LexisNexis / Lexis-Nexis

Size Matters: Billing Sucks, But Small-Firm Lawyers Need To Do It Better

While billing is an awful experience, small-firm attorneys need to do it better, according to columnist Valerie Katz.

Non-Sequiturs: 04.26.12

* Paul Clement is a beast, is basically what it comes down to. [The Daily Beast] * This is probably the grossest, most pornographic employment discrimination/sexual harassment/defamation lawsuit I’ve seen. Maybe fans of 50 Shades of Grey (affiliate link) might find it compelling. The writing in the lawsuit is probably better… [Courthouse News] * Predictive coding is good. Now it’s bad. Now it’s good. Make up your mind! [Law Technology News] * A touching obituary about a first-year Reed Smith associate who recently took his own life. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette] * Elie was on Fox News late last night (video embed after the jump). He brought the funny. The hosts of the show… not so much. They did bring the racist, though. [Red Eye] * If you ever get in trouble for tweeting or blogging about jury duty, Davis Oscar Markus is the guy to call. [Miami Herald] * LexisNexis recently unveiled its new, ginormous legal e-book library. It’s just like a normal law library, except you don’t have to ask the pesky law librarian for help. [LexisNexis] (Embedded Elie, after the jump.)

Lawyers Sue Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis for Copyright Infringement

Where would lawyers be without open (and absurdly expensive) access to Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis for legal research? They’d have to trudge down to the closest law library and read real books made of paper. They’d have to head over to the courthouse and pull actual files with non-electronic documents inside of them. In a time where legal texts are used solely for decorative bookshelf purposes, that is just too much to ask. But that is the behavior that two lawyers would expect of their professional colleagues. Do they have any chance of winning their class action copyright suit?

Morning Docket: 02.23.12

* And now another reason for lawyers to hate other lawyers (even more than they already do): Westlaw and LexisNexis are being sued for copyright infringement for selling access to publicly filed legal documents. [WSJ Law Blog] * MGA Entertainment’s antitrust suit against Mattel has been dismissed. In celebration, attorneys from Quinn Emanuel will buy themselves hot pink convertibles while singing that “Barbie Girl” song. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight] * Yesterday in the Golinski case, a federal judge ruled that the definition of marriage under DOMA is unconstitutional. Come on, even a Bush II appointee knows what’s up. [Poliglot / Metro Weekly] * After finally realizing that he was a lawyer and not an agent — and that his most infamous client wasn’t worth as much as he thought — Jose Baez dropped Casey Anthony like a bad habit. [Miami Herald] * Former University of Virginia lax player George W. Huguely V was found guilty of second degree murder in the death of Yeardley Love. UVA students are instructed to pop their collars at half-staff. [Bloomberg]

Law School Students Go Insane Over LexisNexis’s Online Promotion

The great thing about free stuff is that it is free. Nobody cares what kind of plastic junk they’re getting as long as it’s free. Why do sports fans go nuts over t-shirt cannons, even though the shirts are ugly as hell and always XXL? Duh, because they’re free. To me, it seems logical that […]

All This Techno-Ignorance Will Make Your Head Explode

Over the last few weeks, I’ve written about some über expensive and embarrassing examples of lawyers making technological mistakes. Those stories involved sexily scandalous blunders, but they were relatively extreme scenarios. (If turning over thousands of privileged documents happens regularly at your firm, may God help you.) More frequently, firm employees deal with little technological […]

Fear and Loathing in LegalTech

Daniel de Juan, a sales engineer from Mitratech, summed up perfectly what LegalTech was like for me this year: “Being at LegalTech is almost like being at a casino, in the sense that you lose all track of time.” Two years ago, I found the conference to be pretty intimidating, and that was when the […]

Congratulations to the Winner of LexisNexis’s Small Law Firm Marketing Makeover!

Above the Law’s coverage of small law firms is about to ramp up. We will soon be announcing our two new writers on the small firm beat. (If you responded to our open call for new columnists, we thank you for your interest. We received a slew of excellent applications, which made the selection process […]

50,000 Reasons to Consider Revamping Your Small Firm Website

To borrow a line from Sharon Nichols, I judge you when you have a poor website. Like it or not, we live in a superficial world where your website is judged on a daily basis — and not just by me. Friends, colleagues, potential employees and most importantly potentially paying clients are all looking at […]

LexisNexis Launches New Platform for Solos

Over the next year, LexisNexis is rolling out a completely redesigned research platform, and guess who they’re starting with? From the press release that came out Tuesday: LexisNexis… today announced the launch of Lexis® Advance for Solos – the first in a series of releases of new Lexis® Advance online legal research tools. Created through […]

Google Does Evil to LexisNexis and Westlaw?

Last week Google engineer Anurag Acharya sent a shot across the bow of the multi-million dollar legal publishing business. “Starting today,” he wrote on the Google blog, people will be able to use Google Scholar to “find and read full text legal opinions from U.S. federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts.” And in […]

Bloomberg to Compete with Lexis and Westlaw

It’s been a long time coming, but Bloomberg is finally ready to unveil its new legal research tool. It will compete with Lexis and Westlaw for the hearts and minds of law students and junior associates across the land. Bloomberg Law will have its launch party at the end of the month at the west […]

No More Asian Angels For Loyal Lexis Users

Last week, we reported on a questionable offering in the Lexis-Nexis Rewards Program store: an “Asian Angels” calendar. Shortly after our post went up, the calendar came down. It seems that legal research companies respond well to media coverage. But the calendar, despite being quickly withdrawn from the Lexis swag offerings, still incurred the ire […]

Sexy LexisNexis Reward

LexisNexis has a rewards program that allows loyal users to accumulate points for certain research activities and then to use them to “shop from millions of items.” One of the items makes us want to give LexisNexis an “ex” rating. An ATL reader and loyal Lexis-Nexis user pointed the item out to us, writing: Search […]