Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Fastcase Launches Free Law Library with State Bar of South Dakota

Subscribers to Dakota Disc Now Get Access to National Law Library Online

Washington, D.C. and Pierre, S.D. (PRWEB) July 15, 2009 -- Legal publisher Fastcase, Inc. and the State Bar of South Dakota (SBSD) launched a new partnership that gives hundreds of lawyers in South Dakota access to the law of all 50 states as of July 1, 2009. Subscribers to SBSD's Dakota Disc service -the most popular way to get access to state law - now receive complimentary access to Fastcase's National Appellate library.

This exclusive subscriber benefit includes Fastcase's patented online legal research system, a smarter set of tools for online research. On traditional research services, this access costs thousands of dollars per year. In this partnership, it is offered by Fastcase and Dakota Disc subscribers for free at www.dakotadisc.com, with no monthly, hourly or time-based fees. Subscribers can access the national Fastcase library online, as well as their Dakota Disc cd-rom libraries offline.

For existing Dakota Disc subscribers and hopefully, new Dakota Disc subscribers, the Dakota Disc/Fastcase undertaking should be an exciting opportunity
"For existing Dakota Disc subscribers and hopefully, new Dakota Disc subscribers, the Dakota Disc/Fastcase undertaking should be an exciting opportunity," said Bob Morris, President of the State Bar of South Dakota.

The Fastcase benefit includes court of appeals cases from all 50 states, as well as federal district courts from South Dakota, nationwide federal court of appeals cases from circuit courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. SBSD also has negotiated a fixed-rate price of $195 per year for access to the Fastcase Premium Plan, which includes access to nationwide federal district court opinions and nationwide federal bankruptcy opinions. The $195 price is a flat annual rate with no time charges or hidden fees, and represents an $800 discount over Fastcase's normal pricing. Subscribers simply log in to the free service at www.dakotadisc.com and click the upgrade link to access the premium service.

Transactional access to newspaper articles, public records searches, and legal forms is all integrated into the Fastcase website, making it one of the largest online law libraries in the world. Fastcase also incorporates a unique Interactive Timeline feature and specialized technology to bring the best cases to the top of the results list, as well as sorting technologies that let users customize their results for the kind of research they are doing.

"A unique feature I find extremely useful is Fastcase's interactive timeline. It allows you to quickly sort through dozens of cases and to effectively narrow search results to the seminal case or to the most "on-point" cases," said Paul Jensen, a lawyer in Winner, S.D.

The State Bar's action follows a growing national trend, in which state bar associations partner with Fastcase to offer the law online. The State Bar considered a number of companies to partner with to offer the member benefit, including Fastcase and the Casemaker service of Collexis Holdings (CLXS:OB). After a thorough evaluation, the Bar chose Fastcase as the "best service at a very competitive price," according to Thomas Barnett, Executive Director of the State Bar of South Dakota.

"With the Fastcase member benefit, members of the bar are getting one of the most innovative search technologies, running on one of the most comprehensive law libraries in the world," said Ed Walters, CEO of Fastcase. "Lawyers subscribe to Fastcase for $995 per year - already a great price and the smarter alternative compared to other premium legal research. We're pleased, through this deal, to offer this terrific service to Dakota Disc subscribers for free."

About Fastcase
As the premium provider of next-generation legal research, Fastcase seeks to democratize the law, making it more accessible to more people. Using patented software that combines the best of legal research with the best of Web search, Fastcase helps busy users sift through the clutter, ranking the best cases first and enabling the re-sorting of results to find answers fast. Founded in 1999, Fastcase.com has more than 380,000 subscribers from around the world, and the company recently launched the Fastcase Public Library of Law (www.plol.org), the world's largest free legal research site for consumers and lawyers alike. Fastcase is an American company based in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.fastcase.com, or Fastcase's legal research blog at www.fastcase.blogspot.com.

About the State Bar of South Dakota
The State Bar of South Dakota (SBSD) was created by the South Dakota Supreme Court in 1931 and has a current membership of 2859 attorneys. The Dakota Disc project was created by SBSD in 1995. For more information, visit www.sdbar.org.

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