GETTING STARTED copy

User Guide
Wherever you are in Casetrack you can return to
the main page by clicking once on Home
on the menu.
Can't find what you are looking for?
Need help with searching?
E-mail [email protected]
or
Telephone 020 7421 4036
Contents
PAGE NO.
CONTENTS
2
Contents
3
Getting Started
4
Transcript Retrieval
6
Full-text Searching
8
Understanding Search Results
9
Understanding Case Records
11
What Can I Do When I Find My Judgment
12
Current Awareness
Getting Started
The web address is www.casetrack.com
The front page is as follows:
Once you have logged in, the home page is as follows:
Transcript Retrieval
I Know What I Am Looking For - I Want To Find A Specific
Transcript
Click once on Search for a Judgment
Select the court you want to search in
Put the name of one of the parties in the Case Name field
If you know it, also complete the first Date field - all dates must
be entered as dd/mm/yyyy
5. Click once on Search or press enter
1.
2.
3.
4.
Example:
You want to find the case of Inter Lotto (UK) Ltd v Camelot heard in
the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal on 30 July 2003. You would
fill in the template as follows:
I Don't Know The Name of The Case, But I Know Some Details About It
1. Click once on Search for a Judgment
2. Select the court you want to search in
3. Complete the fields of the Advanced Search template that you
know the details for
OR
Type the details you know in the full-text search box (see page
6)
4. Click once on Search
EXAMPLE:
You know that a case was heard in the Chancery Division in front of
Mr Justice Douglas Brown on 18 July 2003, but don't know the
name of the case. You would fill in the template as follows:
For information on the search results screen go to page 8
Full-Text Searching
1. Click once on Search for a Judgment
2. Select the court you want to search in
3. Enter the words you want to search for in the Full-text Search
field
· If you enter a single word e.g. Beecham all the judgments
where Beecham appears at least once will be retrieved
· If you enter a string of words the search will be narrowed
e.g. Smithkline Beecham: all judgments where Smithkline Beecham appears at least once will be retrieved
4. Select any other fields that you may wish to use to limit the
search e.g. Court, Subject - for example if you are only interested in Intellectual Property cases select that from the drop
down list
5. Click once on search
More effective full-text searching
1. You can use the words AND, OR, and AND NOT in the full-text
search field
to refine your search
AND: e.g. accident AND whiplash
The search engine will return all cases with at least one occurrence
of "accident" and at least one occurrence of "whiplash"
OR: e.g. Lambeth OR Barnet
The search engine will return all cases with at least one occurrence
of either "Lambeth" or "Barnet"
AND NOT: e.g. professional negligence AND NOT doctors
The search engine will return all cases with at least one occurrence
of "professional negligence" and exclude cases with one or more occurrence of "doctors"
2. Using the Proximity Operators NEAR, SENTENCE and PARAGRAPH can also refine searches
NEAR: John NEAR Sean
The search engine will return all cases where the words appear
within 2 to 3 words of each other
SENTENCE: Lambeth SENTENCE Councillor
The search engine will return all cases where the words appear
within the same sentence
PARAGRAPH: Lambeth PARAGRAPH European Grant
The search engine will return all cases where the words appear
within the same paragraph
Understanding Search Results
1. A list of all the cases that fit your search criteria will appear
2. To see how many cases fit your criteria see the results counter at
the top of the screen
3. To see further details on the case click on either the Case name
or View details
EXAMPLE
You are looking for a case name in the Criminal Court of Appeal involving an offender named Philpott but you are not sure of the date
of the judgment. In the search template you selected Court of Appeal / Admin Court, and put Philpott in the Case Name field. The result you get is below:
What Do I Do If The Transcript Is Not Yet Available?
Click once on the pending list link and complete the details of the
case you are waiting for. You will be informed as soon as it is available for downloading. Alternatively, you can click on the case detective link and submit your query.
Understanding Case Records
The case record gives you the outline details of a case, for example,
Neutral Citation number, Judges, Classification, and Representation.
Key cases also have a short extract to help you decide if it is the
judgment you are looking for.
To view the transcript you simply need to scroll down.
What Does Judgment Status Mean?
Listed - The case has been listed to be heard but no further information is available.
Part Heard - The case has begun but evidence is still being presented. It is most likely to be continued the following day.
Reserved - The case has been heard but the judges have not made
a decision. It will be brought back to court for a decision at a later
date.
Not Given - The case has been heard but a decision was not made.
It is most likely that it has been adjourned or settled out of court.
Given - A judgment has been given but the transcript is not yet
available (refer to transcript status field to find out what stage it has
reached).
What does Transcript Status Mean?
Initial - The judgment is being prepared by the shorthand writer.
The shorthand writer has 10 days to complete the draft
Draft - The judgment has been completed by the shorthand writer
and it is with the judge awaiting approval. Once it is returned from
the judge the shorthand writer has 5 working days to complete the
transcript
Approved - A transcript is available
Understanding Restrictions
Sometimes we are unable to publish judgments on Casetrack due to
restrictions imposed by the court. If a case is restricted then it will
say so on the case record.
In Camera, In Chambers – Transcripts cannot be published. A copy
of the transcript can only be obtained with written permission from
the judge and will need to be collected.
Publication Restrictions – Transcripts cannot be published. A copy of
the transcript can only be obtained with permission of the judge.
Judgments can then be requested and a copy will be e-mailed to
you.
Identification Restrictions / Criminal Court Restrictions - These
judgments can be published but only after we have ensured that the
necessary identities have been anonymised. There is sometimes a
delay in this process but judgments can be requested and a copy
will then be e-mailed to you.
What Can I Do When I Find My Judgment
Printing from the Internet
Print document using print icon at the top of the screen
Downloading a judgment
1. NON PAYG subscribers only – Right click once on the icon, click
on save target as, rename the file if you wish
2. PAYG subscribers only – Click once on Download Transcript - enter your reference (this can be the name of the partner/barrister,
client, file number, etc. Click once on Download Transcript and
then follow the instructions on screen
Retrieving a file once you have downloaded a judgment
1. Open Word
2. Go to File, Open
3. Make sure All Files is selected in the Files of Type box
4. Double click on the file that you want to open
Current Awareness
NEW THIS WEEK
To scan judgments which are new this week from european and
domestic courts click once on New This Week on the Casetrack
Home page
Subject Searching - Recent Judgments
1. Select the court you want to search in
2. Click once on Judgments Approved
3. Judgments recently approved are listed by subject classification
To
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3.
See What Is Listed For Hearing
Select the court that you want to search under
Click once on Cases Listed
Cases are listed by court and then by date
The Case Alerter Online
The Case Alerter is available both within Casetrack and also as a
separate website at www.casealerter.com.
To
1.
2.
3.
view summaries within Casetrack:
Select the Court that you want to search in;
Click once on Summaries;
You can then see summaries of selected cases. For a link to the
case transcript click once on View Transcript.