Legal Research WorkshopJessica BrownHead of Training

AGENDA

– Subscribed resources – a vendor view

– Making the most of your resources

– A worked example

– BREAK

– Put it into practice

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SUBSCRIBED RESOURCES – VENDOR VIEW

• Primary law sources – freely available

• Demonstrate the value:– Time saving efficiencies

– In depth analysis

– Valued expertise

– Investment

– Technology & Functionality

• Vendors create the value – you can (and should) utilise it

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MAKING THE MOST OF RESOURCES

• What does your subscription cover

• Where do I start?

• Indexing and Taxonomies

• Know your resources

• Submissions

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MAKING THE MOST OF RESOURCES

• What does your subscription cover?

• Focus tends to be on premium sources or ‘numbers’.

• Look for the added extras:– Research aids

– Additional content/sources

– Expert interaction

– Full support services

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MAKING THE MOST OF RESOURCES

• Where do I start?– What am I trying to achieve?

• Use the ‘introductions’

• Don’t automatically think search

• Use subscribed sources to find external links

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MAKING THE MOST OF RESOURCES

• Indexing and Taxonomies– Vendors put a great deal of investment into fully indexing

all documents

• Taxonomies tend to be similar across services

• Searching by keywords tends to be more effective

• Don’t automatically think Edit – think Filter

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MAKING THE MOST OF RESOURCES

• Know your resources– every services has strengths and weaknesses

• Know:– Frequency of updates across sources

– Expertise – who is writing the content

– Search connectors

• Sometimes the ‘weakness’ can be a benefit

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MAKING THE MOST OF RESOURCES

• Submissions– Use the services you subscribe to, to achieve business

objectives.

• Most services accept some forms of external submission to their content.

• Use those resources to advertise your organisations’ expertise.

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A WORKED EXAMPLE

A fee-earner has asked for wide-ranging background on religious marriage & divorce as the basis for an article they are writing.

They would also like to know what procedures commonly arise in practice.

– The Basis/Foundation of law

– Primary Sources

– Recommended Reading

– Current news

– Practice Guidance

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TIME FOR A BREAK

OVER TO YOU…

MAKING THE MOST OF RESOURCES

• What does your subscription cover

• Where do I start?

• Indexing and Taxonomies

• Know your resources

• Submissions

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Any Questions?