Legal fiction

Easter coming up, and mid-semester break. Time for a good book. Or a good pile of good books - I've just raided the Central Library to stave off the panic that creeps in whenever the pile of books by my bed gets too small or too familiar. Mainly 20th century British fiction for me this Easter, but also some memoirs and essays.
A few years back we occasionally slipped a bit of fiction in to the new book display, typically by or about lawyers. Partly as an antidote to the technical side of law, partly because finding fiction about law is not always easy (though you could start by keyword searching the catalogue for: lawyers fiction); mainly to encourage reading for pleasure.
Any way, here is a list of the first few titles in our Legal Fiction series, for your reading pleasure. I'll drip-feed a few more in due course.
Feel free to let us know of any other books that deserve a place in the series.
Cheers, Carolyn

Help for Mooters seeking US cases

For the mooters seeking several US cases Lexis.com (linked from our Law Subject page) has a very quick way of obtaining the American decisions.

From the Lexis.com page, choose the third tab along the top called Get a Document

From there, you type in the citation for your case - for example 123 F Supp 456 and press the red Get button. Your case should be retrieved and available for printing or emailing.

To obtain the English case reported in the QB reports (apart from getting it in paper form from our shelves at KF55 C8) you will need to go into the Lexis main page and choose United Kingdom, then Case Law, the The Law Reports of England and Wales.

Make sure you choose Terms and Connectors and under the Select a Segment section, from the pull down menu choose Name and enter in the name of the case as below.









Remember to click on the ADD button to put your search term into the search box. Click on search and your case should appear!

Looking at legal literature

We've put together a small display of legal literature. It's based around a recent Otago Law Review article by Andrew Geddis and includes a statute and a case referred to in that article, plus a relevant textbook.
It's designed to let you get your hands on those different forms of literature, and to see the connections between them. We've also added some notes on finding statutes, cases, articles etc. And there are some related handouts nearby, if you want them.
The display is on the 8th floor of the Law Library, just opposite the Desk - look for the red hand. We'll keep it there for a while, so you can look at it in your idle moments.
And if you want help with any of the resources or processes mentioned in the notes, just ask - at the Desk.
Cheers, Carolyn

Group study rooms

If you have taken a library tour, you will know that we have two group study rooms on the 9th floor.
And if you have taken a catalogue class (OK, so they don't start until next week, but you get my point), you will know that you can book the group study rooms. Go to the library catalogue, select the Group Room Bookings tab and click the link for the Law Library group rooms. Enjoy!
Cheers, Carolyn

Catalogue classes & library tours

As previously mentioned, we're offering a brief introduction to the library catalogue, followed by a tour of the Law Library. Allow about 45 minutes to do both. We'll start with the catalogue, in the Seminar Room, on the 6th floor (South Tower - if you're not sure how to find it, just ask - at the Desk on the 8th floor).

Available times are: Mon 15 March 11am; Tues 16 March 11am; Thurs 18 March 11am; Mon 22 March 11am; Tues 23 March 11am; Thurs 25 March 11am; Thurs 1 April 11am.

If you can't make any of these times, just ask - at the Desk.

And if you'd rather work it out for yourself, have a look at our Tour guide and Catalogue guide. They're also available in print. Just ask - at the Desk.