Category Archives for "Vendors"

Jun 21

Throwback Thursday

By Michael Feit | Vendors , White Papers

Flashback to 1994 when the “customer is always right”. The online legal information market was so much fun to be a part of during the mid-nineties, for both vendors and law firms. Law firms loved their vendors. In the go-go 90’s, everything was great. The market was super-charged everywhere.

By 1994, 95% of large law firms had both Lexis and Westlaw. Usage and revenue was increasing 20-75% annually. Firms enjoyed the “customer is always right” philosophy that both vendors embraced. Customer feedback was respected and encouraged. With costs being passed through to firms’ clients, it was a period of mutual admiration.

The competition between Westlaw and Lexis was fierce on all fronts. Both products were continually and rapidly enhancing with tremendous ongoing innovation. The products became more complete, with deeper and more archival content sets.

Healthy competition spurred each vendor to strive to match and surpass the other in content functionality. Lexis was favored for news and information, while Westlaw was favored for litigation. One vendor would announce a new feature, only to be matched and outdone by the other.

As growth accelerated and prices increased, the vendors worked even harder to ensure costs would not become a concern to law firms. Vendors created very successful programs to instruct firms on how best to develop and maintain strong online cost recovery.

It was a true win-win relationship for the vendors, law firms, and the lawyers.

Feit Consulting’s white paper, Westlaw & Lexis: Path to Commoditization tracks the progression of these two vendors and provides a future outlook. Learn more here.

Jun 08

Can Lexis unRavel Westlaw?

By Michael Feit | Vendors

Lexis announced this week they have acquired Ravel Law. With acquisitions like Lex Machina and now Ravel, Lexis has seemingly cornered the market on analytics and data-driven decision making.

In recent years, due to Westlaw’s incredible popularity with law school graduates, and some notable problems with LexisAdvance rollouts, Lexis’ value–and pricing–diminished. However, Lexis has regrouped, formulating a strategy to rebound by acquiring new, innovative companies and reinvesting in law school programs. Most importantly, Lexis is promising to knit it all together, linking the new products with a common gateway into an improved LexisAdvance.

The Ravel acquisition is an important pivot point, and we think Lexis’ usage and pricing are headed for a bounce-back. Westlaw is ripe for a take-down. The market will continue to become less tolerant of Westlaw’s high pricing compared to Lexis’ (more than double). For the first time in a while, it is an excellent time to ‘buy’ Lexis, for firms that can negotiate a reasonable and optimal price.

Apr 20

LexisNexis: Leveraging Assets Too Soon?

By Michael Feit | Pricing , Vendors

As legal information experts, we closely monitor changes to pricing policies of the major players in the field. Recently, Lexis has stated that they will not allow AmLaw 200 Firms to purchase any of their other products if the firm does not retain their core Lexis contract.

While Lexis has made key exciting and smart acquisitions in the last few years, the value of all their products combined still is not enough to hold firms hostage to Lexis. With new assets such as Intelligize, Lex Machina, MLex, and Law360, Lexis is approaching a critical turning point, whereby they might soon be able leverage the total value of all products to force a firm to keep Lexis. In sum, by withholding these resources from firms now who do not hold a core Lexis contract, Lexis is foregoing critical buy-in for the long run.

Mar 01

The Wexis Duopoly Has Broken Down

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , Vendors

Most firms no longer accept the notion that there is a need to have both vendors. Vendor elimination may come with some initial hassles and inefficiencies; however, when properly managed and successfully executed, the hassles associated with vendor elimination quickly fade, and an abundance of new efficiencies are created. This is a rare opportunity for firms to free up considerable resources, allowing for the purchase of new and exciting complementary products.
Jan 19

Conclusion from Feit Consulting’s Newly Released White Paper “The Sole Provider Playbook”

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , Vendors , White Papers

The Westlaw/Lexis duopoly has broken down.

Most firms no longer accept the notion that there is a need to have both vendors. Vendor elimination may come with some initial hassles and inefficiencies. When properly managed and successfully executed, the hassles associated with vendor elimination quickly fade, and an abundance of new efficiencies are created. This is a rare opportunity for firms to free up considerable resources, allowing for the purchase of new and exciting complementary products.

When Feit Consulting first started writing The Sole Provider Playbook, our view was that for a majority of large law firms, the sole-provider option would not be truly viable. After diving into the factors contributing to the sole-provider trend, we have changed our minds. With most firms recovering less than 50% of their legal information costs, it no longer makes sense to have both vendors.

When you consider the redundancy, coupled with the mounting evidence that large law firms are successfully making the change, the case becomes clear: the sole-provider option is not only viable at most firms, including the largest, but it is actually becoming the norm. And, perhaps surprisingly, the vast majority of firms that have made the change are happier.

While eliminating either Lexis or Westlaw is not appropriate for all firms, we believe that every firm must at least entertain the idea as part of regular due diligence and good business practices. Assessing sole-provider viability provides a firm an opportunity to review, revise and refine its legal information strategy and potentially save significant money. Unfortunately, even for firms wishing to remain dual-provider, the short-term kick-out of a vendor might be the only way to achieve reasonable pricing.

It is hard to imagine a law firm emerging today choosing to purchase both Lexis and Westlaw, given unreasonably high pricing for redundant products. Similarly, there is no reason for your firm to feel imprisoned by the traditional dual-provider model. Implementing the change to sole-provider can be a challenging process, but the payoff can be tremendous.

To learn more about what The Sole Provider Playbook has to offer, click here.

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