Westlaw or Lexis?

[asleepathewheel]

We use Lexis, but I preferred Westlaw back in the day.

Lexis gives you scary access to things these days...really a tremendous amount of personal information collected there...I haven't played around with that feature in a while, but I recall being able to find driver's license numbers, social security numbers, residence records, family members etc. Probably findable otherwise, but to have everything in one convenient database.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Late update. I have to concur with what Asleep said. (Nobody dissents with Asleep anyway.) I prefer Westlaw's layout myself, but Lexis' people-finder service is pretty scary.

We had a clinic case where we needed to find a missing defendant. A few hours on Lexis and a few phone calls were all it took. They'd moved out of the state, as well, but we had no trouble finding them and all the companies they'd started and all the addresses and phone numbers they'd kept.

Scary.

[Solomwi]

I'll third sleepy's assessment of Lexis' people-finding abilities, and preferred Lexis my first year of law school, though I can't remember why anymore. Honestly, I could count the number of times I used either in my 2L and 3L years on both hands. The firms I clerked for first summer both used Westlaw, as has every firm I've worked for since, so now I'm far more comfortable with it.

[Wezil]

We use Lexis.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Lexis also owns the Martindale Hubbel directory of legal professionals, which I've used a lot in my job hunting. So of the two, it looks like Lexis has the more diverse set of services.

But specifically for legal research regarding statutes, rules-regs, and journals, I still use Westlaw more.

[asleepathewheel]

Apparently at my new job I will have both Westlaw and Lexis, and likely unfettered access to both (rather than limited to my state and fed). Looking forward to a direct comparison now that I actually know what I'm doing research wise, as opposed to when I was a student.

[DanS]

I do corporate research, so Lexis it is.

[Darius871]

I've always preferred Westlaw.

[Solomwi]

Apparently at my new job I will have both Westlaw and Lexis, and likely unfettered access to both (rather than limited to my state and fed). Looking forward to a direct comparison now that I actually know what I'm doing research wise, as opposed to when I was a student.

Speaking of unfettered access, is anyone else using Casemaker? It seems to be fairly new, and I have free, unfettered access as part of my bar membership. It's good for cases or statutes outside the Westlaw subscription, or for retrieving things where I know just where to look, but lacks the cross-linking and research guides that make exploring so much easier in Westlaw.

[Alinestra Covelia]

I've never used Casemaker, sounds good though.

I've used TimeMatters, which is (I think) a Lexis product. Allows you to log hours, manage documents, and assign client IDs to everything, basically so you don't get sued for malpractice and you have a paper trail to show the hours you're billing.

I'm still finding it complicated though.

[flash9286]

As I gain more experience with both Lexis and Westlaw, I think Westlaw is better for case research, but Lexis has better annotated statues.

[Solomwi]

I've never used Casemaker, sounds good though.

I've used TimeMatters, which is (I think) a Lexis product. Allows you to log hours, manage documents, and assign client IDs to everything, basically so you don't get sued for malpractice and you have a paper trail to show the hours you're billing.

I'm still finding it complicated though.

Apparently Casemaker's business model is to sell group memberships to state bars. I haven't heard of TimeMatters, but I think I can do the same with Westlaw client IDs and research trails.

[Imran Siddiqui]

(edit) I see I've already posted on this thread. Nevermind me...