can you undrink the lexisnexis koolaid?

[brian lauter]

All year long Westlaw and LexisNexis engage in Cold War-style competition as they vie for the affections of law students across the country. Free access, free pizza, free printing services, free training, free water bottles, free writing utensils, free stress balls.... 

Why do they waste all this money on us? Because legal publishing in the real world is big business and they’re hoping we’ll waste our money on them in the future.  You’d think the Westlaw v. LexisNexis competition would drive prices down. But, transactional, hourly and fixed rate prices still remain high, so it sounds like they get a pretty good return on those free pens.

In a podcast posted on May It Please The Court last week, a group of lawyers, professors and legal publishing insiders discussed the growing movement toward bringing legal materials into the public domain.

The Public Library of the Law (“PLoL”) is currently the most prominent free public domain legal research tool. I’ve used it, and it works. But, if you’re a little weary about relying on the PLoL for your summer research needs, don’t forget to register for summer access to Westlaw/LexisNexis through your free school account. If they catch you using your school account for paid work, the public domain might be all you have left.

Comments

wary!