Online Legal Research Resources – Part 4

This is part 4 (of 4) of a informal article written for the LAWASIA conference in Kuala Lumpur, 2008 (amended for

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context). Its a quick snapshot of the different types of Online Legal Research resources that are available in the Malaysian and Singaporean legal landscape.

“…Legal Portals and Information Institutes

In the last decade, there has been a global movement to provide free online access to legal information. The key aim of this initiative is to improve access to justice through better access to ”public legal information” such as case law and legislation. As a result of this “Free Access to Law Movement” a number of legal projects known as Legal Information Institutes or “LII’s” across a variety of common law countries (e.g Asianlii, Austlii and Bailii) have gained traction, with their free databases of legislation and judgments. The information gathered by LII’s is valuable but tends to be less comprehensive or timely than commercial providers.

There are also a number of free local legal portals that compile legal resources such as purpose-written articles, forms and precedents, as well as law firms directories (e.g. Malaysia’s lawyerment.com, Singapore’s lawonline.com.sg and Singaporelaw.sg).

Government and Judicial Information

e-Government initiatives encourage departments and ministries to make legal information (including pertinent legislation) freely available on their respective websites. Judicial sources such as the Malaysian and Singapore Courts also have links to recent judgments, rules, practice directions and other related information. These judgments are not fully archived and in some cases are only available for a limited period of time. Free Information – best only when you have free time Without a doubt, there are many varied and diverse sources of information that are free to access. However, the information from these sources is raw and sometimes unfocused, without added value or annotation. Trawling through and compiling the information to digest and gain an effective understanding is only possible when time is freely available.

Information services of higher quality and utility is typified by value-added features, functionality and

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comprehensiveness. Furthermore, the information is more timely and readily accessible, albeit for a price or a subscription fee. Institutions Institutions require membership. As a corollary to the membership, most provide various benefits, typically including access to online resources. Such institutions include law libraries of university business or law faculties which often provide free access to the university electronic infrastructure which incorporates content from commercial content providers, compiled legal indexes, and access to secondary materials such as law journals and reviews. However, access is not always guaranteed due to the limitations of a concurrent user model, meaning only a specific number of users are allowed access at any one time. Besides educational institutions, there are also many legal-specific institutions that provide access to online legal resources such as websites with forums for discussion and news features such as email newsletters. Some prominent bodies are the Malaysian Bar Council, and the Bars of the various states of Malaysia, the Singapore Academy of Law, the Law Society of Singapore, Corporate Counsel Associations. There are also initiatives for small law firms (such as Openlaw.com.sg).

Commercial providers of legal content services provide access to more comprehensive information, such as different types of law reports series, legislation, secondary material and legal content from other countries. In most cases, the commercial service provider also includes additional tools and features which make the search and retrieval of information far more accurate and time efficient. The legal practitioner should take into account some specific points when choosing commercial providers. Some resources are costly and may be based on models that are not conducive to intensive researching. For example, some providers operate on a cost per search model and the subscription fee is periodically subject to review if the subscriber exceeds the numbers of searches allowed. This inevitably imposes a quota on the number of searches one can make and the pressure to keep within the available budget hinders full and frank researching. Another point of consideration is the search functionality and the user interface.

A commercial information resource must be direct and easy to use from the outset and the different types of content must be easily retrievable. If a subscriber requires a lot of guidance and direction to search effectively then the use of the online resource will result in a less efficient use of time and a waste of firm resources and client’s monies. Some commercial content providers in Singapore and Malaysia are Lexis Nexis, the CLJ Legal Network (CLJ Online) and Sweet and Maxwell (which provides access to Westlaw). There is also a commercial provider of Malaysian Laws (lawnet.com.my). Indian law providers such as Manupatra and Eastern Book Company are also good reference due to Malaysia and Singapore having modelled some of their legislation on other jurisdictions’ laws (e.g. the Indian Criminal Code was a primary model for both the Singapore Penal Code and the Malaysian Criminal Procedure Code).

Legal Workbench (legalworkbench.com.my, also known as LawNet in Singapore – www.lawnet.com.sg – not to be confused with the Malaysian LawNet Legislation provider) is a recent entry into the Malaysian and Brunei legal market. This service has been available in Singapore for over a decade, and is endorsed by the Malaysian Bar Council.

Legal Workbench (LWB) provides a comprehensive “Asian-centric” approach to legal research, as its stable of content is centred around the two preferred and official reports series in Singapore and Malaysia, the Malayan Law Journal and the Singapore Law Reports. In addition, LWB also has the Heritage Law Reports (HLR, 1808-1980). The Heritage Law Reports are a unique collection of early law reports of Malaya and Singapore compiled specially for Legal Workbench. They consist of Kyshe’s Reports (covering cases decided between 1808 and 1939), the Straits Law Journal (1839-1891), the Straits Settlements Law Reports (1867-1942), Malayan Cases (1904-1980), the Federated Malay States Law Reports (1912-1941), the Johore Law Reports (1916-1940), Malayan Union Law Reports (1946-1947), Singapore Law Reports (1948-1956) and the Malayan Law Reports (1949-1954). In addition to the leading reports series of Malaysia and Singapore, LWB provides full, unlimited access to the most authoritative English case reports (i.e. those cited preferentially by the English courts): the Weekly Law Reports and the Law Reports (1865 – current), published by the Incorporated Council for Law Reporting. Furthermore, the Indian Supreme Court Cases (1969-current) is also available.

Conclusion

A law firm must carefully weigh its needs and budget before assessing which online legal resources best suits its requirements. When considering commercial information service providers, the resource must be affordable, yet provide a useful and complete suite of content. A diligent lawyer may make a good case, but good research tools make a great point.”

Online Legal Research Resources – Part 3

This is part 3 (of 4) of a informal article written for the LAWASIA conference in Kuala Lumpur, 2008 (amended for context). Its a quick snapshot of the different types of Online Legal Research resources that are available in the Malaysian and Singaporean legal landscape.

Blogs – of which law-related ones are conveniently referred to as “Blawgs”– are easily-created web pages that allow people to share their thoughts or content quickly. The benefit to blogs is that they give an alternative view to traditional media on the hot areas in law and the news. Over the last five years, blogs have proliferated and have exerted a growing influence on societal thought and opinion. It is important to note that the political climate and level of censure play a large role in the proliferation (or lack thereof) of blogs and openly expressed thought.

Other sources of legal information (specifically legal news) are typically available through local news websites in Malaysia (e.g. The Star Online and Malaysiakini), Singapore (e.g. The Straits Times, The Business Times, Today) and the Asia Pacific region (Channel News Asia). However, it is difficult to sift through the large pool of current news and events to extract the legal news.

The entry of the new Singapore-specific legal news and events website singaporelawwatch.sg (SLW) is an exciting development. SLW is an online legal news service which solves the issue of needing to surf and filter through information for Singapore-specific legal content. SLW aggregates legal news from many Singapore sources (TODAY, The Straits Times, The Business Times and Lianhe Zaobao) and displays it in an easy-to-digest format. It gives an overview of the most recent developments in Singapore law and practice: users can find not only the latest law-related Headline News, they can also access Supreme Court Judgments, updates to legislation, notices, directions, commentaries from Singapore law firms, Continuing Legal Education events and publications, and even notes written by the Justice Law Clerks of the Supreme Court on points of law raised in recent judgments. Best of all, the website and the service are completely free and can be subscribed to by email and RSS (Really Simple Syndication, a method of pushing out electronic content with little effort)…

Article to be continued…

Online Legal Research Resources – Part 1

This is part 1 (of 4) of a informal article written for the LAWASIA conference in Kuala Lumpur, 2008 (amended for context). Its a quick snapshot of the different types of Online Legal Research resources that are available in the Malaysian and Singaporean legal landscape. It is essential for law firms to have access to up-to-date and relevant information resources.

Traditionally hardcopy texts were the only resource of choice for the legal practitioner or paralegal. However, the processes required in the production and dissemination of a publication from author to printer and finally to lawyer’s desk is lengthy and time-consuming. The effort to keep hardcopy texts up to date, to note-up and file becomes largely redundant when compared to the advantages of internet and database technology.

Why spend days waiting for the latest updates or even hours in libraries searching for and retrieving books when information can be either updated or retrieved almost instantaneously with the input of a search term or case name?

However, many small and medium law firms typically do not have the time to survey the latest available or affordable online resources, let alone implement them. The use of effective online resources can translate into more efficient time and knowledge management and better performance in meeting the demands of day-to day-practice. It is a matter of identifying and prioritising the use of such online resources.

The Information Super Highway…are we there yet?

“Online Resources” can be defined as electronically-transmitted information. This definition is broad and for the purposes of this article encapsulates legal information of all types from traditional primary resources such as case law and legislation to awareness, such as legal news, continuing legal education and knowledge sharing such as online forums and blogs. The electronic and almost instantaneous nature of online resources is its defining aspect, and the ability to connect and transfer information is typically illustrated by the literal seconds it takes to send an email across town, between countries or around the world. The Internet was first characterised by modem and dial-up connections almost two decades ago, but the dot.com surge in the nineties and the subsequent leaps in technology (cable and broadband) and usage over the last five years has made the use of the Internet “de rigueur” in most first world countries and modern legal practices globally. As always, it is a matter of time before penetration becomes complete, but is South East Asia there, yet? The recognition of the importance of a nation being “wired” to the Internet is underscored by initiatives currently underway by the Governments of Malaysia and Singapore. For example “MyICMS 886”, Malaysia’s IT plan targets to have a broadband and communications infrastructure in key areas in place by 2010. Similarly, Singapore’s Next Generation National Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN) initiative (awarded recently) will implement a passive internet infrastructure throughout Singapore by 2012. Currently, there is already a functional technical

infrastructure in key regions of Malaysia such as the Klang Valley and the Iskandar Development Region. In Singapore, in addition to an extensive telecommunications infrastructure, free wireless access is available throughout Singapore’s many public areas with high human traffic such as the Central Business District, downtown shopping belts (like Orchard Road), and HDB Town Centres. The Internet is here, so how does a legal practice take advantage? There is a macrocosm of legal information on the World Wide Web, that is freely available to any one with an internet connection. However, the primary problem is navigating through the information….”

Article to be continued.