Westlaw Classic

Supported operating systems

• Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10
• Windows Vista®
• Mac® OS 10.5 or later

Internet browser

• Internet Explorer 11 or later (Windows only)
• Mozilla Firefox current version or Extended Support Release version
• Safari 5.0 or later
• Chrome current version

Mobile apps

• iPhone (iOS 9.0 or later, iPhone 4S or later)
• iPad (iOS 9.0 or later, iPad 2nd generation or later)
• Android (4.0 or later, Android 4.0 or higher)

Other requirements

• 1024x768 or higher screen resolution recommended
• Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 or later (some print functionality is lost with older versions)

Westlaw Classic lists the common Terms & Connectors on each advanced search form. For a more detailed explanation and a list of Field restrictions click here for the Westlaw Classic Searching with Boolean Terms & Connectors Quick Guide.

If you have your phone or tablet set to Private Browsing the cookies that are used to save your username & password will not be saved or honoured. Click here to see how to turn off Private Browsing.

If you have your phone or tablet set to Private Browsing the live session will not be saved or honoured. Click here to see how to turn off Private Browsing.

Westlaw International was decommissioned and replaced by WestlawNext in 2012.

WestlawNext was renamed Thomson Reuters Westlaw in January 2016.

Thomson Reuters Westlaw was renamed Westlaw Classic in October 2020.

You can still access Westlaw from all of the following web addresses:

• westlaw.com [primary]
• next.westlaw.com
• international.westlaw.com

The inactivity time out period is 120 minutes. Before timing out a message will be displayed.

The “Additional Terms” search box only becomes active when a Smart Term is selected.

No. Groups need to be created manually in Westlaw.

OPML is a file format used by feed aggregates.

90 days.

Westlaw will automatically de-dupe when searching or alerting on multibases. If individual news sources are selected and searched, results will not be de-duped from the individual sources.

No, alerts can not be de-duped against each other.

There are 3 different methods for locating a database.

• Global Search - Go to homepage and type in the database name or identifier e.g. AMJUR or American Jurisprudence.
• My Content - Go to homepage click the Tools tab then select My Content. Search or browse the list.
• Browse - Go to homepage and select a tab or link. Continue browsing the pages to find a database.

Yes, the maximum number of characters is 600.

Select the Tools tab from the homepage and click Portal Manager. You can then select from Find & Print, Search, Content Links or Party Name. Note: You must have logged on with a Username and Password to access the Portal manager. If you are an IP user click here for a list of common deep links or contact your administrator.

Yes, they are available from various jurisdiction and content pages.

Click on Tools from the homepage then select "My Content" for a list of content your organisation subscribes to.

Client ID’s cannot be pre-loaded, but any client ID entered is saved and can be selected using a drop-down when singing on or when creating an alert. An ID only needs to be entered once. Admins will see all client ID’s used across the firm. 

You could log in and from the client ID drop down continue to change client Ids until you’ve added them all at once, then they would be stored for future use. 

Yes. Use the “Manage Page” drop down menu on the custom page to "email copy"  to another user. Note: you and the recipient must have OnePass access.

Yes.

10,000 is the maximum number of results that can be displayed. You can Filter or Refine your search to reduce the results.

1000 is the number of results that can be downloaded at a time. 

500 is the number of full documents that can be downloaded from a results list at a time.

The character limit is 600 characters which is likely to equate to around 20 citations. You can use the find and print function to retrieve up to 100 citations.

Yes, you can enter multiple sources with AND or OR operators.

NewsRoom currency and coverage information can be found in two ways:

1. By browsing to the source in Westlaw Classic and clicking on the scope I icon.
2. By searching the NewsRoom Publication Directory.

Click here to link to the NewsRoom Publication Directory.