Friday, August 24, 2007

Are Westlaw and Lexis Dying?

Will Westlaw and Lexis be going the way of the dinosaur? A new website to find legal opinions may do just that.

From Thomas Swartz at the New York Legal Update:, noting that the information on the new site will be easy to use, free, searchable, free, fast, and of course, free,

Columbia Law School and the University of Colorado Law School have launched a new Web site called AltLaw.org. AltLaw.org contains nearly 170,000 decisions dating back to the early 1990s from the U.S. Supreme Court and Federal Appellate courts. The site's creators, Columbia Law School’s Timothy Wu and Stuart Sierra, and University of Colorado Law School's Paul Ohm, said the site's database will grow over time. [More at the link]

The future may not be so bright for those companies when their bread and butter is delivered free to the legal world.

Labels: Odds and Ends

posted by Eric Turkewitz  # Permanent Link

Comments:

Interesting post; however, I doubt either Westlaw of Lexis will become obselete until the free services develop some type of "key" system. There are other free services that are around, but they all lack the relational nature of Westlaw and Lexis that allows you to find one case and then use that case to "jump" to other similar cases. Until that happens, Westlaw and Lexis are likely to remain relevant and necessary to all but the most basic searchers.
Hans Poppe
www.PoppeLawFirm.com/blog

# posted by  Hans Poppe : August 25, 2007 11:05 PM

 

I also found this discussion on AltLaw with several relevant comments on why Westlaw and Lexis don't have anything to worry about (yet). Keycite is one of them.
http://patterico.com/2007/08/23/free-legal-research/#comment-278982
Hans Poppe

# posted by  Hans Poppe : August 25, 2007 11:18 PM

 

I agree, which is why my I wrote dyiing, instead of dead. It's most definately a process, and likely a long one. But it seems that is what the future holds.

# posted by  Eric Turkewitz : August 26, 2007 6:43 AM

 

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<$BlogBacklinkTitle$>  
<$BlogBacklinkSnippet$>

posted by <$BlogBacklinkAuthor$> @ <$BlogBacklinkDateTime$>

Create a Link

<< Home

The New York Personal Injury Law Blog is sponsored by its creator, Eric Turkewitz of The Turkewitz Law Firm. The blog might be considered a form of attorney advertising in accordance with New York rules going into effect February 1, 2007 (22 NYCRR 1200.1, et. seq.) As of July 14, 2008, Law.com became an advertiser, as you can see in the sidebar. Law.com does not control the editorial content of the blog in any way.

Throughout the blog as it develops, you may see examples of cases we have handled, or cases from others, that are used for illustrative purposes. Since all cases are different, and legal authority may change from year to year, it is important to remember that prior results in any particular case do not guarantee or predict similar outcomes with respect to any future matter, including yours, in which any lawyer or law firm may be retained.

Some of the commentary may be become outdated. Some might be a minority opinion, or simply wrong. No reader should consider this site (or any other) to be authoritative, and if a legal issue is presented, the reader should contact an attorney of his or her own choosing for advice.

Finally, we are not responsible for the comments of others that may be added to this site.