Answers

Getting started with Westlaw UK

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Westlaw UK is one of the core legal research tools you will use throughout your Law degree. It provides access to authoritative case law, legislation, and legal commentary, making it essential for completing assignments, preparing case notes, and developing strong legal research skills.

Why Westlaw UK?

• Essential for legal research assignments and case notes.
• Helps you understand how the law has evolved through both historic and modern cases.
• Keeps legislation up to date and consolidated, saving you time.
• Complements Lexis+ UK, giving broader coverage across cases, commentary, and legal news.

What does Westlaw UK have for me?

Not sure where to begin with legal research? Westlaw UK makes it easier by letting you browse topics and collections right from the Basic Search page. Each topic gives you a simple overview plus links to helpful resources like articles, books, videos, and key cases - perfect for building confidence when you're starting.

Here’s what you can find on Westlaw UK:

• The Law Reports (official series) - These are the most trusted versions of important court cases. If your lecturer says, “use an authoritative case,” this is what they mean.
• The English Reports - Old but gold! These cases go all the way back to 1220 and are great for historical context or understanding how legal ideas developed.
• UK Case Analysis - Short, easy‑to‑read case summaries that help you quickly understand what a case is about, plus links to the full judgment if you need more detail.
• European and International Cases - Useful if your course covers EU law, human rights, or anything involving law across different countries.
• Fully Consolidated Acts - Up‑to‑date versions of UK laws (from 1267 to now) showing the legislation as it currently stands. No need to piece together amendments yourself.
• Selected Statutory Instruments - These show detailed rules made under Acts (from 1948 onward) and include changes over time, which is really helpful for assignments that involve tracking how the law has evolved.
  
  

Logging in

• The first time you log in, you may be prompted to enter your Arden username (your Arden email address). After this initial login, you should be taken directly into Westlaw UK.
   
• If you are already logged in to Arden's single-sign-in (e.g. iLearn) you can access Weslaw directly through the library's A-Z List of Databases.
   

• If you have been logged out of the database, you can click on the login button. Click on the Access through OpenAthens. After that, you should go straight into Practical Law.
   

Navigating the homepage

• Main Navigation Bar:
  You can easily navigate around the Westlaw UK database using the top navigation bar. On this bar you’ll find the main sections that help you jump straight to the type of legal information you need:  
  

• Cases – Find judgments from UK courts and tribunals. Great for reading full cases or checking how the courts reasoned in a decision.
• Legislation – Access Acts, Bills, and statutory instruments. Most are fully consolidated, so you can see the law as it currently stands.
• Journals – Search articles from a wide range of legal journals - perfect for assignments, essays, and deeper research on a topic.
• Current Awareness – Stay up‑to‑date with new cases, legislation, and legal developments. Useful if your module requires following recent changes.
• Index of legal terms - Look up definitions and find key cases or legislation linked to a specific legal term,  great for revision or clarifying concepts.
• EU - Explore EU treaties, cases, legislation, and commentary. Helpful for EU law modules or comparative legal studies.
• Westlaw Books – Access online textbooks and practitioner titles directly through Westlaw. Ideal when you need clear explanations or expert commentary.
   
• The Search Bar: 
  The Search Bar sits at the top of every page and is the quickest way to find what you need on Westlaw UK.
  
  It supports
  • Natural‑language searching: Type a question or phrase in normal English, such as “duty of care in negligence”.
  • Keyword and connector searches: Useful if you want more precise results (e.g., negligence AND “duty of care”). 

As you type, Westlaw will automatically suggest relevant terms, topics, cases, legislation titles, and keywords to help guide your search,  making it easier to discover the right materials even if you’re not sure of the exact wording.

• Browse by Topic Section:
  This section lets you explore Westlaw UK through clear, curated legal subject areas. It’s a great place to start when you’re not sure what search terms to use or when you want an overview of a particular area of law.
  Each topic provides:
  • A structured entry point into key practice areas.
  • Subtopics that help you narrow your focus.
  • Easy‑to‑understand introductions to major legal concepts.
  • Links to relevant cases, legislation, books, journals, and videos.

It’s an ideal way to build confidence in a new subject and quickly find quality materials for your research or assignments.

• Personalisation and Tools: Westlaw UK includes several personalisation features designed to help you stay organised, track your progress, and quickly return to important materials. These tools can all be accessed from the homepage or the top navigation area.

• History - Automatically records every document and search you’ve viewed, including cases, legislation, journal articles, and topic pages. This makes it easy to retrace your steps or revisit something you found earlier without needing to repeat your search.
• Folders - Allows you to save and organise documents into your own collections. This is especially useful for structuring research for assignments, grouping materials by module, or building a set of resources for exam revision.
• Favourites - Enables you to bookmark your most frequently used resources, such as key Acts, important cases, or essential topic pages - so you can return to them instantly whenever you log back in.
• Alerts - Keeps you informed about new developments in the law. Perfect for staying up to date without manually checking back.​​​
  You can set up alerts for:
  • New or updated cases.
  • Changes to legislation.
  • Journal publications on specific topics.
  • Updates to subject areas you’re following.

Related FAQs

Getting Started with Practical Law

Getting started with Westlaw eBooks

Further guidance

Head over to Westlaw Training for helpful guides and tips to make the most of this database! You can explore a variety of topics such as getting started, practice areas and topics, searching and delivering content, drafting documents, key features, AI research, and so on.

Need more help

If you would like more help, email us at Library@arden.ac.uk or book a librarian appointment