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.
Doing Legal ResearchDoing Legal Research is the University of Warwick Library's self-study Moodle course.
It introduces students to different types of legal information, and shows you how to find, use and reference them using a range of library and law databases.
It also shows you how to research a legal topic, including using law dictionaries, encyclopadias and practical guidance, as well as books, journals, legislation and case law.
[Module coming soon]
The following guides from other university law libraries may be useful to those undertaking legal research on foreign, comparative and international law:
An A-Z list of key terms and phrases in the legal industry with a definition and links to related practical guidance materials on the Lexis+ UK law database.
The law database providers offer their own online training and certification courses to law students.
New law students are advised to undertake at least the basic/foundation level training courses for both Lexis+ UK and Westlaw Edge UK in their first term at university.
Students who successfully complete a training course, and who pass the online quiz, will receive a certificate of competence which can be included on their CV.
Lexis+ UKLexis Nexis offers two Lexis+ UK database training courses: Foundation and Advanced. You should complete the Foundation course before the Advanced course. The Lexis+ UK database is new for 2022/23, and all law students are advised to undertaking training and certification.
Sessions are delivered online and last 1.5 hours. You can either attend live Lexis+ UK training and certification webinars, or watch pre-recorded training videos in your own time. Click on the link to join a live session in Teams. Pre-booking is not required for live sessions.
Harry Sun is your LexisNexis Student Associate for 2022/2. Harry is a final year LLB student at Warwick Law School, and he provides peer-to-peer learning support for the Lexis+ UK law database to fellow students. Harry holds drop-in sessions at 1pm-4pm on Mondays and 2pm-5pm on Tuesdays, in the consultation pod on the 1st floor of the library. Please contact Harry at harry.sun@warwick.ac.uk.
Westlaw Edge UKThomson Reuters offers three Westlaw database training courses: Basic, Advanced and International. You should complete the Basic course before the Advanced course. The International training is only required for students undertaking foreign legal research.
Sessions are delivered online and last 1 hour. Sign-up to attend live Westlaw training and certification webinars, or watch pre-recorded training videos in your own time. Pre-booking is required for live sessions.
Sofia Dadou is your Thomson Reuters Student Representative for 2022/23. Sofia is a final year LLB student at Warwick Law School, and she provides peer-to-peer learning support for the Westlaw Edge UK law database to fellow students. Sofia holds drop-in sessions at 2pm-4pm on Thursdays and 10am-12pm on Fridays, in the consultation pod on the 1st floor of the library. Please contact Sofia at Sofia.Dadou@warwick.ac.uk.
Your 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.
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.
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.
