Online Legal Information: an introduction Emily Allbon (Feb 2012)
What’s covered today?
Me Lawbore Lexis Westlaw
…hope I can stay awake in the graveyard slot…
What is my role?
Background
BA Literature, MSc Info Sci, GDL (law conversion) & currently MA Academic Practice.
Why law? Who are my users? Responsibilities:
Collection Teaching & assessment Managing the space Supporting the CLS – active liaison with academics, students, law careers, volunteering. Mooting Lawbore Current projects
What are people’s perceptions of legal info?
Scary Too important to get wrong Either know it or you don’t All over the place Expensive are t a h W your ns o i t s e qu ?
Realities
Very specialised Many pitfalls Essentially getting your help wrong could mean someone failing an essay or losing a case Mix of sources, electronic and hard copy Legal publishers rule
Lawbore
Student guide to web Created 2002/2003 To provide students with access to free legal information (in addition to the paid-for ones) Recommended in The Times (Jan 09) ‘Clever law students let the web do the work’ http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/student
More Lawbore
Topic guides: links to web resources via subject studied City Hub: community site for students: E-Library, News, Twitter, Database access Learnmore: how-to wiki, learning legal skills Future Lawyer: careers blog – participation from current students AND alumni
What types of UK legal information are there?
Case law (law reports) Legislation (statutes, SI’s, bills…) Parliamentary material (Hansard, command papers, House papers)
Commentary (journal articles, practitioner texts) Reports (e.g. Law Commission, government departments)
Free stuff
More of a reality, but…
Legal publishing aggressive LexisNexis/Thomson dominate Specialist areas tied up by international publishers like Kluwer, Informa Legislation complex
BAILII is the king of the free legal web Legal Information Institute movement worldwide
The £££££ alternative LexisLibrary
Westlaw
Owned by LexisNexis Case law Legislation Journals: 55 UK jnls in full text. 700+ US jnls in full text. Practitioner Texts include Blackstone’s Criminal Practice, Paget, Butterworth’s Handbooks Halsbury’s Laws
Owned by Thomson/Sweet & Maxwell Case law Legislation Journals (just under 100 UK jnls in full text & 100’s of US jnls). Has LJI. Coverage & selection of jnls is good - 20 yrs or so. Also has practitioner texts – Woodfall, Archbold, Palmer’s (+ Common Law Library)
What is Lexis?
Online searchable database 1000’s of sources of legal information Legislation, law reports Books &… Halsbury’s Laws Limited range of journals, very focused on practitioner
Lexis
Much less favoured by students on the academic programmes Not as intuitive as Westlaw Commands similar to Westlaw – proximity searching different Journals not great, but more law reports
How to access?
Searching from the front screen Quick find
…when you know what you want…
Look for Airedale NHS Trust v Bland
Your turn!
Background stuff
Case history – tracks the different instances of this case (e.g. Fam division, Court of Appeal, HL) – check the signal for how that case has been received – e.g. good law? Cases referring to this case – where has been used since? Positive (applied, followed) or negative (doubted)? Or just neutral (noted)? Catchwords and digest - abstract
Key
Negative Treatment Icon
The decision has been subsequently reversed, disapproved or overruled.
Cautionary Treatment Icon
The decision has had some doubt cast on it.
Positive Treatment Icon
The decision has received positive treatment : affirmed, applied, etc.
Neutral Treatment Icon
The decision has received neutral or ambivalent treatment : considered, explained, etc.
Citation Information Icon
No treatment has been given - only citation information available.
Just click on citation for full text of case
More detailed case searching
Combining words – and e.g. defamation and internet Use d nde a p x e tion p o list
Using OR
Think like a thesaurus!
ORÂ searching
medical negligence baby infant and
or
Connectors and •
•
NARROWS SEARCH Use when both words HAVE to appear Use when both words have to appear but not next to each other
or • • •
BROADENS SEARCH Use for synonyms Use for abbreviations Use when you don’t mind which word appears so long as one of them does
Truncation
startoftheword! Will find all endings of the word
Truncation continued… borrow!
tax!
borrower borrowing borrowed
taxation taxes taxed But also… taxi taxidermist
Your turn Search for cases on:
Unfair dismissal and pregnan!
Queen Victoria Seaman’s Rest Ltd v Ward (2009)
What issues did the claimant have with her workspace? What was the result of the appeal?
Wildcards
wom *n wom e wom n an
t e n * int* t e n r inte t e n a intr
Your turn
Search for cases involving:
gypsy caravans
When did the claimant in Doherty and Others v Birmingham City Council [2008] UKHL 57 obtain a licence to station a caravan on plot 12?
LEGISLATION
Your turn…
Find the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003
ASBO’s
What is the date of Royal Assent?
COMMENTARY
Halsbury’s Laws
Halsbury’s Laws Online asylum
656
asylum AND detention
97
asylum w/10 detention
14
Commentary = Books
Huge numbers of practitioner texts:
Blackstone’s Criminal Practice Encyclopedias – banking, Clarke Hall and Morrison on Children Paget’s Law of Banking Whish: Competition Law Lester, Pannick and Herberg: Human Rights Law and Practice
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Your turn •
Find the following article in the Journal of Criminal Law:
Unfitness to plead and the overlap with Doli Incapax: an examination of the Law Commission’s proposals for a new capacity test Helen Howard (2011) JCL 75 (380)
By subject •
Find an article which dwells on the odd combo of conjoined twins and shipwrecked sailors. Who was the author?
•
Find some recent journal articles around the issue of gay marriage – can you find articles detailing the situation in other countries?
Some insults to finish…
Can you find the name of the case where the defendant called someone a ‘monkeyfaced tart’?
Second one…
In which case did a well-known actor, director and writer bring an action against a journalist for writing statements which purported him to be ‘hideously ugly’?
Remember – how to cut down results… • • • • • • •
Use more keywords Use more specific keywords Restrict by date Restrict by publication Use proximity connectors rather than AND Look at your results and adjust your search Maximum results for browsing probably 25
Westlaw
What is Westlaw?
Online searchable database 1000’s of sources of legal information Legislation, law reports Books &… Brilliant for journals
CASES
Phrase searching
Try ipe” c e r t e “secr
More looking for cases…
Look for Pepper v Hart [1993] AC 593
No need for the ‘v’
Find cases where a word has been defined (e.g. guardian)
‘Traffic light’ coding system: • Red no entry = •Yellow exclamation mark = mixed or mildly negative judicial treatment •Green C = Positive or neutral judicial treatment received
Case analysis – journal articles
Additional views within case analysis
These can sometimes look complicated!
LEGISLATION
Looking for acts…
Look for Welfare Reform Act 2007
Finds statutes & SI’s
Sections of the Act It’s those traffic lights again! • Tick = In force • N = Not yet in force • P = Partially in force • R = Repealed • ! = Amendment pending
Amendments pending?
Use the version button to see how it WILL look…
Looking for acts…
Your turn!
Look for The Freedom of Information Act…
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Journal searching LEGAL JOURNALS INDEX Summaries of articles from 400 legal journals. Comprehensive search. Articles not on Westlaw could be in library or on Lexis or HeinOnline. Frustrating if no access to full text.
FULL TEXT Full text articles from 111 legal journals. Gets straight to the article. Not comprehensive – coverage never goes back further than 1986.
Journal searching – browse or search
Looking for journals… Look
for:
Self-standing actions for judicial review and the Swedish Factortame Xavier Groussot
Full text available
Looking for journals
Email it to yourself!
Email options
t ’ n o d I ) ; t i t wan
Commentary
Several key practitioner texts including Archbold (for Crime) Be aware that we only have the basic subscription for books…We don’t have access to Chitty (Contracts) or Clerk & Lindsell (Tort) amongst others.
More detailed searching
Your turn…
Search for a judgment by Lord Denning that talks about a red hand.
Advanced searching keyword s
Name of judge
A better hit list!
Your turn… Search for cases that discuss the: Criminal Justice Act 1991 s.28
Improving your search
OR Phrases Wildcards Truncation And Proximity
*Use the Terms in Context to help you filter*
Phrase searching
In Westlaw: drink driving = drink AND driving (not necessarily together)
If searching for a phrase: “drink driving”
Truncation Search for cases on: hijack! and aeroplane or plane How many cases do you find?
Wildcards ******
“dr*nk driving” Drink driving or drunk driving
Proximity searching Lexis
Westlaw
w/3 w/p w/s
/3 /p /s
Your turn…
Search for cases of negligence in swimming pools…
Cut a big list down with proximit y search!
Try /s or /5 to get the list down further‌
Other jurisdictions? Patchy and well hidden
UK & EU as standard US, Australia, Canada more limited International materials available
A silly one to finish…
Find a case about dodgy cabbage seeds where Lord Denning quotes the walrus from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass…
Further reading
Introductions to using a law library:
Journal: Legal Information Management (CUP) via Westlaw Online stuff:
Clinch – Using a Law Library (2001) Blackstone also Legal Research: a practititoners handbook (2010) Wildy Holborn – Butterworths Legal Research Guide (2001) Butterworths
Talking slideshow (via Learnmore) BIALL website http://www.biall.org.uk/ and blog http://biall.blogspot.com/
Keep an eye out for BIALL events – especially bursaries for conference.
Any questions?
e.allbon@city.ac.uk @lawbore