Two Lawyers Review Westlawnext by Al Harrison and Randy Claridge June 28, 2011

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Two Lawyers Review WestlawNext By Al Harrison and Randy Claridge June 28, 2011

WESTSEARCH: SIMPLIFIED YET MORE POWERFUL SEARCHING WestlawNext’s user interface is readily recog- If you sell technology, you’d better nized by professionals watch your back because affixed conversant with both to it you will find a perpetual target. contemporary Web Have you used an Addressograph search engines and po- lately? By contrast, if you sell pular retail Web sites. information, technology can help This familiar format strengthen your hand. Thomson includes a search bar Reuters’s WestlawNext offers a entitled “WestSearch” new way to search the company’s and an interactive filter renowned legal research and panel left of the central panel that Proposed Enacted Legislation, related materials. Like Westlaw, lists search results. Proposed Adopted Regulations, you access WestlawNext with a and All Results. Web browser (there’s also an iPad To initiate WestlawNext, you need app), but the similarities end there. not make database selections In this issue of TechnoFeature, or specify Boolean connectors. The speed and ease with intellectual property lawyers Al While following the lead of Westlaw which WestSearch triggers Harrison and Randy Claridge Natural Language, WestlawNext review WestlawNext’s key features nevertheless accommodates re- WestlawNext is truly such as WestSearch, Folder searchers who prefer to invoke remarkable and represents Sharing, and Practice Areas. particular databases and specify search criteria addressing highly- an enormous leap forward in homson Reuters’ West- focused recurring legal issues legal research. law is a widely-used and the like. legal research service for lawyers and legal WestSearch replaces the sepa- This new WestSearch protocol professionals.T In early 2010, rate search boxes previously affords two profound benefits — the company announced West- used for specifying a citation(s) or expeditious and cost-effective lawNext and officially launched it case name searches. This single searching. Indeed, the speed and later in the year. As its name im- search box entry can return ease with which WestSearch trig- plies, it’s a next-generation legal myriad results — organized in gers WestlawNext is truly remark- research tool designed to help a readily navigable filter panel. able and represents an enormous lawyers and support staff more Results are categorized by: leap forward in legal research efficiently search West’s trea- not only vis-a-vis the traditional sure trove of primary law and le- Overview, Cases, Statutes, Regu- Westlaw user interface, but also gal analysis, litigation materials, lations, Administrative Decisions, comparable contemporary legal public records, and more. How Trial Court Orders, Secondary search engine user interfaces. well does WestlawNext work? Sources, Briefs, Pleadings Mo- That’s the question we set out to tion Memoranda, Expert Materi- The “Overview” category pre- answer. als, Jury Verdicts Settlements, sents the most relevant search

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references, including references it’s now available. WestlawNext that typically contain highlighted that have West Key numbers currently offers 24 practice area contextual search terms. Then, related to the chosen search pages accessible from the Topics realizing that you may not term(s). This simple and elegant tab on the home page. Each of necessarily intend to delve too interface and straightforward these pages enables you to use deeply into a searched document, search is based upon a plethora WestSearch with results filtered WestlawNext enables you to of artificial intelligence algorithms. for the selected practice area. control the degree of verbosity of The outcome is a unique search You’ll also find the practice contextual snippets — by setting vehicle boasting adaptive intelli- guides I covered in my review. the snippets to one of three gence that acquires a feel for users’ levels. The default middle level searching nuances pursuant DIGGING INTO YOUR SEARCH seemed to be the most useful to optimizing search results. RESULTS setting. You can email, print, and WestSearch then ranks retrieved WestlawNext also revamps how download documents, and even documents by relevancy using lawyers and staff interact with send them to an e-reader. Westlaw’s lawyer-generated edito- search results and concomi- rial enhancements. The most rele- tant retrieved documents. You vant results are situated on top. can narrow your results using a You can organize research plethora of readily available filters materials into specific including: WestlawNext currently offers project folders and share 24 practice area pages 1. Data — e.g., opinions, them with others who have a statutes, and regulations. accessible from the Topics WestlawNext account. tab on the home page. 2. Reported/unreported.

Each of these pages enables 3. Jurisdiction. FOLDERS: SHARE AND you to use WestSearch STORE YOUR RESEARCH with results filtered for the 4. Read/unread. WestlawNext incorporates a significant new feature in the form selected practice area. You can also sort results by of collaborative research folders. relevance, chronology, most- You can now organize research cited, or most-used. The left materials into specific project The single WestSearch search panel displays search filters in a folders and share them with box enables you to consistently Views screen while the right panel others who have a WestlawNext achieve maximum effectiveness displays Related Documents. Both account. You can move, copy, using WestlawNext. For instances, panels collapse for easier reading. rename, delete, or export Folders. while the merits of a legal matter Indeed, you can conveniently are being evaluated and potential WestlawNext lists the document drag and drop documents from legal strategies being developed, title, court, date, citation, and any search results list page to a WestlawNext enables attorneys to any applicable KeyCite flag project folder. You can also save invoke either a focused search of shown in the first line of a search snippets of selected text. limited jurisdictions (maximum of result. Visual indicators identify three) or a search of unlimited ju- previous document activity such For file retention purposes, these risdictions (“All” jurisdictions). as whether the document has specialty research-oriented Fol- been viewed in the last 30 days ders persist for as long as you In 2009 in this newsletter I for the current Client ID, saved to sustain your WestlawNext subs- reviewed Westlaw Practitioner, a folder, or annotated with notes. cription. Importantly, transactional which I liked then and still like. charges are not incurred until and Initially, WestlawNext lacked this WestlawNext also presents you unless a document is actually practice area functionality, but with excerpts from the document viewed. Thus, you can store

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potentially relevant searched do- jurisdictions as an initial search dedicated box for WestlawNext- cuments without incurring char- cannot presently specify search styled input. ges. You might think of Folders criteria for more than three but as constituting a “virtual time- less than All jurisdictions. CONCLUSION out” work space wherein hourly WestlawNext lives up to charges are suspended and In Advanced Search, you its name as it represents a transactional charges only apply probably won’t recall the syntax welcome renaissance of the to documents not previously prerequisite for conducting traditional Westlaw interface viewed within the prior 12 nuanced searches. WestlawNext and sets a new bar for legal months. As an added benefit, enables you to avoid entering research against which other documents stored within Folders structured syntax by invoking legal search services will be always reflect current law. a more “tolerant” interface judged. WestlawNext affords an displaying a plurality of search elegant and straightforward tool WISH LIST: IMPROVEMENTS boxes into which you can enter for conducting legal research. AND INTEGRATIONS WE’D specific search criteria — with Its WestSearch technology in LIKE TO SEE each of these window boxes particular performs magnificently WestSearch in the context of corresponding to an available and is without peer of of the date multiple jurisdictions is some- search field. Remembering how of this review. what abstruse. Since the All to trigger this display is elusive. Jurisdictions option would ty- I wish that WestlawNext would pically display too many results provide a more intuitive path to for search criteria, the underlying this presently “hidden” field- algorithms select only the top friendly interface. results based on a panoply of For more information contact: WestSearch-determined factors. KeyCite seems to be relegated But to obtain more compre- to a minor role in WestlawNext. Thomson Reuters hensive hits, search criteria To invoke KeyCite, you need to 610 Opperman Drive should be limited to one or precede a citation with the word Eagan, MN 55123 perhaps two jurisdictions. A user “KeyCite” or “KC:” (note the (800) 220-9378 who may seek results in several colon). I wish that KeyCite had a www.westlawnext.com

Al Harrison is an intellectual property lawyer at Harrison Law Office in Houston. He has a computer law and online law concentration. Al has committed considerable time to helping fellow lawyers. He’s a is a member of the State Bar of Texas’ Law Practice Management Committee Liaison to the Mandatory CLE Committee. In the past, he served as chair of State Bar of Texas’ Computer Technology Section, board member of Houston Intellectual Property Law Association and Houston Lawyer, chair of the HBA Law Practice Management and Cyberlaw Sections, and president of HAL-PC user group. Al speaks on intellectual property and computer law, and law office technology.

Randy Claridge is an intellectual property lawyer at Claridge Law Firm in Houston. Randy has a technical background in engineering and computer applications, and concentrates on the legal areas of copyright, contracts, and trademarks. He speaks at seminars under the auspices of the State Bar of Texas and the Houston Bar Association. Randy has provided risk analytic support, including custom statistical modeling and advanced data analysis using both desktop and specialized modeling software, to clients including El Paso Merchant Energy and NASA’s International Space Station and Mars Lander programs.

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