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LexisNexis Review: Online Legal Research

Lawyerist Rating for Lexis

Rating Breakdown

Our Rating: 3.9/5

Our rating is based on our subjective judgment. Use our resources—including our rating and community ratings and reviews—to find the best fit for your firm.

Community Rating: 1.6/5 (based on 7 ratings)

The community rating is based on the average of the community reviews below.

Composite Rating: 3.1/5

The composite rating is a weighted average of our rating and the community ratings below.

3.1/5

Overview

Featured Rating

What is LexisNexis?

LexisNexis is one of the veterans of the legal research industry. As such, they boast an impressive catalog of materials and tools. Law firms in the market for online legal research and review, will want to look at Lexis or Lexis+—if only for comparison. Although, LexisNexis’s pricing might scare off those looking for a low cost solution.

Starting Cost: $105/user/month

Pros

Secondary Sources
Citation Check
Integrations

Cons

Expensive
No Open API
Not for Solos

Overview

Featured Ratings

LexisNexis Review: Online Legal Research Features

Customer Experience & Support

Price & Value

Security

Innovation & Future-Proofing

Overview

Featured Rating

LexisNexis Review: Online Legal Research Video

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Product Details

Apps

Software Integrations

Microsoft Word

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Pros

Secondary Sources
Citation Check
Integrations

Cons

Expensive
No Open API
Not for Solos

Pros

Secondary Sources
Citation Check

Cons

Expensive
No Integrations
Not for Solos

Read Westlaw Review

Pros

Docket Search
Bar Assoc. Deals
Tribal Court Opinions

Cons

Limited Secondary Sources
No Case Alerts
No Integrations

Read Review

Pros

Open API
Docket Search
Bar Assoc. Deals
Public Records Search

Cons

Limited Secondary Sources
No Business Search
Not for Large Firms

Read Fastcase Review

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I use LexisNexis?

LexisNexis is a cloud-based legal research platform that can be used on any modern browser. Additionally, as of this review, it can also be used as an add-in on Microsoft Word.

What is the price of LexisNexis?

As of this review, the price of a three-year commitment to LexisNexis starts at $105.00 per month. This tier provides case law, statutes, and legislation for one state and the ability to Shepardize your results. The next step up, State Premium Lexis+, costs $235/month but includes extra features like state agency and administrative materials, federal cases, federal legislative material, Statutes Compare, and Litigation Analytics.

Does LexisNexis integrate with my Law Practice Management Software?

No. As of this review, LexisNexis does not integrate with any Law Practice Management Software.

Does LexisNexis have a MS Word plugin?

Yes. LexisNexis has an MS Word plugin that will enable users to Shepardize their citations within the Microsoft app.

Does LexisNexis search caselaw?

Yes. Users get at least one state's case law at every pricing tier LexisNexis offers.

What secondary sources does LexisNexis have?

LexisNexis has loads of secondary sources. Their treatises and tomes are what differentiate them from many other products on the market.

Is LexisNexis reliable?

Yes. LexisNexis is one of the stalwarts of the industry. Their review sources are generally considered up-to-date and reliable.

Is LexisNexis difficult to use?

Many of the advanced features LexisNexis offers take some time to get up-to-speed. However, simple case law research and statute review is relatively easy for most lawyers.

Can I get docket information from LexisNexis?

Yes. Through LexisNexis' product, CourtLink, you can search state and federal dockets from all over the United States. However, the availability in state courts can be a bit spotty.

Does LexisNexis have reminders and alerts?

Yes. LexisNexis offers reminders and case alerts at even its most basic pricing tier.

Additional Details about LexisNexis

Lexis+AI

Lexis+AI takes the power you are familiar in large language model generative AIs, like ChatGPT, and combines it with the breadth and depth of legal sources, cases, and information available through Lexis. You can make conversational-type search inquires, ask for case summarization, request a document draft, and analyze an existing draft. Lexis+AI does this all with, as they put it, “linked hallucination-free legal citations.” While not generally available yet, you can join the AI Insider Program.

Lexis CourtLink

CourtLink lets users track dockets and get alerts on new developments in cases. Users also get access to state and federal court records and can quickly search court records in CourtLink. It is, however, a stand-alone product that isn’t included in the Lexis+ subscription.

Lexis Practical Guidance

Practical Guidance gives analysis and guidance from practicing lawyers. And for specific questions about a particular piece of content, the “Ask Our Authors” feature offers a direct connection to the author. Practical Guidance is another product sold outside the Lexis+ subscription. Once subscribed, though, Lexis does make it easy to access through the Lexis+ interface.

Lexis for Microsoft Office

Lexis features an integration with Microsoft Office so users can check whether a particular case has been cited, clarified, overturned, reaffirmed, or questioned by later authorities without switching between a Word document and browser. LexisNexis calls this “Shepardizing.” Shepardizing with an Office integration saves time and annoyance during brief writing.

Who LexisNexis is for

Lexis’ strength comes from its add-on products. With access to case law, legal publications, court docket tools, legal analysis, and other resources, Lexis is a powerful—if relatively expensive—legal research tool for firms of all sizes. Attorneys who rely on secondary sources, or who want some of the more advanced features Lexis+ has, will likely find satisfaction.

However, firms that are only concerned with case law, and those who don’t rely on many secondary sources, may find LexisNexis to be a bit much. In that case, one of the other Online Legal Research resources may be more appropriate.

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LexisNexis Community Reviews

1.6

Based on 7 Ratings

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Thomas B. says:

November 21, 2022 at 6:12 pm

CHEAPER FORMS ELSEWHERE

I am a real estate attorney on Long Island practicing law for over 43 years and a Lexis customer for over 17 before the COMPANY’S screw up. Been in a battle with Lexis-Nexis for about 9 months now over payment for services they failed to provide mid-contract regarding downloading their real estate forms. First their salesman tried to hustle my paralegal into paying triple my contract cost to upgrade to a cloud plan that we didn’t need. Then he said that if we didn’t upgrade we would no longer be able to download the forms I need for my practice. Lo and behold that happened though Lexis denies it. Since I was no longer getting service I stopped paying and cancelled the contract over the phone and by email. A month later Lexis swore that I was able to download the forms, but I couldn’t. Then they stated over the phone and in emails that their policy was that I had to pay the remainder of my contract installments whether I cancelled or not. I responded that my policy was that I do not continue to pay for service that I am no longer receiving. Also note that when forced to get my forms elsewhere, I found them for about 15% of the cost I was paying at Lexis-Nexis. I am now dealing with a lot of legal threats, but happy to see Lexis-Nexis in court. I have my written proofs. Shame how this company treated a seasoned attorney and loyal customer for 17 years who, I might add, has over an 800 credit rating for paying all his bills. SHAME ON LEXIS-NEXIS!!

Christina G. says:

May 19, 2022 at 8:36 pm

Fraudulent practices by Lexis

My Lexis Advance account manager, S—- B—-, fraudulently renewed my contract when I had 4 months advance written notice that I would not be renewing. I contacted Lexis customer service about the fraudulent billing, and was told I had to speak with S—- B—- replacement, T—- B—-. T—- B—- admitted that S—- B—- had extended the contract without my permission. T—- B—- said she would fix it and remove the charges. Instead, T—- B—- billed me for three additional months under the expired contract. Each month, I had to call my credit card issuer to dispute the charges. After I told my bank to reject any billing from Lexis, Lexis sent me an additional charge of $64.40 and I received a notice that the charge was overdue by 30 days, affecting my credit. Lexis customer service told me to to contact T—- B—-, which was ridiculous as she had fraudulently billed my account just like S—- B—- had done. The only other person they said I could contact was C—- W—-, and they would only give me an email and not a phone number. I emailed Mr. W—- that I needed to hear from him. I did not. Lexis allows their account representatives to commit fraud, does not give their customer service representatives to fix the fraud, and the supervisor for the fraudulent employees, C—- W—-, perpetuates the fraud by refusing to address the fraud. Do not sign up with Lexis.

Jonathan W. says:

March 17, 2021 at 10:27 am

Lexis is the best in the Biz

I have Lexis+. It combines regular Lexis with what used all of practice advisor, with litigation analytics, and various templates and forms for all jurisdictions. It has been a great experience the whole way. I have two reps to support me, a 24/7 research support, and every time I go back to my sales rep she helps as well. I got two months free, four months at 50/ a month, 195 a month for the life of the contract. If you want to be a real law firm, do real work and do it well go with Lexis. If you want to be cheap or just want a law factory go elsewhere.

Alexander B. says:

September 11, 2020 at 10:07 pm

Worst experience ever

Bait and switch on my original, solo practitioner contract. Signed solo practitioner contract.

Within months, my client representative said I’d be better served expanding my subscription and save money doing so (because I had been paying for out of subscription cases, ala carte).

Was sent a promotional addendum with no pricing grid and signed the addendum. Saw later, when I contacted customer service, that the pricing grid (not part of my DocuSign receipt) near doubled by pricing and extended my subscription.

I only wanted to dump one product and continue the other contracts. They wouldn’t hear it. And, they wouldn’t escalate my matter past the base account representative level.

These people are deceptive and scummy.

Adrienne W. says:

April 15, 2020 at 11:52 pm

Terrible product.

Expensive, phone rep hard to understand, billing nightmare, switched to westlaw they are so much better!

J. Gary S. says:

April 2, 2020 at 5:51 am

LexisNexis = Total Inept Accounting, Minimal Service, Overpriced

When compared to CASETEXT this service is not only expensive but the LexisNexis accounting department failed to credit payments, went out of their way to collect fees that LexisNexis didn’t earn (but rather created out of thin air by the accounting department) and took almost a full year to almost correct the accounting department errors and even after the alleged correction their accounting department inaccurately calculated my bill. A literal arithmetic error that my 7 year old granddaughter wouldn’t make that was in error by 54 cents. As it turned out the accounting department did me a favor. CASETEXT is not only easier to use, provides better coverage for less money but the CASETEXT Technology is much easier and provides better results with less effort. LexisNexis is technology and accounting challenged and unreliable when compared to the competition . Do yourself a favor dump LexisNexis.

Omar S. says:

December 16, 2019 at 1:41 pm

LexisNexis - Weak, Ineffective, expensive, exhausting

Unfortunately, I’ve had this product for 3 years and only because I was locked into a contract. I was hopeful when I signed up but I have regretted it ever since. It feels like oppression. Counting the days until I can break free! Lexis is not interested in cancelling my contract, they are happy collecting and offering subpar products that will ruin your day.

Don’t waste your money with this product.

The search:

Intermittent and does not give continuous results. The natural search engine is heavily lacking – you need to be a Boolean pro to pull up anything relevant and even then it feels like a shot in the dark. There are many times where we’ve called in to get help on the search and spent too much time with Representatives only to get nowhere. The poor reps even had trouble using it. I found myself having to go to the public law library to use Westlaw instead.

Practice Advisor:

The contracts provided in Practice Advisor are weak and not very relevant. LexisNexis gives limited access on a section basis. There are also a lot of contracts that are not even available. For example, I am subscribed to the business section, I would search for a Sales Agreement and would get results for partnership agreements and LLC operating from other states. Try typing in anything more complicated than that and your better off just writing the contract yourself.

Courtlink:

Courtlink is another battle. Very Inaccurate. It barely pulls cases when searching a litigants name. I would search for cases I knew existed and they would not populate unless I used the exact case number. Pulling complaints from federal and state dockets is hit and miss. Sometimes the load screen will run for half an hour with nothing. I would give up occasionally and go straight to pacer or state court websites to pull dockets and documents. I simply cannot rely on this product.

Practice Guides:

The Mathew Bender practice guide are hard to access and search and give limited guidance compared to Rutters.

In conclusion, I find myself crossing my fingers when I login to LexisNexis hoping that maybe I’ll find what I’m looking for. Save yourself a lot of time and headache, spend a few extra dollars and go with WestLaw or any other research tool.

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