This Thursday, May 20, Boston-area legal professionals will gather for the annual Excellence in the Law event, a lively cocktail party and classy award ceremony rolled into one fun evening.

One of the night’s highlights will be “The Lawscars,” a competition that has nominees vying for such titles as “Law Professor of the Year,” “Rainmaker of the Year” and “Best Dressed Lawyer.” Other honors to be doled out include Diversity Heroes, Up & Coming Lawyers, and the Excellence in Legal Journalism Award.

Johnny and Jenny Westlaw – the stars of the WestlawNext road show videos from a couple of months ago – were invited to Boston to emcee the event and provide red-carpet coverage a la the similarly named ceremony for actors and actresses. (The event’s organizers became fans of the duo when Jenny Westlaw visited Boston in March.) While prior commitments prevented them from attending, Johnny and Jenny appreciate the invite and welcome any future invitations.

Westlaw is proud to be a sponsor of this event, and we look forward to finding out who gets the nod for each of the honors – especially the coveted “Law Firm of the Year” award.

Bostonians: For more information or to attend this event, please contact Melissa Mitchell at 617-218-8213 or melissa.mitchell@lawyersweekly.com.

Everyone else: Let us know about your event, and we may feature it in a future post! Send details to westelearning@thomsonreuters.com.



It’s back by popular demand!

Register now to see a Westlaw research system that’s more you-centric.

If you missed the first L.A. WestlawNext Preview breakfast back in  february, here’s your chance to come see what everyone is talking about. And learn how you can get a free trial to experience it yourself!

You’ll receive a free complimentary breakfast and if you’re among the first 100 to check in, a FREE iPod shuffle. You’ll also be entered into a drawing for a FREE Kindle wireless reading device!*

• Location: Millennium Biltmore Hotel – 506 Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA
• When: Tuesday, April 20, 2010
• 8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Registration and Breakfast
• 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. WestlawNext Presentation

*NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A purchase will not increase your chances of winning. Open only to residents of the 50 U.S./D.C. 18 Years of age or older who are employed by a law firm, corporate, nonprofit organization or academic institution, with a legal or regulatory title. Must be present to win. Void where prohibited. Subject to Official Rules at west.thomson.com/westlawevent. Kindle and iPod Shuffle are not available to government customers due to local, state and federal gift laws. Sponsor: Westlaw, part of Thomson Reuters, Eagan, MN.

If you’ve seen WestlawNext in action, you know that it searches in an entirely new way. Rather than choosing a database first, you simply search through all of West’s core legal content and secondary sources in a single pass. The system gives you multiple ways to slice and dice the results, so you can quickly pinpoint the best resources.

OK, that’s great – but how are these supercharged search results organized? This is a question we’ve heard from many of you, so we asked Kim Ellenberg, a West reference attorney, to explain.

Reference attorneys like Kim answer questions like this every day, and they played a critical role in shaping WestlawNext in the years leading up to its launch. The feedback from customers continues daily, and reference attorneys continue to suggest enhancements to WestlawNext based on what they hear from you.

So please keep the queries coming – and know that, even if we can’t respond directly, we do make note of every comment and tweet that comes our way.