CrimeLine Complete Getting Started

Transcription

1 CrimeLine Complete Getting Started

2 Contents How to get the most from your subscription... 3 Support... 3 Whitelisting our IP address... 3 How to access CrimeLine... 4 Usernames and passwords... 4 What if I have forgotten my password?... 4 Can I change my username and/or address?... 5 What does CrimeLine Offer?... 6 Current Awareness... 7 CrimeLine Updater... 7 Latest Cases and News Items... 7 Offences... 8 Evidence and Procedure... 9 Sentencing Statutes Legal Aid and Costs Other Resources CPD/Competence What types of CPD does CrimeLine deliver? The Rules CPD Records and Competence Statements How long is my record kept for? Searching CrimeLine and the Case Database Bookmarks How to bookmark a page To view bookmarks How to delete a bookmark Legal Assistance Service How do I renew my subscription? Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 2

3 How to get the most from your subscription Please read this user guide in full and keep a copy to hand. A link to the guide also appears in all CrimeLine Updater s. 90% of enquiries we receive are answered in this publication. Support Few things are as frustrating as technology that does not appear to work, so if you experience any difficulty then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us as soon as possible. We offer support via the following channels: Our website Contact page. This should normally be your first port of call as it will be directed to the most appropriate person to deal with your enquiry. Twitter, either posts or direct Facebook, via messenger facebook.com/crimelinelaw admin@crimeline.info Can I call you? We do not offer first-line telephone support. Almost all enquiries can be dealt with online. If it is necessary to offer telephone support then of course we will. Whitelisting our IP address This will not mean anything to most of you, but in almost all cases where people say that they are not receiving s or password resets, we can prove that they have in fact been received by their mail server, but not forwarded to their inbox. As a first step check your spam/junk folder. filtering is becoming increasingly aggressive as business fights against the deluge of spam s. If you have a chambers/firm domain then please ask your IT department to whitelist our dedicated IP address, this is the information that they will need: Domain Signature: newsletter.crimeline.info IP: newsletter.crimeline.info Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 3

4 How to access CrimeLine Our website is Usernames and passwords When your account is activated you will receive an containing details of your username, and a link that allows you to set a password. Your address can also be used as an alternative to your username. Your username appears at the top of all CrimeLine Updater s, so that is the easiest place to look if you have forgotten it. Otherwise, contact us. CrimeLine accounts are licensed to individuals, therefore the sharing of user details is contrary to account terms and conditions and will lead to the immediate termination of your subscription. If you move firm/chambers, then please notify us as soon as possible so that we can update your details your account remains yours until the subscription expiry date. What if I have forgotten my password? Below the login box there is a link Lost your password?, click on that and follow the instructions. You will receive a reset within a few minutes, if not then check your junk/spam folder, and also ensure that there are no filters stopping delivery (for which see above). If all else fails, then get in touch and we will sort this for you. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 4

5 Can I change my username and/or address? You cannot change your username. To change your address please contact us and we will update this for you, on both the website and the mailing list for CrimeLine Updater. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 5

6 What does CrimeLine Offer? When you log in to CrimeLine you will see the Main Menu screen, you will see that there are 8 sections in bold black text: Awareness, Offences, Evidence and Procedure, Sentencing, Statutes, legal Aid and Costs, Other resources and CPD/Competence. Each section is then split into parts, which are shown in red, you click on those red links to access the relevant section. Over the next few pages these are explained in detail. On the right-hand side of the page you will also see 2 other features, Search and a twitter feed. How to search is dealt with later in this guide. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 6

7 Current Awareness You will see 2 links at the side of this subject: CrimeLine Updater, and Latest Cases and News Items. Click on either link to view the content. CrimeLine Updater By clicking on the link, you will be taken to a list of back issues of CrimeLine Updater. In CrimeLine Updater we bring you the latest cases, legislation and other developments. We automatically send these s to your registered address. Note that unlike other services we do not publish to any particular fixed schedule. If there is an important case we may send it out within minutes of being published, if there is nothing of interest to report, then we will simply not bother. But on average you will receive 1 or 2 s a week from us, sometimes more. Do not hesitate to contact us if you feel that there is a problem with delivery (and do take a look on page 3 of this guide as we explain how to whitelist our IP address, the best way to ensure s reach your inbox). Latest Cases and News Items We put a wide range of other cases and news on our website that will not get published in the Updater. If we sent you everything then you would have a deluge of updates and most probably lose interest and therefore miss the really important information. All of this extra material is published via this link (and we also publish it via our twitter and facebook feeds also). So, to more broadly keep up to date with what is happening you should visit this link from time to time. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 7

8 Offences You should think of this part of the service as an online legal textbook, except that we update it on a daily basis. This is the best place to go in search for cases in relation to a particular subject as we provide full text links to the important case law. It is much quicker to go here rather than try and search through a database of thousands of cases. You will find a link to any relevant sentencing guideline, statutes, caselaw and commentary. For example, Criminal Damage: Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 8

9 Evidence and Procedure Once again, you should think of this part of the service as an online legal textbook, except that we update it on a daily basis. This is the best place to go in search for cases in relation to a particular subject as we provide full text links to the important case law. It is much quicker to go here rather than try and search through a database of thousands of cases. For example, Territorial Jurisdiction: Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 9

10 Sentencing Once again, you should think of this part of the service as an online legal textbook, except that we update it on a daily basis. The more significant sentencing cases relating to individual offences are to be found in the Offences section (detailed above). Other sentencing cases are routinely added to our database, so you can also use the search function to find these (see later for general search guidance). This is the best place to go in search for cases in relation to a particular subject as we provide full text links to the important case law. It is much quicker to go here rather than try and search through a database of thousands of cases. For example, Automatic Deportation: Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 10

11 Statutes We maintain a comprehensive database of the main criminal statutes (as amended), if you need something that isn t included then please contact us, we will almost certainly be able to obtain it for you. e.g. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 11

12 Legal Aid and Costs This part of the service contains the full text of Keogh on Criminal Costs (updated daily) along with links to a comprehensive selection of costs related legal resources. E.g. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 12

13 Other Resources General: A large collection of criminal law resources from external sources. Letters and Precedents: Pro-forma documents for use by criminal law professionals. Extradition Latest cases: Alphabetical list of the latest extradition law cases. Due to the fact that extradition law is somewhat niche we do not generally include extradition cases in CrimeLine Updater, so if this is one of your fields of practice, check this page for developments. CPD/Competence What types of CPD does CrimeLine deliver? You can claim CPD by (but note what is said about the barrister NPP scheme below): Reading CrimeLine Updater (around 100 hours per year) Completing quizzes (12 hours per year) Viewing or listening to podcasts/webinars Completing learning modules, such as money laundering, data protection etc Our offering is constantly updated to provide a fresh offering of relevant learning. The Rules We offer a range of CPD that will assist you in satisfying CPD and Competence requirements. Users should consult their own regulatory body and fully read the advice given on this subject in order to ensure compliance. Barristers: New practitioners still subject to the New Practitioner Programme CPD Requirements should note that this is not so much flexibility so far as CPD is concerned. Only CrimeLine quizzes will count for NPP CPD. Established Practitioners: All of our CPD offering counts. Solicitors: Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 13

14 Please note that lexcel/sqm may impose face to face training requirements. Cilex: Accredited fee earners and Police Station Accredited Reps: Any of our CPD counts for these purposes. CPD Records and Competence Statements At the bottom of the CPD page you will see a link to My CPD Record, this shows a log of the CPD completed via CrimeLine. Please note that we cannot of course log CPD for your reading of CrimeLine Updater, but a notional time for that (1hr 15 per issue) appears on the draft competence statement issued at the end of the year. Below that there are links to the competence statements for solicitors and barristers which we provide at the end of each CPD year. Please note: these are generic statements that are intended only to assist you in preparing your competency declaration, these should be treated only as a starting point, and will in some cases require modification. How long is my record kept for? If your account lapses your CPD record will be deleted after a period of 3 months in line with our GDPR statement: Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 14

15 Searching CrimeLine and the Case Database CrimeLine has an extensive case database, but it is important to understand how best to search. The search box is at the top right of the screen: CrimeLine uses Algolia Search, arguably the most powerful search platform available, yet users often complain about not being able to find information. Why is that? There are a number of reasons: 1. We have become used to Google searches. We ask questions and they are answered. This is because in the main the content delivered has the same subject heading as the question, which makes for a perfect match. The problem with legal platforms is that legal textbooks have not been written in that way, so asking what is the maximum sentence for robbery will likely return no result. If in a textbook the heading in the robbery chapter was what is the maximum sentence for robbery then a result would be returned. We are not going to win the battle with Google, so over time we will have to change the way we present information and we are already working on that, it is our main project for Search terms are often imprecise, so people might use a law report citation incorrectly, or try and search using a citation that we do not have recorded. 3. And of course, we may not have the report in the first place. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 15

16 So here are a few pointers: The significant cases in relation to any topic will be already ordered in the text section, so see above under Offences for how to navigate. Why it is not at first as quick as typing in a search term, you will get a better return on your time as the key cases and information has already been collated for you. In addition it will alert you to other cases that you simply may be unaware of. The simpler the term, the better. So Robbery will return the page for robbery and get you to the cases faster. If the name is rare, so for example the case of R v Xhelollari [2007] EWCA Crim 2052, the simplest search term would be best, which would be: Xhelollari. Adding R v, really adds nothing to the search at all. Adding the neutral citation wouldn t in this situation either. If you need help: then please contact us, if we can get the case for you, we will. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 16

17 Bookmarks Bookmarking allows you to list and access your most popular content. When you bookmark a page, it appears in your bookmarks list, you can then easily access that page in future it works like a mini index. How to bookmark a page At the bottom left of each page there is a book marks icon, you simply click on it to bookmark the page (if the icon is shaded black this means the page is already bookmarked): You then add the bookmark to a category, in this example the only category available is My Favorites. You can however add new categories of your own (up to 10 categories If you need more than 10 then please contact us) and this allows you to build flexible lists of content, so for example: evidence; sentencing cases etc. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 17

18 To view bookmarks Simply click on MY BOOKMARKS on the menu bar You will then see a list of bookmarks, e.g.: Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 18

19 How to delete a bookmark Go to MY BOOKMARKS, then Click on the bookmark to be deleted Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the bookmark icon, you will see that it is shaded black. Click on the icon then remove the page from bookmark from the bookmark category by removing the tick. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 19

20 Legal Assistance Service On an entirely complimentary basis, and not as a contractual element of the CrimeLine service, we can offer assistance with legal queries. These range from simple requests to find cases or add new ones to our database, to asking for short opinions on legal and billing issues. This is not a full legal research service, nor is it intended to provide answers that users ought to be easily able to locate for themselves by consulting Archbold or Blackstone s. We are not offering legal advice and there is no intention to create a retainer with any user or their lay client. The user remains responsible for ensuring advice is correct before reliance is placed upon it. This service may be restricted or withdrawn at any time. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 20

21 How do I renew my subscription? Step 1: Log into your account Step 2: Click on Subscribe on the top menu bar Step 3: Purchase an account renewal If your account has not already expired, then the new subscription will commence on the expiry of your old one. If your account has already expired, then it will commence from point of purchase. You will receive a VAT invoice in a few days. Please note that all payments are processed securely via our payment processor Stripe. We do not have access to your financial details and they are not stored on our website. If you prefer to pay via BACS or online but not via our website, then please contact us and we will issue a pro forma invoice with payment details. Cheques: With effect from 1 February 2019 we can no longer accept cheque payments. Please note that accounts are activated on payment only. Document date: 18 March 2019 v1.4 21