A Little (Very Little) Something New from Lexis: Lexis for Microsoft Office

"New Lexis" isn't ready for prime time so the less than buzz worthy "Lexis for Microsoft Office" was featured at LegalTech New York. Lexis for Microsoft Office will launch for Microsoft Office 2007 in the Spring of 2010, and will be available with Microsoft Office 2010. Of course, to access and use these capabilities, users will require a current LexisNexis subscription. "How it works" from the press release:

While reviewing a Word document or an Outlook e-mail message, Lexis for Microsoft Office users can seamlessly access content and resources from LexisNexis, the open Web, or their law firm or corporate files. Key features include:

"Search" - A single search box that delivers one-click access to the vast collection of legal content from LexisNexis, the open Web and the user's internal company information database. Results from all sources are displayed in a window next to the active document.

"Background" - This function provides background information on "entities" such as people, companies, organizations and cases mentioned in the text of a Word document or Outlook message. It automatically indexes the working document with hyperlinks to relevant information from internal, LexisNexis and Web resources. Upon clicking the hyperlink, the information is displayed in a side pane within the Microsoft Office applications. The Background feature will also display full Shepard's® reports and apply Shepard's® SignalTM indicators directly to the cases cited within the text of the document. Full text versions of case law, news and information cited within an e-mail message or Word document can also be accessed through the lexis.com® resources directly within the Microsoft software application.

"Suggest" - Similar to the Background function, this functionality interacts with any text in a Word document or Outlook message. By manually highlighting text, the user can prompt a search that will pull up relevant information from internal, LexisNexis and Web resources. The content is displayed in a side pane within the application

See also Mike Mintz's Lexis for Microsoft Office: Sneak Preview on Martindale.com Blog. The ABA Journal opines "the Lexis-Microsoft partnership is another salvo in the forthcoming legal research product war. Really? Only "New Lexis" is going to do that. [JH]

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