AZB & Partners How-to Guides for Legal Databases

HOW-TO GUIDES FOR LEGAL DATABASES

MANUPATRA

1. What is Manupatra best used for?

• Manupatra is commonly used for keyword search for case laws and for finding updated versions
of statutes.

• Note: Manupatra citations / paragraph numbering of judgments may not always be reliable
therefore, while citing judgments please use SCC citations (not Manu citations).

2. How do you search for case laws on Manupatra?

• Manupatra is a keyword-based search system. We have IP based access so you can directly click
on the following link: http://www.manupatrafast.com/ipAccess.aspx

• In case you need to use Manupatra through user-based access, please use the following email ID:
it.mumbai@azbpartners.com

You may reach out to the IT team for the password.

• Once you open the link, click on “Click here to start your research”. In the search page, you can
see selection tools to streamline your search on the left bar.

• Generally, there will be two ways you would be undertaking a case law search: (i) keyword-based
search for judgments; and (ii) search for specific judgment. A keyword-based search would be a
mix of words and phrases that best showcase the query you have in mind. For specific judgments,
you can use Manupatra tools to help you with a more efficient search. For example, if you are
looking to find a 1998 Delhi high court judgment, instead of doing a broad search on the search
bar, you can go to left bar on the search homepage, click on the + icon for each subsequent filter
for this trail:

High Courts and Other Courts >> Delhi >> 1990 – 2000 >> DEL HC – 1998

Select ‘DEL HC – 1998’ and search for the required judgment on right tab under ‘Manu Search’

• On top right side, you can see Manu search which is used to filter cases on the basis of decision
date, oldest to newest, etc.

• Use ‘near each other’ feature to search for phrases under the search bar. Do not use double quotes
while looking for ‘near each other’.

• Stemming feature: To better your search results, in the search option, put ‘employ*’ if you are
looking for ‘employee / employed / employment’, etc. This trick can also be used when you
generally do a Ctrl + F within documents.

• The light bulb icon next to the search button provides a list of various search functions that may
be used on Manupatra with descriptions of each feature. Eg: normal query, punctuation, and/or,
etc.

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• Search can be further streamlined in terms of court, industry, keywords, etc. by using the bar left
of the search results once the search results have showed up on the portal.

• To narrow searches, first search for a broader term and then depending on the number of results,
use ‘Search in Results’.

• Assisted Search assists you in Boolean searches. You may use this search tab (located on the top
right side of search home page) to quickly look for cases containing the relevant search terms.

3. How to run a search within a judgment?

• If a judgment has been overruled, there will be a red flag next to the name of the case, on the
right-hand side of the results page.

• After opening a judgment, to go back to the results page, click ‘back’ twice.

• In any judgment, you can check for ‘citing reference’ (judgments that discuss / merely mention
the selected judgment). For example, if you wish to check what other judgments have cited and
discussed the judgment you are currently reading, click on:

Citing Reference >> Discussed In

• Click on the wheel icon next to the Manupatra link of a cited judgment for further details (where
has this judgment been most recently cited on, how many judgments discuss the relevant
paragraph, etc.)

• In any judgment, you can check for ‘cited in para’ and case map. This is a useful feature
especially for tracking landmark judgments and further case laws citing such judgment.

• Analytics of judges – this is particularly relevant for litigation as it shows which counsel has
appeared before a particular judge and won – you can search for the judge through ‘legal search’
bar on the portal.

• Note: It is advisable to check for any appeal made to higher courts for the selected judgment.
• Note: Manupatra does not have a complete repository for decisions/orders of executive/regulatory
bodies such as SEBI/SAT. Please do a search on the website of the relevant executive/regulatory
authority in such cases.

4. How do you search for statutes on Manupatra?

• Manupatra allows you to search for statutes in a number of ways. However, the most effective
way is to select the ‘+’ icon of ‘Bare Acts (Statutes) / Rules and Regulations’ tab on the left most bar of
the main search page.

• Illustration: For central statutes, select:

Central >> Bare Acts (Statutes) >> Table of Contents

For rules/ regulations, open table of contents under ‘Rules and Regulations’

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• All statutes, rules, regulations, etc. are categorized in a number of ways. You can select the
option to search ‘alphabetically’ to select the name of the statute based on its first letter. Eg: See
‘I’ for ‘Indian Contract Act, 1872’.

• Click on the icons to the right of the relevant provision in the table of contents of the particular
statute to search for cases and/or online commentary pertaining to the said provision.
Commentaries for approx. 18 statutes (taken from authoritative sources) are available on
Manupatra. To access the same, please click the link / section under the relevant statute –
generally, note that commentaries are available for older statutes such as the Indian Contract Act,
1872.

• Whether a particular statute has been repealed or not will be indicated beside the name of the
statute

• When searching for rules/regulations, the statute under which they are framed will be indicated in
the right-hand column. It is best practice to click on the act to check whether it is repealed or not.

• Use the ‘Act Search’ option under the head ‘Legal Search’ in order to view the statute as a whole
as opposed to provision by provision. The ‘Act Search’ is a key word search and can be used
when there is any confusion on the name of the statute.

5. Other Miscellaneous features:

• Use ‘save’ option to create team-wise folders – however, do check with other lawyers staffed in
your matter before using this feature.

• Notifications and Circulars issued by various governmental authorities can also be found on
Manupatra. These are categorized based on the department of the government and then sorted
according to year of issue. Most notices/circulars have a ‘referred in’ feature once you open them,
thereby leading you to cases where they have been cited.

• Manupatra also offers a specified ‘stamp duty’ search which is categorized according to state
under the head “bills, drafts, ordinances, etc.” However, as stamp duty laws are often amended, it
is best practice to also check the website of the revenue department of the relevant state as well as
the latest stamp duty commentary available.

• Manupatra also offers a ready list of various committee reports prepared by the government
categorized based on topic.

• Legal taxonomy – this is essentially like a table of contents where you can open certain topics
under a statute (using the exact name of such topic only) and check out reading materials. To
access legal taxonomy, select ‘Legal Taxonomy’ on the left most side of the search homepage.

SCC ONLINE

1. What is SCC Online best used for?

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 SCC Online is generally used for keyword-based case laws where you are required to present
precedents to courts / counsels printed on SCC books / modules.

2. How does the search function work on SCC Online?

• Link: www.scconline.com
• On the home page, SCC Online provides users with the option to browse case laws, law reports,
articles, etc.

• Use simple ‘word search’ option when you cannot narrow down searches by citation, party
names, phrases, etc. In ‘word search’, must use key words only.

3. How do you search for case laws on SCC Online?

• Case law may be searched for by citation, keywords, party names, etc. SCC has a built-in prompt
feature which will help in searching for specific cases.

• The page containing judgments gives you the option to filter results (‘sort by’) or ‘search within
search’ results. Use ‘Boolean’ option for AND / OR / NOT / NEAR

For example: In case you wish to search for trespass AND development, then you would have to
specifically select the Boolean option ‘AND’ – otherwise the portal will consider ‘and’ as a
normal search word, thereby producing less efficient results.

• Head Notes: By clicking the ‘D’ icon next to the case excerpt you can access a short digest of the
case law (similar to the summaries Manupatra provides at the beginning of most judgments).
Next to the ‘D’ symbol, the quorum for each matter is provided. However, note that all judgments
in SCC Online do not have short summaries. For full judgments, you must scroll down and select
the blue link OR you can remove the ‘digest notes’ option from view by unchecking ‘digest
notes’ on the left side tab

• While using the portal, note the following commonly used symbols:
o Red colored sign – judgment is overruled (either in parts or entirely) o Full

screen icon to open the judgment on a separate window

o Red exclamation mark next to the case excerpt indicates that the case in
question has been overruled.

• Should you wish to copy paragraphs of a judgment on another file for your reference, you must
tick ‘clipboard’ icon in the proper order, tap the ‘smart copy’ icon that will paste the selected
paragraphs on a separate page where you can either: select email id and send the page to that
email id OR paste the selected paragraphs on a .word doc.

• Use ‘true print’ option to print judgments, if possible. True print copies are the certified true
copies of the judgement and can be used for the purposes of compiling cases law to be presented
to counsels/courts etc.

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4. What are the key features typical to SCC Online?

o Access to SCC Online blog: articles written by SCC’s editorial team and separately,
contributions from other law firms, etc.

o SCC Notification – to view the exact notification published by the gazette

o All reports can be quickly accessed via SCC Online. Central statutes are updated quickly

(not so sure about the state statues since it depends on the concerned state) o Access to

all law review articles from all major universities across the world o Tab to check GST

rates of taxable items o ‘Play’ option to listen to judgments

o Option to subscribe to SCC newsletter (delivered to your inbox every Saturday)

o You can check Youtube for 16 self-tutorial videos or check out the ‘chat option’ on home
page.

 Note: It is possible that sometimes the paragraph numbers of judgments in Manupatra and SCC Online
may not match – it is best practice to provide SCC citations and corresponding paragraph
numbers.

PRACTICAL LAW

1. What is ‘Practical Law’ best used for?

• Thomson Reuters Practical Law provides standard checklists, how-to guides, sample agreements
and clauses, etc. as well as legal articles.

• To access Practical Law, click on the Practical Law link on the intranet portal:
https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/en/products/practical -law and go to the link that reads ‘Already
using Practical Law? Sign in’ to login with the following credentials:

User ID: AZB&Partners

Password: AZBMum@123

You may reach out to the KM team for any issues/queries.

• Click on ‘Practical Law’ on the search bar to view a list of topics. The home page provides 3
main tabs – (i) practice areas; (ii) resource types; and (iii) jurisdictions. On topmost left side, you
may also change the default jurisdiction (US) to any other jurisdiction available in the portal.
Further, to access India-specific materials, go to International >> India (example: to view
documents pertaining to cross-border private company acquisitions).

• Note: While referring to any documents from Practical Law, please keep in mind that the same
may not reflect Indian law or the latest position under Indian Law. Therefore, please do not rely
solely on Practical Law documents and please conduct independent research in addition.

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2. How do we search for resources on Practical Law?

• Since Practical Law contains international materials, it is very important to ensure that you have
put in the right jurisdiction while conducting your research.

• The browse option on the main search page provides you the option to filter topics subject-wise.
The main menu on the search homepage also contains a list of ‘connectors’ used to filter search
results (see connectors sign for drop-down).

• Resources tab on the home page include practice notes – you can highlight and add comments
that would be visible to anyone who logs in through that email id.

• Links to judgments are provided that open on Westlaw site since both Practical Law and Westlaw
are products of Thomson Reuters.

• It is not possible to select more than one practice area in the search option. For instance, if you are
looking for a sample confidentiality clause under ‘Corporate’ and ‘Employment’, you will need to
open two Practical Law tabs and conduct your search or you will need to filter your search within
a broader subject line.

3. How to search for international materials?

• Go to Practical Law >> Resource Types >> Global Guides & Cross-border Topics – these
include topics such as dispute resolution, commercial transactions, etc.

• For arbitration, browse by country and then use filters to streamline search. You can also browse
by arbitral institutions

• Browse >> International >> Cross-border resource Centre (which allows you to check ‘global
guides’) >> Compare the law – here, you can obtain country-specific answers for all your
questions on certain subject matters

4. What are the key features typical to Practical Law?

• Practical Law contains a pool of reading materials sorted into different categories. For instance, if
you are interested in UK based materials concerning company policies related to defamation, you
would select UK as the jurisdiction on the main page. Once you are directed to a separate tab
containing Practical Law UK materials, you may select the subject ‘Media & Telecom’ on the
search tab, and enter the word ‘defamation’. You will see a number of resources with filtering
options on the left side – checklists, trackers, practice notes, etc. Accordingly, you may select
checkboxes with your desired feature in mind. In this example, if you wish to view the checklist
of issues to be considered by a company for monitoring and responding to third-party use of
social media, you can simply select ‘checklists’ on the right tab to streamline your search.

• ‘Tracker’ is useful if you want to track appeals, decisions appealed, main issues, etc. or if you
would like to track amendments, committee reports, etc. relating to a bill or an Act.

• Practice Notes are helpful for understanding the basic principles related to a topic of research. In
the earlier example, if you wish to quickly note UK laws concerning defamation, you may select

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‘Practice Notes’ to refine your search and read up notes containing overview of defamation laws
in the UK.

• Country Q&A are company-based questionnaire (eg: shareholder rights and remedies in
Australia)

• For Cross-border topics only: ‘Standard docs and clauses’ is a feature which provides a note that
explains what the selected clause means. You can input the name of any jurisdiction and check
what the standard contract of such jurisdiction would look like.

• Glossary – to check terms and see related content

• ‘Ask’ feature – contains common questions asked by various clients (you can also ask questions).
You may fill your query and receive an update from the Thomson Reuters team within 24 – 48
hours. However, bear in mind that these are not advice, opinions, etc. and should not be treated as
such. The ‘Ask’ feature should only be used as guidance to help you arrive at Practical Law
resources containing results based on your query.

• ‘M’ is short for maintained – this symbol indicates that the document is updated.

• Note: Practice notes are prepared by Thomson Reuters; Articles come from law firm partners’
contributions.

CORPOSITORY

1. What is Corpository best used for?

• We use Corpository portal for downloading information specific to companies or limited liability
partnerships (“LLPs”) available on public domain such as the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
(“MCA”). Corpository allows you to access key highlights of a company / LLP, forms filed with
the authorities, etc. all in one report. It also provides info taken from quarterly reports uploaded
by credit bureau such as CIBIL and Equifax only) and monthly reports from courts.

• You can login to Corpository platform using your individual email IDs via Citrix server. Under
no circumstances should you give your login details to non-users (such as interns) without
informing the KM team on km@azbpartners.com.

• On the portal, you can check limited information for free. Non-paid (free) information about a
company, for instance, includes company profile, directors, charges, and other preliminary
information about a company.

• Depending on the requirement, you can get advanced company / LLP reports (with no separate
charge) or you can place an order for full company / LLP reports (charged to the client or firm).

• The Corpository data checks BIFR history, company law board judgments, etc. while pulling out
information about the company. However, this does not include CCI orders, SEBI informal
guidance, etc.

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• In the event you wish to retrieve say, financials of a company not available on Corpository from
an earlier time period (due to non-digitalization of old forms filed prior to enforcement of
Companies Act, 2013), then you would have to email the support team of Corpository. The
support team will extract all forms that are present in the back-end database of Corpository and
email you the relevant forms

• Corpository is particularly useful when searching for (i) the particulars of charges created on a
company’s shares; and (ii) the allotment history of a company as these are regularly updated by
the support team.

• Corpository also extracts documents which are uploaded on to the MCA website in XBLR / XML
format and provides the same in readable/extractable versions

• Note: The time taken for Corpository to generate a report depends on the number documents that
have to be provided in relation to the company. For example, if the company has many charges,
the report will take considerably longer to generate.

• Note: Also, bear in mind that Corpository is merely an aggregation software. There may be some
errors in the report. For best results, do cross-check relevant information against data available on
the MCA website.

2. How do you download company / LLP reports?

• In order to view company / LLP reports, go to www.corpository.com and search for the relevant
name on the search bar. It is possible that names of some companies may not have been altered in
the portal after change in the name of a company – it is always wiser to check the older and newer
names in such instances.

• Once you click on the selected company / LLP, you can view the highlights of such entity on the
first page. There will also be an option to check free and paid information on the top bar. Click on
the ‘get latest’ option on the top right corner to obtain the report. An email is sent from the
Corpository team confirming the placement of your order. You should be able to receive your
report within 30 – 90 minutes depending on the size of the order.

• Please plug in the correct matter names at the time of downloading of company / LLP data from
Corpository. In case the matter is not assigned at the time of such download, please email the
correct matter name as soon as it is assigned to km@azbpartners.com.

3. What are the key additional features on Corpository?

o ‘Highlights’ is a unique feature offered by Corpository. For instance, under

‘highlights’, if you click on X defaulting directors, you can go to a page that provides
details of such directors as well as remarks by the Corpository team. Under ‘highlights’,
Corpository also provides flags representing critical events of a group company. Critical
events could be designation of a company as a shell company; default reporting of
company in credit rating; criminal litigation cases, etc. Highlights do not cover LLPs at
present.

o Corpository also allows access to court orders of closed cases.

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o Court databases are regularly updated by the team, including details of district
courts – such information may include case type, advocate names of parties to the
company / LLP litigation, etc. and should be provided under ‘litigation defaults’ tab.

o Under ‘Auditors tab’, you would find a yes / no link for the query – Whether
CARO applicable? CARO is short for ‘Companies Auditor Report’. If you click on ‘yes’,
then you would be able to view the report containing the remarks of auditors on the
balance sheet items for the specified financial year. You also have the option to download
the detailed CARO.

o Classification of NCLT cases into IBC and non-IBC cases for a more efficient
search is also available.

LEXIS NEXIS:

Access: This e-library has IP-based access through its link on the intranet portal (the US database is
separately available as a Lexis+ link on the intranet portal - username/password available with KM
Team).

LexisNexis e-library is a comprehensive database with more than 40,000 sources providing access to
content from global jurisdictions including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia,
Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, etc.

The e-library coverage includes:

 Several leading LexisNexis® Publications and listed few prominent names as follows: -
Halsbury’s Laws of England India, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong - All England Law Reports
- All England Commercial Cases - Appeal Cases, Privy Council, Chancery Division, House of
Lords, King’s Bench, Queen’s Bench from UK jurisdiction - Construction Law Reports - Simon’s
Tax Cases - European Court of Human Rights Cases - Law Reports of the Commonwealth -
Australian Law Reports, etc.
 400+ LexisNexis® Indian commentaries seamlessly integrated with Cases [curated coverage from
Honorable Supreme Court, all High Courts, selected Tribunals etc.], Acts and leading names
include: ✓ Ramaiya: Guide to Companies Act; ✓ DD Basu on Constitution; ✓ Mulla on Civil
Procedure Code; ✓ CR Datta: Company Law; ✓ Pollock & Mulla on Indian Contract Act ✓
Bachawat: Arbitration;
 Updated Universal’s Bare Acts - 1000+ Law reviews & Journals [viz. Harvard Law Review, Yale
Law Journal, Cambridge Law Journal, Environmental Law Review, Journal of International
Banking and Financial Law etc] - US Supreme Court Cases, Lawyers’ Edition; Federal Cases,
Court of Appeal cases. - Statutes & Legislation from US [from all 50 States and Federal] –

The coverage is exhaustive across jurisdictions.

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