Time to Retool Your Legal Research Toolkit?

In "Blend Your Legal Research," (Law Technology News, July 2005), David Whelan explains why now may be a terrific time to retool your legal research toolkit with "mid-tier" legal research services:

"They include Fastcase Inc. (http://www.fastcase.com/); Loislaw.com Inc. (Wolters Kluwer) (http://www.loislaw.com/); VersusLaw Inc. (www.versuslaw.com); and the bar association consortium product, Casemaker (http://www.lawriter.net/). What unites these products is inexpensive access to primary case and statutory law. In some cases, the service is free with a bar association membership. . . ."

"Casemaker boasts more than 20 state bar associations using its product — and four more on the way — with each state bar paying for, and selecting, the jurisdictions they want included. . . . Fastcase, Loislaw, and VersusLaw all offer 50 state case law and statutes, and federal case law and statutes. But just as with Casemaker, a firm can access just the parts they want."