Warning: spent $350 on a pre-trial research subscription and got nothing useful

I signed up for that high cost litigation research database back in March because I had a big shareholder dispute case coming up. Paid $350 for a three month subscription thinking it would save me time digging through court records. Turns out most of the filings I needed were already available for free on PACER and the search filters were too clunky to find what I wanted. Has anyone else here wasted money on a tool that promised to streamline discovery but ended up being more trouble than it was worth?

2 comments

2 Comments

sethanderson1mo ago

Used to think these premium legal databases were worth the money before I tried this one. Completely changed my mind after spending hours fighting with their search tool and finding nothing new. PACER plus a good Google search covered more ground than that overpriced subscription ever did.

nina1801mo ago

That $200 a month for the one I tried was just brutal for what you actually get. I mean, I spent a good three hours one night trying to track down a specific state court ruling and the search kept giving me irrelevant federal cases instead. @sethanderson you're spot on about PACER and Google - honestly, half the time I find better results by just using site:gov or site:state.xx.us in regular search. It's not like these premium databases have some magic algorithm, they just repackage public records with a fancy interface. I'd rather spend that money on a good coffee subscription or literally anything else that doesn't make me want to throw my laptop out the window.