This document for law students

1. Emily Allbon
LEGAL RESEARCH
Legal Method

2. What will I be able to do at the end?
 Understand the limitations of Google
 Be able to find cases, legislation and journal articles
via Westlaw and Lexis
 Know which resources are available
 Be able to plan your searching & choose keywords
wisely
 Use advanced search techniques

3. Everything‟s
on google
now isn‟t it?

5. Discuss…
 What do you look for to see if a website is
authoritative?
 What are the problems with relying on something
found freely online?
Fake or real?
Login to Moodle to find some examples…

6. Remember…
 Information on the internet
can be:
 Out of date
 Unreliable
 Biased
 It can be moved or
removed without warning
 There are no standards or
index online

7. Google scholar
 http://scholar.google.co
m/
 References to peer-
reviewed
papers, theses, books,
abstracts and
articles, from academic
publishers, professiona
l societies, preprint
repositories, universitie
s and other scholarly
organizations.

8. So why are databases so vital?
 Easier to search by
subject
 Access to more material
than in the library
 Easier to print than
photocopy
 Access 24/7
 Value added, up to date
info
 Authoritative (unlike
Google!)
 Used in all major law
firms and chambers

9. What do we have at City?
 Lexis
 Westlaw
 HeinOnline
 i-law
 …plus content on
Lawbore

10. How to access?

12. Your profile

13. Westlaw

14. What is Westlaw?
 Online searchable database
 1000‟s of sources of legal information
 Legislation, law reports
 Books &…
 Brilliant for journals

15. CASE
S

16. Phrase searching

18. Your turn
 Find this case:
Airedale NHS Trust v
Bland
[1993] AC 789

19. No need for
the „v‟
Find cases where a
word has been defined
(e.g. guardian)

20. Case Analysis

21. Journal articles

22. „Traffic light‟ coding system:
• Red no entry = negative judicial treatment – at least one point of law has
been overruled or reversed on appeal.
•Yellow exclamation mark = mixed or mildly negative judicial treatment
•Green C = Positive or neutral judicial treatment received

23. Additional views within case analysis

24. These can sometimes look complicated!

25. LEGISLATION

26. Looking for acts…
 Look for Welfare
Reform Act 2007

27. Finds statutes & SI’s

28. 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• R = Repealed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
•No entry = Provision
superseded

29. Amendments pending?
Use the
version
button to see
how it WILL
look…

30. Looking for acts…
 Your turn!
 Look for The Freedom
of Information Act…

31. Finding legislation

33. JOURNAL
ARTICLES

34. Journal searching
LEGAL JOURNALS FULL TEXT
INDEX  Full text articles from
 Summaries of articles 111 legal journals.
from 400 legal journals.
 Gets straight to the
 Comprehensive search.
article.
 Articles not on Westlaw
 Not comprehensive –
could be in library or on
coverage never goes
Lexis or HeinOnline.
back further than
 Frustrating if no access
1986.
to full text.

35. Journal searching – browse or search

36. Your turn! Look for…
Self-standing actions for judicial review and the
Swedish Factortame by Xavier Groussot

37. Full text available

38. Looking for journals
 Email it to yourself!

39. Email options

40. 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.

41. More detailed searching

42. Thinking about keywords
It‟s
hard!

44. Cartwheel step Possible search terms
1. Broader words Bankruptcy
2. Narrower words Administration, termination, extinguish
3.Synonyms Liquidation, restructuring
4. Antonyms – might give useful cross- Solvent, credit, profit, cash flow
ref
5. Closely related words Debts, arrears, assets, estate, trustee,
creditor, debenture, property
6a. Terms of procedure Winding-up, receivership
6b. Terms of remedy Voluntary arrangement, liquidator,
administrator
7. Courts and agencies Companies House, Central Registry
for Company Winding Up Petitions,
Register of Insolvencies
8. Long shots Fraud, disqualification order

45. Group exercise
 You‟ll be given an object
 As a group gather together a list of all the possible
keywords you could use to search for information on
it.
 These could include:
 Synonyms (words that mean the same)
 Antonym
 Related words
 Narrower/broader words

46. Applying those principles…See if you can
find this case…
 An appeal on
behalf of two
men getting
their own back
on a gang who
broke into their
home with
weapons…wea
pons.

47. Improving your search
 OR
 Phrases
 Wildcards
 Truncation
 And
 Proximity
*Use the Terms in Context
to help you filter*

48. Combining words – and
e.g. defamation and internet

49. Using OR
Think like a
thesaurus!

50. OR searching
medical negligence baby
infant
and or

51. Connectors
and or
 NARROWS SEARCH  BROADENS SEARCH
• Use when both words • Use for synonyms
HAVE to appear • Use for abbreviations
• Use when both words • Use when you don‟t mind
have to appear but not which word appears so
next to each other long as one of them does

52. Truncation
startoftheword!
Will find all endings of the
word

53. Truncation continued…
borrow! tax!
 borrower  taxation
 borrowing  taxes
 borrowed  taxed
But also…
 taxi
 taxidermist

54. Your turn
Search for cases on:
Unfair dismissal and
pregnan!

55. 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?

56. Wildcards
“dr*nk driving”
Drink driving or drunk
driving

57. Your turn
 Search for cases
involving:
g*psy and caravan

58. 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?

59. Your turn…
 Search for a judgment by
Lord Denning that talks
about a red hand.

60. Advanced searching
keyword
s
Name
of
judge

61. A better hit list!

62. Your turn…
Search for cases that
discuss the:
Criminal Justice Act 1991
s.28

63. Proximity searching = the best one of all!
Westlaw
 /p
 /s
 /3

64. Your turn…
 Search for cases of negligence in swimming
pools…

66. Cut a
big list
down
with
proximit
y
search!

67. Try /s or /5 to get the list down further…

68. Other jurisdictions?
Patchy and well
hidden
 UK & EU as standard
 US, Australia, Canada
more limited
 International materials
available

69. Some silly ones to finish with Westlaw…
Find a case involving
midgets, who were on
exhibition at a circus
when an elephant
knocked them down.

70. And another…
 Find a case about
dodgy cabbage seeds
where Lord Denning
quotes the walrus
from Lewis Carroll‟s
Through the Looking
Glass…

71. Saving your research
• New feature allows you to save your
research in Westlaw.
• My folders

72. Westlaw rep - Rojin
 GELLB2 student
 Regular slots twice a
week to help

73. HeinOnline
 American service –
obvious emphasis on
US materials
 Easy-to-use
 Brilliant for journals
 Includes English
Reports

74. Find this CLJ article (1955)

75. Find this pre-1865
case –
3 Man & G. 842
What is the
name
of the case and
its

76. Using e-journals on Lawbore
The
stuff
here!

77. Journals are confusing…

79. Why is Lexis an essential resource?
 Full text of 56 law
reports including the
Law Reports and All
ER.
 Searching by party
name, citation and
subject
 Some details of history
of the case and
subsequent treatment.

80. CASE
S

81. Searching from the front screen
Quick find Your turn!
 …when you know
what you want…
 Look for
Radmacher v
Granatino

82. Searching for a case

83. Results

84. 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

85. 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.

86. Case search
Just click on citation for
full text of case

87. Full text

88. More detailed case searching

89. LEGISLATIO
N

91. Your turn
 Find the Anti-Social
Behaviour Act 2003

92. ASBO’s
 What is the date of
Royal Assent?

93. COMMENTAR
Y

94. Halsbury’s Laws

95. Halsbury‟s Laws Online
asylum 656
asylum AND detention 97
asylum w/10 detention 14

96. 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

97. JOURNALS

98. 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)

99. Some insults to finish…
 Can you find the name
of the case where the
defendant called
someone a „monkey-
faced tart‟?

100. 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‟?