Legal resources on the web for students maintained by Delia Venables,
including information on case notes, course materials, competitions, discussion groups (forums)
and links to the main legal resources sections.
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This page was last updated on May 1st. There is a sponsored link below followed by the normal entries...
Note that the main legal resources for Lawyers are not featured on this web page but are in the main part of the Venables web site here. In particular the section for Legal Sites and Resources, A-Z is a key resource for students.
These pages have been written by Alex Heshmaty, a freelance writer, web designer and legal technology specialist. (See www.alexheshmaty.me.uk and www.legaltechie.co.uk for more about Alex). The Supreme Court on YouTube!
Another interesting resource on YouTube! Suitable (for example) for sixth form students, students of law (in the early stages) and the general public (if interested). And the standard of the films is very high - comparable to well produced TV programmes. The films would be just as useful to non-Scottish students, incidentally, as a general introduction to the role and use of precedent, and the role of court reporting in general.
An interesting resource for geeks.... And see the USA site Data.gov. Introductory MaterialNik Nicol, a barrister, provides an excellent introduction to the English Legal System (and it's available in Spanish too).Internet for Law (an online tutorial) is provided the by Social Sciences section of Intute, funded by JISC. The tutorial is free and takes you round the key legal resources available for lawyers. This tutorial is part of the Virtual Training Suite - a set of Internet tutorials written and reviewed by qualified lecturers and librarians from across the UK. Main author is Steven Whittle, Information Systems Manager, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, UK. Sites are reviewed by Mary-Jane Steer, Intute, University of Bristol. This is the fourth edition of this tutorial. Clickdocs provides legal documents online. There is a useful glossary of legal terms on the site, with straightforward descriptions of both Latin and English terms. Help With Law Exams is a free resource for students and teachers of law. It is maintained by Clive Dunkley, a law teacher at King Edward VI Sixth Form College in Nuneaton and an examiner for OCR for the AS Law papers. There is legal news extracted from current newspapers and other sources, expressed in a straightforward manner, descriptions of the Court Structure, how to become a solicitor or a barrister, information on police powers, magistrates, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Civil Law, Criminal Law and many other topics, all refreshingly free of jargon. This site is predominately for students studying AS law, however there are also notes for A2 criminal law and for GCSE Tort. Many of the notes are suitable for students of law at any level and for all the main exam boards such as OCR, AQA, WJEC. Learn Law is a provider of online learning tools for law courses in England and Wales. They offer an online multi-choice assessment tool for GCSE Law students consisting of interactive revision tests enabling students to revise and apply their knowledge to over 15 areas of Law. Class reports provide teachers with instant feedback on how a group of students have performed on the revision tests. From September 2005 they are also offering the multi-choice assessment tool for students studying AS Law for the AQA and OCR examination boards. There will also soon be complete distance learning courses in GCSE (covering 15 subjects), AS, A2 and the National Association of Paralegals.
Out of date now (originally published in 2001) but still useful background reading The Legal System of Scotland (4th edition) has been produced by The Stationery Office in Scotland. The book provides a comprehensive guide to the Scottish legal system written in plain English for non-lawyers. It provides an overview of various aspects of the legal system such as: origins and sources of Scots law; the civil and criminal courts; tribunals; the personnel of the law; administration of the Scottish legal system; legal aid and protection of the public. The book in paperback costs £3.95. City Law School is one of London's major law schools and offers an impressive range of academic and professional courses. They offer particularly good online resources (mostly available to all law students rather than "just" their own students) including: LoretoLaw is a blog for A Level law students following the OCR syllabus at Loreto College in Manchester. It includes information about current topics in the syllabus and legal topics in the news and also gives information on future courses to follow at the University stage. There is a Law of Contract Special Study Paper 2011 available. Minitrial is an initiative from Scottish Lawyers to help secondary schools find out more about the Scottish legal system. Students take part in a reconstruction of a ciminal jury trial. The site shows an interactive court scene and describes the participants, then shows some of the "papers" for the assault trial. There are various materials for further work (including a minitrial starter pack) which can be downloaded. The site does not try to be too clever but is straightforward and informative. The Scottish Council of Law Reporting (SCLR) provides a database of Scottish cases selected from their archive as an open access resource. There is also a collection of digital resources concerning the celebrated case of Donoghue v Stevenson - the case of the snail in the ginger beer bottle, from 1932. Now there is a new section of the site “The Paisley Snail MiniTrial” with featured articles and images of the original court documents which can be used by students in schools and colleges to run their own civil jury trials and to return their own verdict in the case based on current Scottish procedure. The format is based on the successful “criminal” trials from Minitrial, which is an educational initiative by Scottish lawyers, as above. Teachers can download starter packs of materials for use in class.
Resources Presented AlphabeticallyPlease note that the resources described here are the ones designed specifically for students.The key legal resources (designed for all lawyers, including students) are presented here.
This one is for if you need a little rest from serious legal work.... Bournemouth and Poole College Law Weblog is intended to keep the college's students up to date with current developments in the courts and provide a discussion facility. The College follows the AQA AS and A level syllabus, and the blog covers legal developments relevant to that. There are extensive notes for law students at the main departmental page here. Criminal Law Online provides presentations and recorded lectures in criminal law for LLB and GDL students. These presentations, viewed online, are not free but they are low cost and good value. Topics available so far include Defences, Subject Areas, Fraud Act 2006, Homicide, Theft Act 1968 and Non Fatal Offences. The lectures, presentations and articles are produced by Norman Baird. elawstudent.com is a small company developing law courses and in particular, so far, AS/A2 English & Welsh Law. This is a very dense site with a lot of materials but not a very good direction to finding your way around. Europa - Quick links for schools and universities describes EU actions in education and training which aim to improve the quality of learning systems and provide greater opportunities for people at all stages of their lives. This special section of the Europa site provides links to research and educational networks as well as programmes and funding to encourage learning and research. (Not specifically legal resources). Insite Law Magazine ("daily online law news and law blogs") is a project initiated by long time legal educator and innovator Mike Semple-Piggot. The aim is to assist law students by providing text and recorded lectures completely free, together with other materials (news, podcasts, law reports) prepared by Mike and other legal experts. Plans are now well advanced to provide completely free text and materials course books, with recorded lectures, in Contract, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Tort, Intellectual Property, European Union Law, Competition Law, Employment Law and Family Law. These texts and lectures are designed around the requirements of traditional university syllabuses for qualifying law degrees. There are a number of news feeds to which the student (or practitioner) can subscribe. Intute is a free online service that helps users find the best web resources for their studies and research. Subject specialists (there is a major law section) review and evaluate thousands of resources for this site. Intute is created by a consortium of seven universities. The service aims to identify and evaluate legal resource sites offering primary and secondary materials and other items of legal interest. Descriptive records and links are created for legal service sites and specific documents. The jurisdictional coverage is wide, covering over 200 countries as well as international law. This site closed in 2011 but the archived version here is still useful.
Judiciary of England and Wales is the website of the judges,
magistrates and tribunal members in England and Wales. It is not part of Government, MoJ or Parliament but prides
itself on being strictly independent. The site is designed as an information resource
and covers the functions of the judiciary with information on who the judges are, when they site,
judgments, sentencing, practice directions and many
related topics, together with news of current issues, news items and reports.
There are interviews, surveys and even a quiz. JUSTICE is the well known and respected human rights and law reform charity and now there is also a JUSTICE student human rights network. The group is aims to create a lively, interactive network for all those studying the law who are interested in human rights. There is a mailing list, electronic bulletins, successful seminars at the Guardian Newsroom and other events being planned. One particular feature of the site is a very comprehensive list of links to resources and organisations involved with human rights and covering Asylum, Criminal Justice, Equality, EU Justice and Home Affairs, Human Rights, International Human Rights, Legal Systems and Privacy. LawsBlog is a blog designed for Law, Government & Politics, and Citizenship studies students of Dr Peter Jepson, Strode's College, Egham. This blog provides a useful resource of law information and lesson materials. Law School Online is a new website offering study advice and exam tips for law students in the form of articles, links, mind maps and test yourself quizzes, as well as a Law Tutor’s blog. Resources are free and updated regularly, with subjects covered including Land law, Equity and Trusts, Criminal law, Contract Law and Tort. The site is aimed mainly at LLB/GDL/ILEX students, but some topics will also be of use to those studying A levels and other courses. Future paid services will focus on a series of short revision courses and online tutoring packages. However, they are very clear that they do not offer any form of custom essay writing service which they think is akin to cheating! LawDictionaries.com provides links to free online law dictionaries and other useful tools for law students and practitioners including translation tools. LexisNexis Academic site provides students with a route into their online services and materials as well as information on current cases and legislation and their possible educational and career paths. QED LAW Legal Education is a new information website produced by Norman Baird. It currently includes research concerning the number of firsts and upper seconds awarded by each of the UK universities. It will be updated regularly with information about legal education and provides a valuable resource for law students - both present and prospective - as well as legal academics and others interested in legal education in the UK. The site contains league tables and marks by subject. This site does not seem to be kept up to date. QED Law Courses provide revision lectures in the core subjects - criminal law, law of contract, legal system, public law, law of tort, equity and trusts, land law and european union law. The revision lectures are for students on university LLB and GDL / CPE courses. These are "real" lectures - not viewed online. Lectures take place in the Chadwick Lecture Theatre in the Chadwick Building and the Pearson Lecture Theatres in the Pearson Building at UCL. There is a schedule of lectures on the web site. A (modest) charge is made for attendance at the lectures. Roll on Friday - news and lighter material and also leisure suggestions, a currency converter and a translator. The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting, the non-profit-making body which prepares The Law Reports and The Weekly Law Reports, offers a free "Student Newsletter" with articles on law reporting and selected case summaries. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1913 is "A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court." And more..."The Proceedings contain accounts of trials which took place at the Old Bailey. The first published collection of trials at the Old Bailey dates from 1674, and from 1678 accounts of the trials at each sessions (meeting of the Court) were regularly published. Inexpensive, and targeted initially at a popular audience, the Proceedings were produced shortly after the conclusion of each sessions and were initially a commercial success. But with the growth of newspapers and increasing publication costs the audience narrowed by the nineteenth century to a combination of lawyers and public officials. With few exceptions, this periodical was regularly published each time the sessions met (eight times a year until 1834, and then ten to twelve times a year) for 239 years, when publication came to a sudden halt in April 1913." The site is beautifully prepared, with the full text available as well as digital images of the original reports. There are also some pictures from legal material of the time together with an extensive Introduction. The project is a collaboration between the Open University and the Universities of Hertfordshire and Sheffield. Washminster is written for everyone interested in the work of Britain's Parliament and the US Congress. (Washington and Westminster - get it?) It covers Practice, Procedure, History and current issues. The blog is written by David Morgan, who tutors in Law for both Leicester University and the Open University. There are also iphone apps and a quiz.
Overall Legal Resources home page Comments or queries? delia@venables.co.uk
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And for a modern "take" on these topics, there are now three new sections on this web site: