WESTLAW vs LEXIS: computer‐assisted legal research comes of age

Abstract

Two commercial computer‐based legal retrieval systems are described — WESTLAW of West Publishing Co. and LEXIS of Mead Data Central. These systems enable searches by words or phrases in the full legal text of such as those relating to court opinions, US codes and various Federal tax matters. Also it is possible to check case citations. Examples are given of how the computer is able to meet the lawyer's needs and explanation of the various ways in which searches can be made. It is considered that familiarity with the relevant law speeds up searching due to the user's knowledge of the vocabulary of the judges. The limitation on the number of years covered should soon disappear as file sizes are increased and storage costs reduce. The article goes on to compare the coverage and performance of both systems. Examples are given of search statements for each. Comparative comment is given on data input, text editing, text enhancement including indexing, updating and hard copy support. It is concluded that the customer will find it difficult to choose between the systems. No refs.

Citation

Sprowl, J.A. (1981), "WESTLAW vs LEXIS: computer‐assisted legal research comes of age", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 132-141. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb046827