State Bar Association Benefits 2019

Earlier this month, the Washington State Bar Association became the second state bar organization in the U.S. to offer its members free access to both Fastcase and Casemaker, two low-cost research services that are frequently offered as a membership benefit by bar associations. Since 2013, the Goodson Law Library has maintained a map of state bar association legal research benefits, which has been updated to reflect this recent change.

The landscape has changed dramatically since the first such map was created by 3 Geeks and a Law Blog in 2010 (sadly, their IBM ManyEyes map no longer displays). In those days, New York State Bar Association members had access to a legal research service called Loislaw (acquired by Fastcase in 2015), Pennsylvania used a customized Lexis product called InCite (PA switched to Casemaker in 2014), and several state bar associations offered no legal research service benefit at all. Over the years, Fastcase and Casemaker gained shares of a market that now covers bar associations from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Today, access to Casemaker is offered by 21 state bar associations, and Fastcase by 31; Washington joins Texas in offering members access to both services. (Each service also has deals in place with county and local bar associations, but the Duke Law map tracks only state-level associations.)

Want to learn more about these research services before heading out into law practice? Members of the Duke community have access to a campus-wide version of Fastcase that includes federal and state primary law, as well as selected treatise publications. Duke Law students and faculty can also register for an educational version of Casemaker called CasemakerX. For help with using these services, or additional options for legal research, be sure to Ask a Librarian.