Bloomberg enters market for legal research

Bloomberg has entered the market for legal research with Bloomberg Law – a service that will be in competition with Westlaw and LexisNexis. The company hopes to become as indispensable to lawyers as it is to finance professionals, and claims that it is not only a tool to assist in finding and interpreting primary legal materials, but also includes detailed company information and financial data for companies involved in disputes. The Wall Street Journal reports that if, for example, company X sues company Y for copyright infringement, lawyers representing company X can get more than a copy of the complaint and relevant legal history. They get stock charts, patent histories and corporate filings. In addition, the name of every judge and attorney links to a database that pulls up that person's school, his or her holdings and boards they served on, potential conflicts and case histories. Bloomberg Law is priced at a flat fee of $450 per attorney per month, while its rivals vary charges according to usage and type of content. Free trials offered to a number of high profile law firms are about to expire, and the company will attempt to attract subscribers for the fee service.

Bloomberg enters market for legal research online.wsj.com Thu, Jul 8, 2010