“A fundamental aspect of the proper administration of justice is open justice. Fair, accurate and, where possible, immediate reporting of court proceedings forms part of that principle,” the Lord Chief Justice says.

Interim guidance on live, text-based communications from courts in England and Wales was first issued on 20 December 2010, following which the Lord Chief Justice consulted widely including the media, the Secretary of State for Justice, the Attorney General and members of the public. After considering the responses he has published the new guidance.

Under the interim guidance journalists had to make an application to the judge to request permission to use electronic devices to send text.

The new guidance makes clear that there is no longer any need for representatives of the media/legal commentators to make an application to use text-based devices to communicate from court. Members of the public should make a formal or informal application if they wish to use these devices. Use of devices should not cause a disturbance or distraction.

The judge always retains full discretion to prohibit live, text based communications from court, in the interests of justice.

The “paramount question” for the judge in deciding whether to allow live text-based communications is whether it may interfere with the administration of justice.

“the danger …is likely to be at its most acute in the context of criminal trials, eg where witnesses who are out of court may be informed of what has already happened in court and so coached or briefed before they then give evidence” or where legal discussions in the absence of the jury may appear on the internet and be seen by jury members.

The guidance emphasises that anyone using electronic text is strictly bound by the existing restrictions on reporting court proceedings, under the Contempt of Court Act 1981.

Photography in court remains strictly forbidden under the Criminal Justice Act 1925.

Learn how to

*Find a general statement of the law in England and Wales on just about any topic
*Find and update cases and legislation

using hardcopy sources

The entire library is a Silent Study area except for:

• the 2^nd floor of the library which is a quiet study area,
• Rooms s401-s405 which  are designated as library work rooms

Failure to comply with library rules on noise may result in disciplinary action, for details please see the Library Noise Policy

Therefore please remember always to save your work. 

You can save work to the H:\ Drive on student pc’s.  This can be retrieved from any student pc or from http://portal.lawcol.com

The College has put in place general preventative measures advised to limit the spread of infection, including extended cleaning procedures.

In addition to this, cleaning wipes are available from the library enquiry desk which you are welcome to use if feel that they keyboard you are using could benefit from a wipe down.

Are the available online?
You can find an archive of stories from certain national and local papers on the “news” tab of Lexis Library.  Summaries of legal stories that have recently featured in newspapers can be found on Westlaw and Lawtel.  

On the web you can find The Telegraph  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/lawreports/ 
The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/law
And some of the Times law section is available free of charge from time to time.

What else can I do to keep abreast with legal news?
There are some good ideas in the Research Guide (in My Library tab) 28. Current Awareness: How to keep up with changes in the Law.

Alternative study locations:

• Rooms s402, s403, s404 & s405 on the library 4th floor can be used for group work. 
• You may study in any vacant classroom. Student Services and Library staff have a list of available classrooms.

Wifi is available throughout the Store Street and Ridgmount buildings.

But they are important?
They are very highly regarded indeed. The most authoritative series of law reports bar none - here’s what Woolf LJ had to say in a practice direction from 2001:

“… the High Court and the Court of Appeal require that where a case has been reported in the official Law Reports … it must be cited from that source. Other series of reports may only be used when a case is not reported in the Law Reports.”
Practice Direction (Judgments: Form and Citation) (Supreme Court) [2001] 1 WLR 194

So why would the judiciary be so keen on these law reports above any other?
One of the reasons might be that the reports are sent to the judges and counsel concerned for approval prior to publication. Also they give a comprehensive account of the case – including the arguments of counsel.

I suppose it would be too simple if the title printed on the cover was “Official Law Reports”  ???
Indeed. The Law Reports published today comprise 4 subdivisions :

Law Reports,  Appeal Cases covering cases in the Supreme Court and the Privy Council. 
High Court cases are published in:
Law Reports,  Queen’s Bench  
Law Reports, Chancery  Division
Law Reports,  Family Division 
However you will also come across older components such as Law Reports, Common Pleas Division or Law Reports, Exchequer Division.

And to track them down?
You can find the Law Reports on Westlaw and Lexis Library. They can also be found on the 3rd floor of the Bloomsbury Library – filed under “Law Reports…”

Expert tip – did you know: (Apart from appearing much more quickly than the main Law Report series),  The Weekly Law Reports (WLR) are often very similar to the report that eventually appears in  The Law Reports – however they always differ in one respect - The Law Reports always include arguments of Counsel, WLR does not.

Find out more – and get news about the most recent cases on ICLR website http://www.lawreports.co.uk

The Guardian proclaimed that “Tweet success awaits the savvy lawyer…” on 21st September – the article highlights several interesting legal tweeters. In addition to these you can find news about legal developments on Twitter too – including…

@lawtweets - legal consultant Nick Holmes, but most of the content comes from Pinsent Mason’s Outlaw.com which reflects their interest in IT and e-commerce

@ukpatents – Loven, Chartered Patent and trademark attorneys in Lincoln tweet about all aspects of IP,

@inner_temple - news from a wide range of sources provided by the library at Inner Temple

There are probably many more – but of course, don’t forget to check out their credentials / verify stories.