The New York Times has an interesting article on the new legal resouce website, JDSupra.com.  The site is a new, and interesting, development in online legal assistance.  The website asks that legal professionals upload their documents onto the site, with their biographic and professional information attached.  Then, if users find a particular documents pertinent to their legal issue, they can contact the lawyer who authored it.

From the article:

It works like this: Lawyers who contribute to JD Supra dip into their hard drives for articles, court papers, legal briefs and other tidbits of their craft. They upload the documents, as well as a profile of themselves that is linked to each document. Site visitors who have a legal problem and are thinking about finding a lawyer can use an easily searchable database to look up, say, "trademark infringement," find related documents and, if they like the author’s experience and approach, perhaps click on his or her profile.

Contributing lawyers get publicity and credit for the socially useful act of adding to a public database, and visitors get free information, said Aviva Cuyler, a former litigator in Marshall, Calif., who founded the business. "People will still need attorneys," Ms. Cuyler said. "We are not encouraging people to do it themselves, but to find the right people to help them."

Lawyers Open Their File Cabinets for a Web Resource -- New York Times

Get content, get noticed -- JDSupra.com

(h/t to Sarah Goebel)