Thomson Reuters Practical Law vs. Thomson Reuters Westlaw

PracticalLaw offers excellent Practice Notes, Checklists, Precedents, and Toolkits for a variety of practice areas - which is very helpful to in-house counsel and law clerks that are working on files across different practice areas. Less appropriate when there are already many resources available to me to help in drafting documents - then there is not much use to look up PLC.

Incentivized

Perhaps well-suited in enterprise agreements where many users need access to many areas, and a giant contract is cost effective. This was a good company to work with as a student and instructor where value was not my specific concern. I cannot speak to the value paid by the responsible party in that context.

• Resource guides
• Practical tips from practitioners
• Templates
• Recent articles and news

Incentivized

• Public Records Research
• Inventory of case, laws, and legal precedents to research
• Showing good vs. bad case law based on court decisions

Incentivized

• Navigation can get tricky with some scenarios
• Some of the features can be offered for free as opposed to paid
• Sometimes there are precedents and forms that are not updated

Incentivized

• Some functions/features may seem less familiar if you are used to other platforms
• Certain resources are not the very best (and are available on other engines)
• Costly!

Incentivized

The specific product ordered was fine, but it was far too easy to mindlessly incur ancillary charges without warning. This is much less user friendly than other, similar providers of services such as LexisNexis. The Thomson Reuters Westlaw experience is not intuitive when compared to other, similar providers and ended up being less cost effective.

I was passed around like a hot potato and nameless responders were somewhat disrespectful and "snippy." There was no offer to resolve the issue I complained about, and I was basically made to feel as though I was lying about the problem. The solution was easy: fix my customized home screen to remove the possibility of wandering into a non-subscription area. This fix was never offered or pursued. Instead, I was offered the option of signing up for additional services.

They are pretty similar. I rely on practical law for certain practice areas more, and rely on the other platforms for other areas as they are more comprehensive and up to date. Lexis also is connected with Law360, and has a different set of resources, and has a strong shepherdizing tool that integrates well with what I need to do sometimes.

Incentivized

We considered switching to Bloomberg Law because of the contractual provisions with Westlaw but ultimately decided to stay. The cost of getting out of the contract term was cost-prohibitive and left us with no choice.

Incentivized

• Able to efficiently work on more files
• Get up to speed on new topics
• Better help cross-functional departments with more diverse issues

Incentivized

• Positive return by making legal research more efficient.
• Cost more to use however saves time and allows for more work to get done.

Incentivized