And in the Other Corner
Just received from Patrick McNeill, ((VP, Sales, LexisNexis Canada Inc., Reed Elsevier)).
Attached is an announcement released today from LexisNexis Canada regarding enhancements to our case law collection in light of the Canada Law Book takedown March 31, 2008.
It’s a long statement, a letter from Gary Rodrigues, and an Appendix of Contents
The Best Continues to Get Even Better
For over three decades, Quicklaw™ has set the standard for excellence in online legal research in Canada—providing a comprehensive online collection of integrated information systems that give lawyers the power to access and manage legal knowledge more productively than ever before—and with exceptional flexibility.
That commitment to superior content and accessibility continues unabated. I am pleased to announce the following major additions of proprietary content to Quicklaw—additions that address the impending removal of content previously provided by Canada Law Book and deliver further valuable enhancements to the basic Quicklaw service.
All the Cases You Need
Case law collections on Quicklaw have been enriched to include all of the cases needed to practise in the fields of criminal law, labour arbitrations, and intellectual property law. Quicklaw case law now includes all decisions of courts and labour arbitrators reported in print since 1970 and all decisions reported in print that were decided before 1970 that have been cited in a Canadian court after 1970. In essence, if a case matters, you’ll find it on Quicklaw.
You have always depended on us for the most complete collection of electronically reported decisions of courts and tribunals in Canada. Now you can continue to count on that superior collection and more.
Parallel Citations on Full-Text Cases—Greater Convenience and Transparency
Another new and valuable feature of our case law databases is the addition of all parallel citations at the top of every decision. Information previously available only in our case citator will soon be attached to the decision itself, making research faster and our content more transparent.
Case Summaries on Quicklaw
Our collection of case summaries is the most comprehensive collection available in Canada. No other service can compare. Our legal editors identify and summarize all significant cases as soon as they become available, and digests are available the same day the decision appears online for all Supreme Court of Canada cases and substantive Court of Appeal decisions. Digests for significant cases in other courts are online soon after the full text of the decision appears online.
All digests are accessible in the Canadian Case Summaries on Quicklaw as well as being attached to the full text of the decision.
Canada Digests on Quicklaw—Introducing an Important New Access Point
We are also pleased to announce the launch of our new Canada Digest, a major enhancement to case summary searching on Quicklaw. Case summaries have been reclassified using our new LexisNexis® Classification System and grouped by topic in a series of Canada Digests. Simply drill down through a browseable table of contents to find relevant groups of digests under your subject of interest. Or search with our easy, flexible and convenient search template—specially designed to optimize topical digest research.
You’ll find the Canada Criminal Digest, the Canada Labour Arbitration Digest, the Canada Patent Digest, the Canada Copyright Digest, and the Canada Trademarks Digest are available on the basic service April 1, 2008.
More cases, faster access, better research tools. If you were wondering whether Quicklaw will continue to meet your most demanding research requirements, the answer is an unequivocal yes! And we remain committed to meet those needs and work to exceed your expectations.
Yours sincerely,
Gary Rodrigues
In particular, here’s what you will find on Quicklaw in the coming weeks:
Criminal Law Collection
Case law
• Over 140,000 court decisions since 1876
• All decisions reported in print since 1970
• All decisions decided prior to 1970 that have been cited by courts after 1970
• Parallel citations of all cases published in print appear on the face of the decision
• The most complete collection of electronically reported decisions in Canada
• Every jurisdiction in Canada
• In English and in French, as issued by the court
• Over 21,000 tribunal decisions
• British Columbia Review Board (Criminal Code) Decisions
• Ontario Review Board (Criminal Code) Decisions
• Quebec Administrative Tribunal, Social Affairs Division Decisions (designated as a Review Board under the Criminal Code)
Summaries
• Canada Criminal Digest (digests of over 100,000 unique cases)
• 95,000 summaries in Canadian Case Summaries & Criminal Law Cases—Topical
Labour Law Collection
Case law
• Over 13,000 court decisions since 1876
• All decisions reported in print since 1970
• All decisions decided prior to 1970 that have been cited by courts after 1970
• Parallel citations of all cases published in print appear on the face of the decision
• The most complete collection of electronically reported decisions in Canada
• Every jurisdiction in Canada
• In English and in French, as issued by the courts
• Over 207,000 board, tribunal and arbitration decisions
• Parallel citations of all cases published in print appear on the face of the decision
• In English and in French, as issued by the decision maker
• Alberta Labour Relations Board Decisions Index
• Alberta Labour Relations Board Reports
• British Columbia Collective Agreement Arbitration Awards
• British Columbia Labour Relations Board Decisions
• Canada Industrial Relations Board Decisions
• Canada Labour Arbitration Decisions
• Canada Labour Code Part II Appeals Officers (Health & Safety) Decisions
• Canada Public Service Labour Relations Board Decisions
• Canadian Artists and Producers Professional Relations Tribunal Decisions
• Décisions de la Commission des lésions professionnelles du Québec
• Décisions de la Commission des relations du travail dans la fonction publique
• Décisions de la Commission des relations du travail du Québec
• Décisions des Agents d’appel en vertu du Code canadien du travail, partie II (santé et securité au travail)
• Décisions du Conseil canadien des relations industrielles
• Décisions du Tribunal canadien des relations professionnelles artistes-producteurs
• Décisions du Tribunal du travail du Québec
• Manitoba Grievance Arbitration Awards
• Manitoba Labour Board Decisions
• New Brunswick Industrial Relations Board Decisions
• New Brunswick Labour Adjudication Awards
• New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board Decisions
• New Brunswick Public Service Labour Relations Board Decisions
• Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Arbitration Awards
• Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Relations Board Decisions
• Northwest Territories Labour Arbitration Awards
• Nova Scotia Labour Arbitration Awards
• Ontario Grievance Settlement Board Decisions
• Ontario Labour Arbitration Awards
• Ontario Labour Relations Board Decisions
• Ontario Labour Relations Board Reports
• Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Adjudication Decisions
• Ontario Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal Decisions
• Ontario Public Service Grievance Board Decisions
• Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal Decisions
• Prince Edward Island Labour Arbitration Awards
• Prince Edward Island Labour Relations Board Decisions
• Saskatchewan Labour Arbitration Awards
• Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board Decisions
• Yukon Labour Arbitration Awards
Summaries
• Canada Labour Arbitration Digest (digests of over 10,000 unique cases)
• Labour Arbitration Xpress
• 10,000 summaries in Canadian Case Summaries & Labour Law Cases—Topical
Intellectual Property Law Collection
Case law
• Over 11,000 court decisions since 1876
• All decisions reported in print since 1970
• All decisions decided prior to 1970 that have been cited by courts after 1970
• Parallel citations of all cases published in print appear on the face of the decision
• The most complete collection of electronically reported decisions in Canada
• Every jurisdiction in Canada
• In English and in French, as issued by the court
• Over 22,000 board and tribunal decisions
Summaries
• 5,000 summaries in Canadian Case Summaries & Intellectual Property Law Cases—Topical
• Canada Patent Digest
• Canada Copyright Digest
• Canada Trademarks Digest
Well we didn’t think Reed Elsevier would stand by and do nothing, and this is a strong response.
Fascinating in light of the discussion on BestCase that they have claim to have every pre-1970 case that has been cited post-1970.
Now we wait to see what BestCase actually looks like.
Unless I have misunderstood Gary Rodrigues’s announcement, the scope of the enhancement to QL is very limited. He says:
“Case law collections on Quicklaw have been enriched to include all of the cases needed to practise in the fields of criminal law, labour arbitrations, and intellectual property law. Quicklaw case law now includes all deci-sions of courts and labour arbitrators reported in print since 1970 and all decisions reported in print that were decided before 1970 that have been cited in a Canadian court after 1970. In essence, if a case matters, you’ll find it on Quicklaw.”
That the scope of the enhancements is limited in this way is borne out by the lists at the end of the announcement. In other words, it is not clear what will be the consequence for those of us – and there are a lot of us – who have interests in other areas of the law.