Big Law Gets Small: Trimming at LexisNexis?
July 31, 2013
A reader alerted me to “LexixNexis Laying Off 500 Employees.” The key point of the story is that 500 employees are now free to become search engine optimization experts, azure chip consultants, or life coaches. Here’s the passage which I noted:
“LexisNexis continuously reviews its needs, operations and other factors to identify what resources and services are necessary to optimally support our customers and improve business operations. As a result of this ongoing process, we regularly build teams in certain areas of the business and reduce in others to be able to deliver next-generation solutions to customers. On balance, the total number of employees across the LexisNexis business remains consistent with prior years.”
On the bright side, LexisNexis had 122 job openings in June 2013. Presumably these new hires will work on Flavio Villanustre’s Big Data and HPCC systems. I know about this initiative because a LexisNexis PR agency, obviously not terminated, wrote me, asserting:
Fraud is rampant in the issuance of government subsidies and Big Data is shedding light on the losses and inefficiencies. Whether it is outrage that the OMB pays millions, almost $25M, in agriculture subsidies to farmers who have been dead for years or that the state of Florida’s DCF system distributed more than $27B in public assistance to Floridians with estimates that 3-5% of those dollars are lost to fraud.
Yep, fraud.
Rampant. Lawyers who must purchase for-fee online research are indeed available to work on these projects. Lots and lots of lawyers, including those dissatisfied with the promises of some law school recruitment professionals.
Free spending lawyers seem to be almost as rare as a literate high school graduates. The for-fee legal services may face more revenue pressures in the future.
However, I like the fraud thing. LexisNexis’ competitors are doing some fancy dancing tool Thomson Reuters sold some units recently. Ebsco is pushing money from one pocket to another with reorganization and bookkeeping. At least, LexisNexis is trying to go in a new direction. However, the Big Data and fraud path is well traveled. Outfits like Altegrity and IBM are also offering fraud services.
Will the traditional professional publishing companies make their various strategies work? Employees certainly hope so. Who wants to be one of the “500” at the digital battle of Thermopylae facing lawyers who will not pay a premium for online legal information?
Stephen E Arnold, July 31, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky
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