Lexis v. Westlaw Forum

[jlockhart6]

Do you prefer one to the other and why? It's amazing how we all form our preferences and I was just curious others reasoning ...

[mikeytwoshoes]

Do you prefer one to the other and why? It's amazing how we all form our preferences and I was just curious others reasoning ...

I use West because (1) I get better results; (2) I like the Keycite graphical view; and (3) I hate our Lexis rep.

[imchuckbass58]

I genenerally use West. I can't point to specific factor, but I find it easier to navigate and find what I need.

[emilybeth]

I don't remember my Westlaw password. Hence, Lexis.

[reverendt]

Generally westlaw. Just developed a preference for it early and stuck with it.

[Renzo]

I prefer Westlaw and I use Lexis more often.

Why, you ask? Because those damn fools at Westlaw have insufficent server capacity, so it takes me like 3 min to log in, then every query takes like 90 seconds to come back. If I were in practice and billing by the hour, Westlaw would be costing my clients like $500 a day in lost time.

[mikeytwoshoes]

I prefer Westlaw and I use Lexis more often.

Why, you ask? Because those damn fools at Westlaw have insufficent server capacity, so it takes me like 3 min to log in, then every query takes like 90 seconds to come back. If I were in practice and billing by the hour, Westlaw would be costing my clients like $500 a day in lost time.

Not if you use the digests effectively. Once you find a case on point, it takes 0 time to click on Keynotes, thereby creating personal digests. You could use Lexis to find the first case though.

[Cole S. Law]

Lexis. The Matthew Bender guides do most of my work for me.

[OperaAttorney]

I search for most of my stuff on GoogleScholar. (For statutes, I use Westlaw only because I'm used to it.) Then I pull up the document on LEXIS and email it to myself. I do that because LEXIS allows me to print beautiful single-column documents.

[kings84_wr]

Lexis because Lexis rewards are better then westlaw

[rando]

I search for most of my stuff on GoogleScholar. (For statutes, I use Westlaw only because I'm used to it.) Then I pull up the document on LEXIS and email it to myself. I do that because LEXIS allows me to print beautiful single-column documents.

google scholar rocks. Lexis has better search functions imo. I hate westlaw's password/login nonsense. I also heard that Lexis and westlaw are scrambling to integrate a more google-like search algorithm. That would be wonderful and would probably seal the deal for me.

[Unemployed]

Lexis for case briefs (if you didn't do the reading).

Westlaw for everything else. Keycite = win.

[mikeytwoshoes]

I search for most of my stuff on GoogleScholar. (For statutes, I use Westlaw only because I'm used to it.) Then I pull up the document on LEXIS and email it to myself. I do that because LEXIS allows me to print beautiful single-column documents.

West does as well.

[stinger35]

Lexis because Lexis rewards are better then westlaw

This is almost 100% false. I have literally been doing the same exact thing on both and have about 7,000 westlaw points and 2,000 lexis points. Also, the best things on Westlaw cost 20,000 - on Lexis the same things cost like 80,000.

[270910]

Lexis because Lexis rewards are better then westlaw

This is almost 100% false. I have literally been doing the same exact thing on both and have about 7,000 westlaw points and 2,000 lexis points. Also, the best things on Westlaw cost 20,000 - on Lexis the same things cost like 80,000.

How do you only have 2,000 lexis points? I have 4x that many and haven't done nearly all the optional trainings and such.

[kings84_wr]

Lexis because Lexis rewards are better then westlaw

This is almost 100% false. I have literally been doing the same exact thing on both and have about 7,000 westlaw points and 2,000 lexis points. Also, the best things on Westlaw cost 20,000 - on Lexis the same things cost like 80,000.

I got around 8,000 Lexis points just last semester, its really easy to get them.

[02122015]

.

[sperry]

I use Lexis. I didn't really have a good reason for choosing one over the other, but I ended up using Lexis more, and now I'm too comfortable with it to switch. We have Lexis and Westlaw representatives at our school every damn day though, trying to get us to sign up for this or that.

[sayan]

I search for most of my stuff on GoogleScholar. (For statutes, I use Westlaw only because I'm used to it.) Then I pull up the document on LEXIS and email it to myself. I do that because LEXIS allows me to print beautiful single-column documents.

google scholar rocks. Lexis has better search functions imo. I hate westlaw's password/login nonsense. I also heard that Lexis and westlaw are scrambling to integrate a more google-like search algorithm. That would be wonderful and would probably seal the deal for me.

WestLaw Next has a new Google-like search algorithm.

[1ferret!]

westlaw is more intuitive with the layout. Keycite works well. Lexis is just....bleh...

[caoyun]

I don't remember my Westlaw password. Hence, Lexis.

+1

[caoyun]

Lexis because Lexis rewards are better then westlaw

This is almost 100% false. I have literally been doing the same exact thing on both and have about 7,000 westlaw points and 2,000 lexis points. Also, the best things on Westlaw cost 20,000 - on Lexis the same things cost like 80,000.

I got around 8,000 Lexis points just last semester, its really easy to get them.

How did you manage that? I have approx. 1,400 after nearly two semesters. I looked at my rewards statement and basically no matter how much research I do in a given day, they only give me 15 points. I thought we were rewarded per search, but apparently not. If I do one search in a given day, 15 points (plus whatever promotion they have going on at the time). If I do 20 searches in a given day, 15 points (plus whatever promotion they have going on at the time).

[270910]

Lexis because Lexis rewards are better then westlaw

This is almost 100% false. I have literally been doing the same exact thing on both and have about 7,000 westlaw points and 2,000 lexis points. Also, the best things on Westlaw cost 20,000 - on Lexis the same things cost like 80,000.

I got around 8,000 Lexis points just last semester, its really easy to get them.

How did you manage that? I have approx. 1,400 after nearly two semesters. I looked at my rewards statement and basically no matter how much research I do in a given day, they only give me 15 points. I thought we were rewarded per search, but apparently not. If I do one search in a given day, 15 points (plus whatever promotion they have going on at the time). If I do 20 searches in a given day, 15 points (plus whatever promotion they have going on at the time).

Most months you get double or triple points for shepardizing a case. You've always only gotten points once per day, and the reason why is both pretty obvious and clearly stated. You also get points for doing one-off training exercises, online quizzes, etc. that are occasionally announced.

One month of double points for shepardizing = 900 points right there. The key to accumulating stupid amounts of points is just to not ignore easy training exercises and do at least one shepardized search per day.

[Ipsa Dixit]

Lexis. The Matthew Bender guides do most of my work for me.

Word.

[LjakW]

I prefer Westlaw and I use Lexis more often.

Why, you ask? Because those damn fools at Westlaw have insufficent server capacity, so it takes me like 3 min to log in, then every query takes like 90 seconds to come back. If I were in practice and billing by the hour, Westlaw would be costing my clients like $500 a day in lost time.

I think everyone at NYU uses Lexis because Westlaw is so darn slow (also, they seem to like the Lexis rep's method of training). It's a shame, because I think the searching is better on Westlaw.