Bloomberg to Compete With Westlaw and Lexis Nexis

Bring on the competition!

The key component to Bloomberg Law’s pitch is its proprietary search functionality, called “Snap, I Found It.” The company claims this technology will quickly make lawyers realize that the days of Westlaw and LexisNexis are numbered. According to Bloomberg Law’s promotional materials, the “Snap, I Found It” feature can handle the most ridiculous search phrases and locate the case law that can support even the most incomrehensible arguments. In very limited instances when a case can’t be located, "Snap, I Found It" will generate a comprehensive analysis as to why looking for the case in the first place was a really stupid idea.

Before the launch of this new functionality, lawyers' only options were the often disappointing “Focus” and “Locate” features offered by LexisNexis and Westlaw. These tools were of little help to lawyers who were given tasks like finding a case in Montana that allows for a defendant to avoid paying damages when the jury awarded a verdict for the plaintiff. With “Snap, I Found It,” the lawyer can confidently either locate the case or print out a Bloomberg Law certified response that such a case simply can't be found.

Lawyers everywhere are chomping at the bit to the use the new technology. “Honestly, I am really kind of angry at LexisNexis after making me press ‘focus’ on my searches all of these years,” explained an attorney who asked to remain anonymous out of fear that he'd lose his weekly free time. “Focusing is kind of my job so please just give me the results already.” Other lawyers claim that Westlaw’s ‘locate’ feature makes them feel ridiculous. “Locate? That's what I was trying to do with my initial search. Seems like there's a problem with the software and not the searcher," explained an annoyed attorney who identified herself as a 50-state survey aficionado. “I can’t wait for another option in the legal world."

Welcome Bloomberg Law, the Litination awaits your impact on the profession.

Read more on this here and see this PDF showing what Bloomberg Law can do.

This looks like it could be a major improvement for those working in the legal profession. Westlaw and Lexis Nexis still use many archaic database search constructions and have websites that are far from intuitive to use.

Now if only Google would join the fray...

(HT Above the Law)