Legal research skills are the information and digital literacy skills which enable you to find and use legal information. This includes using your reading list, finding law books and journal articles, finding legislation and case law, and evaluating information to ensure it is authoritative and up-to-date.
This guide highlights a range of legal research courses and books available to law students. All new law students are advised to undertake the Doing Legal Research, Foundation Lexis+ UK and Basic Westlaw UK online training courses in their first term at university.
The following guides from other university law libraries may be useful to those undertaking legal research on foreign, comparative and international law:
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS)
The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) is part of the School of Advanced Studies at the University of London. The IALS Library is a national legal research library, with impressive law archives and collections.
Membership of IALS Library is available to postgraduate researchers (MPhil and PhD not LLB or LLM) and academic staff from other universities. Please see membership information on the IALS Library website.
Law database providers offer their own online training and certification courses to law students. Training and certification is available for both the Lexis+ UK and Westlaw UK databases.
Develop your legal research, digital literacy, information literacy and employability skills. Learn how to use law databases for success in your academic studies. Get certificates to evidence your legal research skills to employers on your CV.
online training + multiple-choice test = certificate
New law students are advised to undertake the basic/foundation level training courses for both Lexis+ UK and Westlaw UK in their first term at university. Successful completion of both basic/foundation and advanced certificates can contribute 1CSP towards the Warwick Award.
All training materials (videos and guides) and the certification test are available via the LexisNexis Law Student Hub. The test comprises 15 multiple-choice questions. You need to answer 13/15 questions correctly (in 1 hour). You can have multiple attempts at the test. It is helpful to have two screens/devices when taking the test - 1 for the certification test and 1 for the Lexis+ UK database.
If you find the certification test difficult, you can take the test in the library with the help of the law librarian. Book to attend a law database certification session here. If you need help with the Lexis+ UK database, please contact the law librarian to ask a question or book an appointment.
All training materials (videos and webinars) and the certification test are available via the Westlaw Academic Certification website. The test comprises 10 multiple-choice questions. You need to answer 8/10 questions correctly (no time limit). You can have multiple attempts at the test. It is helpful to have two screens/devices when taking the test - 1 for the certification test and 1 for the Westlaw database.
If you find the certification test difficult, you can take the test in the library with the help of the law librarian. Book to attend a law database certification session here. If you need help with the Westlaw UK database, please contact the law librarian to ask a question or book an appointment.
Your Research & Academic Support Librarian is available for 1-2-1 appointments, both on-campus and online, and can advise on all library, research and referencing matters.
LexisNexis
Student Associate
Alessandro Chiang is your LexisNexis Student Associate for 2023/24. Alessandro is a second year LLB student at Warwick Law School, and he provides peer-to-peer learning support for the Lexis+ UK law database to fellow students. Please contact Alessandro at alessandro.chiang@warwick.ac.uk.
Discover a range of library and study skills guides including how to study law, how to think critically, and how to write law essays and prepare for examinations.
Discover how to avoid plagiarism, how to use the OSCOLA legal referencing style, and how to manage references with EndNote referencing software.
Discover how to find legislation, case law, and journal articles using law databases, including Doing Legal Research moodle and Lexis+ UK and Westlaw Edge UK database training and certification courses.
