Thanks to everyone who responded. The responses I received are below:
1. Cyndi, the attorneys in our firm love Loislaw
2. we had loislaw as an alternative to lexis for a long time - it's
come quite away from it's beginnings. Just not as many bells &
whistles as lexis or west. I found it very user friendly - most of the
attorneys did also - main complaint was lack of headnotes.....
3. My personal experience is that the low cost grabs the attorney's
attention and then the Librarian arranges for a "free trial" and the
attorney doesn't use it because of: cumbersome search mechanisms,
paucity of coverage, leading to poor results. We do not subscribe to
any of them, and our attorneys don't even use the free bar association
"Case Maker Consortium" libraries.
4. Loislaw is one we have. The search algorithm isn't perfect.
Sometimes it finds what the database has, and sometimes it doesn't. I
give that caveat to people every time I train them, and I've found that
if you use the search box at the top of the search query screens
exclusively, you get more accurate results. I also point out that it's
a "get what you pay for" alternative. It can be a wonderful starting
point. GlobalCite can be used to get references, assuming it has them.
I think it's completely worth the cost as long as the researchers know
the limitations, and don't expect too much from it. Also, the law
schools are using it so the newer attorneys are getting more familiar
with it every day.
I also highly recommend KeyCiting anything the attorney would like to
rely upon--but that goes for anything from any source, of course
5. We use Loislaw for our state (Wisconsin) caselaw. It only goes
back to 1939 but is a good place to do your initial research and
inexpensive
6. I would love to hear (positive) news but I fear you won't. We
review them every year or two and they still don't meet our needs. The
largest issue is a lack of an updating service. Either they don't have
one or it is poor
7. Cyndi, I'm not in a firm, but I thought I'd respond anyway.
I have Versuslaw in my library, but am considering canceling it. I like
Versuslaw, but no one uses it. We also have Lexis and Westlaw and the
lawyers, when given the choice, want WL. I've been paying $1200 per
year, which gives me access in my law library (4 PCs) and in all of the
county public libraries (there are 10). It doesn't seem to get used in
the public libraries much. I'm guessing it doesn't get promoted as well
as it should and the librarians don't want to deal with legal research
questions. Versuslaw isn't able to provide much tracking. They can't
tell me which libraries are using it, or what people are doing when they
do use it. I get a monthly statement that basically just tells me how
many times the Versuslaw icon has been clicked on.
Of course, the price is right. I pay more for Lexis and WL per month
than I do for a whole year with VL.
I did look at Fastcase at AALL this year and was very impressed. They
have a good demo on their website. I think they've got some great
functionality, but it's really just for case law.
8. We use Loislaw as our 'starter' on-line research source. I use it
constantly and think it is easy to use. The search engine will take
complex searches so you can mess around with search strategies until you
get the best results. It is no where near as comprehensive as Wexis -
older case law is spotty, statutes are unannotated, very recent cases or
statute changes may be missing. So I switch over to Wexis if needed,
which is less than half the time. We are a regional, midsize firm with
widely varying monthly Wexis usage.
Neither Lexis nor Westlaw will give us what I consider a respectable
flat rate. We have access to Lexis and a flat rate of sorts with
Westlaw. In comparison Loislaw is a bargain. I also like the fact that
they gave us a 10 concurrent user license with just one password. We do
not charge clients for Loislaw usage, we consider it library expense. We
have had it for 2 years and they have not raised the price.
9. Hi, we use Fastcase in our library and provide it to our patrons.
It's pretty nice although the interface is a bit clunky (printing is
hidden in a Document menu). Coverage seems to be pretty good but there
have been a few times when I can't find cases that have a published
citation. It's easy to do boolean and natural language searches, and
even citation pulls work pretty well (sometimes spacing is a problem -
you can't use blue book format; I've noticed that Ohio law has the same
problem in Fastcase and Casemaker). As to use, we have some members
who use it for all research, and some who just use it as a way to get
started before coming in and using Lexisnexis. At our larger firms,
the use seems to be for (a) content outside their purchased Wexis slice
or (b) for younger lawyers who are panicked about searching, and want
someething that is essentially unlimited before they do their research.
We have some members who use Versuslaw, Fastcase, and Casemaker as a
trio, rather than using anyone of them exclusively (they get Versuslaw
through their malpractice provider).
10. We use Loislaw as a supplement to our West and Lexis services. I
find it incredibly easy to use, the coverage is pretty good (not all
the case law databases go back as far as Wexis, but they go back far
enough for that to rarely be an issue). I use it as a first stop for
state and federal cases if the requesting attorney doesn't need
annotations, and for state statutes/regs that we don't have in print.
We also have full text CLE publications for our state through Lois, and
that has been a huge help numerous times.
11. no - the firm wanted to consolidate & save so we rolled everthing
into a flate fee with lexis - now they want to go the otherway so we
will proably be re-subscribing
12. Don't know how many responses you have gotten to your post my now,
but here's my $.02. I have used Loislaw as both a practicing attorney
(in my previous life) and a librarian. Loislaw does not compare to
Westlaw and Lexis. The cost is much lower than Westlaw and Lexis, so
it is much more affordable for solo practitioners and small (2-5
person) firms. As far as content, it is pretty much just cases and
unannotated statutes and does not have any of the journal articles and
treatises that are available on Westlaw and Lexis. It has a very
simple interface, which I personally think makes it slower and more
cumbersome to use than Westlaw or Lexis. It doesn't do boolean
searching in the same way the Westlaw and Lexis do, which makes it
difficult to achieve the same results that you would get with Westlaw
or Lexis.
My recommendation would be that you might want to consider it as a
supplement to Westlaw or Lexis for non-billable or pro bono work, but
it wouldn't be a substitute. It might help to keep attorneys from
swiping individual volumes of the code from the library, though :-).
13. My lawyers all have FastCase for free through the Maryland State
Bar Association. It has a place, and I would reference Trevor Rosen's
blog at
http://marylandlaw.blogspot.com/2006/06/fastcase-preliminary-assessment.
html for an good analysis. I would add that it is hard to get my
lawyers to use FastCase instead of Wexis. No matter how much they
complain about the high cost of Wexis, they really like the bells and
whistles.
Quoting "ctrembley@frontiernet.net" <ctrembley@frontiernet.net>:
> Hello,
>
> Do any of you have any experience (good or bad) with any of the
> alternatives to Lexis/Westlaw (noted below) Specifically I'm looking
> for information regarding ease of use, coverage, results, and cost.
> Do any of you subscribe to one of these services in addition to Wexis
> or in place of? If so, why? Are the alternatives used for all
> research projects or just non-billable work?
>
> Any information provided regarding these services is greatly
> appreciated. If there is enough interest I'll summarize and post to
> the list.
>
> I have seen and do have copies of some of the older reviews. I more
> interested in 'personal' experience at this point.
>
> TheLaw.net
> LoisLaw
> FastCase
> VersusLaw
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> Cyndi
>
>
> Cyndi A. Trembley, Manager
> Computer Research Services
> Harris Beach, PLLC
> 99 Garnsey Road
> Pittsford, New York 14534
> Ph: (585) 419-8923
> Fax: (585) 419-8814
>
>
>
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