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No doubt LexisNexis and WestLaw have certain value added services that have certainly been developed through the years based on their positions as industry lead

No doubt LexisNexis and WestLaw have certain value added services that have certainly been developed through the years based on their positions as industry leaders, but you can't deny certain business practices that box out any potential free competitor. Reflect back on your law school days. I bet you received a free student account to either or both LexisNexis and WestLaw (accounts worth thousands of dollars given for free through 3 years to train students on their programs); probably free training to your class from certified company representatives; donations to your school/creation of computer labs for exclusive rights to the students; etc... I recognize your point about not being a monopoly, but that is in the Google - competition is only a click away - sense of the word, there are all kinds of anti-competitive practices and the marketplace reflects them. If you want further indication of West willingness to engage in anti-trust/anti-competitive behavior take a look at Rodriquez v. West Publishing Corporation and Kaplan, Inc., where West for found to collude with Kaplan to create monopolies in Bar prep and LSAT review classes.

massysett 11y ago
My agency just dumped Westlaw for cost reasons and now we are exclusively Lexis. Lexis is inferior in many ways. The subject indexes are not nearly as comprehensive or usable (makes sense, since West has a huge head start with this with its Key Number System.) The case summaries are too wordy. Westlaw and Lexis both get big bucks to invest in their databases but then they are not at parity. So I doubt that some free (beer or speech) competitor is going to come along without those same resources and mount a serious challenge in the Lexis or Westlaw strongholds. However, there is a reason Westlaw and Lexis are both going to Google-like interfaces with their next generation products (Westlaw Next and Lexis Advance). Attorneys are just going into Google now. Certainly if I'm looking for a news article I'm going to Google first, where years ago one might have done LexisNexis first. Even having to type my Lexis password is too big an impediment when I can get stuff on Google. Also, when I don't need the firepower of Lexis I often go elsewhere. A lot of my work is just the CFR or US Code and the government has those for free, though the search capability is not as good. So overall I doubt anti-competitive behavior explains much what dominance Westlaw and Lexis still do have (and I do think it's shrinking.) They have invested lots of money and these are professional tools that need lots of investment. The free (beer or speech) competitors aren't going to compete on the elements that need lots of investment, but they will nibble away at the things that Westlaw and Lexis were overkill for.
- will_brown 11y ago
  Sure statutes and the USC are easier on Google. In fact I have never used Lexis or Westlaw to look those up. I disagree about articles, you can certainly find legal articles on google on various topics, but the results are a shadow of Westlaw and Lexis. But try search for a case on Google - not by citation, not by case style - by natural language or connectors like Lexis or Westlaw. Results are worse than useless, because you just lost time. Any startup could do case law search 10 times better than Google, but they could never compete in the market because lawyers were trained on Lexis and/or Westlaw are entrenched in law schools training the next generation of lawyers.

massysett 11y ago

My agency just dumped Westlaw for cost reasons and now we are exclusively Lexis. Lexis is inferior in many ways. The subject indexes are not nearly as comprehensive or usable (makes sense, since West has a huge head start with this with its Key Number System.) The case summaries are too wordy. Westlaw and Lexis both get big bucks to invest in their databases but then they are not at parity. So I doubt that some free (beer or speech) competitor is going to come along without those same resources and mount a serious challenge in the Lexis or Westlaw strongholds. However, there is a reason Westlaw and Lexis are both going to Google-like interfaces with their next generation products (Westlaw Next and Lexis Advance). Attorneys are just going into Google now. Certainly if I'm looking for a news article I'm going to Google first, where years ago one might have done LexisNexis first. Even having to type my Lexis password is too big an impediment when I can get stuff on Google. Also, when I don't need the firepower of Lexis I often go elsewhere. A lot of my work is just the CFR or US Code and the government has those for free, though the search capability is not as good. So overall I doubt anti-competitive behavior explains much what dominance Westlaw and Lexis still do have (and I do think it's shrinking.) They have invested lots of money and these are professional tools that need lots of investment. The free (beer or speech) competitors aren't going to compete on the elements that need lots of investment, but they will nibble away at the things that Westlaw and Lexis were overkill for.

will_brown 11y ago
Sure statutes and the USC are easier on Google. In fact I have never used Lexis or Westlaw to look those up. I disagree about articles, you can certainly find legal articles on google on various topics, but the results are a shadow of Westlaw and Lexis. But try search for a case on Google - not by citation, not by case style - by natural language or connectors like Lexis or Westlaw. Results are worse than useless, because you just lost time. Any startup could do case law search 10 times better than Google, but they could never compete in the market because lawyers were trained on Lexis and/or Westlaw are entrenched in law schools training the next generation of lawyers.