In my last year in a firm (1994) we stopped charging clients for Lexis
and Westlaw. THis was in part due to fallout from Skaddenomics: charges
for firms for every add-on under the sun. Clients became quite resistant
to this, and argued that CALR should no more be charged out than, say use
of a loose-leaf service. Of course, Matthew Bender does not charge the
firm each time it uses Moore's Federal Practice, so it is different from
CALR. But firms did not at that time feel they could argue the fine
points with clients. It seems to me that CD-ROM is much more like a
loose-leaf service than like CALR, and I am surprised to hear that firms
are considering charging for its use. It cannot be argued that CD-ROM is
unlike the rest of the firm's library resources, since the vendor does
not charge the firm for each research session. How can the charge be
justified to clients? Have things changed so much in the past two years
that firms are returning to their old Skaddenomic ways?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Joe K. Stephens
Law Librarian Phone: (503) 986-5640
Oregon Supreme Court Library Fax: (503) 986-5560
1163 State Street E-Mail: jstephen@willamette.edu
Salem, Oregon 97310
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On Wed, 22 May 1996, Laurie Cameron wrote:
> Have any librarians for corporate law firms developed a system for
> billing clients for CD-ROM usage, in order to cover for overhead costs?
> I would like to know how other firms are tracking CD-ROM usage by client
> I.D. and how you arrive a fair billing rate for CD-ROM usage.
> Your input, insights and comments will be very appreciated and I will
> share my results with others, unless you ask request that I not do so.
>
> Thank You,
> Laurie Cameron
> Gordon & Rees
> 275 Battery St., 20th Fl.
> San Francisco, CA 94941
> lcameron@netcom.com
> (415)986-5900
> Fax: (415)986-8054
>
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