My First Hands On With WestlawNext

We had our WestlawNext roadshow part two yesterday.  This would be the academic version.  It varied only slightly from the presentation we saw on March 10th here in Chicago in that the promotional videos were not part of the program.  Though we received box lunches, the iPod Shuffles were sadly absent. I learned a few things about WestlawNext that I didn't pick up the last time.  One is that while Boolean searching will still work, a user needs to tell the system that simple searches are, in fact, Boolean.  The algorithm won't interpret [WORD and WORD] anymore.  It's not a very efficient search but I've used it occasionally when the more complex searches don't bring up results.  WestlawNext requires [Strict: WORD and WORD] to make that search.  It extends to other things as well, such as KeyCite.  Use [KC: citation] to bring up citation results directly.  The brackets and case are mine in these examples.  WestlawNext is more forgiving on the mechanical aspects of entering a command or search.

I also discovered that Westlaw.com would be around for "the foreseeable future."  The foreign law databases as well as a few other categories of documents have't migrated as of yet.  This leads to some interesting but unanswered questions on the commercial side.  It's well known that there will be a pricing premium for WestlawNext over Westlaw.com.  TR alludes that some of this will be offset by the efficiency built into the system, but I don't know.  I'm academic and efficiency in using Lexis or Westlaw (or most any database) is not exactly our middle name in this environment.  Questions about final pricing are still out there.  Read through the slight diversion below to see where this is going.

I tried out my temporary three day password starting today with a very cursory search, "Do Illinois courts have jurisdiction in divorce case where the parties are illegal aliens."  Sorry, my English not so good sometimes researching potential legal research problems.  I selected Illinois as a jurisdiction but neglected to remove ALL FEDS, the apparent default, so the search brought up results in both.  I re-ran the search in Illinois alone and brought up results in the basic research food groups.  The Illinois case law that was most relevant (according to WestlawNext) was from the 1950s.  The current Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act went into effect in the late 1970s, not that older case law isn't valid in interpreting a current revised statute.  I did find a relevant statute that described jurisdictional elements, though mostly in terms of statutory construction and subject matter rather than personal jurisdiction.  The results showed me that analysis and extrapolation don't go away with WestlawNext.  This may be obvious to a lot of us who teach research, but think about the students who will say, "cool, just like Google."  My immediate impression is that relevant results will be on point for common legal problems but for less researched or more novel questions, not so much.  I'm going to try this same problem on Westlaw.com and report later on what my results show.

 

We return now to our earlier point.  When I was finished and signed off, I saw a screen which I reproduce in the accompanying picture.  Note that WestlawNext describes some of history I generated as individual searches.  That's not necessarily the way I thought I used the system.  I suppose my question is, if I were a paying customer, what did I just pay for?  Would these be considered separate searches under the various pricing schemes TR has in mind?  Again, this is a test/free password so I have no idea if this is how the final product will reflect different ways of identifying my history or the way it will charge for my use.  Students, take note, while the system is more efficient, you may have to watch how you use it to keep the bills down.  Google is free.  WestlawNext is not.

I suspect TR will have to keep Westlaw.com going for a long time no matter what.  Forcing customers to WestlawNext and higher costs may have the effect of driving them to Lexis.  I'm sure TR would not shrink it's billables to only those willing to pay for WestlawNext.  I'd like a car with heated seats, but I wouldn't want to pay the premium for them when all I want is a vehicle that will reliably get me from point A to point B.  Pricing is going to be the key.  I'm liking the WestlawNext product from the demonstrations and my initial hands on.  I'm not so sure about the marketing at this point.  [MG]