It’s the little things: Recent Westlaw enhancements
This post was written by Mike Carlson, reference attorney advisor at Thomson Reuters
I’m very excited to be attending the American Bar Association (ABA) Techshow next week in Chicago. The Techshow is a great time for me to receive feedback, discuss product ideas and updates to Westlaw, and other legal solutions. So often, it’s not the flashy updates but simple changes based on user feedback that makes our research life so much better. Here, for example, are a few recent enhancements to Westlaw that were made based on customer feedback.
New KeyCite flag: A new Key Cite flag signals when a case has been appealed to a federal circuit court of appeals or to the U.S. Supreme Court. Of course, we can always run a search in dockets but clicking on the blue flag will direct us to the relevant docket straight away.
Deliver to Dropbox: 59 percent of respondents said they use Dropbox, according to ABA’s 2014 Legal Tech Report. That includes me. Now, we can drop documents directly from Westlaw.
Add documents to folders from table of contents: This was a frequent request from our customers – simply the ability to add documents to a folder from a table of contents.
Send custom pages: Custom pages allow users to customize Westlaw for user-defined workflows (e.g., a page that includes only IP materials within your subscription plan). Now you can share these configurations with your colleagues. The feature helps firms on-board new associates and share favorite materials and research strategies.
I’ll be available to discuss these and other updates on Westlaw, Firm Central, and other legal solutions at ABA Techshow. I look forward to having these hands-on discussions with you next week. Just find me at the Thomson Reuters booth (#307). Or…join me for a Taste of Techshow dinner.
Why games matter
Roger Caillois argued that play is “an occasion of pure waste: waste of time, energy, ingenuity, skill, and often of money.” Why then, are we dedicating 3 billion hours each week to video games? Johan Huizinga noted that, “at first sight few things would seem to be further apart than the domain of law, justice and jurisprudence, and play.” Why then, are some arguing that games might be a means to improve access to justice? I’m so very excited to be taking up these issues with Stephanie Kimbro, fellow at Stanford Law School Center on the Legal Profession, at a dinner conversation hosted by Thomson Reuters at the Wildfire Restaurant on Friday, April 17 as part of the ABA Taste of Techshow. Hope to see you there.
