Law Firm Research Charges and Cost Effective Research Skills

Agenda

• Legal Research Cost Recovery Trends

• Commercial Adoption of Lexis Advance

• Lexis Advance pricing/managing costs

• Cost Effective Research Skills

2

2011Cost Recovery & AFA Survey:

Large Law Firms & Corporate Counsel

• Law Firm Economics

• Corporate Counsel Perceptions – value of paid for research services

• Billing & Cost Recovery Practices

• Alternative Fee Arrangements

3

-

Online Research

Costs as a Percentage

of Total Expenses

• Online research costs typically comprise less than 10% of total

law firm expenses in Large Law and less than 5% in Mid-Law.

Question: Thinking about your firm's total expenses, approximately what percentage of total

expenses do online research costs represent after you recover charges billed to clients?

AmLaw

200

All Other

Large Law

Base: 197 46 129

10% or less (net) 67% 61% 67%

1% to 4% 36% 30% 36%

5% to 10% 32% 30% 31%

11% to 30% 17% 26% 16%

31% to 50% 11% 11% 12%

51% to 80% 6% 2% 5%

81% to 100% 0% 0% 0%

Average Percentage 14% 14% 14%

Online Research Costs as Percent of Expenses:

AmLaw 200 vs. Remainder of Large Law

Base: Firms that bill

clients for online research

costs

Total

Large

Law

Base: Firms that bill clients for online research costs

Note: Large Law is defined as firms with 51+ attorneys. Mid-Law is defined as firms with 21-50 attorneys.

Three-fourths of corporate counsel (75%) believe that the value of

online research conducted by outside counsel is commensurate

with or exceeds the cost.

N= 158 Corporate Counsel

Question: Do you perceive that the value of online research conducted on your behalf by outside

counsel typically (meaning more times than not) ...?

Reliability and accuracy of search results are the most important

factors driving the value of online research for corporate counsel.

N= 158 Corporate Counsel

Question: Which of the following factors contribute to the value you receive from the research outside

counsel conducts on your organization's behalf? Select all that apply.

AFAs & Billing Arrangements

Aggressive Migration in the Marketplace

Have Lexis Advance Today:

• Over 80% of Am Law 100 firms

• Over 60% of Am Law 200 firms

• Rapidly migrating Small Law firms

• Rapidly migrating Government customers

• US Supreme Court, US Court of Appeals, numerous circuit courts

• State & Local Government

• Federal agencies including Dept. of Commerce, DOJ, Dept. of Defense and many more.

•

Lexis Advance has been in the market since 2010.

By the time 1L’s graduate, we expect 100% of our

customers to have access to Lexis Advance.

How much does

Lexis Advance cost?

9

Commercial Pricing Basics

• Subscription Pricing Plan: Most firms, courts, and agencies that have access to Lexis have a subscription pricing plan.

*Solo practitioner packages range $75 - $250 per month

Managing Plans:

- Overhead

- Bill Back

*Transactional (pay as you go): Access to LexisNexis but pay retail rates for each search “transaction”

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Lexis Advance Pricing

Lexis Advance Retail Pricing: Pricing is based on a per document access model. For example, there is no charge to run a search across all content, browse cite lists, and filter results. A document access charge only occurs when a document is opened.

NOTE: ONLY applies if billing research back or accessing content out of plan and discounts may apply. Majority of students will not be billing research to clients and rarely accessing content out of plan.

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• Achieving a high level of competence using the product. • Asking your employer questions about the topic/issue assigned so you have a strong foundation to begin your research. • Understanding your employer’s Subscription Plan. • Understanding how your employer manages online research performed for clients.

• Using the research features and tips shared today to become more efficient.

What is Cost Effective Research?

Searching is free & Pre/Post filtering is free

13

Lexis Advance®: Documents In & Out of Plan

14

Lexis Advance: Free Preview

15

Lexis Advance: Price Guide

16

Time Efficient Features

17

Topic Summaries

18

Legal Issue Trail

19

Delivery Options are free

20

Shepard’s® is free

21

•

History is free for 90 days

•

Work Folders

• Lexis Advance is available at the majority of firms, courts and agencies

• Most customers have a flat rate subscription pricing plan

• Less than 10% of a law firm’s expenses are for online research (majority

between 1-4%)

• The vast majority of Corporate Counsel (75%) deem the value of online legal

research by outside counsel to be at least equal to the cost

• Top 3 factors driving value of online research:

*Reliability & accuracy of results

*Current and up to date information

*Comprehensiveness of Database

• Majority of students will NOT be incurring research charges.

Review

Take advantage of cost effective features like:

• Free to Search and Filter

• Free Preview and Out of Plan notification

• Save time with Legal Issue Trail, Topic Summaries, Lexis Web, Table of

Contents…

• Shepard’s is free

• Work Folders – time efficient and documents free for a year

• History – free for 90 days

• Document Delivery is free

• Customer Service is free

Review

• NEW video: Law Firm Simulation: Understanding research charges on Lexis Advance

• Updated Video: Researching Cost Effectively with Lexis Advance

• Updated Literature: Be Cost Effective for Employers and Clients • Think Like a Lawyer site: www.lexisnexis.com/tlal

Additional Resources