WestlawNext - Research at the Next Level - The Recorder 2011
1. It has been well over a year since
WestlawNext was unveiled at Le-
galTechinFebruary2010.Ifyouare
new to WestlawNext, this is a “new
look” for Westlaw, but most impor-
tantly, it is also a completely new
searchtechnology,currentlybrand-
ed as WestSearch. WestSearch le-
verages West’s Key Numbers and
Keycite to improve relevancy and
is implemented as a Google-style
search box located at the top of the
new interface. Using “the box,” re-
searchers can now search all avail-
able content with one search —
something previously impossible
on Westlaw.
Initially, beta versions of West-
lawNext were released mostly to
law school professors and librari-
ans at no additional charge. Since
then, the product’s reach has ex-
panded to other sectors. According
to a source at Thomson Reuters,
22,000customeraccountshaveup-
graded to WestlawNext, represent-
ing about 40 percent of Westlaw’s
revenue base (more than 18,000
law firms, including 37 percent of
the Am Law 100, as well as 40 per-
cent of Fortune 100 corporate law
departments). This is an increase
from the 9,000 WestlawNext sub-
scribers reported last fall.
Because WestlawNext is an “add-
on” product that is not being auto-
matically activated for existing law
firmWestlawcustomers,Iexpectthe
mid-to-large law firm market to
phase-inataguardedpace.InaJuly
2010 survey, 82 percent of Am Law
200 librarians indicated their firms
would not be subscribing to West-
lawNext in 2010. However, an up-
dated survey is due out summer
2011 and I would expect a changed
percentage reflective of the prod-
uct’s maturity and growing accep-
tance.Inthemeantime,seePaulLo-
mio’spost“HowwidespreadisWest-
lawNext”(http://legalresearchplus.
com/2011/05/09/how-widespread-
is-westlawnext/) — providing valu-
able commentary from the North-
ernCalifornialawlibrariancommu-
nity, including law firms, the courts
and other sectors.
WhileWestlawNextisconsidered
to be a final product, gateways into
the Westlaw.com platform are still
being used for some content such
as public records and international
materials.
During this first year, the law li-
brarian community has been vocal
initsconcernsaboutseveralissues:
pricing, “the box” that searches ev-
erything without requiring data-
base selection, surprises relating to
advanced searching, and the fact
that all content will be “turned on”
even if a customer desires only a
custom set of databases. Simulta-
neously, WestlawNext spokesper-
sons and developers have worked
to address concerns and continue
to release improvements.
I had an opportunity to evaluate
some features and capabilities of
the evolving WestlawNext, but will
leave a more in-depth product re-
viewforbloggersorotherswithless
restrictive space limitations.
THE BOX
At one level, “the box” in West-
lawNext unifies three search func-
tionsthatareseparateunder“classic”
Westlaw:SearchforaDatabase,Find
and Keycite. At another level, “the
box”processeskeywordsearchterms
usingtheWestSearchengine.Acom-
monlibrarianconcernwithany“one-
box-searches-all” scheme is the
amount of time potentially devoted
to reviewing and filtering a huge
number of search results. The pre-
ferredmethodhastraditionallybeen
toselecttheappropriatedatabase(s)
up front, thereby increasing the
chancesofretrievingrelevantresults
inatime-efficientmanner.Thegood
news here is that WestlawNext per-
mitspre-selectionofknowndatabas-
es. Users can be trained to select da-
tabasesfirst,muchlikebefore,espe-
ciallyforsituationswherethismakes
good sense.
Marissa Andrea was formerly a librarian
for UC-Davis’ Mabie Law Library. She is
now a research librarian for a Los Angeles
law firm.
RECORDER
week of July 15, 2011
WestlawNext–ResearchattheNextLevel
Marissa Andrea
