1. LPAB – Understanding Legal Language and Legislation Legal Research Workshops
Presented by
Patrick O’Mara
Liaison Librarian (LPAB Students)
University Library

2. LPAB – Understanding Legal Language and Legislation – Legal Research Classes – Friday 18th November 2016 and Friday 20th January 2017
Session Coverage
General legal research revision
Finding cases and journal articles
Legal citation
Researching legislation

3. What do law firms think of the legal research skills of graduates???

4. “Research skills of grads are very poor
“Research skills of grads are very poor. I find I have to take them right back to basics including how case law works and how legislation comes into existence.”

5. “ They tend to rely on Google and AustLII - no sense of the availability of journal articles, loose-leaf commentary, seminal textbooks etc.”

6. “. a lack of hands on experience with legislation
“...a lack of hands on experience with legislation.... they don't understand how to read notes tables”
“They can find cases but still get confused by medium neutral citations.”

7. “While Google is popular so is Wikipedia
“While Google is popular so is Wikipedia. I even saw a Federal Court case, where the lawyers had done their research on Wikipedia.”

8. “They can be very gung-ho and announce they know everything about legal research - everything's on LexisNexis right?”

9. George v Survery [2009] NSWSC 1348
Case citations
George v Survery [2009] NSWSC 1348
Ellis v Fulham Borough Council [1938] 1 KB 212
Swain v Waverley Municipal Council
(1977) 138 CLR 91

10. Interpreting a case citation
Two main types of case citation
Law report citation
Medium neutral citation (court)
Swain v Waverley Municipal Council
(2005) 220 CLR 517 – law report
[2005] HCA 4 – medium neutral

11. Finding cases
Use the Library’s Legal Abbreviations Subject Guide to get the answers to these questions…
What is the abbreviation??
Is the case Australian or UK or other??
Is it a law report or medium neutral citation??
AND (most importantly)…
- Which database should I use to find my case??

12. Finding cases (cont): Law Reports (Australia):
LexisNexis AU, Westlaw AU and others
Medium Neutral Citation (Australia)
AustLII
UK cases
ICLR Online

13. CaseBase and FirstPoint
Case Citators
CaseBase and FirstPoint
- To obtain extra information
about a case
- To find cases by subject

14. Basic Boolean Connectors
AND – combining concepts
Eg. murder and defences
OR – for similar concepts and synonyms
Eg. murder OR manslaughter
NOT (sometimes AND NOT) – leaving out concepts
Eg. Murder NOT provocation

15. Finding Journal articles
When you already have a citation
‘Journal’ search on Library Catalogue.
Search title of journal NOT title of article
Searching for journal articles by subject
Subject Guide – LPAB Students > Law Databases (complete list) > Filter by Database Type > Journal articles, publications & papers
– eg. AGIS Plus Text (Australia) and LegalTrac (international)

16. Legal Citation
There is no single standard in Australia for legal referencing.
However, it is important that all citations made within one document are consistent in style
Australian Guide to Legal Citation (3rd edition) (AGLC3) is the most commonly used citation style for Australian law schools and legal publications. 16

17. Swain v Waverley Municipal Council (2005) 220 CLR 517
Case law
AGLC3 Citation Style:
Reported Judgments:
Swain v Waverley Municipal Council (2005) 220 CLR 517
Unreported Judgments / Medium Neutral:
George v Survery [2009] NSWSC 1348 (9 December 2009) 17

18. Books
AGLC3 Citation Style:
Dennis Pearce and Robert Geddes, Statutory Interpretation in Australia (Lexis Nexis Butterworths, 7th ed, 2011).

19. Journal articles
AGLC3 Citation Style:
Miranda Kaye, Julie Stubbs and Julia Tolmie, ‘Domestic Violence and Child Contact Arrangements’ (2003) 17(2) Australian Journal of Family Law 93, 95. 19