Seamless Copyright Compliance for Legal Sector: CLA Law Licence

Our Law Licence supports copyright compliance across law firms and barristers’ chambers in the UK, and globally through our Extended Multinational Law Licence. Copyright compliance is not just a legal obligation, but also an ethical one. CLA champions ethical and responsible content use within the legal sector.

CLA is regulated by the UK government as the collective licensing body for the reuse of text and images from books, journals and magazines.
As a not-for-profit company, CLA distributes revenue back into the creative industries helping to ensure that rightsholders are fairly remunerated when their works are used.

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Copyright and ESG:

Ethical Imperatives for Compliance and Responsibility

Featured article, as seen in The Law Society and New Law Journal

In this insightful and must-read article for ESG, Colin Hulme, Head of intellectual property (IP) at Burness Paull LLP, considers the impact of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) programmes on the observance of copyright by corporates. He explores how ESG policies should impact compliance within the realm of copyright and IP.

Read article

Do you subscribe to a legal database?

Database limitations

If your office subscribes to legal databases or legal information management systems, a certain number of named employees will have access to their content. This access potentially includes some permissions to share the content internally, usually on a title-by-title basis, allowing for some limited distribution within the firm.

Gaps in permissions

Whilst highly valuable to the legal sector, your agreements with legal databases or information management systems are unlikely to provide enough support to cover all your permission requirements for print and digital publications. These resources, by nature, focus solely on law-related content, often leaving gaps in other necessary areas.

Sector-specific content

The kind of content used in sector-specific legal practices, such as specialist and trade publications, is not included. Content from SME publications might be acquired, read, and shared during a case or by groups involved in contracts or litigation in specific fields. These systems are also unlikely to cover all your staff for departmental and individual (digital and print) subscriptions coming into your offices, or additional content needed for internal training and research.

Law Licence benefits

The blanket CLA Law Licence, covering millions of titles, provides additional support for your firm. It is a cost-effective and practical way to ensure that staff, publications, and copying and sharing activities not included under these databases’ arrangements are covered. This comprehensive coverage protects you from the risk of copyright infringement and supports your firm’s diverse needs.

The CLA Law Licence is specifically created for the legal sector

The CLA Law Licence simplifies copyright compliance for law firms and barristers’ chambers. Copy and share excerpts from various sources (subject to certain terms and conditions) including:

Printed & digital publications (books, journals, magazines)
Your existing subscriptions
Licensed external suppliers (press cuttings agencies, British Library)

Note: Copyright fees may apply for external supplier materials.

It contains permissions that aren’t included in other licences. In addition to the permissions found in the standard CLA Business Licence, the Law Licence add-on has tailored features to support lawyers, barristers and the legal sector directly, helping protect your firm’s reputation. An Extended Multinational Law Licence is also available, simplifying licensing for global firms and improving efficiencies in licence costs and document sharing.

Legal Copying, reusing and sharing content in Law firms

Share copies on an ad-hoc basis with clients and other legal professionals in relation to an ongoing case

Share copies with existing or prospective customers in law firm

Share copies with existing or prospective customers on matters for which they may seek legal advice in the future* _{*(excludes CCC repertoire)}

Share a content with colleagues in offices overseas

Share a single digital or hard copies with colleagues in offices overseas (employees in the same firm)

Retain digitised copies to retain records of actual and contemplated legal proceedings

Retain digitised copies beyond termination of the licence and for as long as required to retain records of actual and contemplated legal proceedings

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Discover how CLA can support your organisation to Copy, Right

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Image photo showing collaboration of employees in law firm

Collaboration between colleagues

Legal copying, reusing and sharing content in Law firms

Additional scenarios where creating and distributing copies may be necessary:

To share with colleagues at meetings or briefings
For market intelligence
For research & development
For staff training
To share media coverage within your organisation

Navigating your Law Licence

Ossie Ikeogu, Head of Sales and Renewals, answers essential FAQs on the CLA Law Licence and Extended Multinational Law Licence

Study by CLA on content use behaviours and copying practices amongst UK professionals, with a spotlight on the legal sector

Discover how CLA helps the legal sector keep on the right side of copyright law, with the CLA Law Licence

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Top 50 legal titles copied in 2022

Discover the most copied titles by the legal sector from the CLA repertoire in 2022

Copyright & ESG

Ethical Imperatives for Compliance and Responsibility. Featured article by IP specialist, Colin Hulme

Helping law firms stay legal

CLA Sales Operations Manager, Andrew Greenan, looks at how CLA helps the legal sector keep on the right side of copyright law

Law Licence

Copyright and ESG:

Ethical Imperatives for Compliance and Responsibility

Featured article, as seen in The Law Society and New Law Journal