Go to any gathering of lawyers and you’ll find someone there from Lexis, whether spinning wheels or handing out umbrellas, with broad smiles to earn our love.  About the only place Lexis shows no love is the blawgosphere, as lawyer W. Lawrence Wescott II found out when he received a love note from its lawyers.

Via Bob Ambrogi,

Until yesterday, the URL www.electronicdiscoveryblog.com led to a blog on e-discovery law written by lawyer W. Lawrence Wescott II. Today, that blog is gone. Wescott took it down after a lawyer from LexisNexis threatened legal action over a claimed unauthorized use of LexisNexis cases. The blog was among the ABA Journal Blawg 100 honorees in 2007.

Chances are the e-discovery, sexy though it may be to so many of us, wasn’t on many people’s radar, and they may not have been regular readers of Wescott’s blawg.  Still, the idea that Lexis would be so deeply offended by his sending readers to a handful of their cases (and wondering what exactly that means, since the content is produced by courts, not Lexis-ites elves in a backroom somewhere) is shocking for all of us. Including me.

When Wescott started his blawg, he obtained permission from Lexis to use up to 1000 of “their” cases per year.  I assume that means court decisions, via Lexis links. Big deal, right? These guys from Lexis are dying to get our business, and Wescott was doing more to put their service in front of people than handing out 1000 umbrellas.  Except when it’s raining outside, but then it never rains in the blawgosphere.

To a large extent, we rely on a wide variety of sources for links to stories, posts and court decisions in the blawgosphere.  For most, it’s a matter of fair use, since we aren’t selling them and provide “value added” commentary about the content.  On the other hand, it’s not like we (as opposed to Lexis) are making the big bucks off this.  I would guess that most blawgers, like me, do it only for the fame, since there’s no fortune to be had.  If some corporation wants to litigate our efforts to death, and suck the life out of us in the process, there’s no incentive to fight. 

It’s occurred to me numerous times that businesses that cater to lawyers, not to mention pay walled news sites, should be begging blawgers to link to their stuff and should give us free, unlimited access to their content.  We promote them, often better than they could ever promote themselves.  But if we can’t get in there, or use them, then they cease to exist for us.  Is that really what they want?  Is the quick buck worth the loss of attention (or outright anger) of the blawgosphere?

So even if e-discovery isn’t your thing, the sad demise of the Electronic Discovery Blog at the hands of Lexis is a shame; a concern for all blawgers and a disgrace for Lexis.

Memo to Lexis:  Hope your savings from the purported unauthorized use is worth it.