Law journal databases

Finding law journal articles

AustLii This link opens in a new window

AustLII contains a large amount of legal journals, currently searching over 150 law journals and legal scholarship databases. One tip if you want articles on a particular case or piece of legislation is to use 'LawCite', accessed from the banner menu on the homepage. To search or browse for journal articles in AustLII, select 'Journals & Scholarship' from the banner menu on the homepage.

Then you can select which journals and collections to search, or leave all ticked to search everything. Put your search into the search bar at the top of screen, for example "academic misconduct" AND "admission to practice" (use the dropdown to access advanced search options). In the results screen you can tick the 'Show Excerpt' box to see the most relevant portion of the article to your search, with all your search terms showing in bold type.

Some of the journals in AustLII can also be found in HeinOnline, which has more advanced search and filtering options.

Lexis + Australia This link opens in a new window

There are different ways to search for journal articles in Lexis+. Some recommended methods include:

On the homepage, open the dropdown menu under 'Advanced Search' and select 'Secondary Materials' for more search options.
Enter your search into the big search box at the top of the page. Then in the results screen select 'AU Secondary Materials'.

After following either of the steps above, you can then select the 'Journals' filter to narrow to journal articles. It may also be useful to select 'Newsletters and Bulletins'.

Westlaw Australia This link opens in a new window
When linking to Westlaw for the first time from a non-Bond PC or wireless device, if there is a message: Access with a single-sign-on
1. enter the group ID bond
2. tick Remember group ID
3. tick Always use single sign-on.
To create a persistent link, copy the url from the Copy Link function and then add &groupid=bond

There are a few ways to search for journal articles in Westlaw Australia:

Search in the big box at the top of the page. Then to narrow your results to journal articles, select the 'Secondary Sources' filter under 'Content Types', and then the 'Law Reviews & Journals' filter under 'Publication Type'.

From the home page, select 'Secondary Sources', then 'Law Reviews & Journals'. Select which journals to search across (we strongly recommend not selecting anything with "Out of plan" as you will not be able to access these) then put in your search.

Finding more law journal articles

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window

HeinOnline's 'Law Journal Library' includes around 3000 different law and law-related journals. To browse journals or for better article search and filter options, on the homepage select 'Law Journal Library' by either clicking the title under the 'Browse Databases by Name' content box, or selecting from the 'All Databases' dropdown.

Then you can search in the box at the top of screen or select 'Advanced Search' for more options. HeinOnline provides multiple filters to further refine on the results screen. Watch the video below for a demonstration of some of HeinOnline's advanced search features.

Westlaw International This link opens in a new window

Westlaw International defaults to only searching United States content. If you are searching for just US content you can use the search box at the top of the page and then refine to 'Secondary Sources' and further to 'Law Reviews & Journals'.

To find journal articles in Westlaw not published in the US, select 'International Materials' from the home screen.

Then select 'Journals' under 'Content Type'.

You can then click on a country to browse the journal titles held, or simply search in the search box at the top of the screen to search across all journals.

Westlaw UK This link opens in a new window
Do not use the PDF icon. Choose Download and then the file type (Word, PDF, etc).

In Westlaw UK, click on the 'Journals' drop down, then select:

'Journals Search' to search for journal articles.
'Publications' to browse all the journal content in the database.

Quicklaw Lexis+ Canada This link opens in a new window
If using Lexis+ on the same browser in the same session, you must click on Sign Out in Quicklaw.
Quicklaw will timeout when a session remains inactive for a period of 15 minutes. This timeout period is set by Lexis and cannot be changed.

Lexis+ Canada contains a number of Canadian legal journals. You can search in the big box at the top and then filter to 'Secondary Materials' and 'Law Reviews & Journals', or simply select 'Law Reviews & Journals' from the home page to browse and search through all of the journal content.

Law: secondary sources