A plan to put the case-report archive online — searchable the way Melissa already searches, self-serve for every lawyer and paralegal who currently has to email and wait.
Draft for discussion · July 11, 2026 · prepared by Teppy
The change
Today — days per request
Lawyer emails Melissa→Westlaw search→Note case numbers→Pull binders→Scan→Email PDFs
Every request costs Melissa's time; customers wait 2–3 business days.
With the platform — under a minute
Lawyer logs in→Searches (her exact syntax or plain English)→Results with terms highlighted→Downloads the report
Search is free and unlimited — the document is what customers pay for. Melissa's white-glove service stays for the cases that need her.
What stays the same
Westlaw licensing income (~$100K/yr) — untouchedCustom search service at $175–215Existing publication subscriptionsFileZilla uploads still workMelissa owns all data & product
The numbers
~13,500case reports, 2006–today(~11,000 if starting at 2009 — everything already digital)
< $200one-time cost to convert the whole archiveOCR + AI extraction, verified prices
$25–75/morunning costs, passed through at cost≈ covered by one Solo subscriber
2–3.5 mocore build, part-timerevenue from ~month 2 · all add-ons extend to ~4–5.5 mo
What customers would pay — to be tested first
Free with an account: unlimited searching, filters, highlighted previews, and a couple of documents a month. Paying starts at the document.
Per document$15–20No commitment, for occasional users.
Credit packs10 / $129 · 25 / $275Batch buying for firms with lumpy usage.
Solo$99/mo15 documents included, then $8–10 each.
Firm$349/mo5 seats, 75 documents included.
Day pass — test$59–9924 hours + 10 documents, for the one-case-a-year lawyer.
Concierge — unchanged$175–215Melissa's custom research, now the premium option on the site.
Anchors: her manual service already charges $175 for 1–10 cases; subscriptions run $270–375/yr. Prices get validated with 10–15 of her regular requesters before launch.
What that could earn
~$855/moConservative: 5 Solo subscribers + 20 documents≈ $10K/yr
~$3,250/moModerate: 15 Solo + 3 Firm + 40 documents≈ $39K/yr
All additive — Westlaw licensing and existing subscriptions continue on top.
The build, in order
0PilotRun the four current issues through the full pipeline; real accuracy & cost numbers before any commitmentfirst step
1Core searchLogin, her exact Boolean syntax, highlighted results, newest-first sorting, dollar-outcome filter (drop $0 results), PDF viewer & download3–4 wks
2Payments — PayPalPlans, packs & per-document checkout on her existing PayPal; signed downloads, receipts1–2 wks
3Admin & publishingUpload an issue (web or FileZilla), auto-split & self-check, review queue1–2 wks
+Modern search — add-on, $2.5–4.5KPlain-English search, filters by state / county / year / injury / amount, saved searches2–3 wks
+Stripe billing — add-on, $1–2KLower card fees, $5 bank transfers for firm invoices, billing portal1–2 wks
+Site redesign — add-on, $2–4K with buildSeparate proposal ($3–6K standalone); platform launches either way1–2 wks
Two ways to structure the fee — decide together
A · Flat fee
C · Half & half
Upfront (core build)
$12–20K
$4–8K
Ongoing build fee
none
~10% of new platform revenue, 2–3 yrs, capped + buyout
Fits when
Pay once, own it outright
Low upfront, builder stays invested
Both options carry the same two monthly lines for as long as the platform runs: operations billed at cost ($100–150 budgeted) and a $300–500 support plan (~5 hrs) — hosting moves onto the business's own billing account at launch. Add-ons priced identically under either option. Archive conversion (~$200) bills at cost on the first invoice. "New platform revenue" = online subscriptions and document sales only — Westlaw income, existing subscriptions, and concierge fees are Melissa's alone. Agency-equivalent build value: well into six figures.
Still needed from Melissa
A dozen real example searches (especially the tricky ones)
The other three sample issues
The duplicate-prevention case-list spreadsheets
The Westlaw screenshots (results list + the dollar-amount checkboxes)
Starting year: 2006, 2009, or 2009 now + backfill later
Alaska cases — searchable here, or Westlaw-only?
Next step: the pilot
Process the four current issues end to end and review the results together — what search looks like, per-field accuracy, and the confirmed cost of the full archive. No commitment beyond that until the numbers are on the table.