No you can control the database from narrow to very narrow. The information that they search is a fly speck compared to the information Google searches.
Some information on Lexis or Westlaw is free. Agreed. But most? No. Particularly if that information is legal in nature.
Lexis and westlaw have primarily legal cases and statutes. All legal cases and all statutes are available free on the Internet and are easily accessable. Google is often actually faster. For example, all I have to do to pull up Minnesota Statute 609.25 in Google is search MN 609.25. The statute is the top entry. Both Lexis and Westlaw have more steps to get the statute.
For example, if you can point me to up-to-date, free Matthew Bender materials on the Internet, I'm all ears.
Matthew Bender? I haven't seen one of their books since law school. I guess some states use their forms, but forms are easily found on Google, free of charge.
If I really wanted to have a legal research engine, that I had to pay for, I think I would use Thelaw.net, accurate and way cheaper than Lexis and Westlaw. As for me, Lexis is provided by my employer so I use it. I previously had Westlaw and I used that. I still find about half my useful legal information with Google.
I like The Rutter Group guidebooks.
No. That is a small portion of what is available on Lexis or Westlaw.
All legal cases and all statutes are available free on the Internet and are easily accessable.
Unreported cases aren't on Google. Lots of federal district court cases aren't on google. Lots of state cases aren't on Google.
Both Lexis and Westlaw have more steps to get the statute.
This is fairly trivial, but it's a one step search on Lexis or Westlaw, too. You have to pay for it, of course, but it's a one step search. On Lexis, click "get a document." Type your cite and hit enter. Done. On Westlaw, there's a banner on the left side of the page when you sign in. Type your cite and click the button. Done.
Matthew Bender? I haven't seen one of their books since law school. I guess some states use their forms, but forms are easily found on Google, free of charge.
I'm not talking about forms. Forget forms--who uses forms? For example, you can't be a competent copyright lawyer without Nimmer on Copyright, which is a Matthew Bender volume. Show me where on Google I can find an up-to-date copy of Nimmer. Or Areeda's Antitrust Law (which is on CCH). Or Wigmore on Evidence. Or back issues of the Harvard Law Review, beyond a running few issues.
There might be some companies or small legal outfits that skip on Lexis or Westlaw to save money, but I don't think you'll see it from any competent litigators. If you are a transactional lawyer, you don't need Lexis or Westlaw but, then, you're not really doing any legal research.