by Ryan McKeen
When I first logged into Westlaw nearly 8 years ago I thought it was awesome. A whole law library on my laptop. There was no need to run to school to pull books when I could read cases from my apartment.
The problem with Westlaw is that it’s virtually the same search engine that I first logged into as a first year law student. Nothing has really changed (except that I no longer earn Westrewards and pay a fee to use it.)
Westlaw’s search engine remains clunky. Given the advances in technology, it should be easier to find relevant case law than it was 8 years ago but it’s not.
I find the Westlaw works very well with Internet Explorer but I experience issues with while I’m browsing Westlaw in Google Chrome.
There’s no option for me to search only Superior Court cases or only Supreme Court cases. When I search for anything on Westlaw I get a hodge podge of results. This shouldn’t be the case.
The search engine and formats aren’t why I know Westlaw is missing the boat.
It’s that Westlaw is not a player in the single most important techological advancement in the past decade….the smartphone.
In preparing to write this post I cruised the app store for Westlaw products. The only app I found was “Black’s Law Dictionary” for $49.99 (I think this is the most expensive app that I’ve come across). Really Thomson West the best you can do is $49.99 for a law dictionary app. Do you think lawyers are crazy or stupid or both?
How about developing a smartphone friendly Westlaw app. It would be great to be able to sit in court and easily access Westlaw through an iPhone app that made searches easier and not less complicated.
Like iPhone users and AT&T, I’m stuck with Westlaw until something better comes along. When them something better happens, I’ll be looking to end my near decade long relationship with Westlaw for that something better.
You know the iPhone commercial there’s an app for that? Not Westlaw.
At the risk of outing myself as a geezer, none of the law databases are as good as they were before the days of "user friendly" interfaces and drop-down menus. The old versions may not have been pretty , but I believe we have sacrificed precision for ease of use.
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Maybe you should undertake a bit of training. For just one example, adding the search term "& CO(HIGH)" will restrict results to the highest court in the jurisdiction. I agree that Westlaw could be more useful in some ways, but it isn't THAT hard to use, nor need you cope endlessly with "hodgepodges of results".
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