Westlaw
The legal research standard — case law, statutes, and citators for practitioners.
At a Glance
- Publisher
- Thomson Reuters
- Coverage
Comprehensive US and international case law, statutes, regulations, secondary sources, and the KeyCite citator, plus practice tools (verify current counts).
- Access
Paid subscription; academic and practitioner editions.
- Free alternative
- CourtListener, Google Scholar case law, government legislation sites.
- Regional
Deepest in US law; substantial international coverage.
Our Take
Westlaw is one of the two pillars of legal research (with LexisNexis) — its case law, statutes, and especially the KeyCite citator (is this case still good law?) make it indispensable to practitioners, and its editorial headnotes and Key Number System speed navigation. The trade-offs are cost and a system built for lawyers, not casual users. For a researcher outside law, the free CourtListener or Google Scholar may suffice; for anything that turns on whether a precedent still stands, KeyCite is the reason to be here. Use it for authoritative legal research and citation validation.
Power Tips
- Run KeyCite on any case you rely on to confirm it hasn’t been overturned or criticised.
- Use the Key Number System to jump from a point of law to every case on it.
- For non-lawyers, check whether CourtListener or Google Scholar covers your need first — Westlaw is pricey.
Alternatives & Complements
LexisNexis, HeinOnline, CourtListener, Google Scholar
Figures last verified: June 15, 2026