Westlaw is rated as one of the best legal research platforms enabling lawyers to conduct research faster and reduce the risk of missing relevant cases.
The online tool with multiple subscription provisions is essentially a proprietary database for statutes, case law, and treaties, among other secondary sources from the legal technology giant Thomson Reuters.
With Westlaw, lawyers can build strong arguments based on high-level legal materials such as primary law, practice area insights, analytical materials, and litigation resources.
Users love Westlaw for its easily navigable format. Westlaw is also retained for its popularity and functionality. It lets you access a wealth of library resources for your large firm with a large assortment of case types.
While the list of good things about Westlaw is relatively long, on the downside, Westlaw is difficult to learn and has no integrations. Sometimes the platform also struggles to maintain multiple tabs correctly.
Luckily, there are replacements for Westlaw that you can try. This review will examine the top 15 Westlaw alternatives, their features, unique characteristics, and pricing.
Let’s get started.
Best Westlaw Alternatives
1. Lexis
Lexis is one of the top legal research platforms like Westlaw that lets primary researchers within professional and legal organizations find relevant information efficiently.
You will still find your favorite research features on Lexis, just that they are enhanced for better functionality and additional options. Lexis is user-friendly and has simply everything you need to find applicable case law faster and simplify your research.
With Lexis, you can conduct authoritative research and develop a robust strategy for your case using vital intelligence drawn from over 60,000 news, legal, business, and public records sources.
What’s more? Lexis can retrieve cases and upload them back online faster than Westlaw. Lexis uses sophisticated technology whose cutting-edge algorithms infuse rich insights into traditional legal research methods.
This platform also offers vast and authoritative content, so you can be sure of working with comprehensive and richest information.
Another thing you’ll love about Lexis is the flexible search options, thanks to its advanced back-end technology and tailored help for your small law firm.
Lexis offers various packages for online research with primary law content for one or two legal firms. Choose the Lexis State Primary package from $85 per month or the Lexis+ State Primary package from $140.
For a more advanced and better experience, upgrade to Lexis+ Enhanced with Full Federal from $190 per month or Lexis+ Enhanced with Full Federal plus All Practical Guidance from $250 per month.
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2. UniCourt
UniCourt is an excellent alternative to Westlaw that lets you access legal data and court records. The platform is home to over 500 million documents and over three billion docket entries and has taken care of over 135 million federal and state cases.
This platform does better than Westlaw in making court data accessible and valuable with vast legal data. UniCourt is a trusted partner that provides vital infrastructure that many law firms and companies rely on.
It is an all-in-one platform that gives you real-time access to state and federal court data for all your research needs. The platform helps you automatically track cases without a hassle and receive alerts on new docket updates so that you never miss a filing.
With UniCourt, you can streamline your litigation, be the first to know when clients are involved in new litigation through automated court searches, and track thousands of cases.
UniCourt’s legal data through its APIs supports a vast spectrum of industries, offering real-time access to robust litigation data.
It offers monthly subscription packages with no long-term commitments. You can cancel the plan anytime and the platform does not offer free trials.
UniCourt also provides a discount on their annual personal subscription for individual use and also for small law firms, large legal firms, and businesses.
Its plan categories are the Personal plan for $49 per month, a Professional plan for $149, and a Premium plan for $299.
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3. Casetext
Another exciting platform that works like Westlaw is Casetext. Casetext is rated one of the best legal research software that uses modern search technology to find cases Westlaw misses.
Casetext lets you access all 50 federal and state cases, rules, statutes, and regulations. You’ll love its document analyzer tool that allows you to find on-point cases based on your matter.
Casetext’s powerful document search tool is built on emerging AI to help you search any documents with speed and accuracy. It has a composing tool that pairs the insights from expert attorneys using cutting-edge machine learning for more brilliant draft briefs.
Over 10,000 legal firms trust the platform, and its advanced technology has consistently taken the software above and beyond what users thought was possible. It is also top-rated for its excellent customer support and fair pricing for such a fantastic and intuitive product.
Casetext provides modern writing and research solutions for every firm. Its pricing plans are either monthly, yearly, or for two years.
You can opt for the two-year plan, which is popular with a 30% discount. Choose the Starter plan for $90 per month for smarter searching only when you need it, or upgrade to the Advantage plan which is ideal for frequent legal searches for $100 per month.
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4. Fastcase
If you are looking for a legal research tool like Westlaw that empowers lawyers to find swift answers, then you should consider Fastcase. Fastcase is home to a nationwide database of cases, regulations, statutes, court rules, and legal treatises.
The platform offers a spectrum of legal tools to equip you as a legal professional with more efficient and innovative solutions.
These cloud-based tools include Fastcase legal research, Docket alarm, and Next Chapter to help law practitioners accomplish their research goals and complete their tasks adaptable to their unique needs.
Fastcase does a better job of providing powerful searching and visualization tools. It also offers comprehensive legal databases and data analytics tools to help answer complex questions.
This platform is better at helping you retain customers than Westlaw, as the tool provides data feeds and links to enrich your client and marketing resources as well as make you more valuable to your customers.
Fastcase is trusted by over 80 associations on national, state, and county bar levels.
It offers flexible pricing for its smart tools to enable you build a more competent legal practice. Subscribe to the Fastcase Appellate plan for $65 per month or upgrade to the Fastcase Premium plan for $95 and enjoy a free trial.
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5. Clio
Clio is one of the best legal research software that can work perfectly in place of Westlaw. Clio was made for cases, clients, billing, and more. The tool is quick to set up and easy to use.
The platform calls itself a law firm life saver as it helps you keep repetitive work at bay so that you can focus on what matters the most.
It does more than legal research. It makes it easier for your clients to pay by helping you create custom bills or set up automated payment plans with a few clicks.
With Clio, you can create custom intake forms that clients can fill out to schedule appointments in your calendar. Clio makes online appointments easy and saves you from back-and-forth emails.
Clio is ahead of Westlaw regarding document management. The tool helps you instantly prepare, upload, and share documents for signature and automatically save completed documents to the appropriate client file.
It offers various plans with free training, live support, and stress-free data migration.
You can choose the EasyStart package for $39 per month with limited features or upgrade to the Essentials package for $69 to help you with case management, streamline customer relations, manage your documents, and more.
You can also opt for the Advanced plan for $99 per month to maximize your productivity, or get everything you need to run a successful law firm with Clio’s Complete plan for $129 per month.
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6. Practical Law
Another alternative to Westlaw that is worth trying is Practical Law.
The online know-how platform provides a rigorous selection of peer-reviewed resources, including practice notes, standard documents, and current awareness, to help you confidently advise your clients and work smarter.
Practical Law’s team of expert editors creates and keeps resources up to date. The team has significant experience leading law firms, public sector organizations, and companies.
It is your go-to solution whether you are diversifying your legal practice and need an authoritative overview of a particular area of law or you want to access expertly-authored updates on your existing operations.
Practical Law offers a better selection of practice notes, precedents, checklists, and toolkits for various practice areas than Westlaw and integrates technology, expertise, and unrivaled content to help you manage your organization and grow your business.
Its flexible plans and pricing feature expert legal knowledge and resources to help you work efficiently.
To access and choose a pricing plan that fits your needs, start by indicating the sector of your profession, then select and customize your plan. The plans come with a free custom demo.
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7. Smokeball
Smokeball is another legal resource rated as a top legal case management software continuously innovating and improving for the betterment of your legal firm. Unlike Westlaw, Smokeball targets small law firms.
This platform was founded by technology leaders with over 20 years of working experience delivering impactful legal technology solutions.
Smokeball’s leadership strives to develop a team whose culture shares a profound love for law and is compelled to help small legal firms attain success.
It is an easy and intuitive law practice software that helps you automatically track time and activity, bill your clients, and manage workloads. No matter the features you are looking for, Smokeball can transform your law firm and business to levels you can’t even imagine.
With Smokeball, your client’s case and related emails, tasks, documents, events, and contacts can be viewed or accessed in one place.
Smokeball has three pricing plans: the Start plan at $29 per month to help you bill clients and get paid faster, the Grow plan at $99 per month to help you run your firm like a pro, and the Prosper plan at $149 per month to help you create strategic successes.
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8. MyCase
Like Westlaw, MyCase is a modern legal firm web-based legal practice management and research platform. MyCase helps you stay organized with its case management feature.
The case management feature takes care of your calendaring, document management, communication, and case reporting and enables you to keep track of every detail to help you beat deadlines.
Its lead management feature allows you to grow faster by giving you a 360-degree view of your prospective customer pipeline.
MyCase’s integration with the apps you love will make you choose it over Westlaw. Its bank-grade data protection to your confidential client files and communications promises you security you can count on.
You’ll also enjoy its quick and easy onboarding as the tool values your time. MyCase is also an excellent choice for your firm’s billing needs as it lets you easily capture every billable minute.
The tool is good at invoicing and paying collection and helping you understand your firm’s financial performance through detailed analytics reports.
MyCase offers affordable pricing plans that are right for your firm. Save more with MyCase’s annual plans starting with the Basic plan at $39 per month, access more features on MyCase Pro at $59 per month, or get more with MyCase Advanced at $79 per month.
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9. Amicus Attorney
Amicus Attorney is one of the top legal software that can be an excellent replacement for Westlaw. Amicus Attorney helps your law firm thrive today and in the future with superior functionality regardless of your firm’s size.
This platform is ahead of Westlaw, thanks to its modern law firm checklist. This robust technology provides essential criteria to challenge your law firm to attain high-level productivity, happier clients, and more significant profits.
Amicus Attorney is powerful yet simple, with a central case management solution that combines everything your practice needs to succeed. The platform handles calendaring, contacts, documents, conflict management, and communication.
With Amicus Attorney, you can easily track your billable hours against cases and clients on their mobile apps. Its integration partners include Intuit QuickBooks, Dropbox, Salesforce, Office 365, and Microsoft.
You can request Amicus Attorney case management pricing for any firm size with a click or contact the team to get a custom pricing quote for your firm.
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10. Rocket Matter
Rocket Matter, as the name suggests, is a legal practice management solution created for today’s busy legal firms. Sign up for Rocket Matter and start tracking your matters. Quickly get invoices and deep business intelligence with this easy-to-use legal tool.
As a top substitute to Westlaw, Rocket Matter has kanban boards that help you view the visual status of your cases, and these boards are built in addition to Rocket Matter’s robust legal management software.
Rocket Matter also features advanced reporting and analytics of actionable data that your firm can rely on.
What makes Rocket Matter a better choice than Westlaw is its industry-leading billing and time functionality. With Rocket Matter, you can bill as you work, thanks to its intuitive time and expense capture screen technology optimized for efficiency.
The batch billing and bulk editing tool lets you complete your monthly bills within a short time, while its customizable billing rules ensure that you get simple inline and bulk edited invoices.
This platform offers straightforward pricing in three categories.
The Essentials plan is ideal for firms just getting started at $39 per month. Rocket Matter Pro is for firms looking to grow revenue and increase efficiencies for $59 per month. And Rocket Matter Premier is available for firms with enterprise needs for $89 per month.
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11. CiteRight
Another software like Westlaw that provides knowledge tools for careful litigators is CiteRight. CiteRight stands out against Westlaw for its ability to combine research and writing beautifully.
The tool helps you save cases from online law databases and make the cases available to you in Microsoft Word. It keeps all your research in one organized place to help you get to work without downloading the same cases every time you need them.
CiteRight is made up of a dynamic team of problem solvers who are experts in law, business strategy, and technology, making the legal workflow more efficient.
This platform has flexible plans to grow with you. You can subscribe to CiteRight’s Individual plan for $50 per month if you are an individual law practitioner planning to start litigation automation. If you run a firm, go for the Firmwide plan starting from $150.
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12. Zola Suite
If you are looking for an end-to-end law practice management tool that provides a single source of truth, think of Zola Suite. Unlike Westlaw, Zola Suite is built for the business of law.
The tool offers best-in-class email and matter management, sophisticated accounting and billing, and robust reporting. What makes Zola Suite a great choice over Westlaw is that the tool takes safeguarding your data a notch higher.
It is the first cloud-based legal practice management tool to complete a SOC 2 audit, hence its unparalleled dedication to upholding your firm’s privacy and security.
Zola Suite pricing is divided into three categories: Zola Suite Core for $59 per month, the Enterprise plan for $79 per month, and Enterprise Plus for $89 per month. These plans are billed annually and come with onboarding, training, and customer service.
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13. Legodesk
Legodesk is a legal management software that simplifies your legal processes and helps you stay ahead of the competition.
The cloud-based integrated tool for modern legal teams digitizes your legal operations through collaboration tools, automation, and matter management.
Overall, Legodesk is an all-in-one legal automation platform for your business that helps you track all documents and updates related to one matter without manual intervention.
Legodesk is best at managing contacts. The tool segregates clients based on conditions that best apply to them and enables you to track individual client activities, bulk import contacts, and manage data directly from your CRM software.
Such integrations will compel you to replace Westlaw with Legodesk, plus Legodesk’s campaign management tool was built to make lives easier by enabling you to send bulk SMS, emails, and direct messages through Whatsapp.
Legodesk offers integrated case management solutions for banks, established law firms, and in-house legal teams.
The tool has custom plans with features that suit your legal practice needs, and the best part is that the plans come with a free trial, so you don’t have to pay for what you didn’t see.
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14. LollyLaw
LollyLaw is one of the top-ranking case management software that is unparalleled in its ease of use. LollyLaw is different from Westlaw as it targets immigration law.
It can help you effortlessly manage all primary functions of your immigration practice and streamline your client’s intake from any device.
Since 2014, the tool has helped immigration law practitioners create, manage, and track cases and is packed with customizable immigration workflows and form sets from the FBI, DOJ, DOS, and USCIS.
Get started with LollyLaw by registering for a seven-day free trial with no credit card required.
15. Lawpath
Last on my list of the best Westlaw alternatives to try is Lawpath. Lawpath is one platform with almost all the legal solutions you may be looking for. With Lawpath, you can create legal documents, connect with lawyers on demand, and manage compliance.
While Westlaw is best for over 1000 users, Lawpath only supports up to 500 users.
However, this doesn’t make the tool inferior, as it is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses access on-demand legal advice, create and develop unlimited documents, and manage business compliance.
Glance through Lawpath’s range of affordable pricing plans and pick a plan that is right for your legal needs.
Start with a free trial, then subscribe to the Pay per Document plan at $199 per document as a one-off payment or upgrade to the Essentials plan at $33 per month billed annually, for unlimited documents and workflows.
Final Thoughts
I hope this guide helps you decide on the best legal research platform that fits your needs. While the tools may have a lot in common, they still have unique characteristics that suit them for specific jobs.
If you are looking for a tool with sophisticated technology that offers authoritative content and potent insights into traditional legal research methods, then I recommend Lexis.
