Glen Cove City Council approve $850 a month legal research tool 

This story was updated on  April 15. 

A three year contract with Thomson Reuters West Publishing Corporation for a Westlaw Subscription was approved by the Glen Cove City Council at the April 14 Glen Cove City Council meeting. The legal research service would cost the city $850 initially, and there would be a 5 percent increase each year. 

Originally, the subscription would have cost $1,458 a month with a 5 percent increase. 

“After I raised concerns at the City Council last week, our attorney called to negotiate,” Councilwoman Marsha Silverman said. “We were granted a municipal rate that is less expensive.” 

According to Glen Cove City Attorney Gregory Kalnitsky, the Westlaw subscription has many benefits for the city and is in fact used by the state. It has access to a number of local, state and federal legal databases, agency decisions, treatises for government officials, different guidance forms and other products. Westlaw also offers different packages. Packages such as Government Analytics Plus, Westlaw Edge, Litigation for Government and Practical Law for Government will be ordered for the city. 

“From law school through my work in the private sector, through all my work in government, I have used nothing but Westlaw and it is a great product,” Kalnitsky said. “It has excellent support and it offers much more than just looking up case laws and such. There are practical commentaries, there are treatises. And there are products that they have on there that are unique to Westlaw.” 

Councilman Rocco Totino, who also works as a trial attorney for an insurance carrier, echoed the point that Westlaw, along with another legal research resource, LexisNexis, are the top two services that lawyers and legal professionals use regardless of what area of law they’re in. 

“Westlaw is the standard, premiere legal research facility nationwide,” Kalnitsky said. “They have a way or organizing the cases that makes them very easily accessible and allows me to get back to [the mayor’s] office as well as city department heads and the city council much quicker would be able to otherwise.”

Silverman agreed at last week’s pre council meeting that Kalnitsky and other city officials should have access to legal research. However, she was concerned about the original $1,458 a month price tag that came with it, especially after finding other legal research products that cost less. 

“If you want to send me the information you have for these other products I will definitely take a look at them,” Kalnitsky said. “If it helps, I will point out what Westlaw has that they do not.” 

So Silverman did send an email to Kalnitsky, Totino and other city officials citing four other legal research services; LexisNexis, which has three subscriptions for $125 a month, $170 a month and $295 a month; Casetext, which is $65 a month; Fastcase, which costs $695 a year for the Appellate subscription and $995 a year for the Premium subscription; and Casemaker, which starts at $50 a month. 

Over the week, Kalintsky was able to negotiate a lower monthly cost of $850 a month with a 5 percent increase for a three year contract with Westlaw. The original contract would have been $55,152 for three years and the new contract will cost $32,172 over the next three years. This saved the city $22,980 over a three year period. 

“Based on the competitive options out there, this is much more in line with other options,” Silverman said. “I’m just really glad I raised it because we’re saving.”

Mayor Timothy Tenke, along with other council members, thanked Kalnitsky for negotiating a lower price for the city before approving the resolution.

 “I know you went out and followed the protocol for the purchase of this through the state contract, you piggy backed on that, but you actually took on yourself to get the additional reduction in the monthly cost of this by almost $1,000 a month,” Tenke said. “I want to thank you for that because those savings are good and our residents will appreciate that.”