The release of the United States Federal Communication Commission (FCC) plan to improve the speed of the nation’s broadband network (Read the story on Reuters.com) shows that there is a shared interest is making sure the technology continues to progress with the information demands of citizens and businesses.
The FCC’s plan – “Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan” - sets a goal for 100 million American households to have Internet speeds of 100 megabits per second by 2020. According to Reuters, the current household average speed is about 4 Mbps. Even homes with cable or fiber Internet access only achieve speeds averaging 5 Mbps to 6 Mbps. Dakota County, where our Eagan office is located, averages 9 Mbps. (more…)
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The launch of WestlawNext is important for all of Thomson Reuters, not just our Legal division.
The work it took to design and build the system is evidence of the entire company’s commitment to listening to customers and what they need in their workflow – and reflects the culture of innovation within the business.
But it’s also a tribute to the talent, development and expertise of our employees, as Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer talks about in this video clip:
For more information about WestlawNext, go to www.westlawnext.com.
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It’s no secret that the technology driving search – specifically legal research – has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. Within Thomson Reuters, Legal, Peter Jackson has been in the middle of the effort to make improvements behind the scenes that benefit customers, no matter where in the world they happen to be when they access the information we have.
In this video interview, Jackson – Chief Scientist and Vice President at Thomson Reuters, Legal – describes the current state of legal search and what West is doing to improve it by focusing on both technology and editorial expertise:
Jackson adds that West and Westlaw offer “an enormous repository of data, of really good textual data, good textual summaries and good hand classifications that our algorithms can grow upon” and a large user base of experts in their fields who continually interact with documents. In a sense, “telling us what they find interesting and what they find to be useful.”
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A successful legal research experience starts with the right tools. As Senior Vice President, New Product Development for Thomson Reuters, Legal, Andy Martens believes the development of effective tools for research and the daily workflow of legal professionals starts with a commitment to innovation.
While many things change over time, in this video clip Martens explains why innovation remains vital to the work within the legal businesses of Thomson Reuters:
Martens says the innovations from Thomson Reuters, Legal, are all targeted at making the work and lives of customers easier.
“We want to focus on what we do best, to let the legal professionals that we work with do what they do best, Martens said. “We want to help legal professionals spend less time finding discrete pieces of information and spend more time crafting arguments, understanding how the law connects, and representing their clients.”
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Lori Hedstrom wears a lot of hats as a marketing manager in Librarian Relations for West. She’s primarily responsible for frequent communications with law librarians and also coordinates educational opportunities.
In this video clip, Hedstrom compares her role at West to the librarian’s role in their firm, school or government agency:
As part of her marketing duties in Librarian Relations, Hedstrom helps maintain the Law Librarian Resource Center on the West Web site.
The site includes a variety of webinars and presentations.
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When a West customer needs help – of the technical kind – Katie Stevens is on the team that moves in with a sense of urgency.
Stevens, a consultant in customer technical service, says the correct diagnosis of the technical problem being reported by a caller is job one.
“It’s our job to figure out if the call actually relates to an issue with the program they’re using or if it’s an issue with their computer, and then help them fix it,” Stevens said.
Stevens says she and her customer technical service colleagues have to relate to the caller’s sense of urgency.
“That urgency does rub off on us. Our customers will let us know, ‘I need to file in 30 minutes,’ or ‘I have to get this in.’ And we’ll do whatever we can to get the issue fixed in that time frame, if not sooner.”
In this video clip, Stevens says she knows her role is important to the workflow of the legal researcher on the other end of the line, and thrives on being an effective problem-solver for Westlaw customers:
For technical support, Westlaw subscribers can call 1-800-WESTLAW (1-800-937-8529), send an email, or go to the West Web site for access to the West Research and Technical Help Center, a database that supplies direct answers to thousands of common technical questions regarding West software and online products, including CD-ROM software (FinPlan, ImmForms Plus, etc.), Westlaw applications (BriefTools, CiteAdvisor, etc.), and other West software and services.
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Legal researchers depend heavily on people like Jill Bergquist. She’s a Key Number Classifier at West, a critical contributor in the editorial process that connects common threads across vast collections of legal content, ultimately making it easier to find and use specific materials.
Organization is everything for the researcher trying to find unique points of law when searching hundreds of years of legal opinions from the courts.
“I think people are surprised that there are so many topics and that there’s that much granularity,” said Bergquist. “The law is really separated out, and I’m among those who take the headnotes written for a case - the key points of law – and classify them into the 400 or so topics and beyond.”
As she points out in this video clip, Bergquist knows her role at West is important to a legal researcher’s daily work:
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As much as the content is king, we also could certainly write a book about the technology behind Westlaw.
Carrie Koppen, a manager of editorial operations for West, works within that world of innovation every day. She works with the team responsible for implementing the content and publishing pathway changes needed to keep Westlaw in optimal tune for legal professionals.
“It’s about allowing researchers to search the content on Westlaw more effectively, display it effectively, and create a better result for our customers,” said Koppen.
In this video clip, Koppen explains how the ‘aha moment’ for researchers is what her work is all about:
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Many people “touch” a case as it goes from a courtroom to a database, from a judge or jury’s decision onto Westlaw – where a legal researcher may read it within minutes, depending on the court.
It’s all done to make the law easier to work with. And helping legal researchers work efficiently with the most current and comprehensive collections of cases and points of law.
West’s longstanding and trusted relationships with more than 3,500 judges and more than 600 courts in the United States provide just the starting points in a complex but swift process. (more…)
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Editor’s note: This post begin a series of interviews with several West employees about the value of their work to the legal system.
Like a baseball manager who once played the game, West Reference Attorneys are coach and colleague to lawyers and law librarians looking for help with legal research.
We recently had the chance to talk about the job and its responsibilities with Reference Attorneys Andy O’Meara and Scott Hamel.
O’Meara says the moment he picks up the phone with customers, the focus is on assessing the caller’s situation, and then listening.
“I’ve been on the other side, I worked in a firm for awhile and I remember the partner’s footsteps coming down the hall when they needed me to look up information on something critical to a case,” O’Meara said. “Reference attorneys are really helpful for our customers because they can call in and talk to a licensed attorney – and someone who’s very experienced in legal research – about their legal issue.”
“The help we provide is invaluable and I think the customers appreciate our service because we’re simply there to help if they’re unable to find what they’re looking for,” said Hamel, who litigated for more than 20 years before coming to West. “They can call and discuss with us and we can lead them to the right cases.”
Every West Reference Attorney is a bar-admitted attorney with a deep understanding of Westlaw features, functionality, databases and services. They help refine search queries, find specific laws and documents and answer questions regarding the process of legal research on Westlaw.
“The value we provide to customers is showing them where to find the answer, explaining the content that’s available to them for analysis and also brainstorming with the caller to decide what legal issue it is that they’re trying to research and how best to approach their research problem,” added O’Meara.
In this video clip, O’Meara talks about the skills a reference attorney needs to have and Hamel explains why every call from a customer is “like a game show” for him:
As part of a Westlaw subscription, users can contact a West Reference Attorney anytime, at 1-800-REF-ATTY (1-800-733-2889) or by email.
More information is available on the West Web site.
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Thomson Reuters, Legal, President & CEO Peter Warwick offered his perspective on the company’s approach to the current economic reality in a panel discussion, “Adapting and Thriving in a Challenging Economy”, at the Minnesota Venture & Finance Conference.
The launch of WestlawNext brings a significant advancement in the way professional legal research is done.
Andrew F. Popper, a professor at American University, Washington College of Law, talks about his award-winning novel “Rediscovering Lone Pine.”
