Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Post for February 23, 2010
Do they really believe what they are saying? Well Westlaw and Lexis reps are always talking about ways of making people better searchers in order to save money. There is always this feature or that feature that can make the search more fruitful and thus lower the cost. But if they really wanted to save people money they could just charge less. It is a simple enough concept the less you charge the more people save. We now have WestlawNext, which is going to probably make bad researchers into even worse researchers. Now don’t get me wrong I believe in capitalism and think that companies should do what they can to make their shareholders money, so I in no way have a problem with either Westlaw and Lexis. So I just wonder, do they really believe what they are saying is true or do they know it’s just a bunch of malarkey.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree that prices for online databases can be a little confusing. It’s helpful and necessary to know what the cost of a search will be in Lexis or Westlaw because the cost will eventually be passed on to the client or the company. Here is a link to a recent post on a law blog where they mention free sources for attorney’s: Geeklawblog.com from March 5th.
ReplyDeleteThe people writing the blog wonder if they really need a subscription source to practice law. There are some state and local bar associations providing free sources (or at least sources at a reduced cost) to do legal research. The blog mentions Casemaker and Fastcase. I understand particular clients ask the librarians to do legal research on less expensive sources like Fastcase before turning to Westlaw or Lexis.