Skip to main content

Westlaw New Zealand

Thomson Reuters Training & Support

Westlaw New Zealand - How to research a case by topic using natural language 

Last Published: January 14, 2020

Natural language searching allows you to search by asking a question or typing in a sentence that describes the information you are looking for.

Conduct a search using natural language by following these steps: 

  1. Type the legal issue you are researching into the global search bar, e.g., Copyright infringement involving musical works, and click search.
  1. In the overview summary page, results display the case law where keywords are found in the judgment, and West Key Number Classifications related to similar points of law. 
  2. Select Cases on the left-hand side to view all relevant cases.
  1. If there are too many results, you can narrow them down by:  
  1. Editing your search – reword your natural language search in the global search bar. 
  2. Searching within results – search within your results for cases containing an additional term or phrase, e.g., "intellectual property". 
  3. Filtering – filter results by a specific aspect, e.g., jurisdiction or date. 

You might also be interested in ...

Speak to a consultant

Can't find an answer to your question?
Contact our support team.

Request training

Contact our team to arrange training.

Tell us what you think

We'd love to hear what you think
of our products and support.