PRESS RELEASE
October 2009
The ICLR have launched their own DVD:
Always Cited in Preference
COURT DECISIONS ARE OFTEN described as “landmark cases” which “set a precedent” but how
do lawyers find out about them? How do they refer to them in court? Who decides which cases are
the ones which make new law and should therefore be reported?
The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting was established in 1865 to provide barristers, solicitors,
judges and students with a reliable source of information about the cases which make new law. This
DVD tells the history of the ICLR and explains how its reporters go about their daily business of
covering all the major courts and reporting all the most important cases which change or clarify the
law.
The DVD includes a trial re-enactment featuring well-known actor Don Warrington (whose extensive
TV work includes Rising Damp and New Street Law) playing the role of impatient High Court judge,
Ben Hull (long-running Hollyoaks and Casualty actor) as the comically incompetent barrister Mr
Stephenson and Natasha Alderslade (whose TV work includes The Day of the Triffids) as his serenely
well-prepared opponent, Miss McAllister. There are also authentic performances by a number of
ICLR’s own reporters, editors and other staff.
The director was Keith Boak (Holby City, Casualty, Doctor Who)
The DVD contains five short films including
•
A Tale of Two Citations: a short advertisement featuring two barristers. One of them serenely
competent and well-prepared with the proper law reports to support her case, and the other
rather less well-organised, chaotically downloading and printing transcripts from the internet,
much to the judge’s irritation.
•
Making Legal History: we follow one of the ICLR’s law reporters, Ben Urdang, as he goes to
court, attends an important case, and explains all the different stages in the preparation of a
law report and its eventual publication in hard copy and on the internet.
•
A History of the ICLR: a look at law reporting through the ages, from medieval times up to
the establishing of the ICLR in 1865, and at how it fulfils its charitable aims of producing
reliable law reports at reasonable rates for the benefit of legal education and the
administration of justice.
•
Find that Case! A brief introduction to case law research using both online databases and
hard copy reference works.
•
Meet the Editors: a personal introduction by each of ICLR’s senior editors to the individual
series of law reports which they edit, namely:
o
Clive Scowen, editor in chief, responsible for the Law Reports, the Weekly Law
Reports and the Consolidated Index;
o
Isobel Collins, editor of the Public and Third Sector Law Reports;
o
Paul Magrath, editor of the Business Law Reports;
o
Clare Noon, editor of the Industrial Cases Reports.
As well as the five films, the DVD when viewed on a computer acts as a data disk containing PDF
files of the ICLR Special Issue, a collection of the ten most significant cases published over its 145year history. These historic cases include R v Dudley and Stephens (1884) 14 QBD 273 (the one
about the shipwrecked sailors who ate the cabin boy), Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 (the
one about the snail in the ginger beer bottle) and Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co [1893] 1 QB 256
(the one about the ill-worded advertisement that was more than just a puff). These are cases all
students should know about and all practitioners fondly recall.
The title, “Always Cited in Preference” refers to the fact that the official law reports published by the
ICRL must, both by court direction and according to professional convention, be used in preference
for any other published version of the same case. These reports are widely recognised as
representing the “gold standard” of law reporting, and the cases contained in them as “the canon”
of judge-made law.
Though published as a DVD, the individual films will also be available on the ICLR’s own website,
www.lawreports.co.uk and on YouTube. Links may be included (with suitable acknowledgement) on
any relevant legal website or blog. (As a matter of courtesy we would appreciate notification.)
The films were scripted by Paul Sharples and produced by Stuart Arnott, both of Sun and Moon
Training. The director was Keith Boak.
Contacts:
Paul Magrath, ICLR Development Editor
Tel: 020 7242 6471
M: 07540 486450
paul.magrath@iclr.co.uk
Louise Carlin, ICLR Campaign Manager
Tel: 020 7242 6471
louise.carlin@iclr.co.uk