Westlaw is Westlaw
Lexis is Lexis
Learn to live with it.
The recent flurry of posts about teaching legal research, and the coming
flurry about WIN and the evil capitalist motives of CALR vendors, have in
common two assumptions: first, that law students are a mindless mass of
pudding, and second, that it is somehow *our fault* that these people are not
being led into the paths of righteousness and proper use of paper and
electronic resources. The corollary to these assumptions is that the law
students would be doing the right thing (i.e., what we think they should be
doing) if we could only force enough education down their throats.
Poppycock.
I don't know of any law school that fails to provide its students with the
opportunity to learn various methods of legal research. Unfortunately for
us, as I believe Mr. Berring once pointed out, law students are the ultimate
economists. They are also, by any definition, fully functioning adults,
capable of making their own choices.
What we seem to be complaining about is that, having set out a table full of
fruits and vegetables (paper resources and "correct" methods of Boolean
searching) the students nonetheless gravitate towards the table full of
Twinkies and Ho-Hos that Lexis and Westlaw provide for them. The various
arguments for curing this evil seem to boil down to (a) drag them kicking
and screaming over to the broccoli and force feed them, or (b) expel the evil
capitalists from the temple, scattering pork rinds and Suzy-Qs in their wake.
I think our mission should be to allow these people to become informed
consumers. If they choose not to do so, then their performance in the firms
will be its own punishment. As for Lexis and Westlaw, if you feel that your
representatives are deliberately engaging in deceptive business practices, by
all means demand that they provide a reasonable view of their product. Just
don't be surprised that they are selling it.
One last comment; we have had libraries full of commercial products for
years, and have always been shills for the West topic and key number system.
Why is this so much more bothersome?
--Chuck Ten Brink
D'Angelo Law Library "The dogmas of the quiet past are
cjt1@midway.uchicago.edu inadequate to the stormy present. . .
uclcjt1@uchimvs1 We must disenthrall ourselves. . ."
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