All Posts by Michael Feit

How do firms handle lost content?

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , Surveys

In Feit Consulting’s Sole Provider Experience Survey, 50 firms responded to the question, “How did you handle lost content?” Surprisingly, only 56% of firms needed to purchase print, and 22% said lost content was not an issue.

Selected comments from the survey results:

“Actually kept necessary print. It is getting harder to encourage use of local law library, because they are moving content online also, if they don’t get licensing for visiting researchers then we don’t have access.”

“Also utilize colleagues who can provide assistance if necessary.  It’s reciprocal.”

“We have a membership with the county law library, which allows us to access some Lexis content.”

“We heavily evaluated content across providers to make sure that in our practice areas we did not create content gaps. We surveyed attorneys in practice groups to aid us in making these decisions. We did compare-and-contrasts between vendors, and we had focus groups to address individual concerns of power users.”

“We spend more on our outside document company than we did before.”

To purchase the full survey results, contact Feit.

If Lexis and Westlaw were new today, would your firm purchase both?

By Michael Feit | Budgeting , Sole Provider

Imagine if Lexis and Westlaw were new products today, offering your firm the same subscription price you already have. Would you really purchase both? Most would argue that these products are far too close in total content to need both. Yet, many firms still have both of these vendors. This duopoly paradigm has been in place since the early ’90s, and has become the norm in law firms.

Historically, nearly all firms retained both Lexis and Westlaw because the majority of costs could be passed through to clients. The recession forever changed the dynamics of the online legal information market for both vendors and firms. Firms started to see their sophisticated corporate clients closely scrutinizing costs and refusing to pay for online legal research. Now that recovery rates have greatly diminished, firms are being forced to evaluate their need to retain both vendors.

How did we collect data for Playbook?

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , Surveys , White Papers

Several tools were utilized in obtaining data for our Sole Provider Playbook.

To capture the full-market view of the sole-provider trend, Feit Consulting collected and analyzed data from midsize and large law firms, with greater emphasis on large law. This report has been a collaborative effort, with subscribers’ concerns steering our research.

Data was collected through the following methods:

• Phone Interviews: Conducted from March 2016 through November 2016, with 105 firms. These interviews focused on the firm’s current legal information purchasing strategy and sentiments toward vendors.
• Surveys: Four surveys that provided the data shared in this report were conducted from March 2016 through December 2016. Surveys and respondents are as follows:
  • Associate Westlaw/Lexis Preference Survey, 238 firms responding.
  • Westlaw/Lexis Sentiment Survey, 127 firms responding.
  • Sole Provider Surveys (Customer Experience Survey & Concerns Survey), 116 firms responding.
  • Sole Provider Playbook Module: 13 dual-provider firms participated in the Module, allowing Feit Consulting to capture and investigate further more specific details related to concerns, questions, and hurdles associated with the sole-provider option.

What is included in The Sole Provider Playbook? See The Playbook’s Table of Contents

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , White Papers

Busting the Wexis Duopoly

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , White Papers

The Lexis and Westlaw duopoly has been broken. More than 50% of large law firms have made the choice to eliminate either Lexis or Westlaw. The norm of having both Lexis and Westlaw has officially ended. For firms who currently have both Lexis and Westlaw, how do you assess whether the sole-provider option is right for your firm? And if so, how do you implement this huge-change management decision? The Sole Provider Playbook is an essential resource for law firm administrators to assess the viability of the sole-provider option. This step-by-step guide details what components to include in your business plan, from the cost/benefit analysis and content hurdle issues, to making a recommendation to firm management. The Playbook includes checklists, detailed processes, hurdles and solutions, a sample presentation and much more. This is a must-have tool for every law firm administrator.

Click here to learn more about The Sole Provider Playbook.

The Sole-Provider Option: Is it worth it?

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , Surveys

Feit Consulting conducted surveys with firms who currently are sole-provider or had only Lexis or only Westlaw in the last three years. We were surprised with the satisfaction rates. Out of 89 sole-provider firms surveyed, 82 characterized their experience as excellent or satisfactory (better than neutral). Only three firms characterized their experiences as less than satisfactory. The surprisingly strong satisfaction rate for sole-provider firms drives home the point that firms can operate exceedingly well without having these two duplicative vendors.