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45 Chi. L. Libr. Bull. 1 (June 1971)

handle is hein.journals/callbu45 and id is 1 raw text is: CHICAGO LAW LIBRARY BULLETIN CHICAGO ASSOCIATION OF LAW LIBRARIES No. 45 June, 1971 March, 1971 MEMORANDUM TO: LAW, LIBRARIES AND AUTOMATION CONFERENCE Re: One Law Firm's Experience with OBAR Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, a Cleveland, Ohio, law firm of 125 attorneys, was the original subscriber to the full-text retrieval system now in use by the legal profession in Ohio. This computerized legal research system (System) was developed through the cooperative efforts of the Ohio State Bar Association Automated Research (OBAR), a non-profit corporation organized by and affiliated with the Ohio State Bar Association, and Mead Data Central, Inc. (Mead). After a four-month training program in our firm, 75 attorneys and four non-lawyer personnel have received training in the OBAR System. The training program was coordinated through the firm's lawyer personnel committee, and appointments were set up and the time log was maintained by the firm's three coordinators (one assistant librarian and two secretaries). The actual training was conducted by a Mead representative through one-hour sessions with individual attorneys, and all attorneys were encouraged to bring actual problems to the training session. The live research aspect of these initial sessions cut down the cost of train- ing and created a greater individual incentive to learn how to use the System. Through a survey of the 18 associates in our firm who use the System on a regular basis, we have been able to set forth some general observations. Most attorneys in our office using the OBAR System are engaging in moderately complex to complex research, and are either utilizing the System to initiate research or to verify manual research. At present, the majority of the searches consist of fact oriented issues (primarily litigation matters), but there is an increasing trend towards conceptual problem searches as many attorneys are becoming more proficient in the art of search framing. In general, our attorneys feel that the OBAR research time as compared to conventional research methods is faster by a factor of 5 to 1, and all agree that they obtain better quality research from the System than through manual research. All concerned state that the primary advantage of the System is that the attorney does not have to rely upon an editor's ability to collect all of the cases under given headings, and that they feel certain that they are searching every case under a given phrase or key word. It is important to note that the OBAR research tool has increased both the quality and the quantity of research done in our firm, and the use of all library sources has increased accordingly. All formal training of our attorneys by Mead personnel has now been completed. The firm's usage is running approximately 35 hours a month. Our assistant librarian and a paralegal assistant can now provide the initial training to new attorneys, and also are providing technical assistance to all attorneys who have received training but who do not use the System frequently enough to keep current. We also are initiating a program in which four of our OBAR associates will present advanced search classes to our attorneys. Please feel free to direct to my attention any specific operating inquiries you may have. I wish to set forth again the invitation of Mr. James F. Preston, Jr.,

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