Foundation enters partnership with West and FindLaw

The Foundation of the State Bar has entered into an agreement under which West will become the exclusive corporate sponsor for legal information and related services to the membership of the State Bar.

"This partnership was designed to give members of the bar improved access to information and technologies to enable legal professionals to be more productive and provide superior, cost-effective service to businesses and consumers across the state," said James Pfeiffer, executive director of the foundation.

West will provide bar members with a customized web portal created by FindLaw, which offers free legal information, news and analysis. Bar members also will receive discounts on West's legal information re-sources, online legal education and law firm marketing services.

The discounts on West's products and services will be available exclusively to California bar members, Pfeiffer said.

Richard Walker, chair of the foundation's corporate sponsor committee, said the partnership will benefit small firm and sole practitioners in particular by giving them "unprecedented, affordable access to the industry's premier information and practice technologies."

Additional information will be posted on the foundation's web site early next year.

West, headquartered in Minnesota, provides integrated information solutions to the U.S. legal market.