Legal Research on the Cheap Part 2: Loislaw

Last week I posted a number of online locations for free access to Utah law.  I’m not the only tightwad when it comes to legal research: Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, a national firm with more than 675 attorneys, recently issued a firm-wide directive that all non-billable legal research should be done on Loislaw, a Wolters Kluwer/CCH publication available on purportedly lower-cost flat-rate basis.  For many firms, including Locke Lord, the long-time standard has been to do all legal research on either Lexis or Westlaw charged at a per transaction or time-rate basis often resulting in higher costs.  In its firm memo (published in its entirety by ATL here), Locke Lord directs that only billable legal research be conducted on Westlaw or Lexis (with an appropriate billing number) and where possible Loislaw should be used for billable research.

The bottom line is that although Lexis and Westlaw cannot always be replaced for certain legal research, it can be for some, if not most, legal research at a lower cost either with Loislaw or free online resources.  Not mentioned by Locke Lord or ATL, however, is the need to remain efficient.  There is no sense in stepping over a dollar to pick up a penny.  If the alternative legal research (free or otherwise) is too cumbersome, inefficient, or does not have the resources sufficient to permit accurate and thorough research then it threatens to waste an attorney’s time while on the billable clock.  The result would likely be more billable time spent researching which would eviscerate any cost savings.  And that is the bottom line.