Dissecting the Frog: How a Meme Explains the Westlaw/Lexis and Generational Divide

One of the most controversial elements of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris was a drag show during the opening ceremony that allegedly parodied Christianity by recreating Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. A legal meme emerged showing both images side by side, labeling da Vinci’s painting “Westlaw” and the drag show “Lexis.” In this article, I explain why this meme is funny by showing how the differences between Westlaw and Lexis+, and legal minds’ attitudes towards those differences, offer fascinating parallels to this controversy. Westlaw’s print-focused, grid-oriented organization and aesthetic might appeal to the trained legal mind, but Lexis’s emphasis on discrete information and keyword searching might make the database more appealing to new attorneys and law students who are increasingly unfamiliar with print resources. By embracing the beauty of something new and unfamiliar, attorneys of any age can improve themselves and their profession.