Archive for the ‘Lexis-Nexis’Category
Litigation Software to the Rescue!
43% of litigators who participated in a recent ABA survey say that they use litigation support software. As for the 57% of you wondering what exactly litigation software is, this is your lucky day. The term litigation support software refers to an entire subgenre of database software for storing, searching, and reviewing discovery and evidentiary material. Way better than manually going through a physical file, that’s for sure! Here’s a helpful chart produced by the ABA of the different litigation software out there. For more information on the respective companies and how their software can facilitate your your litigation practice, take a look at the websites below and decide for yourself (this applies to both the 43% of you already familiar with the systems as well as the 57% of you who may be interested in making the switch):
1. Anacomp CaseLogistix
2. Lexis Nexis Concordance
3. ILS Edge
4. iCONECT
5. ImageDepot
6. IPRO eReview
7. Lexbe
8. MasterFile
9. Nextpoint
10. CT Summation iBlaze
24
02 2010
Network Part 2: Not Going to Take It Anymore
In Part 1 of this series I discussed the current legal research market (lame) and how Wexis was without challengers until a little company called Google smacked them upside the head last year. But the question remains: what are you going to do about it?
Change. At Last?
Even if Google Scholar does begin the long climb into the consciousness of lawyers, goes the thinking, Wexis could certainly deal with a direct attack as it dealt with Loislaw and Fastcase before. After all the real power of the network is that it resists by tightening its grip and digging in its heels until removing it would kill the host. But direct action is not Google’s style. On the contrary, Google is king of feature creep. It excels at constant development of bells and whistles joined to a simple, irresistible feature like … search. So it’s a good bet that Google Scholar will not directly threaten Westlaw or Lexis any more than Adwords threatened Findlaw or Lawyers.com. Of course Google has relentlessly siphoned off legal marketing dollars from Wexis for the past decade regardless of its indirect approach. And like Adwords, Google Scholar is part of an even bigger network than either Westlaw or Lexis. So maybe change is possible.
At the end of the day, I believe that Google Scholar will do for legal research what Avvo did for lawyer selection: bring transparency where there was none before. If that happens then consumers of legal information including lawyers, scholars, students, and lay people, will be able to bypass the thicket of jargon and questionable practices that kept them in thrall to Wexis for a century. The result would be a body of legal research enhanced by user input (think Wikipedia) instead of a narrowly controlled, opaque system like the ones that lawyers use now. Change, at last.
Running Scared
This month the ABA Journal features a comprehensive look at the new crop of threats facing Westlaw and Lexis, including Google Scholar and Bloomberg Law. According to the article Westlaw intends to roll out it’s next-gen research platform, WestlawNext, in time for the ABA Technology Show in March; while LexisNexis will announce the new Lexis, dubbed creatively ‘New Lexis,’ later this year. But while the article makes it sound as if both companies are about to make a real technological leap, I’d advise you not to hold your breath. Westlaw and Lexis have never responded to threats with anything but cosmetic changes, falling back instead on enticement or intimidation to keep users loyal. And it has always worked, so why fix what ain’t broken? Besides, how likely is it that after generations of taking their market for granted either company will invest the time, money, or business discipline needed to break with the past? Then again, if Wexis loses its iron grip on legal the spigot of legal information then it is nothing but a search engine, and not a good one at that. Reason enough to be afraid.
I’m Mad As Hell And Not
Going to Take It Anymore
So are Westlaw and Lexis simply keeping up appearances as they did when the Internet threatened their proprietary networks in the 90’s? Or do they really think they can change everything from their business model to their corporate culture to cope with the likes of Google and Bloomberg? My guess is that, as usual, Westlaw and Lexis will talk a good game but continue to rely on contracts and intimidation over innovation. Hey, it worked for AIG, GM, and Lehman Brothers, right? And look where they are today.
07
02 2010
Ahh … that New Lexis Smell
Today LexisNexis unveiled a partnership with Microsoft at LegalTech NY – the result is meant to foreshadow the complete revamp of the Lexis research system due out later this year, and dubbed New Lexis. In short, the company’s answer to WestlawNext, which was unveiled at LT NY yesterday. As a result of the partnership, a LexisNexis tab can now be integrated into the ribbon that Microsoft began using in Office 2007 and continues to use in Office 2010 beta as a substitute for the profusion of button bars in Office 2003. Users can conduct legal research, Internet searches on Bing and Google, even Sheppardize, all from within their Word, Outlook, or SharePoint document.
According to Clemens Ceipek, vice president of New Lexis, our customers spend their time … in e-mails or in Word creating or reviewing documents. That is exactly what we are doing. As a lawyer you no longer need to go to a separate, dedicated site to get the information.” Ideally this means that a user reviewing a brief in Word can click on the Shepard’s tab and confirm the status of all cases in the document at once. If the user wants to read the cases, clicking on another tab splits the screen and pulls up the cases. This same integration of information could extend to items within a firm’s own network or document management system in addition to items from Lexis databases or the Internet.
via abajournal.com
02
02 2010
WestlawNext. Where’s the Beef?
Reuters has been claiming that it’s “next gen” product WestlawNext will practically do your research for you, and as you know monopolies like Westlaw are famous for truthfulness so I don’t see why we shouldn’t trust them. Do you?
For instance, check out the above video. I couldn’t help noticing that there is nothing substantive in it, or in any of the company’s other marketing pieces for this product. Not the slightest attempt to tell me why this bill of goods is any better than the last one. Come on Westlaw. How do you look yourself in the eyes every morning? Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice … and I won’t buy your bullshit anymore. How about asking lawyers what they really need for a change instead of selling high-priced hot air? In short, I say #fail.
Posted via web from practice (redux)
31
01 2010
You know you have a following when …
… websites that aggregate 3rd-party applications compete for your favor. Case in point, the following 5 iPhone app aggregators are featured in this post on RWW
Chorus
AppsFire
Yappler
Appolicious
App Genius
This is where survival of the fittest takes on a whole new meaning. Even the folks at Read/Write/Web aren’t sure which one is the best of the best. Now, if only our industry inspired such creative aggregation, maybe someone would have a shot at unseating the Legal Research Duopoly that rules our lives.
Hey, a guy can dream …
17
11 2009
getting found online
From Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop – some good advice about how to get found online:
- Don’t Be Ordinary. Unique ideas will take you further than throwing money at marketing
- Create Good Content. Blogs, videos, podcasts, social networks, and tweets get noticed
- Optimize It. Optimize posts to be found on Google, Facebook, Twitter, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
- Promote It. Post your content as many ways as you can and email it to interested parties
- Measure Results. Act once, measure twice and keep measuring for continued success
05
11 2009
social irm (definition)
Social IRM Engagement Chart
Social IRM (noun) (so-shal eye-ar-em): the discipline of managing relationships between influencers (ie: bloggers) and brands (ie: LexisNexis, Westlaw, etc.) by offering real value with the goal of exciting, maintaining, and harnessing positive word of mouth. Used mostly by marketers and forward-thinking professionals.
