LexisNexis Legal & Professional releases results from an independent study of 5,061 U.S. law students that shows Lexis Advance is preferred over Westlaw for legal research. The survey of law students at 201 ABA-accredited U.S. law schools was conducted to better understand future lawyer attitudes, behaviors, and key drivers of user preference in relation to legal research.
According to the survey, half (50%) of all law students said they prefer Lexis Advance for legal research compared to Westlaw (46%), Bloomberg Law (0.5%), other (0.5%), and those who had no preference (2.5%). These findings validate the shift in preference among law students that LexisNexis has been tracking internally.
In drilling down to reveal key attributes, nearly 73% of students cited ease-of-use and approximately 62% cited speed of finding information as their reasons for choosing a legal research platform. Law student preference for Lexis Advance was driven by higher scores in several additional categories:
- Analytics Tools: Overall, the majority of law students said that legal analytics tools are extremely or somewhat helpful for performing analysis or drafting legal memoranda (76%). A majority of law students who prefer Lexis Advance said that its analytics tools are more effective for helping them perform legal analysis (77%).
- Visualization Tools: Overall, 3 out of 4 law students (77%) say that visualization tools are helpful for finding relevant results. A majority of Lexis Advance-preferred users say its visualization tools make it easier to find relevant results (80%).
- Training: The vast majority law students (70%) say that LexisNexis training prepares them for success beyond the classroom, while only 48% felt Westlaw training was equally effective.
“We’ve been tracking law student preference for several years and are pleased to see it responding favorably to advancements we’ve made in our Lexis Advance user experience as well as in visualization and legal analytics tools that provide deeper insights into legal work,” said Sean Fitzpatrick, managing director of North American Research Solutions. “Ultimately, we’re designing solutions for this next generation of legal minds who expect a flawless user experience with all of the benefits of advanced technology and the training to know how to use it.”
Law students believe LexisNexis provides more effective training. A greater majority of students who prefer Lexis Advance said they received excellent training from their campus representative (79%) compared to students who prefer Westlaw (42%). Similarly, 80% of students who prefer Lexis Advance said LexisNexis delivered excellent on-demand, self-paced training options, as opposed to 45% of students who prefer Westlaw.
“We see our connection to law students stretching far beyond their days in the classroom,” said Paul Speca, vice president, Large Law and Law School. “Our focus is on effectively preparing these digital natives to practice law by applying advanced technologies to conduct analysis and research that will help firms increase productivity, improve decision-making, and drive value.”
To access the full Next-Gen Legal Tech Report, click here.