Thanks to all who respond to my request about your experiences with Client
Validator. IT issues and lack of documentation seams to the largest issues.
Several of you asked to be copied on the responses. Here is a recap of the
responses I received from librarians:
(1) just got a brochure from West offering a free client validator and I
was hoping since they bought Elite, this product would work for West easily
and also maybe would let us do Lexis validation.
(2) The validator is very helpful - especially in a large firm - but some
things to watch out for are: ie., if MIS applies security patches to some
point in the firm's system without making the necessary adjustments (I
obviously am not a techie, or would explain this better), it may block
people. Also have had problems related to Windows NT workstations (Westlaw
searcher gets an error message). It will not screen out "bad" client ids
where access is from off-site; also, it will not screen out any ids that a
searcher might have in a "save" list at the time the firm starts using the
validator (although you can ask Lexis to purge all those lists - better warn
the users, though!).
(3) not excited about the product. Our IT was very upset because they did
not get any written documentation. Support from vendor was minimal. IP
addresses have caused some problems. We have Lexis.com users and software
users. Know what I know now I would not have purchased the product.
(4) we do have it, purchased it from Lexis, and after considerable glitches
(both theirs and our having internal reimaging issues), we've settled in. It
covers W & L. Courtlink may be added, which I think is a Lexis issue.
We've not had it long enough to see a direct result (about 6 weeks) but the
intention was an alpha client name prompt and to block non-billable numbers.
We created that term, which has a sublist of 6 acceptable ones, such as cle,
pro-bono etc. If attorneys don't yet have their matter number, they're
required to charge against their account till they do. Don't think THIS will
go over well; firm decision.
If you need additional info, contact Mary Ann Wacker, our research
librarian, as I am out for a week beginning tomorrow. Hope it's helpful. It
took far more focus than we dreamed, but I suspect it will help long-term.
(5)
We began using Client Validator in March of this year. We use the web
product. We use it for both Lexis and Westlaw. It takes less time for us
to clean up the bills and get valid client numbers. Doug Dreyer who is the
Lexis consultant for the software is great. I still contact him when Client
Validation isn't working. Usually it's due to a problem on our end, but he
can at least confirm before I get our IS department involved.
In order to sign onto Lexis/Westlaw our attorneys either have to charge to a
Practice Group or Client No. This means we now entering twice the number
of charges into Elite. We have increased our recovery but as people get
more comfortable with using Client Validator I think we may see a drop. The
attorneys have figured out how to charge to the practice group rather than
the client.
The library is responsible for entering charges into Elite. We haven't
started the process of setting up macros so that the charges go directly
into Elite.
We will have to download the bills differently from how we currently do it
and will probably have to hire a consultant from Lexis or Elite to write the
macros.
Hope to get this started before the end of the year.
Problems or issues:
1. Client Validation doesn't work on home PC's so you still get invalid
nos.
Same people that didn't put in numbers seem to discover this right away,
even though we didn't advertise.
2. We have had problems with the servers the Client Nos and or
Client Validation located on (not Lexis problem, problem on our end).
3. When doesn't work, can't get into Lexis without turning Client
Validation off (Lexis may have fixed this problem). Not a problem
with Westlaw so at least you have access to one provider.
4. People are frustrated with having to put a client or practice
group number if they can't find the number. Some people in
their frustration will just charge it to a number so they can get
in.
5. If you have a lot of matter numbers under a particular client it can
be hard to locate. You can't resort the matter numbers and or
search
within the matter numbers.
6. We require a description of the research for client and nonclient
charges. I don't know if I had to do this over again if I
would. I would probably just require it just for the nonbillable
charges.
If they don't know the client name and or numbers haven't been
entered into the system, they need to put a description in that will allow
us to bill at a later date. As you can only use 17 characters to describe
the research, some attorneys had a problem trying to figure out what to
enter in.
(6) Lexis provided this link as their response:
http://www.llrx.com/features/costrecovery.htm
<http://www.llrx.com/features/costrecovery.htm>
(7) Client Validator runs behind the firm firewall. If user accesses
Lexis.com from their home PC they can still enter zero's or 99999, etc.
Remote users are a problem. Our firm has not been successful in getting
Westlaw to work with Client Validator.
Gloria Jean Glasbrenner
Director of Library Services
<http://www.frostbrowntodd.com/index.htm> Frost Brown Todd LLC
400 W. Market Street, 32nd Floor
Louisville, KY 40202
<mailto:gglasbrenner@fbtlaw.com> gglasbrenner@fbtlaw.com
502-779-8440 (Direct Dial)
502-581-1087 (Fax)
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