Judgements are handed down each day across the country and busy lawyers cannot read them all. Essential Case Law, updated monthly and available as a print subscription or online on Lexis Library, promises to be a game changer for everyday law.

“Case law informs and helps to add to our understanding of how the law may be interpreted by the court, especially when guidelines may be unclear,” says Louis Podbielski, Case Law Manager: LexisNexis South Africa. “Traditional law reports cover reportable and law-making cases, but in Essential Case Law we have carefully selected recent cases that offer guidance on practical, day to day matters and packaged them in monthly issues with keywords and an abstract for ease of reference.”

Essential Case Law, compiled and published by LexisNexis South Africa, follows in the footsteps of Prentice-Hall Weekly Legal Service which was published between 1922 and 1995. The work will provide busy legal professionals including lawyers, advocates and judicial officers with relevant judgment extracts useful in everyday practice. Each case included is chosen for its instructional utility for day-to-day legal practice and only paragraphs with useful guidance are included, to enable the inclusion of more cases per issue. Where the case turns on a certain rule or piece of legislation, this is included at the end of that case to make a complete source of reference.

Concise keywords are used to draw the reader’s attention to the gist of the case and abstracts introduce the context of the case. An advanced index with each issue ensures the quick and easy location of points of law, extracted authorities, annotations, and case history. Editor’s continuity provides bridging or context between concepts.

Podbielski, who has a reputation for being passionate about case law, feels it is impossible for litigators to stop learning. “The nature of case law and legislative updates make it a priority to stay current,” he says. “LexisNexis has responded to practitioners’ needs for an affordable case law series that reports practical judgments every month.”

Readers are also encouraged to submit cases that pertain to the practical application of the law that may be worthy of publication to caselaw@lexisnexis.co.za.

Affordably priced at R3335.00VAT and excluding postage for 12 months Essential Case Law is available in Print (ISBN 9780639010489) and Online (ISBN 9780639010496). To purchase, click here to visit the LexisNexis online bookstore.