LEGAL
Tom Carpenter
City attorney
Little Rock, Arkansas
Read the case study
There's immediacy to the local government lawyer situation. People who call their mayors and council members are calling because of particular problems that need to be addressed quickly.
"Westlaw is the best investment you can make in your office."
I handle everything in this office, from parking tickets to condemning large tracts of land for an interstate system to refurbishing certain things at a zoo, and so forth. All of those things come into play at one time.
Getting all that information in one place is important and that's one of the things that Westlaw does. I've got the cases and I've got the statutes, but I've also got the regulatory rulings, both from the federal government and the state government in those areas. To have a tool like Westlaw is just an invaluable asset. I'd say it'd be the best investment you can make in your office.
"When you've got a research tool like Westlaw, there is no reason not to be complete and thorough in your research."
Westlaw makes for better briefs, which makes for better judicial decisions and better appellate decisions because the courts have before them the whole breadth of the law on the topic. It makes for better contracts, because there can be an awareness to clauses of contracts and how they're interpreted and how they're not interpreted. It makes for better ordinances and resolutions because it's possible to find how ordinances and resolutions have been interpreted throughout the country. I know what I'm crafting is something that's going to be upheld in court.
"I would give up everything before I would give up Westlaw."
You can get all the tools in the world, but it doesn't do you any good unless it accomplishes what you need. Westlaw is my default provision on my operating budget. I would give up everything before I would give up Westlaw.
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