I'm going to be doing some side contracting work and want the release from personal liability that an LLC can offer. Do I need to form an LLC, or are there other easier avenues?

Regardless of which route you go, the safest way to protect yourself from personal liability is to have a professional liability insurance policy and they are not cheap. I think that a $1 million policy costs around $2000 a year - at least it did the last time Andy and I had one back in 2007. We were consulting for a particularly litiginous attorney at the time and thought it was a good idea to protect ourselves. Having said that, Tightline has been doing business for almost 20 years and we have never been sued by anyone.