Useful information to get you started plus introductory resources to serve as reminders and refreshers for those returning to their legal studies.
Printing
Students starting their courses this Autumn will be credited £8 of free print credit. Printing from computers at City University costs 5p per sheet. Double-sided printing (duplex) costs 8p per sheet.
Printers on the Lower Ground Floor are set to print double-sided automatically. Printers on the Ground Floor print single-sided only.
All computers in the School are linked to networked printers. Documents will print from the nearest printer to the computer you are using.
Once the £8.00 free credit has been used up, to recredit your print account you can top up your print account at the library's enquiry desk or at Princeton Street IT office. You will need your IT login and a minimum of £1 (20 sheets).
Photocopying
Please note that photocopiers work on a different system and now take cash only, charged at 5p per copy. Please have the correct change available for the copies you need as copy credit cannot be refunded once fed into the machines.
Want to know more about your Inns of Court library?
All Inns of Court libraries are open to BVC students and offer extensive law collections, dedicated and learned staff, excellent services and pleasant reading rooms conducive to silent study!
Tours of the Inn libraries are currently taking place. Take advantage of this opportunity to visit and become acquainted with their collections and services BEFORE you start in pupillage. Dates and times of tours are displayed on the noticeboard at The City Law School's library.
If you can't attend a tour but would like to know more, view a slideshow of a talk on student services at the Inns of Court libraries here.
There's no need to! And we advise you not to...
If you are a new student, you will have access to Outweb which allows you to access your school emails from home. If you started at City before June 2008, you will need to use a similar internet-based system, Webmail.
Your University email address @city is used for all the School's email communication with you; we do not accept other email addresses. It is strongly recommended that you DO NOT forward your mail to an external provider, especially if you are a user of the new Outweb system, as your emails will not be stored on the University's servers and cannot be retrieved should you delete or lose any. We are only able to provide limited support for email accounts forwarded to external providers.
If you still wish to forward your email then contact the IT office at Princeton Street for advice first (see Ask Us opposite for contact details)
Textbooks - particularly law books - can be expensive. The library has produced the following round-up of ways to reduce the cost for students on a budget.
An NUS Extra Card is £10.00 per year but pays for itself by providing discounts on all kinds of products and services, including a 5% discount on purchases from www.amazon.co.uk. See www.nusextra.co.uk for more details.
LexisNexis Butterworths offer downloadable booklets of student vouchers offering up to 70% off a limited range of selected titles - go to www.lexisnexis.co.uk/studentvoucher for details.
Wildy & Sons (www.wildy.com) sell second-hand legal texts, for those who wish to save money by not buying new.
OUP. Students and newly qualifieds (solicitors qualified in the last 3 years and barristers with 3 years or less to call), benefit from a 31% discount on Blackstone's Criminal Practice, Blackstone's Civil Practice & Blackstone's Employment Practice. Purchase these texts directly from OUP to benefit from this discount.
Hammicks offer substantial discounts on various essential texts if you are in practice. Pupils or barristers with up to 3 years call should purchase direct from Hammicks here.
Not a bookseller, but useful to students, is the Ryman stationery chain (nearest branch 19-20 High Holborn), who offer a 10% discount (5% on printer cartridges etc) on production of a valid student ID.
From Wednesday 16th June, The City Law School library, Grays Inn, is open Monday to Thursday, 9.00am to 6.00pm, Friday 9.00am to 5pm and closed weekends.
The Inns of Court libraries offer a Saturday service on a rota basis. For further details see the attached calendar.
For those needing out of hours IT access 24 hour computer labs are available at the University's Drysdale building. You'll need to contact IT Services to get your ID card enabled.
Wireless network access is available in all student areas at the Gray's Inn campus and at City's Northampton Square site. Power sockets for laptops are available in the Library, the Reading room in Princeton Street and the Common room in the Atkin Building. You will need your City University IT account login ID and password to access the service.
Laptops running Windows XP, Vista or 7 are supported as well as Apple Macs. You can access the internet on the iPhone, Blackberry and most other mobile devices using 'citywifi'. For more details click here. Alternatively all instructions are available at the library or outside the IT Support Office in Princeton Street. For more asisstance please visit the IT Support Office, phone 020 7400 0261 or City's IT Response Centre on 020 7040 8181.
CitySpace is an essential tool for all students at City and provides access to course materials, resources and activities. Access CitySpace with your IT account username ID & password - full instructions are here.
If you intend to access CitySpace from off-campus then please refer to the Computer Configuration Guide before attempting to do so. Please note that CitySpace is not currently configured to work with AOL - here's why.
At this stage, you may also find the Browser Check-up tool and Technical Tips for using CitySpace useful.
On logging into CitySpace you will see an E-Learning Induction and Resources Module; this short video helps walk you through CitySpace and can be used to introduce yourself to some of the things you'll find in the induction.
Your teaching staff will be able to advise you on the materials and activities in your CitySpace modules. Further assistance is available from Monika Eady (email m.eady@city.ac.uk), IT support at City Law School. For more specialist problems, contact the CitySpace helpdesk or send a report via the CitySpace report form.
Welcome to Gray's Inn!
Find your way around the local area using this area map. Use the floorplan of the library at Gray's Inn Place to explore our book stock and key services.
Visit the City University campus at Northampton Square (NSQ) and explore the buildings in 3D! The University library's law collection is on level 4. 24hour computer facilities are in the Drysdale building and sports facilities are at Goswell Road
You can also visit the libraries of the Inns of Court (BVC students) or the Law Society (LPC students). Insert the postcode of the address into Google maps for exact directions.
From the Student Centre. An introduction to the services available to City University students.
Lawbore's RSS features allow you to receive information from the course noticeboards and Lawbore news direct to your Inbox. Watch this short demonstration and learn what an RSS feed is and how you can use them to build your own personalised homepage. Access the tutorial
A collection of online tutorials, videos and podcasts to support your legal studies. These materials complement those available in the Using Legal Resources module on CitySpace.
By signing up to a special Times Online service, you can receive their latest legal news, analysis and comment directly into your e-mail inbox.
To find out more, please click here for link to the Times Online website.
If you are about to start researching your LLM dissertation topic, you might find our Dissertation Writing and Research Resources Guide useful.
It contains a list of books on research and dissertation writing held at The Gray's Inn Place Library; links to library catalogues; and details of citing and referencing guides.
To access the Dissertation Writing and Research Resources Guide, please click here.
The slides to accompany the Researching Your Dissertation class presentation can be viewed here.
The City Law School has teamed up with CPDcast.com to make over 300 podcasts on a wide range of legal topics, freely available to students!
The podcasts are heavily used in the legal profession with over 1500 subscribing law firms. All the podcasts are delivered by authoritiative experts in the field and are fully accredited for CPD points by the SRA, Bar Standards Board & ILEX.
The CPD team at The City Law School are the main contributors to the student site and have secured an exclusive deal for students at the School.
Simply register at CPDcast.com and then start downloading the law podcasts that interest you....see the latest content here. There's a podcast for every major area of law so you've plenty to choose from!
Reading and interpreting 'authorities' - ie statutory legislation and law reports - is arguably one of the most important skills a barrister or solicitor must learn. This brief summary note gives a few pointers towards the effective reading and interpretation of both legislation and case law. Find it here.
You might also take a look at this detailed chapter, Reading Cases and Statutes in Nick McBride's Letters to a Law Student: A Guide to Studying Law at University. The author's fresh and novel approach works well and this chapter covers why you should read cases and statutes, what approach to take as well as various useful tips. Thanks to Nick and Pearson Education for allowing us to load the Chapter!
A series of 5 short films collectively entitled Always Cited in Preference have been published by the ICLR and are of excellent value for legal research:
A Tale of Two Citations - the merits of preparing for court using leading authorities rather than transcripts of unreported cases
Find that Case! - an introduction to case law research using both online and hard copy works
A History of the ICLR - includes details of Court's reporting requirements and the relevant Practice Directions.
The films appear on YouTube (click the links above to load).
With thanks to The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for providing this excellent resource.
Practitioner texts such as Chitty on Contracts or Clerk and Lindsell on Torts are essential texts for the legal practitioner. They differ markedly from academic texts and can often be very complex to use.
This short tutorial on Using Practitioner Texts on our sister site, Learnmore offers an introduction to navigating your way round practitioner texts. Learn how to use a practitioner text and then take our speed reading tutorial and really get ahead in legal research!
A general audio guide to plagiarism in an academic studies context at City University.
We often think we know what plagiarism is but are you sure you've got it covered? Many fall into the trap of plagiarising without even realising...
This presentation Plagiarism and how to avoid it shows you what it is and how to avoid it. Don't forget to read the Plagiarism Notice available on CitySpace in conjunction with this excellent introduction...
For hints and tips on how to increase the rate at which you read, please see this short guide from our sister site Learnmore.
A tutorial from our sister site LearnMore on how to cite cases from law reports correctly...and how to find our what the citations you have come across, actually mean.
This award-winning tutorial from Cardiff University will show you how and when to cite:
Law in Action is a long-running legal magazine radio programme broadcast on Tuesdays at 4pm. The programme aims "to lead the field in lively, jargon-free but rigorous analysis of the legal stories in, behind, and ahead of the news." About Law in Action
Recent topics discussed on the programme include:
Check the BBC's Law in Action website for more details about recent and forthcoming programmes and to download or subscribe to a podcast of the latest programme.
Training tutorials on how to use the Westlaw database efficiently for your legal research. We recommend you start with the student tutorial. More advanced users may prefer to use the Practitioner tutorial and see how a practising lawyer might use the database.
Each tutorial is an interactive tool designed to guide you through every aspect of content and functionality on the new Westlaw UK. The tutorial will take less than one hour to complete and offers a step-by-step guide to searching, browsing material types, the research tools available, and printing and emailing your results.
These online tutorials will give you an excellent grasp of the essential principles, tips and techniques of searching the LexisNexis Butterworths legal database. Tutorials include:
Allow approximately 20 mins for each tutorial.
Attend an online LexisNexis Coffee Break Webinar and discover powerful tools and proven techniques to help make your research more efficient.
Choose from a menu of quick 20-minute sessions on topics such as Strengthen Your Core (on improving research skills), Search, Find, Validate (top tips for case law research) and How to Become a Company Information Sleuth.
Click the "Listen Now" button. Play, pause, rewind, stop - set your own schedule. While listening be aware that these Seminars focus on US law and the US database - but the same research principles apply to the LexisNexis UK database.
Medical dictionaries explain complex medical terms in plain english for those who have no experience of medicine. Personal injury lawyers in particular often need to refer to medical dictionaries.
This short tutorial will introduce you to the principal printed and online sources for medical terminology. Written by Nicola Wakefield of Manchester Metropolitan University.
Legal dictionaries are not just useful for complex legal terminology; they are also an excellent source for those researching words and phrases as defined in both legislation and case law.
This interactive tutorial shows how to make best use of specialist legal dictionaries in your legal research. Written by Nicola Wakefield of Manchester Metropolitan University.
A podcast discussing and offering tips for effective mooting and advocacy, read by David Pope and Daniel Hill, authors of Mooting and Advocacy Skills (available in the CLS library). This podcast forms part of a series of podcasts hosted by Sweet & Maxwell available here
A selection of video clips demonstrating mooting techniques and common mistakes. Clips include Handling Questioning, Citing Authorities and Defending Arguments. You will need Adobe Flash Player on your computer. Access the tutorial
An interactive tutorial designed to improve your legal research skills on the internet. In 1 hour you will improve your knoweldge of free, high-quality legal resources on the internet, learn how to search the legal internet more effectively and how to evaluate what you find to ensure it is accurate and up to date. Written by Sue Petit at Bristol University. Access the tutorial
The library's Enquiry Desk is staffed by a dedicated support team working with experienced legal information professionals. The library team can assist you with your queries regarding the library and support you in your use of legal resources - both printed and electronic.
Call us on 0207 400 3605 during opening hours or email a law librarian at .
For queries regarding your IT account, CitySpace or technical issues regarding access to other resources, please call IT support on 020 7400 0261 or email m.eady@city.ac.uk.
Our popular Library Guides offer expert guidance you can refer to throughout the course.
Information about your use of the library and its resources. Click on the titles below to access the PDF documents. You will need your IT account login ID and password.
Guidance on how to use printed legal materials and electronic legal databases. Click on the titles below to access the pdf documents.
Tools, utilities, frequently asked questions and essential information to help you become a more effective user of Lawbore Pro and web technologies… and a more efficient student.
RefWorks is an online research management, writing and collaboration tool which students at The City Law School can sign up for.
Through RefWorks, you can import references from other sources (e.g. from many online database services); organise and manage your references; and generate citations and bibliographies.
Please click here for a short presentation on how to use Refworks and on the City University London library catalogue record for more information and to access RefWorks.
A general audio guide to plagiarism in an academic studies context at City University.
We often think we know what plagiarism is but are you sure you've got it covered? Many fall into the trap of plagiarising without even realising...
This presentation Plagiarism and how to avoid it shows you what it is and how to avoid it. Don't forget to read the Plagiarism Notice available on CitySpace in conjunction with this excellent introduction...
There are a number of RSS feeds on Lawbore Pro indicated by an orange symbol. The RSS tool 'feeds' recent items added to websites such as BBC News or Lawbore Pro to your web browser's home page. The feeds are displayed on the browser's toolbar and are updated automatically when news articles are published.
You can view and subscribe to the content of our RSS feeds using modern web browsers or by installing an RSS news reader, either on the desktop or online. Using a feed reader allow feeds to be viewed from multiple sources and on any browser (ie: on Firefox, Explorer). See the tutorial in this Toolbox for further details.
To quickly get started with RSS feeds on Internet Explorer:
Click the University's RSS home page for other City University pages you wish to subscribe to and for step-by-step instructions to download a RSS feed reader.
Lawbore's RSS features allow you to receive information from the course noticeboards and Lawbore news direct to your Inbox. Watch this short demonstration and learn what an RSS feed is and how you can use them to build your own personalised homepage. Access the tutorial