Course resource help for Law

Click here to access Westlaw. If prompted, log in with your Brookes student number and password.

The first time you access Westlaw you will be asked for your name and email address.

The homepage contains a single search box. This searches everything in Westlaw, but you can click on options to narrow your search down. However, you will have greater control over your search if you use the tabs along the top of the screen (cases, legislation etc.).

You can return to the homepage from anywhere in Westlaw by clicking on the Westlaw icon in the top left of the screen.

On the Westlaw homepage you'll see the option to browse by topic followed by an alphabetical list of areas of law.

If you click on one of these, you can then see:

• A new search box, allowing you search for materials just in this area of law
• A summary of what this area of law covers
• Latest developments - the most recent cases and publications in this area of law
• Link to the most important legislation on this topic
• Links to more specific areas of law

If you click on one of these more specific areas, you'll see an overview article as well as a selection of recent, relevant cases and journal articles. These overview articles are great places to start researching a topic. They are short posts written by legal experts.

Westlaw overview articles are not sources you should be citing in your coursework. Instead, they are a starting point to help you find other, more scholarly material. This process works in two ways:

• There are links throughout overview articles to key cases and legislation elsewhere in Westlaw. This is a quick way to see what the significant sources of law are in a particular field.
• Reading an overview article on an unfamiliar topic can be a great way to get an overview of the topic and learn some of the vocabulary used in it. You can then go on to use some of this vocabulary in the search boxes in the cases, legislation or journals tabs of Westlaw.

Download a one-page guide (contains screenshots) of how to best use topics on Westlaw (PDF).

You can use Westlaw to find cases that are mentioned in your textbook or lecture slides. See our step-by-step guide to searching for case by its name or citation.

European case law:

• Click on EU in the dark blue bar at the top of any Westlaw page.

• Tick cases, then use the search boxes. You can search by the case name, case citation or a topic.

• If you get too many results you can use the filters down the left hand side of your results to narrow them down. Click on the title of any case to read it.

• Download a two-page guide (contains screenshots) about how to find and use EU content in Westlaw (PDF).
• Watch a video that walks you through finding EU sources on Westlaw and EUR-Lex.

US case law:

• Click on the Westlaw US link on the right of the Westlaw homepage. This will now open in a new window.

• Underneath browse, click on the word cases.

• You can now either use the search box to search all federal and state case law, or pick an individual court or case.

• As you move through categories, the left hand tab on the search box changes name to show you what you'll be searching.

• If you get too many results you can use the filters down the left hand side of your results to narrow them down. Click on the title of any case to read it.

Other international case law

• Click on the Westlaw International link on the right of the Westlaw homepage. This will now open in a new window..

• Underneath browse, click on the word cases.

• You can use the search box to search across multiple countries, or pick an individual country. Note that many countries' cases are not included on Westlaw.

• As you move through categories, the second tab on the search box changes name to show you what you're searching.

• To find multinational materials (e.g. International Court of Justice decisions): use the International materials index on the right of the screen to browse a full list of all sources, including ICJ decisions.

You can use Westlaw to find legislation (Acts and Statutory Instruments) that is mentioned in your textbook or lecture slides. See our step-by-step guide to searching for legislation.

You can search for a topic in Westlaw and see results from dozens of different journals at once. 

You may be interested in a particular journal and want to just search within that, or maybe see what has been most recently published in this journal. See our step-by-step guide to browsing just one journal.

Remember, if the full text of an article isn't in Westlaw we may still have access to it through another database. To check, search for the journal title in the Journal Titles tab on the search box on the library homepage.

Get more information and advice about using law journals and journal articles.

If you search for cases or journal articles on a particular topic, then you may want to know when anything new is published on that topic. To avoid having to return to Westlaw and repeat the search, you can create an alert.

See our step-by-step guide to using alerts in Westlaw.

You can keep track of all of your research by saving documents into folders. You can have a folder for each module or assignment, to keep things organised.

To add something to a folder, look for the folder icon to the right of any document on Westlaw.

Click on folders at the top of the Westlaw to see all your research in one place.

Do you get too many search results in Westlaw? Are the useful results buried in lots of irrelevant results? One solution might be to use some of these tools.

You don't need to remember any of these. Just remember that next to every search box in Westlaw is a link labelled terms and connectors. This will remind you of all these tricks.

Finding words near each other:

• Use " " to glue words together into a phrase. For example, "gig economy" will find results where the words occur as a phrase.
• Use /s to find words in the same sentence. For example, jury /s reform will find results where both words occur in the same sentence.
• Use /p to find words in the same paragraph. For example, police /p review will find results where both words occur in the same paragraph.

Combining words:

• Use and to combine words and narrow down your search. For example, arbitration and medical will find results where both words occur in the same document.
• Use or to broaden your search. This is useful if there are a number of similar words (synonyms) to describe the same idea. For example, arbitration or mediation will find results where either word occurs.
• Use % to exclude a term. For instance, drugs % narcotics will find results which contain the word drugs but do not contain the word narcotics.

Truncation

• Use ! after the start a root of a word to retrieve all possible endings. For instance, employ! will find employ, employee, employer, employment and employing.

Universal character

• The symbol * represents 1 character. For example, wom*n will retrieve woman or women. When you place the character at the end of a word, you specify the maximum length of the word. For instance, object*** retrieves object, objects, objected, objective, objection and objecting.

A note about using connectors in the International and EU sections of Westlaw:

If you put more than one word in a search box, Westlaw  and Westlaw International will respond differently. Westlaw  assumes all your words are linked with 'and' so will only retrieve results where all your words occur. In contrast, Westlaw International assumes they are linked with 'or' so will retrieve results where at least one of your words occurs. To avoid this in Westlaw International, use and between words.

In the black bar at the bottom of every Westlaw page is a link to user guides. Here you will find step-by-step illustrated guides to using different parts of Westlaw.

You can also download or print the library's PDF guide to using Westlaw for English law.

If you are a GDL, LLB, Law Foundation or LLM student you will receive training from the Academic Liaison Librarian for Law at the start of your course. The slides from this training will be available in Moodle for you to refer back to throughout your course.

The library runs Lexis and Westlaw workshops, at both a basic and advanced level. These are open to all students in all years. If you want to come to the advanced workshop without attending the basic one first, make sure you are confident with the content of the basic workshop, as the advanced workshop builds on this. Book your place.

Westlaw UK Certification Training gives you an interactive walk-through of Westlaw UK with the option to then test your skills and become certified. There is no fee to certify, and it shows prospective employers that you are comfortable using this important legal database.

Firstly, step-by-step videos walk you through everything you need to know to be a Westlaw UK power user. You then complete a short online test. If you pass, you'll be sent a certificate in the post to demonstrate your skills, which you can add to your CV.

You can get certification at both basic and advanced levels.

Click here to access Lexis+. If prompted, log in with your Brookes student number and password.

You can use Lexis+ to find cases that are mentioned in your textbook or lecture slides. See our step-by-step guide to searching for case by its name or citation.

You can use Lexis+ to find legislation (Acts and Statutory Instruments) that is mentioned in your textbook or lecture slides. See our step-by-step guide to searching for legislation 

Lexis+ allows you to search for cases and  legislation from: Australia, Canada, France Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA.

From the homepage, click on content then international. Now choose a country. 

Now you can search across all the available legal sources in that country. If wish to narrow it down further, choose a category e.g. all Malaysia cases. Note how the search box is re-labelled each time you choose a category or source.

You can search for a topic in Lexis+ and see results from dozens of different journals at once. See our step-by-step guide to searching for journal articles on a topic.

You may be interested in a particular journal and want to just search within that, or maybe see what has been most recently published in this journal. See our step-by-step guide to browsing just one journal.

The books on Lexis+ are primarily written for lawyers, so they are focused on law in practice. See our step-by-step guide to searching for a topic in these practitioner texts.

Lexis+ contains content from a range of national and local newspapers. You can search for content in one newspaper, all newspapers or your own selection of newspapers.

See our step-by-step guide to using newspaper content on Lexis+.

Explore other newspaper collections at Oxford Brookes Library.

Halsbury's Laws of England is an authoritative and up-to-date legal encyclopaedia, available on Lexis+.

See our step-by-step guide to using Halsbury's Laws of England.

Practical Guidance is an area of Lexis+ designed for lawyers in practice.

See our step-by-step guide to accessing and using Lexis+ Practical Guidance.

Clicking advanced search will give you more options, for example being able to exclude words from your search.

There are also lots of tricks you can use in your search in order to make your results much more precise. Have a look at our search tips and connectors guide to see your options.

And remember to think carefully about what words you put in the search box, as this will affect the outcome. Make sure you watch the Choosing words to put in a search box video.

Book a place at a Lexis+ and Westlaw: Advanced Searching workshop to learn more about these powerful tools.

There is a Help link at the top of every Lexis+ page, which provides further details on searching and using the database.

You can download the library's PDF guide to using Lexis+ for English law.

If you are a law student you will receive training from the Academic Liaison Librarian for Law at the start of your course. The slides from this training will be available in Moodle for you to refer back to throughout your course.

The library's free workshops are open to any Oxford Brookes students who want to improve their Lexis+ and Westlaw skills.

Remember, you can always get in touch with Charlie Brampton, the Academic Liaison Librarian for Law. Charlie can see you individually or in small groups.

Lexis+ is used throughout the legal sector, so it will look good on your CV if you show that you can use it. To do this, you can obtain a Lexis+ certificate.

To get certified, you need to watch a video then complete an online multiple choice test. Certification will not cost you anything and should not take long. 

Go to the Lexis+ Student Hub and then choose either "Legal Research Certification" or "Practical Guidance Certification".

NB: When you click on either certification link, you will get a pop up asking for your name and contact details. Once you've completed that form, you will see the certification videos and further information.