he Bar of Ireland and Justis Publishing launched Justis Irish Caselaw on the evening of Tuesday 7th June 2016 in Hanley at the Bar. This event was attended by invited guests including the Chairman, Counci of The Bar of Ireland, David Barniville SC and Masoud Gerami, Managing Director of Justis Publishing.
The event marked the culmination of many months of negotiation between The Bar of Ireland and Justis Publishing and also recognises a significant date in the history and development of the JILL (Judgments in The Law Library) database. The JILL began life in print, whereby copies of the unreported reports were compiled into what became known as the Red Volumes. In 1983 a decision was taken by The Bar of Ireland to automate the process when no other similar electronic resource existed. The JILL has been hosted by Justis Publishing since 2005 for exclusive use of the members of The Bar of Ireland.
Aidan Hawes, Head of Sales, Justis Publishing, Rory Campbell, Editorial Manager, Justis Publishing, Nuala Byrne, Librarian & Information Services Manager with Masoud Gerami, Managing Director, Justis Publishing.
As legislation and case law became more universally accessible, the competitive advantage of the JILL decreased. In order to ensure the continued development of the JILL an agreement was reached on 1st January 2016 between The Bar of Ireland and Justis Publishing to combine the JILL archive of unreported judgments with the Justis database of Irish cases, JIC. This new product will form one comprehensive, searchable database of Irish case law.
This new future for JILL represents the next step in the forward thinking and vision of the future that began in The Law Library in the 1980s and continues under the current leadership of The Bar of Ireland today.