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.
Michael Feit earned his J.D. from the Loyola University School of Law in Chicago and was an executive at Westlaw before founding Feit Consulting 16 years ago. Feit Consulting partners with law firm administrators and legal information professionals to optimize vendor contracts and the management and delivery of legal information resources by providing leading-edge, customized solutions. Contact Michael at mike@feitconsulting.com