LexisNexis links with Microsoft
Jinfo Blog

8th February 2010

By Michele Bate

Item

Soon after the announcement that LexisNexis is revamping its legal research services comes the news that it has formed a partnership with Microsoft. In a press release, LexisNexis described the move as “First-of-its-kind integration with Microsoft applications transforms the way legal research is conducted.” (http://digbig.com/5bbbmh) With the integration of Lexis into Microsoft Office products, subscribers will be able to carry out legal and general research straight from Microsoft Word, Outlook or SharePoint. To do so, users will click on a Lexis tab in the ribbon of utilities in Microsoft 2007 and the forthcoming Microsoft 2010. They will also be able to link straight to Bing or Google search engines to carry out Web searches without having to either launch their Internet browser or log on to Lexis. Clemens Ceipek, vice president of the research and development process dubbed “New Lexis” said that the new product represents only the start of collaboration between Lexis and Microsoft but would not say what else was planned. The two companies have been working together for over a year. The new product is expected to appeal to lawyers who constantly navigate between screens when drafting or reviewing documents. Once the Lexis tab is activated, users will be taken to the new Lexis platform, which incorporates filtered Web results in addition to proprietary content. If reviewing a brief, they will be able to click on the Shepard’s tab to see the validity of cases cited in the document. They can then pull up any cases they want to read on a split screen. By highlighting the name of an entity such as a person or company, background information can be retrieved from the firm’s own document management system, user’s own computer or from the Web. If using SharePoint, users will be able to store, organise and share documents. However, although it will only be available to subscribers, they will not be able to access the full set of data that is available via Lexis.com. According to a company spokesperson, this is because of different subscription option across the United States. There is no mention of whether it will be rolled out in other countries. There will be no extra charge for using Lexis via Microsoft Office but Lexis cautioned that the software may require additional set-up costs. According to the LexisNexis press release, Lexis for Microsoft Office will launch this spring. ABA Journal described the Lexis-Microsoft partnership as “another salvo in the forthcoming legal research product wars,” (http://digbig.com/5bbbmg) referring to the imminent launch of new products by Westlaw and Bloomberg, as well as LexisNexis. (see http://web.vivavip.com/forum/LiveWire/read.php?i=27853&start=0)

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