The Beginners' Guide starts at the beginning and takes the Lawyer through the most important aspects of the Internet in a straightforward manner:

• What it is
• What legal material is available, both free and on a subscription basis
• How to get connected
• The benefits of email - and areas to be cautious
• How to find legal materials on the web
• What firms and chambers are doing already
• A bit about selling and marketing from a web site

Earn your CPD!

• Law Society of England & Wales - 8 CPD hours
• Law Society of Scotland - 5 CPD hours (the maximum amount allowed under the private study element)
• Bar Council - accredited for 8 hours

Please note that, due to increasingly stringent requirements from these bodies, there is now a simple test required for this course.

The questions are not on substantive issues of the law but are just designed to check that you have indeed gone through the materials as required and have visited some of the main legal web sites described.

A new edition is produced every year, so the material, when purchased, is always up to date.

Principal Contents

1. Introduction ....page 1
What is it really? Changing the way that Business and Law are conducted

2. Electronic Mail (email)....page 5
Advantages and disadvantages; issues of acceptable use; Control of Spam; Newsgroups and Mailing Lists

3. World Wide Web....page 10
Not just text, but also.... Some definitions; A portal - a place to start

4. Getting Connected....page 13
What You Need; Internet Service Providers - which to choose? providing Internet Access on a Network; Security Issues

5. Parliament, Government and the Courts and other important UK sites....page 15

6. What the Legal Publishers are Offering....page 19

7. British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)... page 24
"Free the Law" is a great success

8. European Legal Resources.... page 27

9. Firms of Solicitors on the Web....page 29
Brochure sites; specialised sites; Selling legal services online

10. Barristers on the Web....page 33
Sites offering legal resources; brochure sites; new types of service provided

Set of Graded Tutorials for On-line Learning

Here is a summary:

Tutorial One. This covers the menus, buttons and tools which appear on the screen and also explains how the Uniform Resources Locators (URL's) are structured. For initial practice in using these techniques, we look at the various Professional Societies - Law Societies, Bar Council etc, which act as "Gateways" to the Internet.

Tutorial Two. A start with typing in URL's and choosing links. The Back button and the Forward button. Collecting "Favorites". Firms of Solicitors and Barristers already on the Internet and how they are marketing themselves. For general interest, we look at the Times, the Telegraph and the Lawyer and consider how news sources online differ from those in print.

Tutorial Three. Setting up the "Home Page" to which you will be taken every time you log in. More on Favorites and how to manage them. A first browse of some free legal resources on the Internet including the Government DirectGov site, the "BAILII" site, the Court Service, the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting and The Employment Appeals Tribunal. For general interest, we look at several local news sites and theatre sites.

Tutorial Four. All about email, with practical exercises on how to use it effectively; how to set up your return address, how to reply, how to send copies, how to send attachments, how to use the address book, and so on. Browsing the resources on the UK and Scottish Parliamentary sites. For general interest, we visit various sites for children.

Tutorial Five. Carrying out a search for a legal topic using a number of different tools including the key Search Engines but also describing how to avoid the general search engines by knowing where to start a search. A bit about Software upgrades. For general interest, we visit some political and campaigning sites.

Comments from people who have done the Beginners Guide and/or the First and Second set of Advanced Internet Studies

PURCHASE DETAILS

There is a combined price for the Guide, the Tutorials and the Newsletter of £80 plus £14 VAT or 120 euros.

Intranet/Multiple Use Licence

There is also an Intranet/Multiple Use licence. This costs £120 plus £21 VAT or 180 euros. Licences last for one year and allow up to 5 people to take the course and obtain the CPD. Additional people can take the course and obtain the CPD for a £10 plus VAT fee.

If you send me an email saying what you would like, and including your postal address, I will be pleased to send you the printed part of the material and I will invoice you then - email to Delia Venables.

Information about Delia Venables