When I contacted a large law firm, the administrator told me that he normally wouldn’t take my call but he just got off the phone with his legal research rep and was extremely frustrated. He was aggravated to the point that he didn’t want to spend additional energy negotiating with them.
He wanted me to come in and discuss how I could help him understand his current contract and get him a better deal. He felt he was not getting direct answers to his questions and was being treated like he had no other options. I understood exactly what he was going through.
- Legal research costs are climbing toward the top of the expense column.
- There is a lack of transparency when wanting to know how much something costs.
- There are fewer package options offered for content.
I keep hearing law firms are concerned about how the increasing cost of legal research is affecting their bottom line.
- Fewer clients are willing to pay for these costs.
- Attorneys are using other resources so they don’t have to bill their clients for Westlaw or Lexis.
- Westlaw and Lexis are trying to get firms to sign longer contracts (there’s a bigger reason for this).