The U.S. legal publishing market may no longer be a duopoly, according to the most recent Clio users survey. The three services clustered in a virtual tie within 8 votes out of 2,162, with Westlaw as the choice of 445 respondents, Fastcase with 440, and LexisNexis with 437.
The survey asked users what tool they use for legal research, and users reported that Westlaw, Fastcase, and Lexis were their tools of choice, in that order. With more than 2,100 respondents, 20.58% reported that Westlaw was their tool of choice, and 20.35% reported that Fastcase was their favorite legal research service. LexisNexis was a close third with 20.21% of users.
Google Scholar was the fourth choice of users with 13.6% of users, followed by Casemaker at 10.22%. No other service reported more than 10% of preference.
Clio’s users may have a natural affinity for Fastcase, since the two companies share an exclusive integration agreement. Fastcase users can automatically track their legal research time and record documents, saving them seamlessly into a client and matter with the Clio dashboard in Fastcase.
Fastcase has gained strong momentum in the legal research market. Twenty-eight state bar associations and dozens of voluntary bar associations have selected Fastcase as a free member benefit. Eleven state bar associations have switched from another provider to offer the Fastcase legal research benefit.
The company’s mobile apps have dominated the category, winning the prestigious 2010 American Association of Law Libraries New Product of the Year. Fastcase won the 2014 American Association of Law Libraries New Product of the Year award with partner HeinOnline, and in 2015, it was voted Best Small Firm Legal Research Tool by readers of the Legal Times. Fastcase has repeatedly been named the most popular app for lawyers in the ABA Technology Survey, and in 2016 was named by Engadget as One of the Top 5 Research Apps to Survive Law School and Pass the Bar.
About Fastcase
Fastcase is a legal research software company based in Washington, D.C. According to Crunchbase Fastcase has been building market share in the legal research market for lawyers, with more than 800,000 subscribers. The company was founded in 1999.
As the smarter alternative for legal research, Fastcase democratizes the law, making it more accessible to more people. Using patented software that combines the best of legal research with the best of Web search, Fastcase helps busy users sift through the clutter, ranking the best cases first and enabling the re-sorting of results to find answers fast.
Source: Fastcase
