Please take the 2019-2020 Dewey B Strategic Survey here. Review the 2019 highlights below and tell your colleagues about the best and the worst of 2019 in legal publishing and legal tech.
The Highlights 2019 was a relatively quiet launch year in legal technology and publishing. The year opened with speculation about the impact of layoffs at Thomson Reuters. Mid-year Wolters Kluwer suffered a significant malware attack on May 7 but was fully back online within a week.
LexisNexis announced the full integration of one of it’s oldest acquisitions. Courtlink which was acquired in 2001 was finally integrated into their flagship product Lexis Advance. The market responded with mixed reviews.
Bloomberg re-branded itself as Bloomberg Information Group (BIG.) Sadly this signified the retirement of BNA ( Bureau of National Affairs) as a brand. Bloomberg had acquired BNA in 2011 add a significant library of secondary sources including newsletters and books. The full integration of BNA into the Bloomberg platform allowed the company to revert to the simplified pricing model they had pioneered during their launch into the online legal information market.
Fastcase continued an aggressive spree of acquisitions and alliances covering public records (TransUnion), bankruptcy forms, Expert witness information (Juris and Courtroom Insight) and legal news (Law Street Media) clearly positioning product to move into the large firm market.
The Year of the Brief Analyser. Casetext CARA which launched the first brief analysis tool in 2016 now has a competitor in the Westlaw Edge “Quick Cite tool.” At the 2019 American Association of Law Libraries AALL Annual Conference both Bloomberg and LexisNexis previewed their brief citiator tools which are expected to launch in 2020.
Please respond to the survey here. The Survey will close on “leap day” February 29th.