(This is a Database Spotlight article highlighting a specific database’s features for the benefit of readers who may not know the full extent our Brookers Online offering.)

NZ Legal Writing Index & Journals Online is a new fully integrated (uniquely New Zealand) online Legal Writing database providing access to a comprehensive Legal Writing Index. The database contains over 12,000 article entries as well as searchable full text journal articles and PDFs sourced from NZULR, NZBLQ, and NZ Journal Taxation Law & Policy. Indexed entries are linked to the full text of journal articles.

 The Brookers Online homepage screen shot below shows where to find the NZ Legal Writing Index in the Journals database.

 History and Content of the New Zealand Legal Writing Index

The index starts in 1954 and contains to date, NZ legal writing spanning over 50 years.

Thomson Reuters obtained a license from the NZ Legal Research Foundation to reproduce article entries from its publication the Index to New Zealand Legal Writing& Cases covering the period between 1954 and 1985. From 1986 onward entries have been sourced from leading NZ law journals.

The screenshot above shows the What’s New page open and the link to Criminal Practice has been opened to show the article citation and other details as well as Legislation and Cases Cited.  

What’s unique about the database?

1. It focuses exclusively on NZ legal writing (picking up from where the Legal Research Foundation’s publication left off)
2. It has an expansive index in terms of the number of years it covers
3. It provides links to full text of articles where available

Searching the NZ Legal Writing Index

The Index is fully searchable, using the same search functionality as all other Brookers Online databases.

You can browse by year and then subject area or undertake a free text search or alternatively you can search by

• Cases Cited and Legislation Cited fields to retrieve articles post 1985
• taxonomy (The Index uses using same classification scheme  as Briefcase and Leading Texts)

The screen shot below shows the result of a free text search “corporate governance”.  21 results were found.  The keywords are highlighted for quick reference and links allow easy movement between the results, the article itself and for example, the full text of cases cited.

The next screen shot below shows the article selected open. (Decoding Family Businesses: Are Corporate Governance Guidelines Necessary for Family Businesses?)

A case has been selected from Cases Cited and its title link clicked open.

Here’s an example of a free text search using the case title Clark v Libra Developments.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the title is highlighted and linked. A click on the link takes us to the full article as seen below. The highlighted case title appears in Cases Cited. Citator icons (blue H, green C, yellow or red flag) show its standing. A linked title (blue) when clicked goes to the case itself.

Note

All NZBLQ & NZ Journal of Taxation Law & Policy articles are available in full text.
NZULR full text articles are available from 1997 onward.

The following Journals are indexed on an ongoing basis:

1. New Zealand Law Journal
2. New Zealand Universities Law Review
3. New Zealand Law Review
4. New Zealand Business Law Quarterly
5. New Zealand Journal of Taxation Law & Policy
6. New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law
7. New Zealand Family Law Journal
8. Law Reviews from Victoria, Auckland, Waikato, Canterbury, and Otago Universities

We will be adding other journals and looking to expand the coverage of the Legal Writing Index (potentially beyond journals, as was case with the NZ Legal Research Foundation’s Index to Legal Writing).

To find out more click a link:

• Go to NZ legal Writing Index in catalogue
• Talk to your account manager
• or call Thomson Reuters Customer Care , 0800 10 60 60