Are Reporter Advance Sheet Services Obsolete? (After a 34% Price Increase is Stanford Law Going to Cancel West's S. Ct. Advance Sheet Subscription?)

Observing that West's "Supreme Court Reporter advance sheet subscription has jumped up 34% from $547 last year to $730.69, and that’s with a $120.83 'Product Dependency Discount' (whatever that is)," Stanford's Paul Lomio questions whether the service is worth the cost at The supremely expensive Supreme Court Reporter Advance Sheets Service. "Arguably SCOTUSblog.com and its wiki have more up-to-date information than the West advance sheets.  And SCOTUS itself does an admirable job of posting opinions."

Well, I opted to keep my subscription to the advance sheets for United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition 2d for now (and bound volumes, too) while canceling West's bound volumes and advance sheets because L. Ed. 2d is less expensive, much less so. The only other commercially produced advance sheet service we subscribe to right now is West's off-print for Ohio official reports. But considering the ready availability of current opinions for both online commercially and on court websites, I think advance sheets are obsolete. As Lomio observes in his Legal Research Plus post, the days of advance sheets serving a current awareness function are pretty much over. A 34% price increase just adds momentum to the Shed West Era.

Lomio ends his post with "Isn’t this service really quite obsolete?  If you think otherwise, I would welcome comments posted as we mull over whether or not we will cancel." Cancel it! [JH]