# Lexis v. Westlaw

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lexis-v-westlaw/289149>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 9, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lexis-v-westlaw/289149 "2005-02-09T05:27:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lexis-v-westlaw/289149/1 "2005-02-09T05:27:09Z")

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One of my law profs claims Lexis is not nearly as good as Westlaw. She made some comment about Lexis losing a suit against Westlaw and now they don’t have access to the West headnotes or the keycites. Lexis has it’s own headnotes now, which I find satisfactory, and its key cite type system, plus it has sheppards. To me the two are equivalent and it’s just a matter of which you are more comfortable with.

I’m wondering if any lawyers/ law students think West is definately the service to use if there is an option.

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**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lexis-v-westlaw/289149/2 "2005-02-09T06:07:11Z")

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In law school (2001-2003), they trained us to use both, but I’ve found in the “real world,” most employers seem to favor WestLaw or a third, cheaper option I can’t remember the name of. My friends who started work in the last few years have echoed these sentiments. Personally, I always found the Lexis interface to be MUCH more user-friendly, but I think it may be like the “Mac vs. PC” debate in that regard. We use WestLaw where I work, so I’m just glad I have experience in both!