Legal Research

Westlaw Canada improvements

By Ted Tjaden

I think the new name of Westlaw Canada will be easier for a lot of users (particularly American users) compared to the old name of WestlaweCARSWELL.

The new logo is here:

The change in name is also accompanied by some improved content. I like the fact that they have “chunked together” individual paragraphs from the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED) into a series of paragraphs in a single view (this avoids having to click on “next” or “previous” as much). Their commitment to update all of the CED titles in the next year or so is also very welcome (and overdue). I have also used their new cross reference links to the applicable Canadian Abridgment digest from individual CED entries.

The expanded Litigator content is also nice (providing access to court-filed pleadings and facta) (it is shameful that our Canadian court registry dockets remain mired in print-based records systems that are not centralized electronically and searchable from the desktop).

“Leave to appeal” information being added to KeyCite records is also very useful.

Apparently there will be more looseleaf titles being added to their e-Reference library. I like and use the e-Reference library a fair bit but have yet to make the leap of cancelling the print title and going only with the e-book version.

There is other new content that I have not yet reviewed.

[Note: in re-reading the foregoing, I realize it may seem like a plug for Westlaw Canada (it was not intended as such), but I thought credit should be given for what are very useful improvements. Apparently the other major Canadian legal publishers announced improvements to their products at the recent annual convention of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries, but I did not attend the conference and it was only the Westlaw Canada improvements that have impacted me the most so far.]

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on June 17, 2009 (boomark / email).