Book smart

For years, I was unaware that my local library offered free ebooks, and by the time I found this out, my Kindle’s battery had long since died.

It turns out that this lack of awareness of remote and digital benefits is common across libraries, including of course, the Law Society’s. When you think of the Law Society library, you might first think of the rather magnificent room in central London, filled with over 34,000 different titles, and a rather inspiring workspace. And the usefulness of this benefit is likely to depend heavily on where your own work is based. But there are some rather extraordinary library benefits, regardless of where you work.

The library keep a common query database, maintained using a tool based on the librarians’ research, which covers many of the different issues that may come up. On the Private Client Solicitor’s Section website, there are also tailored examples of some of the questions and queries the library has been able to help with. These offer precedents on a range of issues that have frequently come up in the enquiries they’ve received, on the latest developments and niche queries, and show some of the support that the library is able to get. There is also an extensive online catalogue that can be searched.

As a Law Society member, you are also able to submit your own research enquiries, and any research up to 30 minutes per query is not charged. Recent enquiries include: 

• precedent searches for affidavits in probate 
• whether a trustee is able to witness a will that leaves a gift on trust or if this is invalidated by section 15 of the Wills Act 1837, and 
• the process around revoking a grant of letters of administration when a latter will has been located. 

The librarians are able to search the library’s comprehensive legal collection and range of subscriptions to find the answer, saving you time and resources. These queries are also completed within two working days, if not quicker. Members often feed back just how cost-saving this can be, which can be especially beneficial in the current economic climate.

Even though this service is available for all Law Society members, it is predominantly used by repeat customers, with there remaining a general misconception that the library services are not available remotely. 

The library also provides a document delivery service, Lawdocs, which allows for a range of legal documents, such as precedents, journal articles and commentary to be sent directly to your inbox. This is a pay-as-you-go service and does not require you to be a member.

You may well ask how a Law Society employee, who is not a lawyer, can judge how useful or effective the library services are, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Here is just some of the positive feedback received from Law Society members:

• “What a quick response. Extremely grateful for the very good research. This service is the best return … if I had gone elsewhere it would have cost thousands and the advice would not have been as good as what the library provided”, from a sole practitioner.
• “Thanks so much for getting back to me so quickly … We stopped buying Current Law Yearbook many years ago, but it is great that the Law Society’s collection is able to fill in the gaps. Law firms such as ours would be lost without you”, from a deputy head of research at a large firm.
• “I won my court case thanks to the Law Society Library” from Keith Etherington, former litigation solicitor and Law Society Council member, whose full story you can read here on LinkedIn.