C. Ronald Baird
Baird, Lightner, Millsap & Harpool, P.C.
Springfield

Wouldn’t it be a dream come true if you could find something that would not only be of direct assistance to you in your law practice, and also potentially save you perhaps thousands of dollars each year?

Your dreams will soon be answered, thanks to The Missouri Bar. Your state bar has entered into an agreement with Fastcase, one of the fastest growing legal research services in the nation, to provide free online legal research service as a member benefit to all lawyers who are licensed and eligible to practice law in Missouri. The service will become operational on June 1, 2007.

And what a service it is! Fastcase, which has received excellent reviews from other state bars utilizing its services, will offer access to a national legal research library that includes:

• U.S. Supreme Court cases
• Federal Circuit Court cases
• U.S. Code
• Code of Federal Regulations
• Missouri Supreme Court cases
• Missouri Court of Appeals cases
• RSMo
• Supreme Court rules
• State court cases from all 50 states
• State statutes from all 50 states
• State regulations
• The ability to search all cases simultaneously
• The ability to search across Missouri cases, statutes, CSR and rules simultaneously
• MoBarCLE deskbooks (for subscribers)

The Fastcase legal research service will be accessed from The Missouri Bar’s website at www.mobar.org. Since the service is web-based, there are no discs to buy or software to download. Furthermore, it is accessible by Internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week – at the office, at home, or on the road.

In addition, Missouri Bar members will be able to subscribe to the optional Fastcase Premium Plan – normally $1,240 per lawyer per year – for only $175 per lawyer per year. That is a savings of $965 per year! The Premium Plan includes:

• Federal District Courts
• Bankruptcy Courts
• Board of Tax Appeals
• Tax Court memorandum decisions
• U.S. Customs Court

How is The Missouri Bar able to offer such a wonderful member benefit to its members at no charge? The simple answer is that it was accomplished through the hard work of an Online Legal Research Task Force created by the Board of Governors, as well as the dedicated and tireless staff at The Missouri Bar. The task force consisted of lawyers from large, mid-sized and small firms, along with a solo who practices from his home, a law librarian, a government lawyer, a lawyer-technologist, and a prosecutor. With such a diverse membership, the group was able to receive input from lawyers who practice in various areas of the law and many different practice settings.

After developing a Request for Proposal (RFP) outlining the sorts of legal research services that would benefit Missouri lawyers, the task force circulated it to all of the major players in the legal research market, along with smaller companies and those offering services to other state bars. Four vendors responded, with the task force eventually narrowing the field to two contenders.

The task force next took both finalists’ products for a “test drive,” spending considerable time trying out the services of the two companies and comparing their dependability, ease of use, user support and scope of services, among other things. During this process, the task force also checked references by determining the satisfaction level of other state bars that provide online legal research services through the two finalists.

When that task was completed, the task force determined that, while both companies offered attractive features, neither contained the broad spectrum of services that the task force desired to offer to Missouri Bar members. Further negotiations ensued, with the task force eventually able to check off nearly everything on its “wish list” and secure the service at a very reasonable cost to the bar. Culminating a nearly year-long process, in January 2007 the Board of Governors approved the task force’s recommendation that a contract be entered into with Fastcase.

You’ll be hearing much more about this wonderful new member service in the next couple of months, including the announcement of programs and web seminars to help lawyers become familiar with how the service operates. In addition, Fastcase offers its own excellent tutorial on the service for training on your own.

With a contract now signed and plans proceeding for rollout of the service on June 1, we remain confident that Fastcase offers the best possible member benefit to Missouri Bar members. It is our pleasure to be of assistance in providing you with another tool by which you can render the very best service to your clients and greatly reduce your overhead. Spread the word – Fastcase is coming soon to a computer near you!