Category Archives for "Best Practices"

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.

Year-End Vendor Gifts Too Good to be True?

By Kate | Best Practices , Contract Negotiations , Pricing

Year-end holidays are full of fun, gifts, giving and cheer!

But beware of those special tidings from your legal information vendors that seem too good to be true.

Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg, WK–virtually all your legal information vendors–provide bonuses and incentives to salespeople who can add incremental sales at the end of the year.

Vendors may offer year-end gifts that on the surface seem quite generous. The resulting variety of offers can be staggering but can also be tricks. Your firm may be offered price breaks on new contracts, extensions on current deals, trial periods of new products, and the list goes on and on. There may be something hidden in these special tidings. If a vendor has proposed to extend your contract at the same price or slightly lower price, it is very possible your firm is already paying too much.

Be proactive this December! Get the gift you truly want. If you have a wishlist, tell your vendor now; you just might get a deal you actually want. Don’t play “Secret Santa” with your vendors; take a moment now to anticipate the year-end push, and alert the rest of the firm to be wary of reps bearing gifts.

Beware of 5-year contracts.

By Kate | Best Practices , Contract Negotiations

Negotiating with the vendors can be a frustrating, drawn-out and often unsatisfying process. For many of our clients, negotiating ranks with tax-time on everyone’s list of fun things to do.  One of the key emotions we see in clients approaching the end of a contract with either Westlaw or Lexis is dread. So, a longer contract with fewer renewals sounds like a great idea.   However, with rare exceptions, a long-term contract is among the worst paths a firm can choose, for several reasons. The first reason seems obvious: change. Technology and pricing are continuously changing. You wouldn’t buy a plan that kept you from upgrading your phone for 5 years, would you? Additionally, prices are always changing, and for Lexis and Westlaw that change has been downward. The second reason is trust. If you don’t trust your vendor enough to deliver a good deal every 2-3 years, why on Earth would you believe a 4-5 year offer is better?   Finally, who knows what the legal information landscape will look like in 5 years? Generally, a longer contract benefits the vendor. For legal information contracts, we always advise keeping the term to within your near- and long-term forecasts, generally 3 years or fewer.