SCOTT - How it works

About SCOTT

SCOTT is dedicated to helping lawyers with legal research using its natural language processing capabilities.

SCOTT’s current coverage includes the following:

  1. All Singapore judgements that are publicly available on Singapore Law Watch (2000 - Present)
  2. Decided cases from the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
  3. Decided cases from the House of Lords
  4. Decisions from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
  5. Cases from England and Wales:
    1. Court of Appeal judgments
    2. High Court Judgments
  6. Cases from Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS)

We want you to get the most out of SCOTT. In this guide, we share the ins and outs of how to effectively use SCOTT’s two features - SCOTT Q&A and SCOTT Search.

SCOTT Q&A

SCOTT Q&A is designed to answer your legal research queries in natural language. The more specific your question, the more tailored SCOTT’s answer will be!

Tips

  1. Ask a question, don’t write a statement.
  2. Be specific - don’t worry about providing excessive terminology.
  3. For definitions, ask SCOTT “What is the legal definition of ___” instead of a general one.
  4. Use punctuations for better formatted results.
Bad Example Good Example
Contract elements What are the elements of a contract?
How to determine standard of care? What is the test to determine the standard of care for medical professionals?

SCOTT Search is designed to provide a list of cases sorted based on relevance of the details provided by the user. The richer the details, the more relevant the case results will be.

Tips

  1. Input specific facts or issues by using the guiding prompts as displayed.
  2. Let SCOTT Search know as many details as POSSIBLE.
  3. Don’t use Boolean search operators such as “AND” and “OR”.
  4. Don’t just search for a word.
  5. Don’t just input a case name to search for the case.
Bad Example Good Example
Parents divorced Parents are divorced, the mother takes the child to the US.
Contract with 2 parties A contract involving a business and an individual.
Trademark of flower on watch Trademark case about similar design of flower on a watch.

Limitations

For best results, avoid the following:

  • Questions on non-legal matters, e.g.
    • What is the weather like?
    • How do you know when your husband stops loving you?
  • Queries containing numbers and dates, e.g.
    • What are 6 cases relating to murder?
    • What are the cases from 2015 onwards?
    • What is s309 abetment?
  • Subjective legal opinions, e.g.
    • Should the death penalty be abolished?
    • Should children under ten be criminally liable?