Legal Newsletters

Subscribe to Legal Newsletters via RSS

I recent months I have repeatedly highlighted the renewed energy and competition in the legal news space. I never anticipated that LexisNexis would be joining their competitors in launching a new legal news publication. After all, LexisNexis controls the majority of the US legal news content (Law360, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and a non-exclusive license for American Lawyer Media content.) And yet today  LexisNexis is launching a new publication Law360 Pulse which will focus on the “business of law” and target readers in large and mid-sized firms as well as in house counsel.

Law360 Pulse is described in the press release as a “business of Law news service” including “ “the  award-winning journalism and research of Law360 with powerful data and analytics from Lexis+ to deliver unparalleled business of law coverage, timely insights and industry intelligence that help law firms and legal departments succeed.”

The service will offer 24/7 breaking news, business of law feature articles, surveys, rankings and reports on law firm practices and trends. The first report, titled Physical Space in a Pandemic: How Law Firms are Adapting, was issued today alongside a broader series on
Continue Reading LexisNexis Launching Law360 Pulse–To Focus on the Business of Law

Last July Thomson Reuters quietly began the  transformation of  their Practitioners Insights publication into a full fledged legal news service called Westlaw Today.  I  met with  Zena Applebaum, director, Proposition Strategy Rebecca Ditsch – manager, Product Development and received a demo of Westlaw Today .Westlaw is owned by Thomson Reuters which also owns Reuters, the multi-media news agency. It is a total “no brainer” that Reuters should collaborate with Westlaw in bringing a legal news product to the market. (In fact, Westlaw did briefly launch a  short lived legal news service “Westlaw News” back in the 1980’s before it was purchased by Thomson Reuters). I think I share the sentiments of my  information professional colleagues when I say “what took so long?” Our next question will be can Westlaw Today challenge the LexisNexis dominance of the legal news market?

The Westlaw Today  platform will allow lawyers to subscribe to  custom newsfeeds tracking law firms, companies and issues. In addition to traditional practice area coverage Westlaw Today has a newsfeed for “Legal industry” and “Legal innovation” two of my favorite topics. They also offer coverage  special topics such as COVID and Voter Rights. Westlaw Today offers news in a variety of slices.

The Westlaw Today main page has the  look and feel of a newspaper website highlighting  a few major stories rather than imitating  the list of recent headlines and blurbs that Law360 made famous. The main page includes a sidebar with most viewed articles, trending law firms and companies, lawyer contributed content and a link where lawyers can submit proposals for articles they would like to write.

Westlaw Today Main Page

 Westlaw Today Practice Area pages offer a curated list of news stories by traditional practice areas. It also offers 
Continue Reading Westlaw Today – Thomson Reuters Launches a Legal News Platform –Offers AALL Program

Fastcase is digging deeper into the legal news market with the timely launch of an agricultural law news section.  David Nayer, Editor in Chief of Law Street Media cites the timeliness of the launch in the press release.  The Agriculture section and Alerts Center is being launched “ while our world is finding its new normal, and its especially relevant to those in food production, food service, and supply chains that impact each of us.”

The Agriculture section is leveraging “sister product” Docket Alarm’s real-time docket, litigation and analytics information to highlight emerging litigation topics such as farming, food, tobacco, and cannabis. It will also cover related topics such as agriculture policy at the FDA and USDA, the cannabis industry, environmental and land use, and the emergence of agricultural technologies. The Law Street Media newsletters are geared toward providing information “that generates business for its users.”

Law Street Media Docket Side Bar

You gotta love Fastcase co-founder Phil Rosenthal who offers his own “down home” explanation of why Agriculture was the second  news topic to launch. “We wanted our second industry news feed to be about meat and potatoes litigation – literally, so our bar partners across the country and their members can see how tracking filed litigation leads to new business”

As of today, the Agriculture news section is available for FREE on the  Law Street Media home page as well as in daily
Continue Reading Fastcase Law Street Media: News With a Flash of Dockets – Launches Timely Food Chain Content

Fastcase is taking on Lexis Nexis Law360 and American Lawyer Media with their relaunch of Law Street Media with a “high tech industry offering”. According to David Nayer, Editor in Chief of Law Street Media, they will focus on “legal news that leads to business.”

The strategy will be to focus on emerging legal news by industry  and  offer  readers the ability to track litigation, companies, and firms within industry sectors. According to the press release,  “The first service will cover high tech and will leverage Fastcase’s wealth of real-time docket, litigation, and analytics information to create legal news that generates business for its users. This segment features emerging litigation in technology, from data privacy and government regulation, to the privacy rights of individuals from hacking, to the commercialization of their private information. Articles include coverage of tech giants, emerging tech, tech policy, cybersecurity, and intellectual property.”

In addition to reading legal news online at www.lawstreetmedia.com, readers can subscribe for customized daily delivery of the day’s stories at https://lawstreetmedia.com/subscribe-lsm/. There is no charge to subscribe or access full articles.

Law Street Media was founded by legal journalist John Jenkins in 2013 and acquired by Fastcase in 2018 The press release state that “the reboot of Law Street is part of  Fastcase’s goal of “democratizing the law and providing a smarter approach to legal research. Law Street’s industry-by-industry approach keeps the focus of news stories on clients.”

What to Watch – Competing With Free?. Fastcase is launching  Law Street Media at at particularly fraught  time in the legal news market. American Lawyer Media is the granddaddy of legal news reporting has had an exclusive alliance with LexisNexis. This is rumored to be up for renewal. Will ALM opt to go independent?. Bloomberg which was already in the news business
Continue Reading Fastcase Brings Down the Legal News Paywall With Relaunch of Law Street Media – Market Disruption to Follow?

In recent months Bloomberg BNA has been introducing changes to the format, timing and delivery of their various publications and platforms. Some newsletters are being discontinued, some newsletters are being merged into channels, other newsletters will only be available in a practice center, some practice centers will only be available on the Bloomberg Law platform. For a company that wowed the market with their promise of simplified, standard pricing, the Bloomberg Law acquisition of the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) has become a multi-year content  migration
Continue Reading Bloomberg BNA Editor in Chief Outlines Reorganization and Layoffs– Shifts in Content Strategy