LexisNexis Australia Offers Open Web Legal Search

Global News

23
Jun
2009

Legal search engine available via Lawyers Weekly online 

LexisNexis Australia (www.lexisnexis.com.au), a leading provider of content-enabled workflow solutions, has for the first time made open web legal search available via the Lawyers Weekly website (www.lawyersweekly.com.au) for anyone conducting legal research including legal professionals, academics and students

In addition to the premier legal research solution, LexisNexis AU, LexisNexis now allows users to search the Internet for legal information that is specific to the Australian legal sector through Lawyers Weekly. This innovative technology allows users to explore 130 Australian legal websites and thousands of cases. There are many disparate sources for legal information on the web. However, unlike broader web searches, the Lawyers Weekly search tool helps users determine which other legal-oriented web sites to use in conjunction with LexisNexis research. The Lawyers Weekly search results are derived from sites which have been declared useful and relevant by the LexisNexis editorial team.

“The free open web legal search facility on Lawyers Weekly is a clear demonstration of an ongoing commitment from LexisNexis to provide the most efficient and economical online legal research service available,” said TJ Viljoen, CEO of LexisNexis Pacific. “Our aim is to enable legal professionals to work smarter and save time by providing the best integrated legal solutions possible.”

Websites available comprise Local, State and Federal Government resources, informal commentary from legal blogs, as well as law firms and state based legal associations. This list will continue to grow as other industry websites are assessed. LexisNexis will also offer complimentary access to its reputable Unreported Judgments online research service, which offers access to all High Court cases within 24 hours, Supreme Court cases within 24 hours, and selected District Court cases within 98 hours. This service covers full text judgments for more than 170,000 cases.

LexisNexis’ Lawyers Weekly search functionality is designed specifically for the legal sector, whereas other search engines are tuned for the general public. General search engine results can include anything that matches the user’s search terms; including irrelevant pages that can be time consuming to review. Results on Lawyers Weekly can be sorted by date or relevance and searches can performed across the Lawyers Weekly site itself to find news and articles of interest from a bank of more than 5,000 files.

“The search facility on Lawyers Weekly complements the LexisNexis AU solution for legal research, by providing access to reliable information from trusted sources,” Viljoen said. “If users are unfamiliar with a topic or unsure which search criteria to use when searching on our premium online research solution, LexisNexis AU, undertaking a broader search on Lawyers Weekly can reveal key concepts, popular search terms, important case law details, and general legal information. Our clients can then link seamlessly from one of more than 170,000 LexisNexis Unreported Judgments to additional legal information through their LexisNexis AU subscriptions.”

Lawyers Weekly, published by LexisNexis, is Australia’s leading authoritative source of independent news, analysis and opinion about the business of law in Australia, and has rapidly become one of the leading sources for legal business across the country.