Legal Research

City Business Library...still in business

Posted on September 19, 2008
Following a consultation period which included a response from BIALL a decision has been reached about the future of the City Business Library. The full decision is available here and a summary follows:"City Business Library: service as normal in Brewers? Hall Garden premises until late 2009; Library moves to refurbished Guildhall Library in January 2010...

BIALL re-structures

Posted on September 17, 2008
Earlier this year BIALL council undertook a new structure, with the President of BIALL (this year Jackie Fishleigh) leading BIALL Council for a tenure of one year, supported by the President Elect (Daniella King) and the Past President (Jennefer Aston)...

Is free research catching up with the big two?

Posted on September 17, 2008
The 2008 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report has just been published by the American Bar Association, this report discusses in detail the use of technology within the legal profession and would be an interesting read for anyone involved in this area, unfortunately the report isn't available for free, but there is an interesting summary available on the ABA Journal website entitled "Web 2...

LexisWeb

Posted on September 17, 2008
LexisNexis have released a new website called LexisWeb, this is a federated search tool that searches across a wide range of websites.There is a short user guide which contains more information on the site, including the following:"The LexisWeb product includes important, legal-oriented Web content, selected and validated by the LexisNexis editorial staff...

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The Free Legal Web

Posted on September 05, 2008
Nick Holmes of Binary Law and Internet Newsletter for Lawyers has started a new initiative called "The Free Legal Web", from the website of the The Free Legal Web:"The Free Legal Web is an initiative designed to deliver a web service that joins up the law and legal commentary and analysis on the web and provides a useful service to both lawyers and the community at large" "We already have a substantial free legal web, but it is not joined up...

The bottom line from LNB

Posted on August 22, 2008
The August 2008 issue of VIP contains an interview of LNB's UK & Ireland Managing Director Josh Bottomley by Tim Buckley-Owen.Some highlights from the article, which might be of interest to Law Librarians include...On content and LNB Interfaces.....

Going beyond Google

Posted on August 19, 2008
Martin De Saulles, who spoke at the last BIALL Conference about the "Future of Information Work" has jointly produced a video, which discusses some of the issues around students using the internet as a research tool. The video includes interviews with academics, students and librarians...

LNB loses out to Westlaw

Posted on August 19, 2008
The Strategic Legal Technology Blog has just published a short post on the results of the 2007 Large Law Firm Library survey.The survey called "Competitive Advantage" contains some interesting results, including what is described in the post as "a significant change in market share between LexisNexis and Westlaw"...

Are Hein the webbiest Legal publisher?

Posted on August 13, 2008
You have to hand it to Hein, they really know how to show other publishers how to do Web 2.0. Not only do they have their own Blog and a Youtube Channel now they have thrown caution to the wind and created a fan page on Facebook.Keep up the great work Hein, hopefully other Legal Publishers will follow in your footsteps!Hat Tip - Out of the Jungle Blog

So long law firm support staff!

Posted on August 08, 2008
Nothing works better then an attention grabbing post title on a Friday afternoon to really wake up Blog readers. In this post Jason the Content Librarian discusses the development by Virtual Law Partners of...you've guessed the creation of a Virtual Law Office...

Blue sky predictions...

Posted on August 06, 2008
Jordan Furlong over at the Law21 blog has been thinking about the future of Law and has posted the first ever Legal Profession Blue-Sky Challenge!At the end of the blog post Jordan asks readers to make their own predictions for the future of Law...which made me think what predictions would BIALL members make about the future...

BAILLI's continued expansion

Posted on August 05, 2008
The Society of Computers and Law (SCL) website has an article on the continuing development of the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) Website - BAILII?s Continuing Expansion the article is by Clive Freedman and Joe Ury.New projects and improvements made to the site are discussed in some detail as is the future of the site and BAILLI's role within the global network of Legal Information Institutes.

Where Daniella dares!

Posted on July 31, 2008
Not, I'm pleased to say, a post about Truth and Dare but another opportunity to lightly interrogate a new member of the BIALL Council. This time around the victim..volunteer is Daniella King past Chair of the Publications Committee and current BIALL President Elect...

Lexis Nexis v Westlaw Part 2

Posted on July 31, 2008
No sooner have you finished reading one article comparing the merits of Lexis Nexis Butterworths and Westlaw then along comes another one, rather like buses and hot sunny days. Anyway the latest comparison of Lexis Nexis Butterworths and Westlaw is in VIP Issue 56 , in it the author compares the North American products and provides some background information on the two companies...

The View from the Hill

Posted on July 28, 2008
Sue Hill fresh from the BIALL Conference has put Web 2.0 principles into practice by rolling out a Blog for Sue Hill Recruitment.Called "The View from the Hill" the blog is a forum for discussing issues that affect Librarians across all sectors as well other more general issues that may be of interests to both Sue Hill clients and the wider information community...

The future for legal publishers?

Posted on July 25, 2008
The Law21 Blog has written a thought provoking post on the Future for Legal Publishers, which is well worth reading. In it they describe how changes to technology and the profits Legal Publishers make from selling traditional products will change the products they develop and who they sell them to...

Survey on the use of Web 2.0 in Higher Education

Posted on July 17, 2008
Do you work in Higher Education and are currently using Web 2.0 tools for teaching, learning, support or administration purposes? Yes, well head on over to Survey Monkey to complete this survey.From the introduction to the Survey:"This survey is being undertaken on behalf of the Committee of Inquiry into the Changing Learner Experience for all the UK funding agencies...

Lexis Nexis v Westlaw the results are in!

Posted on July 17, 2008
Stanford Law School have published a research paper which outlines the results of a survey of American Law Librarians, from the introduction to the survey:"As costs for research tools, both online and paper, continue to increase, librarians areoften faced with the difficult decision of what materials can and should be canceled, andwhat new acquisitions can be made...

Libraries of the future

Posted on July 09, 2008
JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) has launched a new site which looks at the future of Libraries in the academic sector. From the site:"In an information world in which Google apparently offers us everything, what place is there for the traditional, and even the digital, library? In a library environment which is increasingly moving to the delivery of online rather than print resources, what of the academic library?s traditional place at the heart of campus life?"If you want to get involved with the discussion about how Libraries will look in the future, there are any number of ways for you to do so from joining the Social Networking Group to attending the JISC Annual Conference.

Your starter for 10

Posted on July 04, 2008
Jackie Fishleigh new BIALL President faces 10 questions from the BIALL Blogger, do post a response or question directly to Jackie by adding a comment. A nice and easy question first off...(1) What is your background and how did you get into Law Librarianship?JF - As a teenager I had a a passion for languages and went on to major in German with Italian and Russian subsidiaries at Birmingham University...

BIALL President in "Race for Life"

Posted on June 25, 2008
This Sunday will see Jackie Fishleigh the current BIALL President run 5k in memory of Zosia Carson a friend and colleague of many BIALL members.The event which takes place on Epsom Downs Racecourse will raise funds for Cancer Research to continue the great work they do...

CLA Open Meeting - 17 June 2008

Posted on June 23, 2008
The CLA annual bash at City Hall was the place to be seen for a wide range of information professionals last week......City Hall is best know as home to the Mayor of London, the London Assembly and the GLA, who in 2002 became tenants of this striking rounded glass building on the south bank of the Thames near Tower Bridge...

BIALL Conference - The finale

Posted on June 18, 2008
The 2008 BIALL Conference finished with a bang on Friday as BIALL members enjoyed a champagne reception in the Long Room at Trinity College followed by the Presidents dinner at the Mansion House. This was an evening to celebrate the success of both individuals and organisations as the BIALL President presented the Customer Relations Initiative Award, the Legal Journals Award, The Wallace Breem Award and the Wildys Law Librarian of the Year...

BIALL Conference - Day 2

Posted on June 13, 2008
Day 2 of the BIALL Conference started bright and bleary eyed with Plenary sessions delivered by Martin De Saulles, Margaret Flood, Peter Clinch, Sue Hill, Heather Semple and Marguerite Most. Topics covered ranged from The future of Information Work to Researching the Law in Northern Ireland and Teaching Law Practice in Technology...

BIALL Conference Day 1

Posted on June 13, 2008
Day 1 of the BIALL Conference saw the day kick off with Jennefer Aston welcome delegates to Dublin and all that the city had to offer. Unfortunately the BIALL Members couldn't bring sunshine with them as the Conference started with black clouds overhead, thankfully the rain didn't affect the sessions that were held during the day...

BIALL Conference Dublin 2008

Posted on June 11, 2008
The 2008 BIALL Conference starts officially tommorow with the pre-conference seminar today. For last minute news on the Conference have a look at this page on the BIALL Website. The BIALL Blogger is hoping for good weather, but isn't staking his home on it being sunny during the Conference...

Final (blog) reminder - Have Your Say

Posted on June 09, 2008
http://biall.blogspot.com/2008/04/have-your-say.htmlIf you've got things you'd like to see raised at Conference and you're not attending, have a look at the original post and make your comments now!If you are coming to Dublin you can submit topics for consideration by dropping by the BIALL members' stand...

Big discounts at the BIALL Conference!

Posted on June 06, 2008
If you're a BIALL Member and are attending the Conference the wait is almost over! The BIALL Blogger is certainly looking forward to all that Dublin has to offer and hearing about the future of the legal information profession.If you want to do some reading when you get back home, then the good news is that many of the publications produced by BIALL are available with some big discounts if you order them at Conference! Order forms will be available on the BIALL Stand as well as sample copies of the publications...

Using LinkedIn?

Posted on June 05, 2008
If you use LinkedIn, a Social Networking site for professionals, which is similar to Facebook but involves less Vampires and Walls, then you might be interested in joining a new group on the site.The new group called Law Librarians is a group of well...

Wikipedia or bust...

Posted on June 04, 2008
Recently there has been a lot of discussion on LIS-LAW around the use of Wikipedia by students, trainees and fee-earners. The discussions initial focus was on an article about Intestacy which contained incorrect information, this became a much wider discussion about how Wikipedia and other free resources are currently being used...

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