The Lexis® service, the first commercial, full-text legal information service, began in 1973 in Dayton to help legal practitioners research the law more efficiently. The companion Nexis® news and business information service launched in 1979 to enrich research with recent and archival news and financial information. Since that time, the service has grown to become the largest news and business online information service, including comprehensive company, country, financial, demographic, market research and industry reports. Providing access to thousands of worldwide newspapers, magazines, trade journals, industry newsletters, tax and accounting information, financial data, public records, legislative records, data on companies and their executives makes the LexisNexis® service an indispensable tool for gathering information and providing accurate answers.
About LexisNexis
LexisNexis has compiled a long history of delivering on its mission -- to enable its customers to spend less time searching for critical information and more time using LexisNexis knowledge management tools to guide critical decisions. Legal professionals have trusted the publishing brands in the LexisNexis Group for more than a century.
For the past three decades, the company’s markets have grown to include business people and other professionals in governments, corporations, academic institutions and other enterprises, all with access to this world of critical information via easy-to-use electronic products. Now, LexisNexis Group delivers comprehensive and authoritative legal, business, government and tax information worldwide as an industry leader. It unites proprietary brands, advanced Web technologies, and premium information sources for customers in the legal, corporate, government and academic markets in 100 countries on six continents.
Origins
In 1994, Reed Elsevier acquired the LexisNexis™ service. Begun in Dayton as a contractor to the U.S. Air Force in 1966, its electronic data-search system became the first to retrieve full-text documents. In 1973, the company introduced a legal-research system that revolutionized the way in which legal research and analysis was conducted. The technology propelled the legal profession into a new era. In 1979, a companion news and business-information service was introduced under the Nexis banner. Michie™, founded in the late 1800s and the sole provider of statutes for 35 U.S. states and territories, joined the fold of LexisNexis in 1987.
With the advent of the World Wide Web, LexisNexis moved its information products and services to the new distribution channel, eliminating the need for proprietary software or extensive training. In September 1997, LexisNexis debuted the first Web-based service for U.S. legal professionals, the precursor to LexisNexis™.
Key Facts
- 4.6 billion searchable documents
- 2 billion public records
- More than 16,000 databases
- More than 32,000 legal, business and news sources
- Customers include 97 percent of Fortune 500 companies and the top 100 U.S. law firms as identified by The American Lawyer
- 7.2 million full-time equivalent students (more than 70 percent) have access to LexisNexis Academic at 1,650 U.S. colleges and universities
- 3.2 million in U.S. and Canada
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