LexisNexis has announced the launch of Legal News Hub, the latest enhancement to the Lexis+ ecosystem. Although Lexis has enjoyed a dominant position in the legal news market, they have faced increasing competition in the past year with the launch of significant new legal news initiatives from Thomson Reuters. Fastcase and ALM.
The Lexis Legal News Hub will now appear as a new module on the Lexis+ “experience dock. ” The Legal News Hub adds Law 360 current awareness functionality to Lexis+. This means that lawyers can get access to Law 360 content as part of an integrated research experience on Lexis+. Law 360 now covers 76 practice areas and legal topics. Lexis+ users will be able to browse news headlines and summaries from practice from law 360 last 360 plus plus and the free access to justice content.
“With the launch of the Legal News Hub, LexisNexis has extended the functionality of the Lexis+ ecosystem,” said Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO, LexisNexis North America. “Bringing the latest stories from Law360 and Law360 Pulse into Lexis+ allows legal professionals to stay current on the legal news that matters to them, all from where they are already working.”
The Lexis+ Legal News Hub experience includes the following sections:
- Top Stories: A continuously updated and editorially curated list of the most important recent legal headlines and summaries delivered via an image-rich, visually stimulating interface.
- Trending: Stories trending on Law360 will be highlighted on the main page, giving users quick insights into what their industry peers consider relevant.
- Practice Areas: All current content from the 76 practice areas and legal topics covered by
- Search: Users can search current news from Law360 and Law360 Pulse from within Legal News Hub and transition to searching all news and legal news sources available on the Lexis+ Legal Research tab with a single click.
“Keeping current on the latest developments in the law, the legal industry or a particular practice is a natural part of every legal professional’s daily workflow and is essential for providing timely and informative client counsel and effective business development initiatives” said Rachel Travers, Vice President and General Manager of Law360. “Law360 provides legal practitioners with the single best source for all of their legal news needs, and Lexis+ delivers it when, where and how they need it most.”
I personally have some reservations about presenting current awareness content behind a paywall. Current awareness is normally a non-chargeable business development event. Lawyers in most firms will have to enter a client number before gaining access to Lexis. I was assured by Lexis that no charges are incurred when lawyers are accessing the Law360 content. There are likely to be some messaging challenges for librarians and information professionals in dealing with this issue. However, Lexis’ position is that integration of Law360 content into the Lexis+ experience was demanded by Lexis users and I can see the business case for integration.
Future iterations of the Lexis+ Legal News Hub will feature additional news sources and allow users to personalize their experience.
For more information about Lexis+ and the Legal News Hub, please visit www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/products/lexis-plus/legal-news-hub.page.