As of September 1, students have been officially able to access the new WestlawNext Platform through WestlawNextCanada.com/students. This website can operate as a homepage for law students, as it includes a lot of helpful and interesting information. For example, under “Insight” students can find legal news and all kinds of helpful research tips. Clicking the box labelled “To Sign on to WestlawNext Canada” will take you to the sign-on page. If you are a 2L or 3L, simply continue to use your old password. If you are a 1L, you will be receiving your password in class.
Once signed in to WestlawNext, students will immediately notice the new and improved all-in-one search bar. You can search using everyday plain language, case citations, Boolean terms, and connectors. The search will give you all applicable results broken into categories that you can discard or keep to narrow down. The eyeglasses are a handy new visual aid that appears over a result once you have read it. This helps you keep track of where you are.
One of the most highly anticipated new features is “Folders.” Students can now organize and store their research in their own custom labelled folders. This research will never be discarded, meaning students don’t have to download cases to organize and store them. Students can also share specific folders with other students. Folders may become quite useful in the law firm to keep research separate based on projects or lawyers.
Another great new feature is highlighting. The new platform allows you to highlight sections of a case and to save these highlights. Another point that may be of interest is the option to save favourites on your WestlawNext main page. For example, if you know you will be using a particular statute a lot because of a particular course or assignment, you can leave these statutes conveniently in your “Favourites.” To really get a feel for all that the new platform offers you are encouraged to get online and explore. Check out “Words and Phrases,” for example, which allows you to search a legal term and find all of the snippets of cases where it is defined.
For additional questions, feel free to reach out to one of the students reps: Mai Nguyen (mnguyen.chi@gmail.com)or Christian Ferraro (christianferraro1@gmail.com). For any problems, you can get 24/7 technical support at 1-800-387-5164. Want to learn more about WestlawNext or get a refresher on researching through it? There will be a session on Monday, October 6 from 12:30 to 1:30 in Room 2011. Email library@osgoode.yorku.ca to RSVP. Expect some treats and giveaways.