The NSWLR is produced by the Council of Law Reporting as soft cover parts of approximately 150 pages. After five parts have been published these are consolidated in bound volumes of approximately 750 pages. For details about the structure of parts and bound volumes, please go to Publishing process.

Printed parts and volumes - both recent and older - are available new from the Council.

The Council does not offer NSWLR online. Instead, the Council licenses LexisNexis AU and Thomson Reuters to provide digital copies of NSWLR to their online subscribers.  NB: The Council of Law Reporting proposes no preference for the online services of either LexisNexis AU or Thomson Reuters. Both receive the same material from the Council at the same time.

Books or online resources and downloaded reports?

Efficient, experienced practitioners make use of both online resources and traditional printed volumes of law reports in the appropriate circumstances.

When and why would you use books instead of online resources?

• Books are easier to use for close, extended reading and detailed consideration.
• A trolley of bound volumes is recognised by other counsel as the sign of an established, substantial practitioner.
• Printed parts and volumes are tidy and respected in court.
• In books you can tag and annotate the passages you have used most often and most successfully. You can then refer to them again at short notice.
• Books are simple to find on the shelf.
• A shelf set of volumes is recognised by clients as the sign of a true professional. (How do the media indicate to an uneducated audience that the person being interviewed is a lawyer?)
• Books will always be available, even if your subscription lapses, and can be passed on or sold on retirement.
• Books are durable even if you drop them accidentally. They're accessible even when the electricity's off. They're environmentally responsible.

When and why would you use online or downloaded reports instead of books?

• Online resources are easy to search for known and related references.
• The links embedded in online files facilitate research in new areas.
• Online reports can be printed repeatedly and filed with each case where relevant, or shared by email among all members of a team with a current online subscription.
• You can take a break from an online subscription any time, without leaving gaps to fill when you want your subscription to resume.
• You can lend someone a copy of a downloaded report without worrying about getting it back.