"I dunno!"
Posted on 05/29/2006 5:38:39 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
Okay, I see Ann Coulter articles talking about Lexis/Nexus searches and hear Rush Limbaugh saying he has does a Lexis search for "thus and such".
Do you have to be a millionaire to get Lexis/Nexus? What does it cover? Is it more or less selective than Google or Yahoo! or other search engines?
I am relying upon you media savvy and/or academic FREEPers to teach me a thing or two about this mysterious tool.
Thanks!
RD
Be aware its not free.
try DOGPILE web search. It uses all of them!
It ain't cheap.
Most people use it through their employer (a university or a law firm).
It's free for law students and associates working in a law firm, but law firms pay huge sums of money to use it. They teach you how to do research on there in law school, but since you probably haven't gone after you register you can click on a button on the top right for online support. They will do a search for you and tell you what to type in. All you have to do is tell them what you're looking for.
"I dunno!"
Lexis-Nexis is a legal research service that lawyers use. You can use it to find case law, statutes, law review articles, and other sources.
I get it free because I clerk for a judge, so I'm not sure what normal pricing is. I hear it can be expensive.
You may also have heard of Westlaw, which is similar.
I don't know much about FindLaw. I don't use it, but I've heard that some people use that too. I think that one is free or relatively low budget.
No, but it sure helps. LexisNexis gets law students (and I presume journalism students) hooked with unlimited access, but once you're out in the working world, the fees are exorbitant - somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 a search (or so the horror stories go).
What does it cover? Is it more or less selective than Google or Yahoo! or other search engines?
It's more precise. I can search any case, any periodical publication, or gazoons of public records within 30 seconds.
FindLaw is great for searching cases on the cheap, but if you're searching perodical articles, you'll need a different search engine.
FindLaw is, in fact, free. It offers a consumer level and a legal professional level, but anyone can use the l.p. level. There's case law, codes, and a few search tools. Missing from FindLaw is any way to Shepardize a case other than searching for every case that mentions it and reading them all.
The original design for the L/N service was that Lexis would handle legal documents (thus the name), while Nexis would collect and index news sources. The Nexis side has considerably more depth than any of the free online search engines, and the finding tools are superior.
Many larger academic libraries subscribe to Lexis-Nexis. It isn't just for law articles. People like Rush and Ann probably use it mostly for its databases that include mainstream media news articles. If your local large academic library has it and allows access to the public, you can walk in, sit down at a computer, and search it yourself. Factiva is a similar database, although I haven't used it as much.
Try dogpile or copernic.
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You're better off searching for Jimmy Hoffa. |
When you use the legal search engines you can go into all cases in the USA or just in your state court, or the state and federal courts in your state, or into state or fed statutes, administrative regulations, etc. Also, the legal search services track down the all important precedent you hear so much about. So you will find out in a click whether your case has ever been overruled, criticized, distinguished, etc., and you will find every case that has ever mentioned your case.
I said Lexis WAS the mainstay because in my day Lexis was the thing and the, say, 40 and over attorneys love Lexis. But the younger generation prefers Westlaw, which is run by West Publishing Company, the outfit that publishes most of the digests that contain all published legal opinions. So Rush and even Ann are dating themselves a bit by not mentioning Westlaw.
And it just so happens I will now be going to do some research on Westlaw.
for starter, it's not an internet search engine, really not the same thing as search engines and serve different purpose. while you can access it online now, it's existence precedes the popular web based internet.
it's a legal (lexis) and news (nexis) database that covers pretty much everything you'd want to search on legal cases and citiations and rulings and the law itself (lexis) to pretty much anything ever published by news outlets, business, and academia journals (nexis). A lot of these stuff are not really published online and therefore not searchable by the popular internet search engines. it's a specialized research tool.
and it's EXPENSIVE.
Our office has both LEXIS and WESTLAW . . . but after over 20 years of using LEXIS, I know how it works and all its peculiarities. I don't even write anything down any more - just go on and freeform search. (And I'm still faster than all these young whipper-snappers getting lost in the WESTLAW headnotes . . . bah humbug!)
I'm a whipper-snapper myself, but I never did take a liking to Westlaw. When I was in law school, it would always time out and kick me out after five minutes and then take forever to load back up. And yes, the headnotes are a pain in the butt. I much prefer Lexis.
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