Thoughts on Quick Law

[DABMAN]

Hello,

I've been watching some videos on youtube on the day in the life of a law student and some of them mention they use Quick Law which to my understanding helps with making summaries and allows you reference things quicker?  I wanted to get some thoughts on if this software is appropriate to use for new students or is it something we should hold off and only use when we more or less mastered/comfortable with writing our own summaries?

Thanks

[Phaedrus]

Quicklaw was/is my preferred legal research tool, if for no other reason than it's appearance and Halsbury's resources. From experience, I've found that it reports cases that are unreported in CanLII and Westlaw (though they're usually lower court decisions, with little detail, but remain relevant for finding, for example, sentencing ranges). Tracking case history and treatment is easy, but I haven't dabbled in any note saving or brief preparation options. I save this work for MS Word or other running notes/research document I'm preparing.

The downside is hyperlinking cases. For court submissions, you need to hyperlink to CanLII. Also, many small firms opt out of Lexis and Westlaw subscriptions because they're expensive and, at the end of the day, not necessary for practice.

To answer your question, it's for sure a good idea to familiarize yourself with Quicklaw and to integrate what you learn into your research and writing skills. Headnotes and case summaries are helpful, and you'll find them on any research database and in CANs, but I always recommend learning how to prepare them for yourself; you'll need to be do so in practice and - even if it was possible - only a fool would strictly rely on them  for substantive memos, briefs or submissions. 

If I'm not mistaken, most 1L Legal Research and Writing courses have a resource comparison component designed to get everyone using the tools they'll need in study and in practice. 

[HammurabiTime]

Quicklaw is one of two primary pay-to-use legal research tools in Canada, the other being Westlaw. It's primary purpose is to facilitate legal research whether that's access to primary sources (reported cases and legislation) or secondary sources (books written to summarize the law or shorter digest type products). Whether you'll be using Quicklaw or Westlaw in school will depend on whatever subscriptions your school makes available to you. What you use in practice will depend on which services your employer has a subscription to.

Neither Quicklaw nor Westlaw generates summaries for you (although both come with head notes which are very brief snippets of what the head note editor believes the important parts of the case to be). I would not rely heavily on head notes in preparing your own notes. Law professors have their own particular view of things which will come across in how they teach a particular subject that may not align perfectly with what is in the head note. They can be nice to review to get another perspective but in school I think you'd be better off with your Profs' instruction and perhaps a treatise along with whatever case book you are assigned. Also, while rare, the head notes are sometimes incorrect so rely on them at your peril.

As Phaedrus noted, there will likely be some sort of legal research and writing course you will need to take that will cover using Quicklaw or Westlaw.

[capitalttruth]

I use it alot more than WestLaw, I just think the interface on QuickLaw is a bit more user friendly but I suppose it's entirely personal preference.

[CleanHands]

2 minutes ago, capitalttruth said:

I use it alot more than WestLaw, I just think the interface on QuickLaw is a bit more user friendly but I suppose it's entirely personal preference.

Welcome back to the forums, dude!

Funny; I have a significant preference for the Westlaw UI, but grudgingly use Quicklaw because it's quite common for criminal decisions to be available on Quicklaw but not Westlaw (but the same is not true the other way around).

[Rashabon]

This thread is a good example of why doing anything before law school starts to prepare is a waste of time.

[historicaladvantage]

On 6/15/2021 at 2:19 PM, DABMAN said:

Hello,

I've been watching some videos on youtube on the day in the life of a law student and some of them mention they use Quick Law which to my understanding helps with making summaries and allows you reference things quicker?  I wanted to get some thoughts on if this software is appropriate to use for new students or is it something we should hold off and only use when we more or less mastered/comfortable with writing our own summaries?

Thanks

My honest opinion is you should unplug from pre-law school prep which is not necessary. You should use the next couple of months to relax and clear your mind. Quicklaw/westlaw are advanced tools for research purposes and can help with case briefing but I didn't use it much until I started doing paper research/research in my law firm setting. it's extremely easy to navigate/will be provided for free by your school/likely by your firm too (although some firms don't provide it).