Cost Effective Lexis Westlaw and Alternatives to

Cost Effective Lexis & Westlaw and Alternatives to Lexis & Westlaw 22 Prof. Bouvier’s Legal Writing Class, Spring 2012

Low Cost Databases

Stripped down versions of Lexis/WL l l Casemaker –Free w/ free student OSBA membership Fastcase – Free w/ Cleve Metro bar membership. Versus Law – Free to Law students Bloomberg Law – Firms buy it.

Stripped Down Versions of Lexis/WL What does Lexis/Westlaw have these do not? l Editorial features – headnotes, annotations l Practice Books (except Bloomberg) l Law Review articles (except Bloomberg) l Better search mechanisms and coverage

Stripped Down Versions of Lexis and Westlaw l l l Casemaker – best coverage for Ohio. Fastcase – Natural Language, Visual Charts Bloomberg – Search capability, best citator, expansive content Versus. Law – Cheapest, worst coverage https: //www. law. csuohio. edu/lawlibrary/guide s/cost/chart

Terms and Connectors Searching l l l Must use when narrowing in Westlaw. Next Makes searches more precise Some databases do not have natural language

Terms and Connectors How To l Step One- TERMS – from your issue statement/assignment of error l Step Two– SYNONYMS l Step Three – add connectors

Terms l Issue statement – Whether purchaser of bar can avoid purchase agreement due to impossibility of performance when purchaser was unable to obtain a liquor license? l contract and "frustration of purpose" or (imposs! /3 perform!) and “liquor permit” or “liquor license”

Connectors l See https: //www. law. csuohio. edu/lawlibrary/ehan dout/secondary

Fastcase App • Free Iphone/Ipad App • Lawstack is another free Iphone/Ipad • More http: //libguides. law. ucla. edu/content. php? pid =112286&sid=845586

Primary & Secondary – Specific Subjects l l l BNA CCH See Law Databases page for links. NOT low cost, but not charged back to clients Have primary and secondary sources, current awareness

BNA Libraries l eg. Labor and Employment Law Library, Intellectual Property Library, Tax and Accounting Resource Center

CCH Intelliconnect l Topics Covered: Antitrust Banking Corporate Governance Health Care and Medicaid/Medicare Labor & Employment, Pensions Securities

CCH l l l Boolean searching, w/n etc. All in One Search Box Known for their fifty state charts

Benefits of Low Cost Databases Over Free Internet l l l Better Search Mechanisms Coverage May be more current Trustworthiness Aggregated Info – One stop shopping

What’s on the Free Web l l All US Supreme Court Cases Reported Federal Appellate from 1882 Some Unreported Fed App, Fed District State cases: reported – 1950. unreported - early-mid nineties

What’s on the Free Web, cont’d l Statutes & Regulations- federal and states Municipal Ordinances Law Review Articles Forms Dockets, Briefs & Pleadings l LOTS more! l l

Start with a Good Internet Portal l From the Library Home Page – Legal Research on the Web l Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII) l ALSO l Findlaw

Case law l l l Google Scholar – state reported 1950 -, fed circuit/ district 1923 Ohio Supreme Court Legal Research on the Web - Cases

l Search = “birth certificate” marriage transsexual OR transgender OR “sex change”

l Why don’t we get the Nash case?

Google Advanced Operators l l l AROUND –ex. constitution AROUND(5) "home rule“ ~ searches for synonyms and related words ex. ~constitutionality - searches for constitutional, unconstitutional, etc. * placeholder for a word. Ex. sexual * abuse picks up “sexual misconduct abuse”, “sexual child abuse”, etc.

Google Operators • • • AND (default) OR (capitalized) “”Quotes for phrase. - to remove words or phrases. ~ searches synonyms * wildcard to replace word(s) (to * or * ) No truncation sue AROUND(3) brown Fields: intitle: , site: , inurl: define: finds definitions

Jureeka l Firefox/Chrome add-on l Retrieve by citation toolbar l Fed, Ohio Official Reports, Ohio Web Cites, ORC, OAC l On web documents (html), Jureeka links legal citations

Web Sites to Know l l l Thomas. gov – Federal Legislative History FDSys - Fed’l Govt. PACER – Federal Court dockets

Finding Dockets, Pleadings, Motions l l l LLRX or Resources for Online Court Dockets to find dockets Some dockets have full text documents ex. Ohio – Montgomery & Summit Counties, federal PACER – Federal Court dockets

Ehandout l https: //www. law. csuohio. edu/lawlibrary/ehan dout/alternatives 2012

Cost Effective Use of Lexis and Westlaw

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

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

Cost-Saving Tips for Lexis/WL l l 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

Westlaw. Next and Lexis. Advance l Flat rate plan l When view a document, charged if that document is off-plan (will get warning).

Westlaw. Next - Cost Recovery =charging back to client l $60 per search l PLUS charge for items clicked on (Transactional OR Hourly) l PLUS document delivery l Cost chart –Tools tab

Lexis Cost Recovery l $60 for search (or as determined by firm) l Plus cost of documents clicked on

Westlaw. Next/Lexis. Advance Strategy (if bill to client) l Broad search and narrow down different ways (similar to classic) l More importantly, limit NUMBER of documents clicked on

Folders & History l Save document in folder – – – l Westlaw. Next – Access free for one year. Lexis. Advance – Access free ninety days. History – – Westlaw. Next - charges again after 2 am next day Lexis. Advanced –charges again after 24 hours

Cost Effective WLNext/Lexis Advance l l l Show the most detail (available in WLNext only) Sort by relevance Filter your results

Show Less or More Detail

More Searching hints l l l Use Table of Contents instead of Book Browse on WLNext (OK to use Next Arrow on Lexis. Advance) Alerts Use Find

Classic Lexis and Westlaw l Select Transactional (charge per search) or Hourly l Can be additional cost for printing/ downloading l Westlaw - additional communications charge

Figures are from a Local Law Firm, 2008 – “retail rates”

2010 Westlaw Law Firm Retail Rates File/Services Hourly (Per Minute) Transactional (Per Search) All Federal Cases $19. 05 Ohio State and $23. 08 Federal Cases Sixth Circuit Cases $8. 60 All Ohio Cases $8. 60 Get a Document/Find 14. 00 (primary), $24. 00 (secondary) Keycite $6. 25

Do Law Firms Charge Clients Retail Rates? l Firms often not pay retail – Lexis/WL discounts. l Few firms charge retail l May be unethical to charge more than actually pay.

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

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

Will charge for another search

Use Locate instead

Does not charge for another search

Does not charge for another search

Charges a “find”

Does not charge

Classic Searching, Cont’d l Alerts l Shepards or Keycite for Research instead of a search l Search by Topic/Headnote (L); Key. Number/ Keysearch (W) l Get a Document (L), Find (W) l 50 state surveys

But can’t do alert on a Focus search

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

Copy with Cite

Copy with reference

Keycite/Shepards l Brief Check or Lexis. Nexis for Microsoft Office to Shepardize; Westcheck to Keycite

Some additional Keycite hints l Case itself lists the most negative case l Whether billed for keycite in addition to find depends on your plan l Limit Citing References, use headnotes, depth of treatment l keycite or kc: If need keycite, not text of case