Some of you may recall the question I posted to the list several weeks ago
concerning the new Shepard's Federal Revision and if any of you out there
had canceled your Shepard's subscriptions. The question I posed was: "In
anticipation of Shepard's Federal Revision due out this fall, our firm's
Charleston office is debating whether or not to cancel our print versions of
Shepard's in favor of either Shepard's on CD-ROM or Westcheck/WESTLAW and
Lexis. Has anyone else decided to cancel the print? What did you opt for
instead and why?". WELL -- I received more than 30 responses! All had
switched either entirely or in part to electronic cite-checking services.
Summaries of some of the responses appear below. Oh, and my firm? We have
canceled all our Shepard's citators in the Charleston location only in favor
of West. With all this data, I got no argument. Thanks to everyone!
COMMENTS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY:
Robinson, Bradshaw in Charlotte canceled all but the North Carolina
Citations over a year ago. They tried using the CD-ROM from Shepard's but
no one liked it, and since they must use West to Insta-Cite they decided to
use West exclusively for citations. Also, I was told they kept the N.C.
Citator because they could not use West to check statutes.
Fulbright & Jaworski in NYC canceled all their print Shepard's within the
last few weeks. They use an online service to Shepardize and felt it was
absurd to spend so much money on something that was never used.
The librarian at Balch & Bingham advised that his firm canceled most of
their print titles because everyone was using the online services instead.
Also, they felt Shepard's on West and Lexis was easier to use than the CD-ROM
Clements, O'Neill in Houston never bought the print versions. Their firm
went through a split several years ago and had to rebuild the library from
scratch. They purchased Shepard's on CD although they admit that the
software has some bugs. All attorneys were accustomed to the print volumes
but adapted well.
Kevin Miles, the librarian with Haynes & Boone, says he "benchmarked" the
costs of online Shepardizing vs. the books and it actually costs the same!
However, he says that the books were rarely used so that when they canceled
all their print titles they actually saved several thousand in non-renewals.
Their secretaries now Shepardize briefs because the program (Westcheck)
actually does all the work. Kevin says online is much more efficient than
the CD and certainly the books.
The Portland firm that responded canceled all Shepard's in-print in favor of
West and/or Lexis. Their reasons for cancellation were: significant
financial savings; many lawyers had already abandoned the books; much needed
shelf-space; efficiency of using online vs. print, i.e. online does the work
much faster; Online is more current than books or CD-ROM and the Courts are
beginning to expect that briefs be Insta-cited.
McKenna & Cuneo's ingenious librarian stuck pennies on top of their
Shepard's to monitor usage. They soon canceled all print and went online.
Another firm canceled all print in favor of online due to cost and endless
revisions. They did keep the bound volumes for historical research purposes.
Semmes, Sweeney went exclusively with the CD-ROM.
The Delaware DOJ canceled all print subscriptions to Shepard's and uses West.
The Greenebaum firm in Kentucky switched to CD-ROM and online because of
cost and efficiency.
Obermayer, Rebmann in Philadelphia canceled their Shepard's titles last week
and are checking online using West and/or Lexis. They felt they were paying
double for the same product.
The partners in a California firm decided July 24th to cancel all print
Shepard's with the exception of the California citators. They will use Lexis.
Another firm did the same except they use the California citators on CD-ROM.
They are a 36 attorney firm with 6 paralegals.
Stoel, Rives "balked" a the "recompilation" of Shepard's Federal and last
month canceled that service and the US citators in favor of Westlaw. They
maintain the Washington State citators in print.
Carney, Badley in Seattle uses Westlaw exclusively to shepardize, passing
the cost onto clients in most instances
Eastman & Smith is slowly cancelling all Shepard's to use Lexis with whom
they have a flat rate agreement.
I heard from librarians with the following firms and offices:
Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson
Atlanta GA
Rogers & Hardin
Charlotte NC
Clements, O'Neill, Pierce & Nickens
Houston TX
Haynes & Boone
Dallas TX
Tonkon, Torp, Galen, Marmaduke & Booth
Portland OR
McKenna & Cuneo
San Francisco CA
US Railroad Retirement Board
Chicago IL
Semmes, Bowen & Semmes
Baltimore MD
Greenebaum, Doll & McDonald
Lexington KY
State of Delaware
Department of Justice
Alschuler, Grossman & Pines
Los Angeles
The CIT Group, Inc.
Livingston NJ
Fulbright & Jaworski
New York NY
Stoel, Rives
Seattle WA
Ross & Hardies
Chicago IL
Rogers, Joseph
California
Balch & Bingham
Birmingham AL
Obermayer, Rebmann
Philadelphia PA
Miller, Johnson, Snell & Commiskey
Grand Rapids MI
Eastman & Smith
Toledo OH
St. Louis University Law Library
Carney, Bradley, Smith & Spellman
Seattle WA
Baker & Hostetler
Columbus OH
THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE!
Anne F. Jennings, Librarian
Sinkler & Boyd, P.A.
Charleston SC
voice:803-720-4486
email:jenningsa@cofc.edu
fax:803-722-2266
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