Website reviews

Sites of solicitors' firms which offer automatic email updates on various legal topics

16th May 2005 | Iain Nisbet

OUT-LAW

First of all, congratulations to Pinsent Masons (www.pinsentmasons.com) who run the OUT-LAW website, for the well chosen name and logo (a Wild West sheriff’s badge). The website is dedicated to the law relating to computers, technology, e-commerce, and intellectual property.

The OUT-LAW news section is frequently updated with titbits of legal news on these topics from all over the world. Rather than having to add the site to your favourites folder, it offers a weekly roundup of highlights from the news section. Every week an email arrives in your inbox, heralding the top 10 stories of the week (many with a humorous or quirky flavour, and others with undoubted legal importance). Each has a headline and a brief note of the content of the story, together with a link to the full article. You can view an example of a recent email update in your web browser by visiting www.out-law.com/Viewer/ NewsletterViewer?id=95 .

If you have a website, you can obtain an OUT-LAW revolving news display panel to place on it. This displays the four latest headlines from OUT-LAW news and allows the viewer to click through to the full story. The news display is quite compact and should fit quite nicely within your existing website layout. You can see an example on the absolvitor.com homepage, although you may need to install the relevant plug-in to be able to view the “outlawnews” applet.

And, while you’re on the website, I would recommend subscribing online for the free OUT-LAW (print) magazine, which is very good (but not as good as The Journal, obviously).

MacRoberts

www.macroberts.com

MacRoberts also have an e-updates service which is offered on a number of topics including: employment law; planning law; health and safety; tax; pensions; and technology and media communications.

I have been a subscriber to the employment law e-updates for a couple of years now and have found them very useful and interesting. They are not so frequent that you become bored of them, nor so brief that they are of little use. In contrast, they are about a page’s worth of detailed summary, usually of a recent case of some import from Employment Appeal Tribunal level or above. I would imagine that the other topics offer a similar type and level of service.

As another bonus, you can browse through archived e-updates (and other articles) under “publications” on the website and (unlike the other websites this month) there is no requirement to register in order to access this information.

Law-Now

www.law-now.com

Law-Now is the online information service from CMS Cameron McKenna (www.cmslegal.com). It offers an even wider selection of topics than MacRoberts, although registration is required to access almost anything on the site (other than a message telling you to register).

By contrast to the other two, the updates – offering commentary on the latest legal developments – come thick and fast. This may be too much for those whose inboxes are already crammed. More detail, less often would be welcomed. Indeed, the volume of material received eventually led me to unsubscribe from this service some time ago.

However, this is not to take away from the sheer breadth of material, its use and the fact that you can access all the very latest legal news very quickly and for free. It’s just that you can have too much of a good thing.