Twenty years ago, using Computer Assisted Legal Research (CALR) meant accessing Lexis or Westlaw through a very slow dialup network directly connected to the provider’s large computer center, almost certainly using an expensive terminal and printer leased from the provider.
Just as we began to access these systems through faster modems on our own computers, CD-ROM discs, each holding about 650 Megabytes of information, became both usable and popular for listening to music and, shortly thereafter, to hold text data like statutory codes and caselaw.
