Monthly Archives: March 2018

Mar 08

30% of the Market is Still Paying Too Much

By Michael Feit | Feit Consulting , Legal Information Trends , Pricing , Sole Provider , Vendors

“As a person who has watched this industry for over 17 years; it is amazing and frustrating to see that 30% of the market is still paying way too much.” -Michael Feit

Prices for Westlaw and Lexis grew astronomically from the late 90’s up until the 2008 due to usage growing so fast.  After 2008, 30% of the market said it cannot afford to cover the costs of online research – not being able to pass off the full costs to clients.

Some firms were successful in getting concessions from both Westlaw/Lexis. However, in 2010 the Sole Provider trend emerged. Many firms started to move forward and eliminate either Westlaw or Lexis.

Right now; 55% of large law firms have one or the other.  Of the 45% of firms that continue to have both Lexis and Westlaw, 20% have threatened to eliminate a vendor….or have eliminated a vendor but then took them back at best of market pricing.

Currently,  25-30% of market are still overpaying by greater than 50-100% of mid-market pricing (per Feit’s Benchmarks).  Is your firm getting the best market pricing?  Click here to get more information from our experts.

Mar 05

What is the Lexis strategy of blocking Amlaw from buying other products?

By Michael Feit | Feit Consulting , Vendors

In 2017, Lexis decided existing clients can no longer have access to Law 360 or any other products if they cancel core Lexis. This strategy seems to be working in about 20% of firms that might have otherwise canceled Lexis. For the most part, these products are too new and not that important yet to most firms for this new strategy to have a major impact.

We recommend that Lexis take advantage of Westlaw’s arrogant pricing and try to partner with firms to show the value in their suite of products.  It does not make sense to cut off revenue streams given firms’ willingness to walk away from Lexis.  In most instances, not allowing customers access to your jewel products is going to be more costly than the value of trying to retain products.