In the area of law, much of the material you need for basic research projects has been made available, for free, on the Internet.

After careful consideration, I have compiled a list of my ten favourite legal web sites. These may prove useful to attorneys, pupils, paralegals and law students alike.

Note the heavy emphasis on United Kingdom sources. American law is so different from that practised in Commonwealth countries that the vast majority of it cannot be used as authority in Bermuda, and is largely irrelevant for research purposes, especially as most Bermuda law is "old UK law".

* Legal Resources in the UK and Ireland (http://www.venables.co.uk), was developed by Delia Venables, well-known in the legal research field. The home page is arranged into gateways for specific users, e.g. Companies, Individuals, Lawyers, Students. In the Lawyers section you can access a portal of legal resources A-Z; for Students, free case notes and law materials. She has also compiled a page of links entitled Chambers and Barristers on the Web, which is excellent.

* Bouvier's Legal Dictionary at http://www.constitution.org/bouv/bouvier.htm links to the Revised Sixth Edition of 1856, a law dictionary "adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America and of the Several States of the American Union". The date of this edition and the fact that quite a few of the entries contain reference to the UK meaning of terms makes this one to bookmark.

* Keep up with current happenings in the legal world with Legal Week. Located at http://www.lwk.co.uk, this site is updated daily with the latest news, information, reports, features and analysis from the world of law. You can also search for articles from Legal Director and Legal IT. This site won out over several other law news sites because the search engine is very user-friendly. Bonus: You can subscribe to a free email news alert service.

* Sarah Carter, the Law Librarian at the University of Kent, has produced an award-winning web site comprising a very comprehensive catalogue of links covering the world of law. At LAWLINKS (http://library.ukc.ac.uk/library/lawlinks/default.htm) you will be directed to annotated links to gateways and portals; resources for UK law and for other jurisdictions; international law including treaties and Courts; and private international law (commercial, maritime, etc.). There is also an excellent guide to researching UK law.

* Law Library of Congress has put together a Guide to Law Online by jurisdiction at http://www.loc.gov/law/guide/nations.html. Here you will find profiles for countries that most of us couldn't find on a map (Djibouti, Faroe Islands, Palau, among others), but the entries contain information on Constitution, Executive, Judiciary, Legal Guides, and more.

* Sweet & Maxwell make sections of its UK Bar Directory available on the Internet at http://www.smlawpub.co.uk/online/bardirectory/website/. You can search by individual Barrister or Chambers, limiting by specialty, language spoken and location.

* BAILII, the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (http://www.bailii.org) has pulled together links that access freely available British and Irish public legal information. At this site you can find cases and legislation, the most recent English, Irish, Scottish cases, case law and legislation help, etc. There are also links to other world collections like Australasia (AustLII), Canada (CanLII), Hong Kong (HKLII). At present a pilot database, but current information will be added as available, and it will be built up retrospectively.

* Butterworths LawDirect (http://macdonald.butterworths.co.uk/articles/articles.asp) provides a free articles index back to 1995. The database contains publication details of substantive articles featured in approximately 80 major legal journals. It includes full publication details, note cases or legislation discussed and gives a brief outline. This is a real find, as most Periodical Indexes are subscription-based.

* A bit of a cheat lumping three sites together to count as one, but I couldn't decide which to eliminate:

o Privy Council (http://www.privy-council.org.uk/general/index_g.htm): Here you can find Legislation, Judgments, etc. This link takes you straight to the Site Index, which I find more useful than the Home Page.

o House of Lords at http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld/ldhome.htm contains Judgments since 1996, Public and Private Bills, and more.

o The Court Service (http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/) is responsible for the running of most of the courts and tribunals in England and Wales, and as such, is the site to visit for cases, contact information, forms, fees, etc.

* Internet Lawyer at http://www.sosig.ac.uk/vts/lawyers/start.htm is a free "teach yourself" tutorial on Internet information skills for lawyers. You can tour key Internet sites for lawyers; discover tools and techniques to improve your search skills; review the critical thinking required when using the Internet; and reflect on how best to use the Internet for studying, teaching and research. This is an excellent way to familiarise yourself with key Internet resources, as well as search strategies and techniques.

As you can imagine, given the limits of this column I had to be particularly ruthless in my choices, but I hope you get some idea of the wealth of free law-related information that is available on the Internet. Use these sites as a starting point; add relevant hyperlinks from the general law sites above; and build up your own stock of favourites.

Oksana Kucil is a Research Executive in the Knowledge Management Department of Appleby Spurling & Kempe. Copies of Ms. Kucil's columns are available on the Appleby Spurling & Kempe web site at www.ask.bm.

This column should not be used as a substitute for professional legal advice. Before proceeding with any such matters, persons are advised to consult with a lawyer.