Like a good Shepard, your iPhone can now tend your flock of cases and ensure their safety! LexisNexis announced Thursday its new iPhone application devoted to this higher purpose. The app itself is free, but don’t be silly – you must have a valid Lexis account and password to use it. So it “ain’t” really free. You also need the iPhone 3.1 firmware.

Per the release, the app, “Get Cases and Shepardize” allows users to:

• Find and review a case instantly by reading the Case Brief – an overview of the issues, rules, and reasoning (written by LexisNexis experts) just by entering its citation.
• Get an at-a-glance indication of how closely they need to evaluate the case with Shepard’s Signal™ Indicators.
• Get an overview of a case’s legal treatment up front by viewing the Shepard’s Summary, right at the top of your Shepard’s reports.

Reading the comments on the release clarifies the “cost” issue, but Lexis suggests that they may consider linking to the free LexisONE, which would be a welcome update in my opinion. Nifty idea that needs a little shine.