Lexis and Westlaw for Lawschool

mrisch

I really want to like Zotero, but every time I try it, the three primary sites I use - lexis and westlaw for lawschool and SSRN don't work very well. SSRN scrapes the journal info, but doesn't download the article (despite it being right there) and lexis and westlaw just do a screen scrape and don't seem to capture any citation info. Are there plans to more fully develop these sites? Seems like law professor buy in will be limited until these all work well.

gestrother

I just installed Zotero, and I'm having the same problem. Is there any update on capturing PDFs from SSRN, or getting citations from Lexis for Law School (I don't even get the Zotero icon in my URL bar on Lexis).

Thanks

jmf

I, too am having problems. In lexis, no file folder shows up that would allow me to capture data...besides the "star" bookmark icon in the web address pain, my only option is manual input. Suggestions?

fbennett

In Lexis Total Legal Research (which I think is the service you're likely to be using in law school), there is no metadata embedded in the pages. I've done some work on a translator for US & Canadian Law Reviews Combined, which is available here. It may work for you, but it doesn't cover cases.

I'll eventually get to cases, but barring some support from the providers, it will take awhile. The Lexis pages are very painful to deal with: there is no embedded metadata in them; the cite details need to be extracted from the plain text of the page, which is very tricky and hard to do reliably. Combine this with a byzantine system of dynamic URLs, and ... well, you get the idea.

Would be delighted if Lexis stepped forward with a translator themselves, but that's unlikely to happen, for fairly obvious reasons.

jmf

Would Westlaw have embedded metadata that would be easily accessible as opposed to Lexis? I prefer Westlaw as a legal research device, anyway.

fbennett

I'm not sure, I don't have access. Any with access able to help?

tchen22

What do you mean by having access to Westlaw? I have a Westlaw account, but I have no ideas how to help. I am willing if someone can teach me how if that is what is needed.