1 / 49

Cost Effective Lexis & Westlaw Prof. Broering-Jacobs Legal Writing, Spring 2011

Cost Effective Lexis & Westlaw Prof. Broering-Jacobs Legal Writing, Spring 2011. Topics Covered. The Cost of Lexis & Westlaw Frugal Lexis and Westlaw Use WestlawNext Cost Effective Use. Flat Rate Plans. Still care about cost effectiveness because: client charged

tthomason
Download Presentation

Cost Effective Lexis & Westlaw Prof. Broering-Jacobs Legal Writing, Spring 2011

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Cost Effective Lexis & WestlawProf. Broering-Jacobs Legal Writing, Spring 2011

  2. Topics Covered • The Cost of Lexis & Westlaw • Frugal Lexis and Westlaw Use • WestlawNext Cost Effective Use

  3. Flat Rate Plans Still care about cost effectiveness because: • client charged • Item maybe outside of plan • Greater Usage = Greater Cost for Flat Rate Plan next year

  4. How to tell when out of plan • Lexis- items outside of plan not accessible. Another account to access off plan. Or, may have dollar signs. • Westlaw- Message saying outside of plan. Or, Directory – click My Databases. Or set preferences to indicate off plan with *

  5. Figures are from a Local Law Firm, 2008

  6. 2010 Westlaw Law Firm Costs

  7. Computing Westlaw Costs • Hourly or Transactional Charge for Database use PLUS • Communication Charge (per minute) PLUS • Downloading or Printing Charge

  8. Computing Westlaw Costs • Florida Briefs Multibase Click for rate • Select rate = $26.42/min (see Westlaw 2010 Subscriber Agreement ) • Click Subscriber for per search cost • Add communication charges - .22/min • Add print/download costs – .05 per line or $27.50 per document

  9. Cost-Saving Tips for Lexis/WL • CALI Lesson – Cost of Legal Reseach • Cost Effective Legal Research C|M|LAW Library Guide • Lexis – Conducting Efficient Research tutorial • Westlaw - Cost Effective Research » Powerpoint

  10. BEFORE you search • Ask librarian/managing partner about price plan. • Use print or lower cost databases • Plan your search before you go online • Call the Reference Attorneys

  11. Cost Effective Searching-Lexis & Classic WL • Narrowest Source • Broad Search, then Focus/Locate • Table of Contents • Book Browse on LEXIS (not Westlaw) • History (L) or Research Trail (W) – (next day) • Westlaw – search transactional or hourly?

  12. Will charge for another search

  13. Use Locate instead

  14. Does not charge for another search

  15. Does not charge for another search

  16. Charges a “find”

  17. Does not charge

  18. Classic Searching, Cont’d • Alerts • Use Shepards or Keycite for research instead of a search • Search by Topic/Headnote (L); KeyNumber/ Keysearch (W) • Get a Document (L), Find (W) • 50 state surveys

  19. But can’t do alert on a Focus search

  20. Cost Effective Printing • Westlaw decide per line or per document • Print from browser • Copy with Reference • Get and Print, Find and Print

  21. Print from browser to save $

  22. Copy with Cite

  23. Copy with reference

  24. Keycite/Shepards • Brief Check or LexisNexis for Microsoft Office to Shepardize; Westcheck to Keycite

  25. WestlawNext • Flat rate plan • When view a document, charged if that document is off-plan (will get warning). • Save document in folder - access forever. Document updates for one year for free. • History saved one year (but does charge again if after 2 am next day)

  26. WestlawNext - Cost Recovery =charging back to client • $60 per search • PLUS a find charge for items clicked on (Transactional Mode) OR per minute charge (Hourly Mode) • Cost chart – Click on Tools tab, then Subscriber Pricing Guide (non-discounted rates)

  27. Cost Effective WestlawNext • Some SEARCHING hints are different than Classic Westlaw • PRINTING hints the same • Keycite hints same, with some additional..

  28. Some additional Keycite hints • WestlawNext lists the most negative cases on the case itself • Do not click on all Keycite results – Limit Citing References to get best cases

  29. Select a type of document to get filters, eg. cases

  30. Cost Effective WestlawNext • Preferences link – pick Hourly or Transactional. Begins charging when click on Document. • Broad initial search • Narrow using filters or search within results (as many as desired)

  31. Cost Effective WestlawNext Searching - Transactional • Pull up (Click on) the least amount of documents needed • Show the most detail • Documents ranked by relevance • Use Folders (forever, updated 1 yr and History (until 2 am following day)

  32. Show Less or More Detail

  33. More WestlawNext Searching hints • Use Table of Contents instead of Book Browse • Alerts • Use Find • Use Keycite for research instead of a search

  34. Lexis Advance • For Solos - $175/month, $315 for two lawyer firm • A bargain – typically $3000 or more/

  35. Reference Attorney Phone Nos. • 800 45 LEXIS • 1-800-REF-ATTY (733-2889) (Westlaw) • 1-800-850-9378 for law students (Westlaw)

More Related