24/7 Reference Attorneys

Our Reference Attorneys can help you get the most out of WestlawNext and Westlaw Classic – at no charge.

Our online research can help you get better results faster, but if you're researching an area of law you're unfamiliar with, it's not without its speed bumps. That's why we offer our customers free, unlimited, 24/7 access to Reference Attorneys, the industry's premier team of legal research assistance professionals.

Legal research guidance from true experts in the field.

Every Reference Attorney is a bar-admitted attorney and online research expert with a deep understanding of WestlawNext and Westlaw Classic features, functionality, databases, and services. They can help you refine your search query, find a specific law or document, and answer just about anything regarding research on WestlawNext and Westlaw Classic. They provide a service that some legal researchers say they just couldn't do without.

Reference Attorneys can:

Help you navigate databases
Help you get started researching an unfamiliar area of law
Help you find a specific law or document
Demonstrate shortcuts and other cost-saving tools and features
Provide tips on how to construct better terms-and-connector queries
Verify that a particular document or information is available on WestlawNext and Westlaw Classic and/or within your plan
Help you retrieve news and set up WestClip and other alerts
Answer practically anything about researching on WestlawNext and Westlaw Classic

Whether it's at the beginning of your research or after you've hit a roadblock, Reference Attorneys can help keep your research moving forward. Upon request, Reference Attorneys can even email you the relevant queries run and databases searched during your call.

Call any time of the day, any day of the year.

Call 1-800-REF-ATTY (733-2889), or
Email referenceattorneys@thomsonreuters.com
Law students – 1-800-850-9378

Live chat help is available to select firms, corporations, and law librarians. It provides the ability to chat one-on-one with a Reference Attorney, in real time, while doing your research. To use the live chat feature, click the "Live Help" link from your WestlawNext or Westlaw Classic session. A transcript of your chat can be printed or emailed to you, at your request. Live Help is available from 7:00 a.m. to midnight (CST) Monday – Friday. Call 1-800-REF-ATTY for more information.

Comments from our Reference Attorneys

" ... You'll get a call and the customer will say, 'I've been trying to research this topic for two days and I just don't know what else to do.' A lot of times just in doing some simple searches we can get them pointed in the right direction."
- Katy Hauck, Reference Attorney

"We are on the Westlaw system every day. We know how to search very quickly on the system. It's going to cut down on costs; it's going to cut down on time. It's really a fantastic service."
- Andy O'Meara, Reference Attorney

"I wouldn't put any precondition on calling the reference attorneys. People should make use of us early on in the process. It saves them time; it helps customers leverage their own time."
- Ed Fisher, Reference Attorney

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