Aderant Handshake vs. Lexis+

The user of Handshake takes a certain amount of user computer literacy and the user needs to be resourceful. When building our site, I needed to google quite a bit. On the contrary, if budget allows, Handshake developers will do it all for you.

Incentivized

Lexis Advance is highly customizable and intuitive, perfect for solo or small practitioners who lack the patience for extended training and too much searching. The contracts are also customizable and can be graduated for new practices so you don't go broke in year one paying for research. I do wish there was more contact with a dedicated account rep, and perhaps not with sales. In a larger firm, you can stack more features and content as needed. I probably would go back in time and renegotiate my contract, which stepped up quite a lot in year two and will step up again in year 3 to what I think will be an uncomfortable level. Also, Lexis has maybe one too many brands and could stand a redesign of the main home page.

Incentivized

• The main reason we got Handshake was to display visual gadgets for our accounting systems. We always provided spreadsheet type reports, but pictures and more engaging. Attorney gets a dashboard in real time of where they stand financially.
• Additional use as FAQ's in different departments in the firm, that is, accounting, IT, and office services.
• Knowledgebase - How to's and software.

Incentivized

• I like the annotated statutes. That is typically where I start my searches.
• I seem to find more relevant case law on Lexis than I have through Westlaw.
• Their training and research attorneys are very helpful.

Incentivized

• Documentation is weak, but hopefully, since Aderant just acquired the company, that will improve

Incentivized

• The notes from cases function is not as strong as other competitors
• Lacks some features that more novel sources use
• Costly

Incentivized

Very intuitive, easy to use visual qualitative assessments, and I like that they don't "summarize" rules but give exact quotes from cases. The product is super customizable and you can try before you buy. Unlike their main competitor, I don't feel like they tricked me or set me up to purchase more content that I don't need--so in terms of service and overall functionality, they are superior to the competition.

Incentivized

Haven't reached out except for password help but the response was quick. A couple times it locked me out for no reason

Incentivized

None. Always need about Handshake's interface with Aderant, way before Aderant purchased them. Seemed like a natural fit.

Incentivized

Lexis Advance and Westlaw do the same thing and are very comparable. We actually use both. If Lexis Advanced doesn't have content we are looking for, it can usually be found in Westlaw. They compliment each other well. If I had to pick one over the other I would choose Lexis Advanced, but it's close.

Incentivized

• Hard to say, but ultimately putting knowledge in the hands of fee earners immediately it is positive.

Incentivized

• It's had a positive impact in finding more cases that are on point for my cases.
• It was actually cheaper than their competitor.
• The natural language search is better than the competitor.

Incentivized