I'm hoping to get some feedback from other law firms that are also
networking CDs. We are a 130 lawyer firm with approximately 30 titles
currently on a network. All attorneys and paralegals have access to
these titles. We have West, LawDesk, RIA and CCH products. The
library made a massive push for CDs during National Library Week with
twice daily training sessions, the production of a training manual
that showed how to access each disk in "Seven Easy Steps" and a
special addition to the monthly library newsletter that promoted
these great new products.
Our success has far exceeded our expectations with over 40 users a
day on the West products alone. Attorneys now call to ask if
something is available on CD and not online. Consequently we have had
a 20-25% drop in online use in both LEXIS and WESTLAW.
We are encouraged by our results and hope to expand our case
searching capabilities to all circuits and not just the first circuit
by 1996. Before we make such a leap, however, I am trying to
determine if this success is a blip or others are experiencing a
similar drop in online use. Also, we are trying to determine if fixed
pricing agreements make sense when we are trying to make such a big
push for CDs. We often find ourselves in the position of championing
both causes. Has anyone done any type of cost analysis on this? We
have cancelled some CDs when we discovered that the attorney was
still consistently going online to "check" his research. Also, in the
case of particularly expensive CDs of limited scope we are
encouraging online use vs. the purchase of the CD.
I am interested in knowing if anyone else is grappling with these
issues and might even propose that if there are enough of us, we get
together for a cup of coffee in Pittsburgh. Any comments would be
most helpful. I will post to the list any responses that I get if
people are interested. Sorry for the lengthy message.
Gina Lynch
Nutter, McClennen & Fish
glynch@nutter.com
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