East of Eagan – Again
Bucking the trends of the global free access to law movement, our friends in Eagan have unveiled an ambitious interface to Chinese law.
We’re back to East of Eagan:
More than 300,000 laws and regulations
Cases from the Supreme Court and provincial, local, and special courts
Current Awareness Via Email with the latest legal developments compiled from 120+ online sources
Digests of the law for 32 topics – 9 available in English
The press release is dutifully gleeful in recounting research pain points.
“Prior to the launch of Westlaw China, we surveyed attorneys and law students in China and in the U.S. to determine the pain points for legal research in Chinese law,” said Stephen Yao, chief executive officer, Westlaw China. “This customer-centric approach, along with our own knowledge of the Chinese legal system, was used to develop Westlaw China. More and more western businesses have operations in China and the law firms that represent them are now growing their presence in China as well. This gives Westlaw the opportunity to be the single credible source of legal information relating to the practice of law in China.”
Westlaw’s blog features interviews with Stephen Yao and Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson, a frequent visitor to China, who appears unworried by the West-judiciary controversy.
There are at least 6 other publishers competing with Westlaw in China. Westlaw is the latest (last?) to join. All the others have far more information in English at this point in time than Westlaw – more Chinese laws translated into English and more commentary in English. I work for LegalStudio, one of several ‘independents’ in legal publishing in China. All of the commentary (articles, law and case summaries, current awareness) on LegalStudio is in English and Chinese, major laws are translated. The LegalStudio services are so far used primarily by international law firms and foreign companies China. We are just beginning our marketing and sales outside Hong Kong and China. For anyone, interested in China, I would be happy to provide information and email addresses so that you can compare China services. My email: craig@legalstudio.com