Legal research
Welcome to the Law guide
This guide provides a starting point for accessing the many resources available for Law.
Lexis+ webinars for Curtin Law students
The following free Lexis+ webinars are available for Curtin students to register.
FIRST YEAR: Foundations of Legal Research
This foundational session provides an orientation of Lexis+ along with the understanding of the value of different content types, such as case law, commentary and legislation to provide a foundation for research. Understand:
- The structure of different content types and the value that can be derived from them.
- How to run natural language searches.
- How to access legislation and the underlying documents leading to legislation coming into force.
- Gain a foundational understanding through our practical content providing a consolidated view of a topic.
- Discover how to create links to your favourite publications and how to highlight and annotate our market-leading content.
- Utilise the ability to create your own work folders to easily organise your research materials.
- Finally, create topic alerts to always stay up to date with particular legal areas around the modules you are studying at the time.
Dates and times offered:
- 31 March 2025 at 11:00am.
SECOND YEAR: Developing Research Efficiency
This session builds upon existing knowledge and explores how to research more effectively using Lexis+.
Learn how to:
- Explore CaseBase to quickly hone in on the most salient points of a case, as well as the subsequent cases that have relied on that point of law.
- Access point in time legislation through LawNow and the citator service to easily access provisions, related cases and commentary.
- Utilise Boolean connectors to make the most of the big red search box and refining results.
- Advanced Search forms
- Find common law and legislative definitions.
- Create custom alerts search results and how to monitor individual cases.
- Use the research map to visualise your searches.
Dates and times offered:
- 8 April 2025 at 12:00pm
THIRD YEAR: Strategic Research Skills
This session will take you through how you can effectively map out a search strategy before you begin to reduce the amount of time you spend researching. The session will focus on a four-step process that can be used for all online research and a structure that can be used to document the research undertaken.
Dates and times offered:
- 15 April 2025 at 1:00pm
A recording of the webinars will be posted on the Lexis Learning platform at the completion of the program.
You will also have the option to complete an online quiz for each module. By watching a live webinar and passing the quiz you will be able to earn a series of badges.
Companion materials
Companion online resources for these courses will launch in late-April. Create your Lexis Learning profile and pre-enrol here to be notified when the materials are live.
Library Service at Curtin Law School, Murray Street campus
Law students studying at 57 Murray Street can access their textbooks from the Curtin Graduate School of Business (CGSB) Library which is across the road from the Curtin Law School, Murray Street.
To learn more about this library download the Library Services for Curtin Law School, Murray Street campus brochure [PDF, 1.8MB]
Free legal resources for internship students
Are you going out on placement? Did you know that Curtin Library’s subscription content can only be used for study and research, and not for commercial purposes. This means you will not be able to use Curtin Library’s subscriptions for the business purposes of your placement however there are many free online legal resources that you can use.
Free online legal resources [PDF, 306kB]
Get your free subscription to Jade Professional!
Jade offers a paid subscription service to Jade Professional which provides you with advanced legal research tools such as visualisations of case law and legislation, email alerts, document checking to confirm and analyse your citations, and the ability to share and collaborate online.
Curtin law students are eligible for a free subscription to Jade Professional. Using your Curtin email account simply email help@jade.io to request this. If you have any problems please email the Faculty Librarian, Law on LibraryResearchServices@curtin.edu.au