My first contact with the Lawtel service was when we initiated a trial of the database for the Law School at the University of Birmingham in the mid-1990s. Following that trial we decided not to subscribe – a decision which seemed to confound the sales representative at the time. However, about nine to twelve months later we had a second trial. This was largely “encouraged” by new members of staff who had joined the School in the intervening period and by the fact that the service had been revamped and relaunched. Following that trial we took out a subscription. My own continuing inclination was not to subscribe. But there was enough of a feeling in the School at that time for me to accept the wishes of my academic colleagues. I have subsequently moved to the University of Nottingham Law School and although we also subscribe, some of the reasons that influenced my decision not to want to subscribe to the service persist today and they are as follows.