Any excuse for us to allude to Melville….
Last week we had a short chat on the phone with Eric Eck the mind behind what he and his team hopes, will one day, be the online avenue for lawyers and their In House clients around the world to do it all… Lexwiser
In his mind the combined might of Lexis, Westlaw, Linked In , Facbook and others…. cannot yet achieve for lawyers in terms? of content, networking and communication what he hopes to do with Lexwiser
The soft launch of the service is due in a couple of weeks and we don’t want to steal his thunder but we can tell you that Eck intends to create and build a network worldwide that really attempts to put lawyers and in house counsel together. Into the mix he wants to improve communication, access to all types of legal content ..primary as well as secondary sources.
Eck didn’t say this to us explicitly but here at HOB we sense his dream could run to this sort of scenario.
In house counsel based in Wisconsin needs a lawyer with expertise on IT outsourcing in Bhutan..
At his/her fingertips Lexwiser will provide a smartly edited list of lawyers with that exact “experience” profile.. any articles/comments they as an individual or their firm has written in the subject as well as a range of worldwide database, news, commentary etc on that particular subject from as wide a range of sources as possible. The space would also include recommendations from third parties on that particular lawyer’s experience and background on similar matters…and put them together with the touch of a button.
And we sense that this is only part of what Eck wants to do with Lexwiser
At one point he insinuated to HOB that he hoped for a future where Lexwiser becomes the? default word for? “Legal Information” in any size form or format.. locally and globally.
Putting counsel in touch with lawyers seems as good as any place to start.
He also understands that once people are in a community that is easy and safe to use they will develop it themsleves (think i-phone apps) via groups, discussion and so on to introduce ideas that Lexwiser can build on .. imagine? ..a democratic legal communication tool for lawyers and their clients however big or small.
As we all know, both Lexis and West love to buy this type of company and then permanently consign it to mothballs.
As an ex MH employee who is well aware of the LN modus operandi Eck stated clearly to us that at no point does he intend to sell his company to either of the two big legal database companies. Rather he expects over time to co-opt them and their content into his plans.
We wish Eck well .. there are not many out there who wish to take on the legal publishing companies, directory companies, databases and the tried and tested way of doing things.
Is he Ahab fruitlessly searching for that white whale…we suspect not at here at HOB.
Eck sounds more determined than anyone we’ve spoken for quite some time that change has to come in a variety of ways to the legal industry. He sees clearly? that the world of content, networking, law firms, in house counsel are all entwined and? rather than trying to seperate them all out as others do to increase revenue streams he intends to pull all those tangled vines together into a tidy understandable package a la google so what was previously complicated and expensive becomes increasingly cheaper and easier to understand
Also good to see this development coming out of Europe rather than the States
We’ll be bringing you the press release as soon as it comes in.
