No Westlaw/Lexis during 1L? Forum

[bendtheslurry]

A school I recently visited said they do not allow 1L's to have access to Westlaw/Nexis. Is this a common practice for schools?

[kalvano]

No.

[prezidentv8]

No.

[OGR3]

If I remember correctly, Howard didn't allow access fall of 1L.

When I heard that I was not happy. I wanted my rewards points!

[Kilpatrick]

No, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I had a job interview today for 1l summer and they specifically asked me if I was familiar with Westlaw because it's what I would be using all summer.

[thwalls]

I respect Universities for wanting students to know how to search the stacks but the days of firms having large libraries are long gone.

[twert]

they must be preparing their students to be broke solo practitioners who have to come back and use the law library every weekend. its actually a pretty practical move for t2 and down.

[kalvano]

We were restricted from Lexis / Westlaw for our first research assignment, so we could learn how to use the books. After that, we had access to both. Now, we have Westlaw Next which is astonishingly awesome.

[kalvano]

they must be preparing their students to be broke solo practitioners who have to come back and use the law library every weekend. its actually a pretty practical move for t2 and down.

Even going solo, Westlaw isn't super expensive if you only have one user and restrict yourself to in-state usage. It's when you add multiple users that the price skyrockets.


By not super expensive, I think I remember the price list I saw listing it at about $500, $600 a month under those terms.

[twert]

they must be preparing their students to be broke solo practitioners who have to come back and use the law library every weekend. its actually a pretty practical move for t2 and down.

Even going solo, Westlaw isn't super expensive if you only have one user and restrict yourself to in-state usage. It's when you add multiple users that the price skyrockets.


By not super expensive, I think I remember the price list I saw listing it at about $500, $600 a month under those terms.

for a solo practitioner straight out of school, like the poor downtrodden misfits in my school's library, 500 a month is prohibitive. its schools like mine that need to teach book research.

[kalvano]

they must be preparing their students to be broke solo practitioners who have to come back and use the law library every weekend. its actually a pretty practical move for t2 and down.

Even going solo, Westlaw isn't super expensive if you only have one user and restrict yourself to in-state usage. It's when you add multiple users that the price skyrockets.


By not super expensive, I think I remember the price list I saw listing it at about $500, $600 a month under those terms.

for a solo practitioner straight out of school, like the poor downtrodden misfits in my school's library, 500 a month is prohibitive. its schools like mine that need to teach book research.

More prohibitive than having to leave the office and trudge to the local library? I bet you'd save over $500 in work every month.

[twert]

i honestly think a lot of them don't even have offices. they are always in the library. But you are right, if a solo can get enough business to stay busy, he or she probably is better off spending the money on westlaw. also, i believe 500 is too high. if they get one of those deals where they only get state cases or something i think it can be done for ~90, though everyone's cryptic about westlaw prices for some reason.

[kalvano]

I think the price I saw was for unlimited searching for one license for state and local federal cases.

[twert]

i believe there's an option for four dollars a search. if you are really efficient and specialize in one field, you can probably make this pretty affordable.

[kalvano]

That's probably correct.

Anyway, back on-topic - the point is that firms very, very much want you to be familiar with Westlaw / Lexis, and not having it all your 1L year will put you at a disadvantage.

Knowing how to search the books is important, but they are going away, slowly but surely.

[ArthurDigbySellers]

four dollars a search

FUCK

[nealric]

Sounds like a terrible idea to me. I use print sources all the time in my practice (it helps that my firm has a special library for my practice group), but it's not like using the books are rocket science such that 1Ls should be subjected to an entire year without lexis.

BTW: the "off the rack" rates for westlaw/lexis users without contracts are obscene. A single search of "all federal cases" in lexis is about $300. Had a typo? Too bad- $300. No results? Too bad- $300.

[Helmholtz]

A school I recently visited said they do not allow 1L's to have access to Westlaw/Nexis. Is this a common practice for schools?

IB

[blong4133]

We were restricted from Lexis / Westlaw for our first research assignment, so we could learn how to use the books. After that, we had access to both. Now, we have Westlaw Next which is astonishingly awesome.

West Law Next is one of the greatest things I've ever used. I never really liked Lexis, but I find it funny when we have to attend these mandatory lexis certification courses and all it consists of is the Lexis rep trying to convince us that if we use Westlaw we're going straight to hell.

[TTH]

We were restricted from Lexis / Westlaw for our first research assignment, so we could learn how to use the books. After that, we had access to both. Now, we have Westlaw Next which is astonishingly awesome.

West Law Next is one of the greatest things I've ever used. I never really liked Lexis, but I find it funny when we have to attend these mandatory lexis certification courses and all it consists of is the Lexis rep trying to convince us that if we use Westlaw we're going straight to hell.

TBF Lexis has much better rewards.

Too bad their interface makes my eyes bleed.

[OGR3]

We were restricted from Lexis / Westlaw for our first research assignment, so we could learn how to use the books. After that, we had access to both. Now, we have Westlaw Next which is astonishingly awesome.

West Law Next is one of the greatest things I've ever used. I never really liked Lexis, but I find it funny when we have to attend these mandatory lexis certification courses and all it consists of is the Lexis rep trying to convince us that if we use Westlaw we're going straight to hell.

TBF Lexis has much better rewards.

Too bad their interface makes my eyes bleed.

Lexis rewards >>> Westlaw rewards.

Truthfully, this is the number one reason why I prefer Lexis...

[BarbellDreams]

Westlaw NEXT >>>>>>>>> Lexis if you actually want to get work done.

[TTH]

Westlaw NEXT >>>>>>>>> Lexis if you actually want to get work done.

Does anyone else out there prefer Westlaw to Westlaw NEXT?

[kalvano]

Westlaw NEXT >>>>>>>>> Lexis if you actually want to get work done.

Does anyone else out there prefer Westlaw to Westlaw NEXT?

The same people that prefer a 1973 Lincoln Town Car over a Ferrari 458.

[TTH]

Westlaw NEXT >>>>>>>>> Lexis if you actually want to get work done.

Does anyone else out there prefer Westlaw to Westlaw NEXT?

The same people that prefer a 1973 Lincoln Town Car over a Ferrari 458.

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