Bloomberg Law: Stepping Up to Bat in the Legal Database Big Leagues

Gone are the days when LexisNexis and Westlaw were the only legal databases for attorneys to choose from. Bloomberg, the widely-known provider of business and financial data and news, has made advances in the legal research market with its creation and promulgation of Bloomberg Law (BLAW). Known by some for its sponsorship of SCOTUSblog --a website that offers public access to United States Supreme Court coverage and analysis from legal scholars, law students, and practitioners -- Bloomberg Law now functions as an indispensable tool for many practicing attorneys.

What BLAW Brings to the Table

Officially launching in 2010, BLAW sought to separate itself from its competition by integrating the business and financial data they are known for with comprehensive primary legal authority and related content. Over the past six years, BLAW has vastly expanded its features creating a collaborative workspace that includes a suite of tools for more effective legal analysis and more productive client development. For example, in 2011 Bloomberg purchased the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) with the goal of integrating BNA’s legal materials into BLAW.

With a primary focus on business law, Bloomberg Law separates itself from Westlaw and Lexis by coupling legal research tools with current law-related news. For example, trending legal news stories can be found at the top of Bloomberg’s homepage along with tabs that allow you to browse Morning Legal Briefings, daily reports of top news in various practice areas; Law Reports, more in-depth stories covering court and legal developments; along with top news from around the world or filtered by topic or region. In addition, BLAW organizes its content by practice areas, with each practice center page highlighting recent court opinions and related news articles specific to that niche. In particular, many attorneys find Bloomberg’s practice guides and newsletter service useful for staying up to date in their specific legal field.

In addition to offering comprehensive news, Bloomberg’s federal docket searching feature is a step up from that of WestlawNext and LexisAdvance in that Bloomberg provides more consistent access to the actual documents within the dockets. One feature in particular called “Docket Coverage” allows a user to scroll over an interactive map to view either U.S. or international docket coverage. With this feature, a user can click on any state to see the available federal and state docket information. BLAW also allows users to filter docket searches by courts, keywords, docket number, judge, case number, party name, date range, and even whether the docket is open or closed. To add to that, BLAW allows a user to create a Docket Search Alert. This feature sends out an email when any new documents are added to Bloomberg that meet your original search criteria.

How the Numbers Add Up

All the fee-based legal research services offered to attorneys these days run a hefty price. Similar to Lexis and Westlaw, Bloomberg’s pricing is based on firm size, costing a solo practitioner just under $500 per month. Unlike Lexis and Westlaw, however, BLAW’s subscription is all inclusive - meaning there are no “out of plan” materials. Lexis and Westlaw on the other hand offer a bewildering variety of subscription plans. Some are based on hourly usage and database costs while other are based on the number of searches conducted. With Westlaw, smaller law offices often pay a flat monthly rate that can increase about 50% yearly; however, can be quite affordable.

Should You Switch From Traditional Legal Databases for your Legal Research Needs?

BLAW has made some great strides over the past six years, yet when it comes to basic legal research, Bloomberg has some work to do. For example, when searching cases, Bloomberg lacks the refined tools that both Westlaw and LexisNexis employ. In particular, BLAW does not offer natural language searching and it’s integrated headnotes are far less comprehensive than either Lexis’ or Westlaw's digest systems. In addition, whereas LexisNexis and Westlaw results return in order of relevance, BLAW search results appear in reverse chronological order. In other words, the top hits are not always those most relevant to your search. Not to mention Bloomberg's law review collection does not have the content to compete with Lexis’ and Westlaw’s fully stocked content. For most general law practices, sticking with Westlaw and Lexis is probably going to be your best bet as Bloomberg Law’s sources are still not as vast as both Lexis and Westlaw. Still, those practicing business or corporate law might find Bloomberg to be the best research tool for their practice due to the financial data, news and company information offered.

Legal databases are constantly evolving and enhancing their legal resources to better serve the needs of attorneys. Staying abreast of these changes is important to remain competitive in today’s market. Here, at the Tree of Knowledge Research, our virtual law clerks employ a myriad of legal research tools including Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law, among others to achieve the most comprehensive legal research for our clients. To learn more about the legal research services offered at the Tree of Knowledge Research and how these services can enhance your practice call 864.869.8572 today or click here.

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