Another Thrust at Lexis and Westlaw
September 7, 2010
A thrust is not a akinakes in the liver, but “Bootstrapping Band of Brothers Raise $30M for People Search Engine Inflection” is more than shaking a finger at Lexis and Westlaw. The article describes two brothers who want to provide legal eagles with for fee services. Among those planned are for fee searching of public records. Others range from feet on the street who dash around delivering documents necessary for legal matters to for fee searching. The Lexis and Westlaw duo face a number of challenges. The legal profession is faced with clients who won’t spend at pre-crash levels. Junior attorneys are losing their jobs or getting partial pay and vacation days. Recent graduates are filing claims against the law schools that recruited them and painted a glorious picture of the job market for graduates. What this means is that Lexis and Westlaw have to find a way to generate growth and deal with upstarts with $30 million. Google’s approach had promise but like many Math Club ideas, execution has been less scintillating than the ideation process. Government entities continue to crank out content with more and more becoming available online. Will Inflection become the next big thing? The idea seems interesting, but I think it is likely that Lexis or Westlaw will just buy the outfit. That approach may be easier than revamping the dinosaur-like business models that worked when lawyers were flying high. Now eagles have landed, just in a run down area outside of Piscataway. In the parking lot are the Inflection folks, and they are armed and dangerous.
Stephen E Arnold, September 7, 2010
Freebie
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