The term “analytics” has been described as “data that helps companies track business trends” and the “sophisticated analysis of data.” Business analytics is termed the “technique that makes it easier to visualize and analyze business data to support decision making.” Legal analytics products from leading business and legal research companies like Dun & Bradstreet, LexisNexis and West Publishing combine the legal parameters of law practices with data analysis to provide firms with potential client lists, litigation and trial analysis and geographical growth trends.
LexisNexis- this legal research company in the suburbs of Dayton OH, was the first legal subscription searchable online service to offer full text US and local case law in the early 1970s. The non legal or business subscription research service, Nexis, started in the late 1970s. Information offered in Nexis includes company financials and individual “libraries” such as Hoover’s Industy Reports, Investext Reports, Standard & Poor Profiles and SEC company filings.
Dun & Bradstreet- a business information company founded in the 19th century as a credit reporting service; DNB added company information with its early acquisition of Moody’s Corporation and R. H Donnelley. After spinning off these companies in 1999-2000, DNB today is the primary resource for detailed business information on privately held as well as publicly traded companies. Subscribers have access to over 100 million US and international corporations and not for profit organizations.
Proprietary Applications:
LexisNexis’ AdVantage- online access to individual company and industry information with litigation/trial history, deal & merger data and legal representation information provided in a report format. Subscribers can choice from several modules. LexisNexis states the application has over 45 million public and privately held companies.
Thomson/West’s Firm 360- the competitor to AdVantage, Firm 360, has also several modules such as Deal and Litigation. These modules provide trial history as well as corporate as well as mergers and acquisitions information on US companies. Firm 360 states the database of over 12 million companies.
Reference USA- an online subscription database, Reference USA, is a division of infoUSA, a print business directory service located in Omaha , Nebraska. Most US public libraries offer this service to library patrons. This database contains over 14 million business and over 100 million residential entries covering the US and Canada. The US portion of Reference USA can be searched using over 20 unique “data elements” ( i.e. location, sales figures and number of employees).
DNB’s Selectory- a “prospecting” database from DNB’s Sales and Marketing Solutions division, Selectory contains over 14 million business records and over 1 million Canadian businesses. Subscribers can create reports based on geographical locations, company size, SIC/NAICS and industry. Information can be downloaded into Excel or into PDF reports. Other modules include corporate family tree and mailing label formatting.
Note: starting in late 2011, Selectory will become part of Hoover's with increased coverage and new interface. Hoover's is part of Dun & Bradstreet.
