Free-to-use Internet services offering full case transcripts have existed since the 1990s, but have been regarded as poor alternatives to subscription services. Some have recently improved and offer far more than is generally realised, particularly in terms of speed of availability.


For speed of access to transcripts, the House of Lords' Web site (www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldjudgmt.htm) is difficult to beat, with transcripts posted within hours of delivery. There is also a free e-mail alert service with details of forthcoming hearings and judgments to be handed down the following week.



Part of the service that does not work as efficiently is the e-mail alert announcing a transcript has been added to the Web site, which can be up to several hours after the event. The advanced search has improved and, while not as comprehensive as subscription services, provides simple subject or name searches of full judgments with a date limitation. Sadly, only judgments since November 1996 are available, and there do not appear to be any plans to add retrospectively to the database.



A more comprehensive service is provided by Bailii, the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (www.bailii.org), covering selected judgments of cases since 1996. Key cases are being added retrospectively. Many of the judgments are available the day they are handed down, often hours or days ahead of any of the subscription databases. The full search enables focused searching by names of parties and simple combinations of keywords from the full judgments.



Since gaining sponsorship from the Society for Computers and Law (SCL), the Bailii Web site also includes links to the SCL's Webinars (on-line seminars) and podcasts, an early step towards one version of Richard Susskind's idea of a free multimedia Wikipedia service for law (see (2006) Gazette, 16 March, 11).



Subscription databases still have huge advantages in terms of coverage and sophisticated field searching, but have lost ground on speed of availability to their free counterparts. In a world where it is important to comment quickly on and inform clients of the implications of judgments, such an edge may be vital.



Mandy Webster is library and information services manager for midlands firm Browne Jacobson