For External Placements
For External Placements
When you are on placement with organisations outside La Trobe University, you are creating work product for those organisations rather than for the University, and the library’s licence agreements with many publishers won’t let you use La Trobe University subscriptions for that work. This means you cannot use LexisNexis, Westlaw, CCH, or any subscription service that requires a login.
The following resources are freely available and can be used when you are on placement without worrying about licencing issues.
Remember that authoritative versions of cases are generally in reports accessible via Lexis and Westlaw, and thus you won't be able to access them. Keep this in mind when using non-authoritative versions.
- Australian Legal Information Institute (AustLII)Can also be useful for court transcripts and unreported cases.
- LawCite (provided by AustLII)An international case citator that can provide details about cases: legislation judicially considered, cases cited.
- BarNet JadeGo to the "Citator" tab to access search. While Jade will encourage you to register an account, you do not have to have one to use the majority of the available features.
The authoritative versions of legislation are freely available, provided by the various Australian parliaments. For states and territories other than Victorian and the Commonwealth, see this page.
- Federal Register of LegislationThe Federal Register of Legislation is the authorised whole-of-government website for Commonwealth legislation and related documents. It contains the full text and details of the lifecycle of individual laws and the relationships between them.
- Victorian LegislationThe primary source for Victorian legislation. Find Bills considered by Parliament, Acts of Parliament and statutory rules.
- LegifyWhile not a source of legislation, Legify is an instant search aggregator of authoritative (or as close to authoritative as possible) Australian legislation. It indexes the current version of Acts and Regulations and is particularly useful if you know the name but not the jurisdiction of an Act. Check the website to which it sends you to ensure you are using an authoritative site.
- LawLexThe free sections of LawLex are useful as a search tool for finding legislation for all jurisdictions. It will link you to the authoritative version of legislation.
While academic journals are usually access through a subscription, some journals are also available for free. This is particularly the case for journals that include the name of the University in the title. It is often worth searching the title of the journal in Library Search to see if one of the access links says “Free e-journals”.
- AustLII - Journals and ScholarshipAustlii has a collection of freely available journals.
Courts and Tribunals
Court and Tribunal websites often contain information on the areas of law they cover, including practical details like the forms you will need to file and instructions on how to file.
Other free resources
- The Law HandbookThe practical guide for law in Victoria, from the Fitzroy Legal Service.
- Law Reform Collection (AustLII)Law Reform body reports from across Australia and New Zealand
- Victoria Legal AidFollow the "I need legal information about..." links to see the areas of law the site covers.
- Judicial College of Victoria Bench BooksIncludes bench books and manuals for both Civil and Criminal law