For individuals conducting business or legal research, LexisNexis offers a database of pertinent information, such as statistics and records. Students pursuing majors in business, economics, and law often utilize these compiled data. But it isn’t merely a standalone database. This article provides information about the company, its origins, and how the resources offered can be applied.
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Fulfilling a Need
While LexisNexis has changed hands several times since its creation in 1970, it began as a logical continuation of an experimental project conducted by the Ohio State Bar Association in 1967. Primarily, the Mead Data Central Company wanted to expand what the association began, a compilation of relevant legal documents in a comparatively small geographic area. To provide electronic access to these types of data was undoubtedly cutting edge at the time.
However, Mead also expanded its offerings to include journalistic sources on pertinent topics, such as legal cases, financial holdings, and other aspects of business or legal documentation. When the company sold its database to Reed Elsevier in the 1990s, the latter company implemented a succession of expansionary purchases of similar data aggregating entities, further expanding the reach and depth of LexisNexis’ offerings.
These movements were a prelude to a move into the risk management and healthcare data markets, two areas in which the current company operating under the name of LexisNexis is exceptionally active. However, most individuals who are not in the market for consultation or risk management of their corporations still associate the company with the database.
Data For Whom?
According to the LexisNexis Academic page, they offer their considerable information and search tools to individuals in pursuit or possession of a law or business degree. LexisNexis hosts more than 11 terabytes of legal case information on an extensive collection of servers in the city of Miamisburg, Ohio. These data include publicly available legal cases data from the 1770s to the present day. While it could be hunted down elsewhere, to have it all in a searchable electronic format provides an unparalleled research tool.
In addition to published legal opinions of a broad, domestic scope, the servers also house unpublished legal information about cases from the 1980s to the present day. While students of law may find these resources valuable for completing scholarly assignments, practicing lawyers may also avail themselves of the information when crafting their current casework.
Pursuing Multiple Avenues
As mentioned above, the original mission of LexisNexis grew over time, and successive business decisions led to the purchase of then-unrelated companies with interests in varying fields. These ventures expanded to include the purchase of publishing apparatus’ and consultancy firms of venerable reputation. In addition to providing scholarly resources to students and academic professionals, these database holdings also support various arms of the current business.
This includes search and consultation support for law enforcement, private companies, and legal professionals. With all that information consolidated in a single location, the company now offers business and legal consultation services to a wide array of privately held or publicly traded companies. These services include risk management, a seemingly indispensable aspect of modern, multi-national corporate negotiations.
Allocating considerations of business and legal research, creating timelines and reports of various company holdings, and personnel management permit companies at the highest levels of international trade to devote their energies to other pursuits. But LexisNexis does not discriminate based on company size. They offer their services to all who require them.
While the company bearing the name today may have little resemblance to the groundbreaking project of the Ohio State Bar Association in 1970, for students or academic professionals, legal and business practitioners, their primary role is still quite similar. LexisNexis is a focused yet seemingly-inexhaustible storehouse of legal and business information, both published and unpublished, that comes with customized search tools that make it indispensable.
