A new online resource - Bermuda Law Reports - could prove a boon for both the local and international legal community.

The project has been launched by Karen Skiffington who said the impetus behind the project was “to make available case law from the Bermuda Supreme Court and Court of Appeal via the Internet”.

To date law reports from 1990 through 2001 are available on the system. Ms Skiffington added that new material is being added weekly, and the system will ultimately include legal reports from 1980 through to the present.

Ms Skiffington, as president of Bermuda Law Reports Ltd., saw the need for such a resource through her work in the local legal sector. Ms Skiffington, who is Information and Systems Manager at local law firm Mello, Jones & Martin, has been working on the project since November.

The project is an “at home, in the evenings” job for the working mother of four children. She said: “Bermuda has never had official law reports, although our jurisdiction has been represented occasionally in the West Indian Law Reports.

“However, for a jurisdiction held in high regard internationally, we have been lacking in the ability to refer consistently to decisions of our own in the Courts.

“This has been commented “This has been commented upon by our judges. Now Bermuda finally has its own law reports,” Ms Skiffington said.

The project is also backed by an editorial committee that includes Chief Justice Austin Ward as Editor Emeritus, Narinder Hargun as Chairman, and barristers Saul Froomkin, Dr. Ian Kawaley, Delroy Duncan and Clare Hatcher.

Ms Skiffington added that she has also been helped in the project by the Bermuda Bar Council, headed by Trevor Moniz along with Mr. Hargun and other interested members of the legal community.

Getting the project off the ground has meant going through 52 volumes of Supreme Court judgments and 37 Court of Appeal judgments.

Ms Skiffington said this has also included indexing to allow for consistent results from the system's search engine.

Bermuda Law Reports includes all Court of Appeal decisions, while Ms Skiffington said Court judgments are vetted for inclusion based on established criteria.

As an example, Ms Skiffington said a matrimonial case may be included if it decides an important point of law. But to protect people's privacy, the names of those involved in the action may be hidden.

Ms Skiffington said one of the reasons for choosing the Internet to deploy the legal reports is that printing the reports retrospectively would have been cost prohibitive.

She added: “The Internet is the best way for allowing the project to have retrospective and comprehensive coverage, as costs are reduced.”

Ms Skiffington continued that using the Internet also enables global access and the ability to maintain currency.

Bermuda Law Reports can be accessed at www.bdalawreports.net and searches can currently be made at no charge.

Ms Skiffington said the system allows users to search based on keywords, date, name of parties, cases referred to or legislation referred to, and by the name of the acting judge or attorney in the case.

A password is required to perform searches, but during the period when the site may be accessed for free, Ms Skiffington said the password is “guest”.

In the coming weeks a price system for access will be instituted with pricing ranging from $250 per year for single member firms up to $1,500 per year for firms with more than 21 attorneys.

Further information on the system can be obtained by e-mail at skiffybdalawreports.net.