What’s new on Westlaw UK?

With the launch of the new Westlaw Edge UK on 22 July 2020, we released some brilliant new features.

Here are just a few of the enhancements made to Westlaw UK: 

• Search enhancements (e.g. accessing Books and Cases content quicker than ever before)
• Full UI refresh
• Four new Court pages
• New functionality with Cite & Print and Case Analysis to Judgment Quick View
• Significant EU Legislation enhancements
• Alert enhancements

Who can forget Books? We certainly haven’t.

This year we’ve moved 45 Book titles online, helping to support our users in accessing Books remotely. Something that has become increasingly important throughout 2020.

Keep reading to learn more about all the enhancements for this year.

Alert enhancements

With the addition of the quick alert bell icon to Law Report and Journal Publication browse pages, you can now be updated on new content to these pages at the click of a button.

Legislation performance improvements

We have made some significant improvements to performance on legislation document display, which means that even the largest of legislation documents (e.g. Companies Act 2006 or the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) will now load much faster than before.

To find out more about any of the above enhancements, please contact the Product Development Team.

New titles in Online Books - November

From November you can subscribe to 12 new titles in Westlaw Online Books. Contact your account manager for further information.

Care Act Manual

This edition provides a comprehensive guide to the Care and Support Act 2014 which came in force from 1 April 2015. Written in a clear and practical style, the new edition gives easy and up-to-date access to the law governing the provision of care and support services to older and disabled people, and that safeguarding vulnerable adults from abuse and neglect.

Schemes of Arrangement in Corporate Restructuring

This edition provides in-depth guidance on the legal principles, formal procedures and practical issues which underpin the use of schemes of arrangements in complex financial restructurings. The expert author team at White & Case, under Christian Pilkington, cover the subject in full, taking in its development and the fundamental principles of its use as a restructuring tool, alongside key subjects such as jurisdiction, class composition issues and foreign recognition. Practical in its focus, the book provides not only diagrams and flowcharts which summarise complex processes but also case studies to illustrate different types of schemes of arrangement and explain some of the most high-profile international restructurings of recent years.

A Practitioner’s Guide to the Law and Regulation of Financial Crime

This edition provides comprehensive coverage of the specifics of the UK regime, European-level issues and global developments, and brings together everything within the financial crime agenda to present a coherent picture. It covers developments in online crime and security, resilience to cyber-attacks and the growing importance of social media. It also includes coverage of insider dealing and market abuse issues and covers bribery and corruption and what to do if a breach is discovered, as well as practical steps to deal with prevention and investigation of fraud in the workplace. It explains the UK and international approaches to anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing, and the roles of the FCA and PRA and their interaction with the National Crime Agency, Serious Fraud Office and other authorities. New to this edition: Money laundering coverage updated for the 4th Money Laundering Directive and the coming 5th Money Laundering Directive. New coverage of the Criminal Finances Act 2017. Insider dealing and market abuse coverage completely revised in the light of the EU Market Abuse Regulation, the updated UK criminal market manipulation regime and recent enforcement cases. Bribery and corruption chapter fully revised in light of the implementation of Bribery Act and use of deferred prosecution agreements together with US FCPA coverage. Updated coverage on international cooperation and UK/US cross-border extradition.

Medical Negligence

This edition encompasses the common law areas of the professional liability of doctors and other health care professionals, focussing primarily on the tort of negligence, but also considering contractual liability, duty of confidentiality, consent to treatment, product liability, damages and procedure.

Asbestos: Law and Litigation

Asbestos law is a specialist area of law which lacks a unified and detailed analysis of theory, practice and substantive law. The function of the book will be to provide practical guidance and substantive analysis on discrete topics (i.e. breach of duty, causation, limitation, etc.) within a broader unitary framework. There is currently no authoritative text of this kind available on the market. The current offerings are short or generic practitioner guides which focus on providing headline information for practitioners seeking an introduction to this complex area. There is therefore a gap in the market that this book seeks to fill.

Sale of Ships

This edition guides solicitors and barristers through the use of the Norwegian Saleform in the context of English contract law, covering legislation such as UCTA 1977 and the Sale of Goods Act. The 1993 Nippon sale form is also analysed in depth and in comparison with other sale forms.

Understanding the FIDIC Red and Yellow Books

This edition represents the international business interests of members in the construction/engineering sector. FIDIC is responsible for various publications in areas such as international Contracts and agreements. In particular, it produces a suite of contracts covering various areas such as: EPC/Turnkey Projects (The Silver Book) – whose commentary is covered by Huse (S&M title); Electrical & Mechanical Works (The Yellow Book); Design-Build and Turnkey (The Orange Book); Conditions of Contract for Construction for Building and Engineering Works Designed by the Employer" (The Red Book)

Dealing with Delay and Disruption on Construction Projects

Delay and disruption are topics around which many disputes arise during construction projects. While it is very difficult to determine and pin down responsibility for delay on construction projects, it nevertheless has an enormous effect in the industry (over USD $100 billion of claims arising worldwide each year). Practice: Due to the technical difficulty of the subject and the variety of people involved in such disputes – from contractors to in-house counsel, to general legal counsel and dispute resolution experts – this is an area often poorly understood by many of those involved. Legal involvement in this area can stretch from drafting of contracts and procurement of projects through being involved in dispute resolution boards and, ultimately, litigation.

Financial Provision on Divorce and Dissolution of Civil Partnerships

This edition remains the essential, fingertip guide to all major financial provisions on divorce, comprising extracts from authorities on the subject with examples of how it operates in practice. Written for lawyers, by lawyers Financial Provision on Divorce is a convenient and practical text, easy to use and includes reference to pertinent quotes from the key authorities, linked to the relevant case law. This text looks at all the new legislation in this area and covers the increasingly important topic of pension sharing. With everything you need for advising clients in one place, this title is extremely helpful and saves valuable time spent on detailed research.

Residential Tenancies: Private and Social Renting in Scotland

This is the go-to resource for landlord and tenant law as it applies to housing in Scotland. Its accessibility and all-inclusive content make it a useful addition for legal practitioners, students and housing welfare advisors.

This 4th edition has been fully updated to reflect major legal changes in the private rented sector and includes coverage of the recently introduced private residential tenancy, the default lease in the private rented sector. A detailed exposition on the difference between leases and licences on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border is also covered.

Internet Law and Regulation

The new, fifth edition of Internet Law & Regulation is the long-awaited new edition of the leading title in its field, written by cyberlaw expert Graham Smith and a team of contributors from leading law firm Bird & Bird. The title presents an analysis of key areas of internet law & regulation from a UK perspective. It is fully updated including recent developments relating to GDPR, the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, eIDAS, online intermediary liability, including site blocking injunctions and updated UK and EU case law across all chapters

Tax Avoidance

Tax Avoidance provides a detailed discussion of UK tax avoidance principles and complex anti-avoidance legislation. It is an ideal reference for solicitors, barristers and accountants looking to identify relevant case law and legislation which clearly explains how the courts have responded to key tax avoidance cases. This new edition includes: A new chapter on the highly controversial Diverted Profits Tax; updates on the GAAR, follower notices and Accelerated Payment Notices in action, including recent cases and decisions; Case law updates on avoidance principles; A new chapter on Enablers Penalties.

Legislation Compare Tool – All Future Amendments

The Legislation Compare Tool, which enables you to easily compare multiple provisions of UK legislation at the same time, including historical, current and prospective versions, now includes an ‘All Future Amendments’ option.  You can quickly see marked up changes between how the law stands today and how it may look in the future, with all draft text from Bills or draft SIs and prospective versions included in the comparison.

There are two enhancements to Westlaw UK this month. One enhancement improves the ability to search for Books content from the homepage, enabling you to find the exact content you’re looking for in less time than before. The second enhancement highlights the strength and value of Westlaw UK’s Case Analysis documents.

Homepage search enhancements – Find Books

Quickly find and access Books content. Search for a Book title from the Westlaw UK homepage and be taken straight into the Table of Contents of a Book (for example, search for ‘The White Book’ and with one click you can be taken straight to the Book).

Case Analysis to Judgment quick view

From 20 May, you’ll be able to click on a judgment referenced paragraph(s) within a Case Analysis document and see the Judgment as a pop-up on screen. See the exact, relevant text as seen in the judgment itself.

Launched: April
Coming soon there will be 17 new book titles available in Westlaw Online Books. Please note, these titles require an additional subscription – speak to your account manager to access these titles online.

Burgess law of loans and borrowing
The Law of Loans and Borrowing considers every aspect of the subject from domestic mortgages and consumer credit to raising money on the quoted Eurobond market, including a comprehensive account of the institutional framework within which borrowing takes place.

Aircraft Liens & Detention Rights
Aircraft Liens and Detention Rights covers the rights of third parties to seize and detain aircraft until unpaid debts are met or if aviation law has been infringed. This useful looseleaf Shows how aircraft owners, airlines and financiers are affected by liens and detention rights. It offers an analysis of liens (domestic and foreign) of sellers, repairers, maintenance providers, salvors and contractors.

Encyclopaedia of UK and European Patent Law
Offering detailed commentary on practice and procedure in the litigation of both domestic and European patents in the UK, Encyclopedia of United Kingdom and European Patent Law: Provides complete coverage of the key issues of substantive patent law including the construction of the patent specification and infringement, validity and amendment. It examines the patentability of subject matter such as methods of medical treatment, computer software and business methods.

European Cross-Border Insolvency
European Cross-Border Insolvency provides a practical guide to corporate cross-border insolvency proceedings in each EU Member State – and the UK – with country-specific chapters, an English-law-based overview of and commentary on the regulatory regime, and a compendium of caselaw on the EU Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings from the ECJ and across the EU. First written by a highly-respected team at Allen & Overy LLP, and now updated by a new international team of experts, this title provides all you need to advise with confidence. Guides you around the framework within which the different insolvency regimes of the EU operate. Covers in detail the EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings, analysing all relevant case law.

Class Actions in England and Wales
Class Actions in England and Wales provides essential reference for practitioners looking to bring or defend class action litigation in the courts of England and Wales. This is an increasingly important area of law and procedure, with growing numbers of high-value and high-profile claims being brought by large groups of claimants.

Mental Health Law
Mental Health Law not only gives a plain but critical account of all the law for health and social care professionals working or training to work in the field, as well as for legal practitioners and students, but also enlivens it with discussion of the principles and policies involved, and with commentary to stimulate debate.

Cohabitation and Trusts of Land
Taking into account important new case law decisions, Cohabitation and Trusts of Land takes a practical and comprehensive approach in setting out the complex issues encountered in cohabitation disputes. Containing procedural guidance, precedents, sample documents, checklists and clear explanations of the law, this work will enable you to quickly understand the options available.

Brown & Marriot’s ADR Principles and Practice
Brown and Marriott’s ADR Principles and Practice is an essential Alternative Dispute Resolution title. The 4th edition of Brown and Marriott’s ADR Principles and Practice was revised and updated by a new author team comprising William Wood QC, Brick Court Chambers; Ben Waters, Senior Lecturer in Law at Canterbury Christ Church University; and Shirley Shipman, Principal Lecturer in Law at Oxford Brookes University School of Law.  

Bankruptcy SULI
This new text publishing in the SULI series takes the place of the classic work of McBryde on Bankruptcy. The last few years have seen a raft of new and amending legislation in relation to Bankruptcy, for example The Home Owner & Debtor Protection, changes to Trust Deeds and the introduction of diligence of Land Attachment. This is the core text for practitioners and academics working in this area.

Hewetson & Mitchell: Banking Litigation
This fourth edition guides you through the wide range of issues relevant to banking litigation. The authors provide all the information that you need to confidently deal with any dispute. Banking Litigation addresses the major areas of potential conflict, from disputes with domestic customers to those arising from global custodianship and international banking as well as assisting readers with the formulation of clear objectives and strategies in banking litigation situations.

Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
The standard reference work for lawyers, planners and all others working in this area on the law concerning the protection of listed buildings and other heritage assets in the UK. Explains how the built heritage is protected, how planning controls apply, powers to bring about repairs, acquisition of historic buildings by public authorities, and the consequences of carrying out works without consent.

Electronic Signatures and Identities: Law and Regulation
This new, third edition of Lorna Brazell's Electronic Signatures and Identities Law and Regulation incorporates key changes and developments in the civil law relating to digital identities, not only in the UK but also in major international jurisdictions.

Estoppel by Conduct and Election
Estoppel by Conduct and Election examines estoppel in its commercial context looking at the general principles as well as the particular relationships in which estoppels can arise. It benefits greatly from an in-depth examination of underlying case law actively demonstrating how principles are dealt with in the court.

Agricultural Tenancies
Since publication this title has won the prestigious international award, the Prix d'Honneur of the Comite European de Droit Rural, having been chosen by an international jury from books on agricultural law published in the European Union in 2015–2017. The Agricultural Holdings Act 2003 resulted in completely new forms of tenancy and amended laws relating to holdings, resulting in a complete overhaul of this major work, Agricultural Tenancies. There is now increased emphasis on the historical background to tenancies, providing a complete overview of the development of the law and an understanding of its current standing.

Mental Health Act Manual
Mental Health Act Manual is an essential guide to the Mental Health Act 1983. A crucial insight tool for any professional working in mental health law, this specialist work reproduces the Act and its associated Rules and Regulations with annotations by Richard Jones.

Civil Fraud: Law, Practice and Procedure
Civil Fraud: Law, Practice and Procedure is designed to be the primary port of call for all practitioners conducting a civil fraud case. It deals with the subject in a comprehensive manner, combining in-depth legal analysis with a practical approach. The authors focus throughout on the real-life situations which litigants in this area regularly encounter and offer effective guidance on the complex practical and procedural issues which can arise.

Goode on Principles of Corporate Insolvency
The classic text on corporate insolvency law, providing a clear and comprehensive treatment of the fundamental principles underpinning insolvency law, and long relied upon by practitioners and the courts. In this work particular attention is paid to what assets are available for distribution on insolvency, transactions vulnerable to being set aside, and the liability of directors. The core features of liquidation, administration (and administrative receivership), schemes of arrangement and company voluntary arrangements, are identified and explained with reference to practice and underlying policy. This new edition has been thoroughly updated throughout. 

View titles more easily using a handy new link on the navigation bar on Westlaw UK.

Launched: December
We end the year with many time saving enhancements to Westlaw UK and Online Books, along with some important service updates. Also, as an early Christmas present, EU content returns to Westlaw UK – back by popular demand.  

EU content is back
Following customer feedback, you can now search and view EU content within Westlaw UK. 

Legislation document display
Quickly see legislation content that you’ve previously viewed, annotated or added to a folder, with helpful new icons in the Arrangement view.

Journals full text/abstract filter
Save time with the addition of a full text/abstract filter; an enhancement to the Commentary References section for Journals.

Let us know your thoughts
If you would like to provide feedback on these enhancements, please email the Product Development team.

New to Westlaw UK?
If you do not yet subscribe to Westlaw UK and would like to access the resources, request your free 30 day trial today.

To go live 20 December

Library page
Browse and search book titles on an enhanced library page, as requested by users. This new default setting shows in-plan content alphabetically first, on the library landing page, both in list and grid view.

Reading mode
You can now deliver, highlight and annotate documents in our popular reading mode, to save you even more time.

Related content
New for document display: cases and legislation cited in the document are now listed, so you can continue your research and access relevant content faster.

Feedback
If you would like to provide feedback on these service updates, please email the Product Development team.

Redirects
All existing links to the old Westlaw UK MAF platform will now re-direct to the equivalent page in the new Westlaw UK.

DocDel service closure
Due to a substantial fall in usage, the Document Delivery service currently available on Westlaw UK and Lawtel will cease to operate on 2 March 2020.

All journal article requests made up to and including 2 March 2020 will be processed as usual, but any requests sent after this date will not be fulfilled.

Westlaw UK citation change
From January 2020, as a result of a new policy from Informa, Westlaw UK will no longer provide citations for new cases reported in Informa law reports nor abstracting Informa Journals. This includes The Lloyd’s Law Report series. Westlaw UK will continue to carry citations for Lloyd’s and other Informa reports up to 2019. Westlaw UK’s full text coverage will not be changing and the vast majority of cases with a Lloyd’s citation are reported by Westlaw UK and other series we cover.

When searching for new cases on Westlaw UK with a Lloyd’s citation we recommend you use the neutral citation or an official Law Report or other authoritative citation. You can of course also search by party name.

We do apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We have attempted to work with Informa to resolve this unsatisfactory situation and remain open to reinstating the citations should their position change.

Feedback
If you would like to provide feedback on these service updates, please email the Product Development team.

Launched: November
Following customer feedback, we have improved some existing features and developed new ones. This month we have made four enhancements to Westlaw online books to assist you in your research.

Autosuggest
Easily search for a Book in the search bar in the Books compartment. This is similar functionality to Westlaw UK and Practical Law. Quickly search for a Book by title, alternative title and author.

Table of Contents Expand/Collapse
Easily view all nodes of a book with just one click on the publication landing page.

Table of Contents icons
This new feature lets you know how you have previously interacted with content in the book – whether you have viewed, annotated or added the content to a folder.

Grid view
Easily switch between grid and list view on the library page.

Feedback
If you would like to provide feedback on these enhancements, please email the Product Development team.

Launched: November

This month we have 8 new book titles available in Westlaw Online Books.

The Law and Practice of International Finance Series
From leading authority, Phillip Wood QC. This essential collection provides a clear, coherent explanation of international finance in 321 legal jurisdictions.

Understand how concepts and trends interplay across the spectrum of financial instruments, with practical guidance on how to structure deals and agreements internationally. Gain unparalleled insights from a partner-level practitioner, academic, and teacher of the law with decades of experience.

Construction Professional Indemnity Insurance
This is the definitive practitioner reference for all those involved in construction projects, from contractors to employers, architects to insurance brokers. Covering the effects of the Insurance Act 2015 and complementing Construction All Risks Insurance, these are the two titles all construction insurance professionals need.

Winner of the 2019 British Insurance Law Association (BILA) annual book prize.

Carver on Charterparties
In conjunction with Carver on Bills of Lading, covers the ground of the classic 1982 treatise Carver’s Carriage by Sea. Carver on Charterparties is a major work of thematic synthesis and analysis and a leading narrative authority in a fundamental area of shipping law. Its discursive and encyclopedic approach offers an alternative to that provided in Scrutton on Charterparties and Bills of Lading.

Inheritance Act Claims
This title covers statutory provision in circumstances of inadequate provision in a will or under the laws of intestacy and explains the law, practice and procedure. This text is designed to help the practitioner both to identify and assemble the essential facts of a potential claim under the Inheritance Act at the start of the litigation, and to arrive at an informed view of the prospects of success in making or resisting an application.

Cousins: Law of Mortgages
This is a comprehensive explanation of the law and practice concerning mortgages and related court proceedings. Every type of mortgage agreement is covered whilst detailing the rights and duties of the parties involved, examining areas of dispute between mortgagors and mortgagees and setting out available remedies. It also describes the procedures for amending and transferring mortgages.

Muir Watt & Moss: Agricultural Holdings
This title offers a comprehensive and authoritative discussion of legal principles relating to agricultural tenancies with examples as to how the principles apply in practice, using relevant case law and secondary materials. The commentary in the text is supported by appendices including the relevant statutes, statutory instruments and forms. Importantly, the appendices also contain many procedural tables, which take the reader through the steps required in a variety of statutory procedures and applications.

Insolvency Litigation: A Practical Guide
Fully updated to reflect the widespread changes of the Insolvency Rules 2016, and the new Practice Direction on Insolvency Proceedings, this title offers specific practical guidance to the most important court applications on this specialist area of insolvency practice.

Illegality and Public Policy
This text sets out fully and clearly the law relating to illegality, public policy and restraint of trade in the context of contracts. Offering practical examples of situations in which illegality issues may arise and outlining possible solutions, the book also explores possible reforms of the law in the UK and Commonwealth jurisdictions aimed at overcoming its perceived uncertainly and rigidity.

Feedback

If you would like to provide feedback on these new titles, please email the Product Development team.

Launched: October

We’ve been working hard to add extra functionality to the legislation compare tool built earlier this year. We’ve also added three further enhancements to Westlaw UK.

Multi-Provision Legislation Compare tool*

Earlier in the year we provided you with the ability to compare the changes which have taken place between any 2 versions of a legislative provision across UK, English, Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish jurisdictions.

We’ve now extended the tool so that you can compare multiple provisions at the same time, including historical, current and prospective versions. Exclusive to Westlaw UK, amendments made by Bills in progress are also included with this feature.

Eliminate the need to manually compare legislation, by instantly locating every change to multiple provisions within Westlaw UK.

Once you have generated a comparison, you can share the resulting document with clear markings of changes via email, print or downloading to your device. Other notable features include:

• Full screen view. Provides an easier way of seeing any changes on screen.
• Side-by-side view. Clearly see the changes between both versions of a legislative provision, side-by side.
• Footnotes. Enabling footnotes display allows you see exactly what has brought in any changes.

*Please note: a subscription to the Westlaw UK Statutory Annotations add-on is required to use this tool.

Point in Time Legislation

Want to look back at what a whole Act looked like at a specific point in time?

With our Point in Time legislation functionality, you can now do just that. Quickly and easily see on screen what a piece of legislation looked like historically, or view all prospective versions at the same time. This new feature also allows you to see how legislation would look if impacted by Bills currently being considered.

Once you have generated your point in time view of any legislation content, you can share the resulting document via email, print or downloading to your device.

Reading Mode

Wasting time constantly having to click through legislation content?

With the introduction of our reading mode functionality, you can continuously scroll through legislation content with ease. The table of contents on the left-hand side will follow you, and lets you know exactly where you are in the piece of legislation.

Reading legislation content online has never been easier.

Feedback

If you have any feedback on the above or any other proposed enhancements, please contact our Westlaw UK Development team.

New to Westlaw UK?

If you do not yet subscribe to Westlaw UK and would like to access the resources, request your free 30 day trial today.

Launched: September and October

We continually release several functionality and feature enhancements to ensure you have the optimal experience in Westlaw UK. Alongside three fantastic legislation enhancements [see above tab], we also released the following in September and October:

New Westlaw UK URL

On 16 October 2019, we made changes to the way you access Westlaw UK by creating a new URL that takes you directly into the Westlaw UK compartment. The new URL is uk.westlaw.com.

All existing links you have currently set up will still work – there is no need to replace any links with the new URL.

If you access Westlaw UK via a firewall, this will need to be updated with the new URL so you can still access the service. Our technical guide will help explain information regarding firewall configuration.

Document enhancements

Following customer feedback, within the Primary References and Appellate History sections of our Cases content, we’ve now added the full list of citations, with links, making it easier for you to quickly jump to relevant cases.

We’ve enhanced the “Copy with Reference” functionality on Case Analysis documents, making it easier for you to copy snippets from a case summary or abstract and paste it into emails or documents to share with colleagues.

There are now two options available:

• Copy with reference (Standard). This will copy the text and provide a time and date stamp, as well as a link back to the Case.
• New: Copy with reference (Enhanced). Along with the above, it will also copy key metadata: Court, Judgment date, Where Reported, as well as Subjects and Keywords information.

Search enhancements

We’ve added a ‘Document Type’ option on the Current Awareness Advanced Search form, enabling you to select which content you would like to search against.

We’ve enabled the ability for you to create an alert based on search criteria that doesn’t currently bring back results. So, even though Westlaw UK may not currently bring back results for your search, you can still create an alert, so you can be notified when Westlaw UK does subsequently add any content.

Bug fixes

We’ve fixed several alert-related bugs that include, for example, ensuring you can search within the alerts centre and preview results correctly when creating an alert.

Let us know your thoughts

If you have any feedback on the enhancements, please get in touch.

New to Westlaw UK?

If you do not yet subscribe to Westlaw UK and would like to access the resources, request your free 30 day trial today.

Launched: July and August

We continually release several functionality and feature enhancements to ensure you have the optimal experience in Westlaw UK. For July and August this includes:

Search enhancements

We’ve added Terms & Connectors information to Edit search boxes, enabling you to quickly see this when editing your search.

A ‘Clear All’ button will now appear throughout our Cases, Legislation and Journals browse experience. Once you’ve selected any filters (for example, narrowing Appeal Cases to only show cases from 2017), the button will appear. It allows you to clear all filters that have been applied to that page.

When viewing search results, we have added a toggle button that enables you to easily select multiple filters.

Document enhancements

After clicking into a legislation search result, you will now be able to see more useful information in the next and previous document control. For example, the act and provision title will be displayed.

When viewing the Primary References section of a Cases document, we have added expand/collapse chevrons next to each case reference. This enables you to quickly view more information for a specific case.

Alert enhancements

We’ve made the following enhancements to Alerts on Westlaw UK:

• The ‘Go to Alert Centre’ button will now open the alert you have created within the Alerts Centre.
• The default sort order in the Alerts Centre has been changed to display most recent first. So, the most recent alert you’ve created will appear at the top. Also, any changes you make to the sort order will be remembered for the next time you navigate back into the Alerts Centre.
• The same toggle button for multiple filters mentioned in Search enhancements above has also been added into the Alerts Centre.

Let us know your thoughts

If you have any feedback on the enhancements, please get in touch.

New to Westlaw UK?

If you do not yet subscribe to Westlaw UK and would like to access the resources, request your free 30 day trial today.

Launched: July

This Summer, joint subscribers to Lawtel and Westlaw UK can for the first time access key Lawtel Cases and Personal Injury content through the new Westlaw UK.

Joint subscribers can already access PDFs of Lawtel Next Day Transcripts through Westlaw UK. Now they can also access Pending Actions and Permission to Appeal content, as well as Personal Injury Quantum Reports.

Pending Actions and Permissions to Appeal

From the Cases tab in Westlaw UK, joint subscribers are able to search across Pending Actions and Permissions to Appeal content by using new, separate search templates tailored to the content type.

Permissions to Appeal and Practice Directions content is searchable via the main Cases search template.

Pending Actions and Permissions to Appeal content benefit from the same features and functionality that joint subscribers currently experience with cases content on Westlaw UK (for example, the ability to setup alerts, add to folders, annotate or share with colleagues). For Pending Actions documents, the new ‘History’ timeline allows a user to quickly see the progression of a Pending Action, as well as view the Claim Form or Particulars of Claim (where available).

Enhanced Cause Lists

The Daily Cause Lists are available on Westlaw UK through the Court pages and also searchable from the homepage.

Key enhancements include the addition of specific Court headings in the left hand panel, allowing for easier navigation, and links to Pending Action documents where available. Joint subscribers are also able to benefit from the ability to add this content to folders, annotate or share with colleagues.

Personal Injury

The Personal Injury Topic page on Westlaw UK is enhanced to include additional Lawtel Personal Injury content, available to joint subscribers. Users can also access it via the “More” tab in the top right, then “Personal Injury”.

The enhanced Personal Injury Topic page provides:

• Quick access to Lawtel Quantum Reports
• Browse by Kemp Classification
• Advanced search template for Personal Injury Quantum Reports

Key information

Lawtel remains a separate service to Westlaw UK. These enhancements are designed to enable joint subscribers to seamlessly access this key content in one place to help complete research tasks quicker.

Access to this additional content is only available to users with a corresponding Lawtel subscription. Non-Lawtel subscribers will see this content as Out of Plan in search results and so will not be able to view the documents.

Please contact your Account Manager for any more information or to request a free trial of Lawtel.

Launched: June

We continually release several functionality and feature enhancements to ensure you have the optimal experience in Westlaw UK. This month’s release includes:

Search enhancements

We’ve updated the Cases search template to include the following options:

• Ability to search only Case Analysis or Law Report and Judgments documents.
• Ability to search for Significant or Guidance Cases.

We’ve updated the Journals search template to include the option to search only Abstract or Full Text Documents.

Key Legal Concepts library

We’ve added a link to the Key Legal Concepts library under the Legislation sub-navigation. The library includes over 360 legal concepts that appear routinely in legislation (for example “Bank Holiday”, “Sunset clauses”, “Territorial Sea”, “Wilfully” etc.).

Homepage

In the Featured section on the Homepage we’ve added quick links to Index of Legal Terms, EU and Scots Law.

We’ve added links in the Region dropdown to Westlaw International and Westlaw US.

User Guides

To help you get the best out of Westlaw UK, we’ve added more content to our User Guides.

Let us know your thoughts

If you have any feedback on the enhancements, please get in touch.

New to Westlaw UK?

If you do not yet subscribe to Westlaw UK and would like to access the resources, request your free 30 day trial today.

Equip yourself with the tools you need to examine the constantly developing landscape of UK legislation. At a glance, you can now track in detail the changes which have been, will be and may be made across England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and UK legislation.

Constant legislative change

At a time of unparalleled legislative change and uncertainty, Westlaw UK enables you to access to the full text of all amending instruments as they pass through Parliament and consolidates those amendments into existing legislation. Displaying all historical changes since 1991, Westlaw UK grew to allow users to track and view prospective changes to Acts and Statutory Instruments, showing how a provision will look once an amending provision comes into force. Users of Westlaw UK are well accustomed to accessing historical and prospective versions of legislation. On the new Westlaw UK we made it even easier to “time travel” using the legislation timeline feature on every provision.

Keeping abreast of changes to legislation

Being able to see how forthcoming changes will impact legislation and prepare and advise accordingly is invaluable. Equally and perhaps more so is the ability to see what changes proposed legislation from Bills and draft statutory instruments may make. Westlaw UK users can easily see Bill amended text from impacted provisions and see the impact of Brexit draft statutory instruments.

Expert Analysis

Complementing Westlaw UK’s unparalleled legislative offering, Annotated Statutes can be added to your Westlaw UK subscription and offers invaluable expert guidance as changes in the law are proposed and implemented. New Acts are fully annotated by the team within 14 days of receiving Royal Assent. They include important information such as: What will be the impact of new legislation? How might the legislation be interpreted by the courts? How has the legislation been affected in light of subsequent legislation and case law? The add on also includes over 360 notes on key legal concepts.

Introducing the Legislation Compare tool.

From the 12 April the Annotated Statutes and Key Legal Concepts add on will include the Legislation Compare tool.

The new legislation compare tool allows users to compare the changes which have taken place between any 2 versions of legislation across UK, English, Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish jurisdictions. Eliminate the need to manually compare legislation, by instantly locating every change to a provision. Compare any two provisions including historical, current and prospective versions, including bill amended text.

Once you have generated a comparison you can share the resulting document with clear markings of changes via email, print or downloading to your device.

How to use the Legislation Compare functionality

Step 1: When viewing legislation with multiple versions, select the ‘Compare version’ button.

Step 2: Select the versions you would like to compare. These can include draft, law in force or superseded legislation.

Step 3: Explore all differences which have been outlined between the two versions.

For more detail on how to use this new functionality, please visit the Westlaw UK Help pages.

What’s Next

We have been working closely with our users on the Legislation Compare tool and know how important it is to have it available over the next few crucial months. However we are already working on enhancements to the tool which will be available later this year, subject to successful testing. This includes the ability to compare whole Acts and statutory instruments at specific points in time as well as generating a comparison from amending Bills and Draft Sis.

Feedback

If you have any feedback on this or any other proposed enhancement, please contact out Westlaw UK Development team.

Westlaw UK is pleased to confirm the successful launch of Court pages. These pages allow users to browse cases content in a completely new way, across the 3 biggest courts in the United Kingdom:

• Supreme Court
• Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)

How to access

To access the Court pages, hover your mouse over Cases in the navigation bar in the header and select Courts.

Overview

Browse and access the latest court information from the new court homepage.

1. Access dedicated court pages for the latest decided cases, outstanding appeals, latest developments, latest cases organised by judge and tailored related content for each court.
2. Lawtel subscribers can benefit from direct access to the fortnightly Court Round-ups, which provide exclusive information on the latest developments from the Royal Courts of Justice and the Rolls Building.
3. Access related resources specific to the courts, such as key Legislation, Topic overviews, Practical Law know-how and Books.
4. Keep up to date with the latest developments across all the courts.
5. Keep up to date with the latest Brexit-related cases.
6. Quickly see the most recent tweets provided by our court reporting team.

If you have any questions about the Westlaw UK Court pages, please contact the Product Development team.

Westlaw UK is pleased to announce two new case labels that enable users to see which cases the Westlaw UK Editorial team regard as Significant or Guidance.

Significant cases

A case will be regarded as a Significant case if it sets out new legal principles, extends the law, applies established principles to a novel situation, overturns established legal authority, interprets or defines statutory and non-statutory words and phrases, or is stated by the judge to be of general public i

Guidance cases

A case will be regarded as a Guidance case if it gives legal or procedural guidance, or reinforces or explains existing guidance.

Access

When conducting a search, users will now be able to filter their search results by Significant or Guidance cases.

To easily identify these cases, the new labels are visible beneath the title of any applicable case document.

If you have any questions about these new case labels, please contact the Product Development team.

Following customer feedback, Westlaw UK now provides Welsh language Judgment PDFs to applicable cases.

What’s new?

Welsh language Judgments are available in PDF format alongside English judgments, for a selection of cases.

Access

Users can access these Judgment PDFs via search or browse on Westlaw UK.

On cases content, the Welsh Judgment PDF can be found under the Where Reported heading (as shown in the above screenshot).

If you have any questions about Welsh language Judgments, please contact the Product Development team.

With the upcoming impact of Brexit in mind, Westlaw UK has improved the navigation between UK cases content and EU materials, making it easier for you to find the content you need for your legal research.

What’s new?

Westlaw UK has expanded its breadth of EU content to include access to the European Convention on Human Rights, EU Patent Convention and a number of select European Union Treaties.

Users will be able to access these resources through direct links within UK case content.

Westlaw UK now also provides users with direct access to EU Decision content from UK cases. These can be accessed via search or browse, and can be found under the Where Reported section on a UK case document.

If you have any questions about linking from UK cases to EU materials, please contact the Product Development team.