LINKS FOR LAWYERS
This selection of legal web sites is intended as a signpost for barristers and students doing electronic research. Extensive lists of resources are shown in the portals and gateway sites given below. Internet access is available on all the catalogue terminals. You may print for 10p per page; please pay at the Enquiry Desk. If you require information on European law, you may find the leaflet European information online more relevant.
NB This list is updated regularly, but please be aware that the URLs can change without warning. Please report any broken links to the Senior Librarian: 020 7427 4830; library@middletemple.org.uk
BASICS
Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations: an index of over 12,000 abbreviations, covering over 295 jurisdictions
www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk
Google: this search engine seems to be particularly reliable for legal searches
www.google.com or www.google.co.uk
Internet for Law: a free tutorial of internet information skills intended mainly for university students
www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/tutorial/lawyers
OSCOLA - Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities: this product of Oxford University Faculty of Law is designed to facilitate accurate citation of authorities, legislation and other legal materials
http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/publications/oscola.php
LIBRARY SUBSCRIPTIONS
Please ask a member of staff if you need help with logging on or using these databases.
All England Direct: online version of All England Reports
Casetrack: maintained by Smith Bernal, this database provides full text of judgments of the Court of Appeal and High Court, as well as selected judgments of the European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights, and access to cases from Northern Ireland and Irish courts. See also Casebase below under “General Sources”
Electronic Immigration Network: claims to be the most comprehensive electronic source of immigration case law in the UK, with a vast directory of links to relevant sites both in the UK and worldwide, and quarterly EIN Newsletters
HeinOnline: full-text access to thousands of legal journals, mostly American and International in scope
Lawtel: useful alerting service for recent legislation and cases, including full text transcripts
Times Online and Times Digital Archive: full-text access to the Times newspaper
Westlaw UK: contains cases from 1865, consolidated legislation since 1267 and SIs from 1948, plus Legal Journals Index for journals since 1986
Westlaw US: a comprehensive source of American legislation and case law, both federal and state
PORTALS AND GATEWAYS
Access To Law: A list of legal resources selected by Inner Temple Library, mainly covering the UK and Commonwealth jurisdictions
www.accesstolaw.com
Delia Venables’ Portal to Legal resources in the UK and Ireland: Includes legal sites and resources worldwide, particularly useful for new developments
www.venables.co.uk
Eagle-i: site maintained by Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, offering access to global legal information, arranged by topic and jurisdiction, and a list of electronic law journals
http://ials.sas.ac.uk/eaglei/project/eiproject.htm
Electronic Information System for International Law: developed by the American Society for International law to ensure easy access to primary materials, authoritative websites and helpful research guides to international law on the internet
www.eisil.org
Guide to Law Online: prepared by Law Library of Congress - an annotated worldwide guide to sources of information on government and law, with selected links to reliable sites
www.loc.gov/law/guide/index.html
INTUTE: Social Sciences: part of the Social Science Information Gateway, providing guidance and access to global legal information resources
http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/
Lawlinks: Legal information on the internet: an annotated list of web sites, maintained at the University of Kent
www.kent.ac.uk/lawlinks
LEGAL PROFESSION
Association of Women Barristers: represents, supports and furthers interests of women barristers, provides professional, business and social activities, offers courses to improve opportunities for women barristers and fosters contact with other women lawyers, both nationally and internationally
www.womenbarristers.co.uk
The Bar Council: The General Council of the Bar is the Approved Regulator of the Bar of England and Wales
www.barcouncil.org.uk
Bar Pro Bono Unit: website created free by Justis Publishing Ltd describes work of unit, procedure for getting help, how to volunteer, etc.
www.barprobono.org.uk
Bar Standards Board: the independent regulatory board of the Bar Council. Includes access to the Barristers’ Register
http://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/
Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession: searchable by law firm/ company, individual lawyer or specialisation; directory of the world’s leading lawyers at same site
www.chambersandpartners.com
Judicial Studies Board: the JSB is directly responsible for training judges in England & Wales and overseeing the training of lay magistrates, chairmen and members of tribunals. Site contains information on committees, publications including Bench Books, and links to relevant websites
http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/
The Law Library of Ireland: the Irish Bar Council’s website, including a directory of barristers
www.lawlibrary.ie
Law Society of Ireland: relaunched site includes a directory of Irish firms
www.lawsociety.ie
Legal 500: lists recommended law firms and lawyers worldwide
www.legal500.com
Legal Hub: a joint venture between the Bar Council and Sweet & Maxwell, this site provides access to the Bar Directory and the Expert Witness Directory, among other resources
www.legalhub.co.uk
Martindale-Hubbell Lawyer Locator: directory of American and international lawyers
www.martindale.com
Pupillage Portal: the Bar Council’s online pupillage application system
https://www.pupillages.com/index.asp
Solicitors’ Code of Conduct: up-to-date version
www.rules.sra.org.uk
pre 2007 rules:
http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/professional/conduct/guideonline.law
GENERAL SOURCES OF LAW
AsianLII: the latest project from the Free Access to Law Movement, providing access to 216 legal databases from 28 Asian countries and territories
www.asianlii.org
AUSTLII: Australian Legal Information Institute - the pioneers in making legislation and case law freely available
www.austlii.edu.au
BAILII: the British and Irish Legal Information Institute provides free access to a comprehensive collection of British and Irish legal materials, and links to similar sites worldwide.
www.bailii.org
CANLII: Canadian Legal Information Institute - offers free access to Canadian legal materials
www.canlii.org
CommonLII: The Commonwealth Legal Information Institute provides a search facility for free core legal information from the whole Commonwealth, covering 756 databases from 59 countries, including the English Reports 1220-1873
www.commonlii.org
House of Lords: information on judicial work of the House of Lords and transition to Supreme Court, including links to judgments and other material related to the Law Lords and their work
http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/
IRLII: Irish Legal Information Initiative - maintained by University College Cork to provide recent cases and legislation not yet included on BAILII
www.irlii.org
NZLII: currently offers free access to 41 databases of legal information in New Zealand
www.nzlii.org
SAFLII free access to South African legal information
www.saflii.org
WorldLII: a collaboration of various Legal Information Institutes and other institutions, offering free, independent and non-profit access to worldwide law including International Court of Justice decisions since 1993
www.worldlii.org
ONLINE JOURNALS
Electronic Law Journals Project 1996: the University of Warwick provides free access to the following electronic titles: Journal of Information Law and Technology; Law, Social Justice and Global Development & Entertainment and Sports Law Journal
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj
European Journal of International Law: 1990 onwards
www.ejil.org
Law Journals on the Internet: lists law journals on the web with some substantive full-text content
www.law.cam.ac.uk/resources_jour.php
Law Society Gazette (Ireland): from 1997 onwards
http://www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/
Lloy’d’s Law Reports: Insurance & Reinsurance: from 1992 onwards. NB in-library use only; ask librarians at the Enquiry Desk to log you on
http://www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/
CARIBBEAN
Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court: civil and criminal judgments at both High Court and Court of Appeal level since 1996
http://eccourts.org/judgments.html
Globalex: NYU’s guide to Caribbean legal resources
www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Caribbean.htm
CHANNEL ISLANDS
Guernsey Bar: a directory of the Guernsey Bar and an introduction to Guernsey law and procedure plus a law dictionary and links to other Channel Island, French and EU legal websites
www.guernseybar.com
Guernsey Legal Resources: access to laws and ordinances from 1980 onwards; Guernsey Law Reports from 2005 onwards; unreported judgments from 2006 onwards; Guernsey Law Journal 1985-2000
http://www.guernseylegalresources.gg/ccm/portal/
Jersey Legal Information Board: official source of legal information in Jersey, including Laws in Force, Jersey Law reports 1985-2009, unreported judgments from 1997 onwards, Practice Directions of the Royal Court and Jersey and Guernsey Law Review
www.jerseylegalinfo.je
Law Officers of the Crown: official Guernsey government website, contains texts of selected legislation
www.gov.gg/law
COMMERCIAL LAW
Lex Mercatoria: international trade and commercial law monitor, extended to include other areas of international law; provides extensive free international law links and materials
www.lexmercatoria.org
COMPETITION LAW
Competition Appeal Tribunal: for full text of judgments in appeals and details of other applications and claims involving competition or economic regulatory issues
www.catribunal.org.uk
Competition Commission: this site covers the work of the Competition Commission, which replaced the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in 1999. It includes full text and summaries of reports since 1950
www.competition-commission.org.uk
CRIMINAL COURTS
Criminal Courts Review: report of the Right Honourable Lord Justice Auld, September 2001
www.criminal-courts-review.org.uk
International Criminal Court: this site contains basic documents, eg the Rome Statute, information on the Court and its cases, Rules of Procedure and Evidence and job vacancies
www.icc-cpi.int
Youth Court Bench Book: this revised Youth Court Bench Book contains updated information on case management, jurisdiction and sentencing options including the new Youth Rehabilitation Order
http://www.estudo.co.uk/jsb/course/view.php?id=9&topic=5
EMPLOYMENT LAW
ACAS: the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service website covers employment topics, press releases and publications
www.acas.org.uk
Employment Appeal Tribunal: includes full text of EAT judgments transcribed since 1999 and selected judgments from other hearings, plus practice directions, cause lists and information on procedures
www.employmentappeals.gov.uk
Employment Cases Update: includes full text of relevant judgments, including those in the Employment Appeals Tribunal court.
www.employmentcasesupdate.co.uk
FAMILY LAW
Family Law Week: news of recent cases and legislation, articles and resources on all aspects of family law. The site is free but registration is required
www.familylawweek.co.uk
Capform: a free service offering over 1,000 government forms from eg Companies House, Court Service, Customs & Excise, Inland Revenue, Land Registry, Patent Office, Scottish Court Service and Insolvency Service
www.capform.co.uk
GIBRALTAR
Laws of Gibraltar: this Gibraltar Government website contains all primary and secondary legislation consolidated to date
www.gibraltarlaws.gov.gi
GOVERNMENT
Companies House: responsible for the registration and provision of UK company information
www.companies-house.gov.uk
Crown Prosecution Service: includes Code for Crown Prosecutors
www.cps.gov.uk
Her Majesty’s Courts Service: an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, responsible for managing the magistrates’ courts, Crown Court, county courts, High Court and Court of Appeal - details of all court locations, hearing lists, information on procedures and processes, forms and guidance, annual reports, business plans and a glossary of common Latin and legal terms used in court
www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk
Judiciary of England and Wales: the official website of judges, tribunal members and magistrates offers an insight into the working lives of judicial office holders in England and Wales, eg biographical details of senior judges, forms of address, judicial statistics, court dress
www.judiciary.gov.uk
Law Commission: includes full text of Reports and Consultation Papers since 1996
www.lawcom.gov.uk
Ministry of Justice: responsible for courts, prisons, probation, criminal law and sentencing; includes Civil Procedure Rules and judicial statistics
www.justice.gov.uk
Office of Public Sector Information OPSI: HMSO’s successor contains full text of UK legislation since 1988 with Explanatory Notes for acts since 1999 and links to new legislation and most requested acts
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/
Parliament: information about House of Commons and House of Lords, including Hansard debates and transcripts of recent judgments
www.parliament.uk
Parliamentlive.tv: live webcasting of Parliament, including Select Committees
www.parliamentlive.tv
The Supreme Court: information about court procedures, current cases, texts of judgments
http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/
Tagish’s Directory: comprehensive list of UK central and local government websites and world government related sites
www.tagish.co.uk/links
The UK Statute Law Database SLD: the official revised edition of the primary legislation of the UK made available online. Tables of legislative effects are included since 2002. The database is now fully operational and contains SIs as well as statutes
www.statutelaw.gov.uk
HUMAN RIGHTS
Council of Europe Treaty Office Website: for texts of Council of Europe conventions, in English, French, Italian, German and Russian, and Chart showing signatures and ratifications
http://conventions.coe.int
European Court of Human Rights: information about the Court and judgments free on date of delivery on HUDOC database
www.echr.coe.int
Human Rights Update: an initiative of 1 Crown Office Row, containing material previously available only on Lawtel. Contains over 400 reports and commentaries dating back to 1998, as well as articles prepared by members of chambers and a commentary on the ECHR and HRA. A weekly e-mail update is also available.
www.humanrights.org.uk/5/text.nc
Interights - International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights: includes summaries of recent decisions from Commonwealth jurisdictions and tribunals applying international human rights law, as well as links to regional and national bodies and tribunals and relevant national sites
www.interights.org
International Court of Justice: cases referred to the ICJ since 1946, information about the Court and basic UN documents, including the Charter
www.icj-cij.org
Lawtel Human Rights: a comprehensive information service on the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998 and their interpretation by domestic courts. It is also possible to search the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. NB Subscription required [access via library home page]
www.lawtel.com
Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission: a statutory body established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, in compliance with the Good Friday Agreement, to ensure the full protection of the human rights of everyone in Northern Ireland
www.nihrc.org
Your Rights: Liberty’s online guide to human rights law in England and Wales
www.yourrights.org.uk
European Country of Origin Network ECOI: a gateway for country resources for asylum and refugee lawyers, including reports and national laws
www.ecoi.net
Electronic Immigration Network: See under Library Subscriptions above
Immigration and Asylum Chambers Tribunals Service: replace the former Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. The only authoritative public source of IAT/AIT determinations
www.tribunals.gov.uk/ImmigrationAsylum/
www.tribunals.gov.uk/ImmigrationAsylum/utiac/
UK Border Agency: a Home Office website devoted to matters relating to immigration, nationality and asylum
www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
INFORMATION LAW
Panopticon: a new blog maintained by 11 KBW’s Information Law Practice Group
www.panopticonblog.com
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
esp@cenet: the European Patent Office offers published European and worldwide patent applications in original language and English abstract
http://gb.espacenet.com
World Intellectual Property Organization: electronic collection of national laws and treaties on intellectual property; available in English, French and Spanish
http://www.wipo.int/clea/en/index.jsp
NORTHERN IRELAND
Libero: portal set up by Law Society of Northern Ireland covering Northern Ireland legal materials since 2002. Please ask staff at Enquiry desk to log you on
www.lawsoc-ni.org
PERSONAL INJURIES
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority: includes online guides to the scheme and application forms, as well as links to the CICAP Criminal Injuries Appeals Panel website www.cicap.gov.uk, with details of the appeals procedure and relevant forms
www.cica.gov.uk
SCOTLAND
The Faculty of Advocates: access to a range of information in relation to the Faculty of Advocates, its members and the services they provide, including contact details, an on-line version of the Faculty Directory and information to assist practitioners involved in, or considering, Direct Professional Access.
www.advocates.org.uk
Scottish Courts website: access point to information on all civil and criminal courts in Scotland
www.scotcourts.gov.uk
Scottish Law Commission: part of the BAILII database, containing a selection of publications, including Consultation papers since 2003, Discussion Papers since 1991 and Reports since 1989
www.bailii.org/scot/other/SLC
Scottish Law Online: an independent portal for anyone interested in Scots law
www.scottishlaw.org.uk
SPORT
Tribunal Arbitral du Sport – Court of Arbitration for Sport: an independent arbitration body set up to settle sports-related disputes. The site includes transcripts of the most recent decisions
www.tas-cas.org
TREATIES
United Nations Treaty Collection: full text and information on ratification and status of treaties deposited with UN since 1946 and League of Nations treaty Series 1920-1944
http://treaties.un.org
US LAW
American Bar Association’s Lawlink: a gateway to resources on federal, state and international legislation, the American legal profession, legal research and business and reference information
www.abanet.org/lawlink
American Law Sources Online ALSO: a compilation of links to free online source of US and Canadian law - covers both Federal and State legislation
www.lawsource.com/also
FindLaw: a useful site covering Federal and State laws: codes, statutes, regulations, historical documents and background information on US courts and government; also Supreme Court decisions since 1999 and opinions from Courts of Appeal
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/
Google Scholar: now gives full text legal opinions from US federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts, as well as links to other opinions and articles citing them. Use “Advanced Scholar Search”
http://scholar.google.co.uk
Legal Information Institute Cornell University: text of federal and state legislation, court opinions and law directories - a good source for searching codes and updating GPO site
www.law.cornell.edu
lexisONE: site maintained by LexisNexis, offering reports for all US Supreme Court cases, recent federal and state cases and legal forms; registration is free
www.lexisone.com
PACER Public Access to Court Electronic Records: there is a small charge for this service, which offers opinions of Circuit and District Courts
http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/psco/cgi-bin/links.pl
Supreme Court: contains judgments since 1991, including the latest slip opinions
www.supremecourtus.gov
THOMAS: a service of the Library of Congress, covering activities of Congress, text of bills with status and public laws 1973 to date
http://thomas.loc.gov
US Government Printing Office: The GPO aims to provide public access to official government information products, eg history of bills with full text of each version and signed public and private laws, Congressional debates, US Code unannotated back to 1995
www.gpoaccess.gov/legislative.html
US Law Library of Congress: information on the legal system, including sources, legal profession and Federal Court system
www.loc.gov/law
LIBRARY CATALOGUES
British Library Public Catalogue: covers Document Supply Centre and London Reading Rooms
http://catalogue.bl.uk
Cambridge University Library
www.lib.cam.ac.uk/newton
COPAC: union catalogues of 22 of the largest university research libraries in the UK
www.copac.ac.uk
FLAG - Foreign Law Guide Project: a collaborative internet gateway to the holdings of foreign, international and comparative law in UK university and national libraries, maintained by IALS
http://ials.sas.ac.uk/library/flag/flag.htm
FLARE - Foreign Law Research: a collaboration between the major legal research libraries in the UK working to improve access to and exploitation of foreign, comparative and international materials at the national level
http://ials.sas.ac.uk/flare/flare.htm
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies: see University of London’s SASCAT below
King’s College London: Middle Templars may use KCL at weekends or for material not held by any Inn of Court, on production of appropriate ID and by prior arrangement
http://library.kcl.ac.uk/ALEPH/-/start/kings
Law Society Library Online
http://uk1.lexisnexis.com/LawSocietyLibrary/HomePage.aspx
Oxford University Library
http://library.ox.ac.uk
University of London’s SASCAT: includes Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
http://library.sas.ac.uk
University of London Library Senate House
www.ull.ac.uk
University of London List of Serials: Covers all journals in London University libraries and University of Westminster
www.m25lib.ac.uk/ULS/
LEGAL BOOKSELLERS IN LONDON
Hammicks www.hammickslegal.co.uk
Wildy & Sons Ltd. http://www.wildy.com/
