Legal Research

"West, Lexis Offer Help for Hard Times"

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi: "Two major legal publishers announced initiatives this week to help laid-off lawyers keep their heads above water and make the transition to new jobs. Coincidentally or not, both West and LexisNexis announced their initiatives on the same day.

 West's initiative is a two-pronged effort built around two new Web sites. The first prong is Between Cases, a new site intended to serve as an online resource for displaced legal associates seeking employment and networking opportunities. The site includes job search tools, legal education offerings from West LegalEdCenter, information and resources for setting up a private practice, and special offers from Westlaw and other West services.

Between Cases also offers free resources for displaced attorneys who want to use their transitional time to perform pro bono work. To that end, the second prong of West's initiative is something it calls Do Justice. In cooperation with the Pro Bono Institute, West is contributing over $12 million in free Westlaw access to law firms to support pro bono work they do. Read more about both of West's initiatives at the Thomson Reuters blog Legal Current and in this news release.

LexisNexis is calling its initiative Lend a Hand. It is offered to U.S. attorneys who recently worked for a law firm with more than 50 attorneys and who are currently unemployed. The program offers free marketing services, networking opportunities and employment resources. These include:

• A free profile on Lawyers.com and Martindale.com.
• Free access to Martindale-Hubbell Connected, the company's professional networking site.
• Free access to the Martindale-Hubbell Career Center, where attorneys can search for legal jobs in their areas.

These freebies from Lexis will last for six months. To get them, you need to qualify, as described above, and sign up by the end of August."

The active links are available at the source site listed below.

Source: Legal Blog Watch, 1 July 2009

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on July 02, 2009 (boomark / email).