Category Archives for "Vendors"

What happened in 2017?

By Michael Feit | Contract Negotiations , Feit Consulting , Librarians , Resources , Sole Provider , Vendors

Westlaw and Lexis continued to see their market share erode due to firms eliminating one or the other vendors as the Sole Provider trend continues. Lexis is now starting to become victorious where previously Westlaw has dominated the market.  What is interesting is the rate at which firms choosing Lexis to Westlaw has increased.

Lexis really stepped it up in 2017.  By purchasing new companies and developing a suite of products. Lexis holds onto firms that might have canceled by allowing access to their exclusive suite of products, making it difficult for firms to exist without Lexis.  

Westlaw maintains legacy popularity but we find them priced too high in many places and firms cannot justify the astronomical price disparities. Firms are unhappy with Westlaw’s inexplicable pricing model and as a result, more firms are eliminating Westlaw more so than ever before.

BBNA had some success in 2017.  They have been breaking into firms that have phased out Westlaw or Lexis but for the most part they are more expensive than Westlaw/Lexis and firms are not interested spending that much money on an unproven product.  

Westlaw/Lexis were very aggressive in going after firms that they had historically lost by giving firms they lost?  10-15% of firms that had previously canceled a vendor contract are “flipping” in order to get best in market vendor pricing, sometimes at 1/10th the price, and taking vendors back to these lower price points.

What to Expect in 2018 from the Vendors

By Michael Feit | Contract Negotiations , Vendors

Lexis on the other hand is a much more open negotiating partner. Because they do not have the popularity of Westlaw, they are always fighting against this. In the latter half of 2017, Lexis developed a bottom line on pricing. A new strategy enacted in 2017 that we will see carried through in 2018 is the inability to retain peripheral products without a core Lexis contract; this is especially true for AmLaw 200 firms. This policy will not work indefinitely. At its core, this could be a great strategy but in our opinion, it is too soon for Lexis to enact this now. They need more buy-in and ramp up of the new acquisitions; time to solidify their product offerings before cutting off firms.

Unless there are dramatic changes in the market such as product offerings or new competition, more firms will choose to eliminate one of these two vendors, with an even split equally divided between Lexis and Westlaw.

2017 Legal Information Market: What We Saw

By Michael Feit | Vendors

It has been an exciting year for legal information, everything from Lexis purchases to the increasing sole provider trend. Here, we sum up the major happenings of 2017.

The sole provider trend continues to take hold. Firms are choosing to no longer be hostage to their vendors. The announcement by a big firm eliminating a vendor illustrates the reality of the trend. What will this mean for 2018? See Feit’s future forecasts this Friday.

We saw changes with regards to negotiation strategies by the all three vendors: Westlaw, Lexis and Bloomberg.

Regarding Westlaw, no matter what your contract is, the storyline is the same. They will tell you that you are at the right price. If you are seeking a contract that is less than three years, you will likely be penalized, rewarding those who choose longer contracts.

Firms choosing to eliminate Lexis may receive the threat of not being able to keep peripheral products. This is especially true for AmLaw. AmLaw firms eliminating Lexis will automatically lose their peripheral products once the contracts expire.

The very popular products, Law360 and Practical Law, have become drugs for lawyers. Once in the door, everyone is hooked. Given their popularity, these are very difficult to remove.

As for Bloomberg, they continue to struggle to find footing in solidifying pricing that makes sense in today’s market, particularly in light of Westlaw and Lexis pricing.

2018 will no doubt also be an exciting year. Check out Feit Consulting’s post on what to expect in 2018 this Friday.

Is Lexis on the rise?

By Michael Feit | Legal Information Trends , Vendors

There has been a long-standing preference by attorneys and other legal information researchers for Westlaw products. And as such, Westlaw’s pricing has been significantly higher than Lexis. It had been enticing for some consumers to contract with Lexis based on pricing alone. But given how aggressively Lexis is acquiring Westlaw customers, it is clear that the reason is more than pricing and terms.

Based on a roadmap of enhancements that LEXIS provides subscribers, firms are looking to the future as they negotiate multi year contracts. Firms are choosing Lexis based on visual, analytical tools that have been highly received. Lexis has developed a clear vision for the future which includes a richer and more diverse portfolio than their past product mix.

With acquisitions like Lex Machina and Ravel, Lexis has seemingly cornered the market on analytics and data-driven decision making. Their new strategy is rebounding their solutions and products. It is evident that Lexis is paying attention to the future trends of artificial intelligence, and end users’ desire for greater functionality. The result, an improved LexisAdvance that knits these new products with a common gateway.

2017 has been a critical pivot year for Lexis. We anticipate to see Lexis continual rise in the market, both in number of contracted clients as well as in the richness of their products.

The Demise of the Wexis Monopoly

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , Vendors

Today, over 50% of large law firms retain only Lexis or only Westlaw. Within large law, 21% of firms with over 500 attorneys have gone this route. If a firm with 1000+ attorneys can go sole-provider, does this foretell the end of the Wexis monopoly?

In the world of legal information, Westlaw and Lexis have been and remain the market leaders. Until recently, midsize and large law firms universally believed that Westlaw and Lexis were complementary products. Even once-innovative products and services ultimately find themselves on the path to commoditization as they mature. Fierce competition motivates products to adopt their rival’s successful features, and therefore become more similar. While there may be preference for one or another, unique product benefits become less obvious.

As corporate clients pushed back on research costs, firms were not able to recover costs entirely. The effect on the bottom line pushed some firms to make the decision to go sole-provider. The freedom of funds allows firms and organizations to purchase wish-list software and technology to enhance the delivery of legal information. Feit Consulting has been monitoring the sole-provider trend for over a decade. While this has worked for some, the big question is whether it is the right decision for your firm or organization.

How should you proceed?

1) Get the pricing intel to determine contract pricing is favorable. Compare contracts with market intel in Feit’s white paper, Optimizing Legal Information Pricing.

2) Whether or not your firm or organization has favorable pricing, this alone does not pre-determine whether you should keep both. It is worthwhile to assess the viability of sole-provider option. Develop a business case. If needed, check out this resource, the Sole-Provider Viability Decision Guide.

3) Execute and implement. Consider hiring a consultant if you decide to make a change.

Regardless of the outcome, exploring the sole-provider option is a healthy step in revising your legal-information strategy and can provide intelligence to enhance your tactics for upcoming negotiation. If you choose to do it alone, these resources are an advantage to legal-information decision makers on what steps and considerations should be made in the process.

Stay Away From Long-Term Deals Unless…

By Michael Feit | Contract Negotiations , Vendors

Both Lexis and Westlaw are currently pitching long-term deals. This is symptomatic of a saturated market. Online usage and recovery rates have been declining since 2008 and as a result pricing has declined. Why lock your firm into a long-term price commitment in this rapidly evolving market?

Negotiating with the vendors can be a frustrating, drawn-out and often unsatisfying process. 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?

The legal information landscape is rapidly evolving with exciting acquisitions and new companies/products emerging. These products will continue to pull away use and interest in Lexis and Westlaw. It is always possible that one change in the market could make another product irrelevant. And as Artificial Intelligence rapidly gains momentum, there is much to be seen.

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, which is generally three years or fewer unless you are receiving a truly exceptional deal.