Lexis Advance^®

Improved Precision and Power: Paragraph Filters in CaseBase^®

In early June, we launched Paragraph Filters: a new interactive data visualisation feature for CaseBase Case Citator. The filter takes the form of a graph with each column indicating the number of times a paragraph of the judgment has been cited. Data clusters reveal frequently discussed arguments, while isolated spikes indicate passages which may be compelling obiter or a useful summary of the issues.

The user can interact with the filter by:

• selecting a column to see the cases that have cited that paragraph;
• selecting a judge to jump to the start of the opinion written by that judge; and/or
• entering a term in the ‘Search within’ field to see the cases that have used that term, and the paragraphs those cases have cited.

The result is an enhancement that brings unprecedented precision and power to case law research on Lexis Advance. By combining the paragraph filter with the ‘search within’ field, users can streamline their research to see citing cases that pick up a relevant theme or issue in the cited judgment, especially by focussing the search on specific portions of the citing cases such as their catchwords. This means users can now delve into the relationship between cases based on the way they discuss and build on arguments. And since arguments can be dealt with in multiple non-contiguous passages throughout a judgment, highlighting columns corresponding to all the paragraphs cited in thematically related cases makes for more thorough research than pursuing individual threads associated with selected paragraphs.

The feature is now available to all CaseBase subscribers and can be found in the ‘Cases referring to this case’ table for Australian judgments from 1998 on. The filter appears where at least one citation by a superior court has mentioned a paragraph of the judgment. The new filter complements the existing Court and Year graphical filters, both of which remain available to users by way of a button in the top left-hand corner of the graph.

Entering a query into the ‘Search within’ field filters the list of citing cases to those which discuss the user’s term(s) and highlights in green the paragraphs which the citing cases discuss.

Changes to sources shown in the Publications Pod

From late June, Lexis Advance users may notice a change to the order of titles appearing in the Publications Pod on the Lexis Advance home screen. To make it easier to access our most popular content sets, users who do not already have a customised list of titles in their Publications Pod will see that we have:

• Grouped related sources to free up space for other titles – For example, Law Reports can now be found under a single heading. Users can expand the group to see options for individual Reports.
• Provided easier access to high-use titles from around the country – For example, Civil Procedure titles from the most populous jurisdictions now feature more prominently.

The movement of a title out of the pod does not mean access to that title has been removed. Users are able to add, remove, and sort titles for themselves, by selecting the ‘Edit’ button in the top right-hand corner of the pod. The content of the Publications Pod remains subscription sensitive; a title can only be added to the pod if the user subscribes to that title.

Changes to citations for Queensland Reports

In March 2020, the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for the State of Queensland (ICLRQ) announced the release of a new series of Queensland Reports, the authorised report series for the Queensland Supreme Court. The launch of the new series will also see a change in abbreviation and citation style. Judgments from the new series are already available to subscribers on Lexis Advance.

Contact your Learning Consultant for a personal walk-through of any of these new features, in person or via screenshare.

Lexis Red^®
The Tech-savvy barrister

Danny Feller, SC of Edmund Barton Chambers is a strong advocate of a paperless practice for barristers and his proactive approach has seen him progressively adopt modern solutions to the traditional problems of legal practice. In this new case study, he describes how he uses Lexis Red alongside Lexis Advance to seamlessly access his library and looseleaf services, from virtually any device.

Read the case study

Recent Updates – Lexis Red 3.13 released on 1st May 2020

Lexis Red is a digital platform through which you can access your preferred legal content. Through the app you can browse, search, share, and annotate faster than before. Lexis Red is available on iPad, Android tablets, Windows 10 and Macintosh desktops, and laptops.

In our recent release (Lexis Red 3.13), the team focused on improving the user experience of Lexis Red. This includes:

• Hide/show commentary for loose-leaf titles: a great addition to Lexis Red. The hide/show commentary function enables a selective view of legislative provisions by quickly hiding commentary;
• App version displayed on login screen: from version 3.13 onward, the app version will appear in the Lexis Red login screen. With this, you can easily identify the app version they are using.

The next Lexis Red app update is planned for August 2020 release.

Additionally, our team is currently working to release new LexisNexis^® practitioner books on the Lexis Red platform which will be released throughout 2020. You can view the book release plan (Jan – June 2020) from our Lexis Red microsite or click here.

If you would like to learn more about Lexis Red, please contact your Relationship Manager.

Lexis^®️ Draft

A new release of Lexis Draft is now available to download and install via our Downloads page.

Our newest version is the result of customer feedback and a focus on improving performance, consistency and user experience. Please review our Technical Guide before installing.

Lexis Draft gives legal practitioners peace of mind that their documents are accurate, complete and consistent, validating their citations and proofreading their work within Microsoft Word and Outlook:

• Accurate Citations & Research – Review cited cases & legislations, easily accessing deeper research via Lexis Advance, CaseBase & LawNow^® without leaving your document or interrupting your concentration.
• Fast, Efficient Proofreading – Quickly scan documents for term risks, cross-references, formatting errors, details missed during a long negotiation, or unwanted residual information from repurposed documents.
• Simple, Collaborative Editing – Easily mark and share errors for colleagues when there is more than one contributor to a document.
• Consistent Language Review – Improve the clarity and readability of your document, keeping your writing polished, concise, and consistent when multiple staff are editing.
• Seamless Document Conversion – PDF to Word conversion made easy.

For further information on the enhancements and bug fixes in this release, please review our Release Notes.

If you would like training or a refresher session for your team on Lexis Draft, simply contact your Relationship Manager.

Practice Area Updates

Halsbury's^® Laws of Australia
COVID-19 impacts and a complete update of Damages

ALL JURISDICTIONS

Significant updates to Chapter (3) (Prevention and Control of Human Disease) of the Public Health title of Halsbury’s Laws of Australia were recently made following the passing of various legislation as a result of the spread of COVID-19. This includes statements on:

• (CTH) Biosecurity (Human Biosecurity Emergency) (Human Coronavirus with Pandemic Potential) Declaration 2020 and relevant determinations;
• National Partnership on COVID-19 Response (National Agreement);
• Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) (National Response Plan) and other relevant State and Federal legislation.

A complete update to the entire Damages title was also completed, covering areas such as:

• Rule as to avoidable loss
• Power of Supreme Court to Make Interim Awards of Damages
• Assessment of Damages – Employment Benefits
• Factors Limiting Compensatory Damages – Test in Contract

Building and Construction
Impact of COVID 19 on the Building and Construction industry

ALL JURISDICTIONS

NSW Procurement has stated that from and including 7 April 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic qualifies as an “emergency” for the purposes of the Public Works and Procurement Act 1912 (NSW) and has released guidance to NSW Government agencies on how to conduct emergency procurement under cl 4 of the Public Works and Procurement Regulation 2019.

We have published commentary summarising the key changes set out in the Emergency Regulations that now apply in New South Wales including how signatures can be witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Civil Procedure
Commencement of new uniform civil procedure rules in May 2020

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

The new Uniform Civil Court Rules 2020 have now been gazetted and commenced 18 May 2020. The landmark legislation for the first time introduces uniform rules for the SA Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts, and have been designed by the Rules Committee to coincide and integrate with the launch in the SA courts of electronic filing.

Civil Procedure South Australia will of course be updated to incorporate the new Rules, but in addition subscribers will have access to a schedule of updates throughout 2020 whereby the annotations to the existing 2006 civil Rules will be reviewed, updated by our authors and applied as appropriate to the 2020 Rules.

Costs

NEW SOUTH WALES

Legal Costs NSW has been significantly updated to reflect multiple legal developments in the area of costs law.

Notably, the language in the publication referring to the Legal Profession Uniform Law has been updated so that it is no longer a 'recent development'. The content on the LPUL has been expanded to detail more on informed consent and disclosure in costs agreements.

Cases have been added to the Assessment chapter of the publication that illustrate apportionment by cost assessors.

Corporations
Government's response to the Hayne Royal Commission recommendations

ALL JURISDICTION

The response to the Hayne Royal Commission recommendations has been one of the most comprehensive corporate and financial service law reforms in Australian history. The Treasurer indicates more than 50 out of 54 of the Government's commitments in response to the final report of the Royal Commission will be implemented or subject to legislation by mid-2020.

Austin and Black's Annotations to the Corporations Act has been and will be updated in a timely manner to reflect those legislative changes. The commentary features updates prepared by our prominent authors such as Justice Ashley Black, who gives insights into the short and long term effects of the response.

Criminal Law
Bourke's Criminal Law News Victoria Issue 2 was a special COVID-19 issue

VICTORIA

Issue 2 of Bourke's Criminal Law News Victoria, released in April, was a special double issue, exclusively covering the law of the COVID-19 lockdown in Victoria. Authored by Felicity Gerry QC and Raphael de Vietri, the issue looks at Australia's legal structure for public health emergencies, the Biosecutiry Act 2015 (Cth), the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic), public order offences, offences against the person, powers of arrest and detention, human rights law and much more.

Insurance Law
Coronavirus and its impact on Australian insurance

ALL JURISDICTIONS

The Insurance Law Bulletin features a special coronavirus edition (#36.1) of the newsletter, covering topical perspectives from experienced practitioners on issues affecting various aspects of insurance law, including travel insurance, life insurance, business interruption, and public liability insurance.

Native Title
New commentary on native title agreements

ALL JURISDICTIONS

LexisNexis has upcoming commentary on legal issues involving native title agreements which summarises the cases and law around breach, specific performance, damages, frustration, declarations and interlocutory and other remedies. This chapter from the Native Title Service deals with ‘Agreements about native title: Indigenous Land Use Agreements and other contracts’.

The chapter details the different types of Indigenous Land Use Agreements (including procedures and processes for their authorisation and registration, and objections) and the latest update covers native title contracts in general.

This chapter on native title agreements has far-reaching implications that will impact customers outside of the traditional native title jurisdiction.

Privacy Law
COVID-19 impacts

ALL JURISDICTIONS

A double issue of Privacy Law Bulletin, 17.1&2 tackles matters brought to the fore during this global pandemic which has increased existing tensions between an individual’s right to privacy versus public safety.

Issues considered include the possible implications of widespread government surveillance; the use of facial recognition databases; what is the role of privacy frameworks in assisting with and influencing risk mitigation efforts in relation to personal data; and how different regulators around the world have approached data privacy issues and guidelines in the context of COVID-19.

Property
COVID-19 legislation

ALL JURISDICTIONS

Spanned over issues 35.3, 35.4 and 35.5 of Australian Property Law Bulletin, LexisNexis will be publishing articles summarising the operation and effects of the various legislation being passed by the State legislative bodies in relation to COVID-19 as it relates to various aspects of property law.

New Webinars

Barristers Toolkit for Civil Proceedings

29 JULY 2020  4:00 PM | 30 MINS.

Set up your Lexis Advance for Uniform Civil procedure rules and pleadings, principle and practice.

REGISTER TODAY

Taking it up a notch – Gaining more from Lexis Advance than research – a session for small firms and barristers

17 AUGUST 2020  2:00 PM | 30 MINS.

This session will focus on proficient folder use and sharing of documents when collaborating with co-counsel or third parties, while also focusing on creating and sharing useful documents through the use of hyperlinks.

REGISTER TODAY

A new view for Barristers – Visualising caselaw, legislation and commentary with a single search using Lexis Advance

25 AUGUST 2020  2:00 PM | 30 MINS.

An examination of data visualisations available through LawNow legislation and CaseBase, found with a single search.  Your 30-minute investment will save hours of research time in the future.

REGISTER TODAY

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