''There are certainly benefits to these large, online databases, though. While we have not attained the ''virtual office'' that some people predicted, I think we are as close as we are going to get—and we are still producing a lot of paper,'' said Dumas.