Knowing what you want to find is the easy part, knowing where to find it is mankind’s struggle.  Fortunately, many innovative solutions have been found to help in our quest.   Libraries have been constructed, satellites flung into orbit and the internet invented.  Now, Thomson Reuters has produced ‘Brookers A to Z of Legal Terms’.

Brookers A to Z of Legal Terms helps those undertaking legal research to locate legal terms that have been defined in legislation and discussed by judges in case law.  Each legal term is followed by a list of legislative and case references where that term has been defined or discussed.  By referring to the legislative provisions and cases in such a list, the legal researcher is then able to locate relevant legislation and cases where a particular word has been used.

Researchers who also have access to Thomson Reuters Law Partner legislation database or Thomson Reuters case law databases can go straight to the listed legislative provisions or cases by clicking on hyperlinks that take the reader to those databases. This feature provides researchers with an efficient means of reading the full text of the listed legislative provision or cases where a listed term is defined or discussed.

“Brookers A to Z of Legal Terms is, to the best of our knowledge, the first New Zealand legal text designed and produced exclusively as an e-book”, states Nigel Royfee, General Manager, Commercial.  “The work not only takes advantage of advanced features on the Thomson Reuters Proview eBook platform but also overcomes the shortcomings of a print equivalent. Such a print equivalent would have run to at least three solid volumes and would have meant the work would have been a significant investment for purchasers. Priced at only $120 the eBook represents very good value at less than a cent per defined term”.

What reviewers say

In a thorough review featured in the latest edition of LawTalk (26 April 2013/817) Geoff Adlam, New Zealand Law Society Communications Manager says:

"...this e-book is a very user-friendly and useful new legal research tool for New Zealand lawyers, allowing the user to quickly locate defined legal terms."

Buy Brookers A to Z of Legal Terms

More about ProView

The e-book platform Thomson Reuters ProView, released in New Zealand last month, is specifically built for professional use, with advanced features such as full-text search, secured notes and highlights, and content updating.  The application is available for iPad, Windows and Mac computers and Android tablets.