[ahi]

LN and Westlaw's real service is their ubiquity. Every law student has access to it and every firm expects proficiency. While they generally suck, the last time I used it (looong time ago), their boolean search was quite nice. That kind of text search has mostly been replaced by non-deterministic black boxes which aren't great for legal research.

[throwup238]

They've also got the Microsoft effect going on. Usually at least one of their products like their personal information aggregator used for locating people (like when serving lawsuits) is mandatory for a firm so it's just easier for them bundle everything else in.

[piker]

You forgot to mention their claim of copyright over the bulk of, e.g. obscure state case law.

[ehecatl42]

So, you have to pay to access the law that you are subject to?