In some ways we do think they listen.. as we’ve seen since the recession started to bite that both companies and Lexis particularly are spreading their portfolio and at a glance it looks as though they are spending more on acquistions of technology based solutions companies than content based companies…
As we all know though this doesn’t mean that they still don’t get the lion’s share of their annual revenues from the distribution of digital content via Lexis Nexis or Westlaw.
And here’s the rub according to a post entitled?? Sorry Westlaw and Lexis – The Days of Passing Charges to Clients Are Numbered on Geek Law Blog. The firms can no longer fund their LN & Westlaw bills by passing on costs to clients because the clients simply won’t pay anymore
Sometimes the only people we think this comes as a surprise to are management at both publishing companies… here are some of the comments in the article posted on the blog…
- Out of the librarians I (unscientifically) surveyed, most say that over the past 10 years, the percentage that the firm is paying out of pocket has steadily increased from under 10% out of pocket costs, to now almost 50% out of pocket cost. Firms are now scrambling to cut costs of online resources by either cutting subscriptions, or going back to models requiring that online resource tools only be used when that cost can be passed through to the client. With firms now considering alternative fee arrangements with clients, the model of passing online research costs to clients will come under even more scrutiny.
- I imagine that firms will attempt to set up the agreements with the costs of online legal research being a variable rate outside the base cost of the agreement. In other words, keeping the status quo. Clients are going to want to see these costs built into the agreement as a set amount, a capped fee, or will demand that the firm include any necessary legal research into the agreement with no dollar amount listed at all
- Alternative fee agreements and the general move away from the generic hourly-billing rate will mean that firms will need to have a different negotiating strategy with the online legal research vendor. No longer will online research be seen as a pass-through cost to the client. Because the client will not be paying the attorney by the hour, they will not buy the idea that online charges are saving them money because it saves the attorney time
This article is well worth a read at?? http://www.geeklawblog.com/2009/09/sorry-westlaw-and-lexis-days-of-passing.html
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