Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures: Classic Westlaw Takes on Lexis Advance for Solos With a Curious Twist for a Long Neglected Market Niche

As noted here, Lexis Advance for Solos offers an attractive flat rate monthly price starting at $175 per month for one attorney, and $140 per month for a second attorney, with one, two, or three year licensing options that offers all primary legal sources, plus comprehensive Shepards in a more user-friendly display and LN Court-Link content, plus some not really relevant secondary content for this market segment under one plan option.

TR Legal has kicked the competition in this once neglected market niche up a notch by offering flat rate plans for solos and small firms, meaning more that two attorneys as in three (more?). But while Lexis Advance is built on a new platform, TR Legal is pitching Classic Westlaw, not that shiny new, not yet ready for prime time WestlawNext. At least TR Legal is smart enough to know that WLN kinda sucks for some common state-focused research. Follow the links to Tom Boone's and Paul Lomio's critiques from here. 

Like Lexis Advance, Classic Westlaw for solos and small firms offers one, two and three year contracts options with fixed monthly rate pricing. There are also four plan options for Classic Westlaw for this market (click on image above for a larger display) which starts by selecting a state jurisdiction.

I selected Ohio and the one year option for a one attorney law office for each plan option to get a monthly pricing quote. Having dealt with the folks in the land of 10.000 invoices for a couple of decades, I then used the same criteria after selecting New York. Hum, while flat-rate, the pricing varies based on the jurisdiction you select. See below table. Interesting. I would have moved on by comparing pricing for two and three attorney firms based on jurisdiction but I'll leave that up to you. Go to this page, if interested.

Also note one can order a Westlaw plan online. Apparently, no West account rep required. If that's really the case, no sales commission payout (?). Could this be the future for licensing online services from TR Legal? See also 3 Geek's Are You A Solo/Small Firm Attorney? Get Ready for Phone Sales Onslaught! [JH]

Pricing by Jurisdiction: 1 attorney for 1 year contract (monthly cost)	Essentials Banded Library (WestlawPRO® Online)	Essentials Plus Banded Library (WestlawPRO®) Online)	WestlawPRO® With KeyCite All	WestlawPRO® Plus With KeyCite All
Ohio	$116	$166	$209	$281
New York	$138	$199	$232	$323