David Boies, Deaths, Lexis-Nexis, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Clerks

Will There Be a Red Flag on His Tombstone?

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Probably not, ’cause that’s Westlaw. H. Donald Wilson, who passed away earlier this month, was the founder of Lexis-Nexis. Fittingly enough for a man responsible for placing thousands of lawyers in front of their computer screens, for thousands of hours a year, Wilson died in front of his computer.
An interesting tidbit from the New York Times obituary:

A turning point for the acceptance of Lexis came in the early 1970s, when Mr. Wilson arranged for a skeptical audience at the Supreme Court to use the new system. The Lexis system found more cases than the court clerks found by using manual research methods.

Supreme Court clerks back in the seventies weren’t as good as the ones around today. Current SCOTUS clerks don’t need Lexis and Westlaw. They just commit all the cases to memory, down to the page numbers (a la David Boies).
The cause of death was a heart attack — and we can empathize. Finding out that your key precedent just got overruled can be a pretty jarring experience.
Everyone who has ever used Lexis-Nexis for legal research owes Wilson a debt of gratitude. May he rest in peace.
Donald Wilson, 82, Pioneer of a Database, Dies [New York Times]
H. Donald Wilson, 82; Developed LexisNexis [Washington Post]
Founder of LexisNexis Dies in Front of His Computer [TaxProf Blog]

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