We note to ensure that they couldn’t deny they received it it’s is clearly stated that the letter was sent by Fedex and email.
Here it is
AALL-2018.06.07-Letter-to-M.-Walsh-23527158-v1
Emperor Walsh Faces The Legions of Librarians
Plenty of great commentary care of the Dewey B Strategic website at
Here are some highlights from a piece penned by Jean O’Grady…and it doesn’t pull any punches
For the past few years LexisNexis has been taking an increasingly combative stance in contract negotiations with their customers by tying a growing number of products together. It is a rather sad
commentary that Lexis appears to view their flagship legal research product Lexis Advance as a sinking ship which must be held afloat by their other product lines
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Perhaps most troubling is that Lexis Nexis has a virtual monopoly on legal news. They have acquired this dominance through acquisition of Law 360 and through exclusive sales alliances with American lawyer, New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. This means that no law firm can purchase a corporate license for the Wall Street Journal without a subscription to Lexis Advance.
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Instead of letting their customers select a curated mix of products based on their needs – LexisNexis has engaged in increasing “desperate” tying tactics. They finally “pushed the product bundling envelope” too far into anti-trust territory. In addition to the legal issues raised by their practices, it’s just plain bad business. And it also appears to be a public admission that Lexis Advance can’t compete in the legal research market as a stand alone offering
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Earlier this year LexisNexis added a new and egregious twist to their contract negotiations. If you don’t have a Lexis Advance contract you can’t purchase LexisNexis/ Matthew Bender books. This was the last straw for law library directors who have to manage budgets and need to be able to select the right mix of products to support many practice groups.. Budgets be damned!… Lexis wants to dictate not negotiate.
We suggest you read every word of this piece at the link above.
Every Lexis subscriber, and especially those in international markets will be only too aware of the modus operandi.
To most it feels like it’s been happening since the reign of Justinian (527 to 565.) We say this only half in jest as any Roman empire historian will know, and we quote Wikipedia …..
Justinian sought to revive the empire’s greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the historical Roman Empire. Justinian’s rule constitutes a distinct epoch in the history of the Later Roman empire, and his reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized renovatio imperii, or “restoration of the Empire” (1)
The parallels, if not remarkable, illustrate that Walsh appears to be in a similar position.
He may well be wise and may well , like Justinian, rewrite the codes of law (read commerce & technology) but in the end the empire is shaky and the sweep of history is at the door.
(1)Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I
Also worth reading id the Law Librarian Blog
AALL issues Dear Mike letter calling LexisNexis Legal’s tying sales policy anticompetitive [text]
