Help Centre

By Lawyers is an online publishing company providing everyday support to all those engaged in legal practice with commentary, precedents, and matter plans.

By Lawyers was born out of the desire to make the practice of law easier, safer, and more profitable for small law firms. We are now a leading publisher of practical legal guides, written by lawyers, for lawyers.

There are many publications about the law, but many of them are written by academics with little practical application. By Lawyers publications are written to assist lawyers with their day-to-day practice by guiding them through matters from start to finish.

Every piece of By Lawyers content is written or reviewed by a solicitor or barrister with experience in that area of law.

For more information, view the About Us page.

Each publication lists the available matter plans, which include precedents, forms, and commentary.

View all Areas of Law here.

By Lawyers publications are made up of three components:

Matter plans
The matter plans organise precedents and commentaries into a logical start-to-finish progression that guides legal professionals through complex matters as efficiently as possible.

Commentaries
The commentaries provide all your research needs at your fingertips within the matter itself, giving fast, precise, and practical answers including links to relevant legislation and case law.

Precedents
A comprehensive library of precedents that includes all the everyday letters, detailed precedents from retainer instructions and costs agreement to file closing, and all the necessary forms relevant to the matter type.

By Lawyers matter plans are an organization system that arranges precedents and commentaries into a logical order from start to finish. They act as roadmaps, detailing every step and consideration of the matter in sequential order. By Lawyers matter plans have proved to be a valuable tool assisting firms to increase productivity, minimize risk, and make practice easier and more enjoyable.

The matter plan system is designed to increase the productivity of a team by organizing the information in an intuitive and easy-to-use format. It is also designed to minimize risk by ensuring every step of the matter is considered, and that every member of the team is following best practice and has ready access to the resources they need to complete a matter successfully.

A commentary is a detailed, practical explanation of how to effectively conduct a matter in a particular area of law. They are written by experienced practitioners fully conversant with how to properly conduct a client matter. All commentaries are regularly updated to reflect developments in practice, legislation, and case law.

There is a link to the Full Commentary at the top of the Matter Plan in each By Lawyers Guide. There are also links throughout the Matter Plan to each relevant commentary section for each stage of the matter.

By Lawyers library of precedents contains everything needed to complete a matter from start to finish. From everyday letters to complex agreements and even libraries of less common forms and precedents for those occasions when the matter requires something beyond the usual steps.

The precedents are reviewed and amended as legislation and practice change, so they are current.

By Lawyers precedents also include clever matter management tools such as retainer instruction sheets. The retainer instructions are genius in their simplicity, clearly laying out every piece of information needed and every question to be asked of a client during their initial consultation.

All By Lawyers matter plans, commentary, precedents, and reference materials are written or reviewed by a practitioner with experience in the relevant area of law and the applicable jurisdiction. Our authors and editorial team continually monitor all our publications and keep content up to date to reflect changes in the law and practice. We subscribe to multiple legislation tracking and case reporting services, as well as various journals, which are reviewed and actioned daily. We are constantly adding new precedents and commentary to enrich our publications so you can remain confident that you are working with the latest information.

To see recent publication updates and important upcoming changes in the law, please visit our News & Updates page.

Everyone in the office can use the By Lawyers publications, from the principal and partners to the paralegals and support staff. By Lawyers publications help practices better manage their files, starting every matter properly, ensuring every step of a typical matter is considered, and every matter is finalized and billed, with strong client communications throughout the process.

Support staff find the publications useful, and principals and partners can delegate work more efficiently. Staff can quickly and easily see what they need to do.

Inexperienced staff, whether new to the law, new to the type of matter, or infrequently managing such a matter, find the By Lawyers publications very practical and informative.

Law students love By Lawyers because the publications provide practical, plain-English explanations of law and practice, as opposed to theoretical textbooks.

Lastly, the administration staff find the Practice Management publication invaluable. It contains many support materials, from accounting to human resources to a comprehensive staff handbook.

Practice management and risk management have never been so easy.

We have an in-house team of lawyers and other support staff, as well as a team of experienced legal professionals from around the world. To learn more, please visit Our Authors page.

Subscribers can be confident they have access to the latest practical commentary on the law, along with up-to-date precedents and forms.

The precedents and forms are accessed through the matter plan of each publication:

1. Sign In to the website.
2. Select My Library on the top right.
3. Select the publication.
4. Select the relevant matter plan from the publication.
5. Then either search for, or navigate to, the precedent.
6. Click on the precedent and it will download.

By Lawyers is an online legal publication subscription service for law firms. We cannot assist with private legal matters or advice.

For a referral to a lawyer, you can contact LawTap.

Monthly subscriptions are subject to a minimum 3-month subscription period.

After the minimum period, the subscription continues at the applicable monthly rate until cancelled by the subscriber. Further details of the billing process are available in our Terms of Service.

No, a precedent cannot be purchased individually as it belongs to a particular publication.

Our publications consist of matter plans, commentaries, precedents and forms, and relevant reference materials. We offer these publications on a subscription basis, with all content kept up to date with current law and practice. To access a specific precedent, you will need to subscribe to the publication in which it is published.

If you wish to cancel a By Lawyers subscription:

1. Sign in to the website.
2. Select My Library.
3. Go to the relevant publication and select Cancel Subscription to the right of the publication.

Your subscription will be cancelled at the end of the current minimum period.

Please note monthly subscriptions are subject to a minimum 3-month subscription period. Cancellations within this period will proceed after the period has been completed.

Yes. You can subscribe to one, just a couple, or all publications in your jurisdiction. The all publications plan is the best value if you are interested in 4 or more publications.

View all Areas of Law here.

Publications are not available for a one-off purchase, and we do not offer free trials.

By Lawyers is an online legal publication subscription service. A single monthly publication is available for subscription for $99 per month. Annual subscriptions are available for $990 per year. All publications are available for $420 per month or $4,200 per year.

Monthly subscriptions are subject to a minimum 3-month subscription period.

After the 3-month minimum period, the subscription continues at the applicable monthly rate until cancelled by the subscriber.

For annual subscriptions By Lawyers debits payments in advance annually. Subscribers receive an email reminder when the annual subscription payment is due to be deducted from their credit card.

Further details are available in our Terms of Service.

Yes. If you subscribe to two or more publications, a 10% discount will automatically be applied to the cart. 

The all publications plan is the best value if you are interested in 4 or more publications.

A single monthly publication is available for subscription for $99 per month. Annual subscriptions are available for $990 per year. All publications are available for $420 per month or $4,200 per year.

Monthly subscriptions are subject to a minimum 3-month subscription period.

After the 3-month minimum period, the subscription continues at the applicable monthly rate until cancelled by the subscriber. Further details are available in our Terms of Service.

To subscribe to a publication:

1. For a single publication or the all publications plan, select the subscription period from the drop-down menu, monthly or yearly, and click Get Publication.
2. For multiple publications, select the subscription period from the drop-down, monthly or yearly, and click Add to Cart.
3. Sign In if you already have an account or complete the Account Details and Payment Details.
4. Click Complete Payment.

We accept MasterCard, Visa, or American Express. Once the payment is processed, access to the publication will be immediately available.

View all Areas of Law here.

A list of all your current subscriptions is available in My Library:

1. Sign In to the website.
2. Click on My Library.

If you are subscribed to By Lawyers content via the exclusive integration with LEAP, no access to the website is available or necessary. Full access to all publications is available from within the matter in LEAP.

We are unable to transfer a subscription. If you contact us within 24 hours, we can put you in effectively the same position as a transfer:

1. Subscribe to the correct publication.
2. Contact us to outline the issue and confirm you have subscribed to the new publication.
3. We will cancel the incorrect publication and refund the first payment.

By Lawyers publishes guides for use by legal professionals who bring their own professional training and judgement. While you, as a non-legal professional, are at liberty to subscribe to our publications, any use of our content and any decision not to engage a lawyer to assist you is entirely at your own risk.

By Lawyers does not and cannot provide you or any of our subscribers with any legal advice or specific legal assistance whatsoever. We accept no responsibility for any use, including any misuse, that you make of our content, nor any liability for any loss or damage that you or any other person may suffer as a result.

We recommend that you seek legal advice about your situation.