The ABA Journal reports a figure of….
?
$15M for Legal Research overall – with $US5 million annually going to? Lexis & Westlaw
Here’s what they write
An open records advocate contends that a free source of legal documents could eventually save the federal government $1 billion, and he offers the Justice Department as Exhibit A.
A freedom of information request by Carl Malamud reveals that Justice Department paid more than $4 million in 2009 for access to the Pacer electronic filing system, according to the Wired blog Threat Level.
DOJ also paid LexisNexis and Westlaw each $5 million, for total legal research expenses amounting to about $15 million, according to Legal Blog Watch.
Malamud, founder of PublicResource.org, is posting court papers on the Internet with the help of software created by a Stanford University dropout who conducted a mass download of documents during a free Pacer trial at 17 public libraries.
Hat tip to How Appealing.
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/doj_pays_15m_for_legal_research_including_4m_for_pacer/
Also See? http://www.businessinsider.com/doj-pays-4-million-per-year-for-federal-court-documents-2009-12
