Many people have asked to see the responses, so here they are. These are all responses I received, word-for-word.
1. It's "easier" than books... and can be written off to the client.
2. When I need to do a news search I first go to Lexis. I used to also go there first for legal news, but the content I need just got moved to Westlaw. I'll have to retrain myself! When I need to do case law research I go to Westlaw.
3. Because they are the most comprehensive online legal research services. All these others who claim to save money (Lois Law, Casemaker Consortium, etc.) don't give our users the coverage we need. In many cases you DO get what you pay for. We also have negotiated contracts with both Lexis and Westlaw which makes usage more predictable. With Lexis, it's more a true flat rate so we tend to go there first, particularly if not billable to a client.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
4. Westlaw for case research/litigation. Lexis for every thing else: journals, statutes, news, public records, legislative.. etc Since most of our attorneys prefer conducting their own case research; as a librarian I tend to use Lexis more and I believe Lexis to be more user friendly than Westlaw, but you can't beat the Key numbering system they have.
5. Most of my attorneys clerked for judges and are more familiar with Westlaw, so that is usually their first choice, because they are more familiar with it.
6. There are several reasons. 1. Tremendous amount of data available in one place. 2. Great tools, e.g. for cite checking and case status. 3. Excellent search engines. 4. Speed, they are both quite fast. 5. Accuracy. Granted neither are perfect, with each having their own flaws, such as cost. However, I've yet to see any database come close to beating these two services on a whole. Bloomberg is trying to develop their own legal research system but it isn't even close to competing even with Loislaw.
7. We let bids for CALR and Lexis was so much incredibly lower than West, that that's what everyone gets to use. We do have one Westlaw password for librarian use only. It is used almost exclusively for key number searches and WL cites. Most folks are not happy with Lexis, but it's take it or leave it.
8. Prefer USLED (Lexis) to SCT (Westlaw) databases for certain types of field specific searches.
9. Mainly case law research would be my impression.
10. I don't see any official statistics, so this is a guess, but at our firm, the attorneys prefer Westlaw for case law, statutes, etc. The library staff prefers Lexis for public records. We have a better contract with Westlaw, so that skews things, I'm sure.
11. 1. Cases-Westlaw 2. News and People-Lexis 3. securities-both 4. tax-Lexis 5. Legal journals-West
12. Our attorneys prefer the authoritative headnotes & analytics provided by Westlaw.
13. Great content in a fairly user-friendly relational database
14. I think they use Westlaw (and Lexis) primarily to search for cases and statutes and other litigation-related databases. (We are a litigation firm.) They need prodding to use them for treatises and other tasks. While I'm pleased that they are so print oriented, there ARE times when it makes more sense to use the treatise off Wexis and I have to nag that about it.
15. Whenever I need a copy of an opinion I go to Wexis first. I find both of them easy to locate the case I need.
Whenever I need to find a current address on someone I go to Accurint first. I find them most up to date for this type of search.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bush, Paul
Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2006 12:43 PM
To: 'law-lib@ucdavis.edu'
Subject: Why do you/attorneys at your firm primarily use Lexis and Westlaw?
Hello all,
I wanted to see why the majority of Lexis and Westlaw users at law firms use these services.
Not looking for any great detail, just a quick response as to what the first thing that comes to mind for you or attorneys at your firm is.
For example, "Whenever I need x, I always go to Lexis/Westlaw and search there first". "I find their x to be very useful for this type of research".
Please email me off the list, and I will post a summary of responses if requested.
Thank you and have a great afternoon,
Paul M. Bush
Electronic Services Analyst
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
http://www.FriedFrank.com <http://www.friedfrank.com/>
Founder & Manager
Legal Dockets Online
http://www.LegalDockets.com <http://www.legaldockets.com/>
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