The LexisNexis Group provides computer-assisted legal research services. To date, the company has the world’s largest electronic database for legal and public records. LexisNexis currently has more than 30 terabytes of content available for paid subscribers. Before becoming LexisNexis, the legal research service began as LEXIS in 1973.

On this day, April 2, in 1973, LEXIS launched the first computer-assisted legal research utility. The service offered full-text searches of all Ohio and New York cases. By 1980, the company had compiled an archive of all U.S. federal and state cases. The NEXIS service was added soon after to offer a searchable database of news articles.

In the decades following its introduction, LexisNexis continued to collect substantial volumes of legal records. LexisNexis now has statutes, case judgments, and jurisdiction information for countries outside of the United States, including France, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. Lexis also has introduced a free, stripped-down site called LexisOne that offers state and federal jurisdiction information for the last decade and for all U.S. Supreme Court cases.