WisBar's Caselaw Express service posts 400 subscribers

July 17, 1998

WisBar's Caselaw Express e-mail service which reports cases posted to the State Bar of Wisconsin's Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals databases, has more than 400 subscribers, according to a recent report from WisBar Webmaster Pat McKenna.

Since its debut in March of this year, the free e-mail service has grown at a rate of approximately 100 new subscribers each month. Each Caselaw Express email indexes decisions by topic heading and offers hypertext links to the electronic versions of the cases for instant access by subscribers.

"The train keeps a rollin'," McKenna joked after seeing the results. "Caselaw Express' popularity is proof positive that more and more lawyers are finding WisBar to be a solid, easy-to-use practice tool. We hope to expand upon the service in the future to improve upon the original design."

He also noted that, in an informal survey of Caselaw Express subscribers conducted in May, respondents expressed great satisfaction with the service and wanted to see new features added such as case annotatations and links to online versions of the Wisconsin Statutes.

"I think linkability is what lawyers really enjoy about Caselaw Express, " McKenna said. "If you see a case that you've been waiting for, or one that might help in a case you're working on, you can click on a link below the case name and instantly view the decision. That's a great timesaver, even compared with searching decisions on WisBar."

The State Bar's Internet team has been considering the idea of building similar for-pay lists that would offer practice specific enhancements. McKenna said initial discussions have focused on subscription rates, layout and available resources, but no plans have been put into action.