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How to do legal research in 3 steps

Knowing where to start a difficult legal research project can be a challenge. But if you already understand the basics of legal research, the process can be significantly easier — not to mention quicker.

Solid research skills are crucial to crafting a winning argument. So, whether you are a law school student or a seasoned attorney with years of experience, knowing how to perform legal research is important — including where to start and the steps to follow.

What is legal research, and where do I start?

Black's Law Dictionary defines legal research as “[t]he finding and assembling of authorities that bear on a question of law." But what does that actually mean? It means that legal research is the process you use to identify and find the laws — including statutes, regulations, and court opinions — that apply to the facts of your case.

In most instances, the purpose of legal research is to find support for a specific legal issue or decision. For example, attorneys must conduct legal research if they need court opinions — that is, case law — to back up a legal argument they are making in a motion or brief filed with the court.

Alternatively, lawyers may need legal research to provide clients with accurate legal guidance . In the case of law students, they often use legal research to complete memos and briefs for class. But these are just a few situations in which legal research is necessary.

Why is legal research hard?

Each step — from defining research questions to synthesizing findings — demands critical thinking and rigorous analysis.

1. Identifying the legal issue is not so straightforward. Legal research involves interpreting many legal precedents and theories to justify your questions. Finding the right issue takes time and patience.

2. There's too much to research. Attorneys now face a great deal of case law and statutory material. The sheer volume forces the researcher to be efficient by following a methodology based on a solid foundation of legal knowledge and principles.

3. The law is a fluid doctrine. It changes with time, and staying updated with the latest legal codes, precedents, and statutes means the most resourceful lawyer needs to assess the relevance and importance of new decisions.

Legal research can pose quite a challenge, but professionals can improve it at every stage of the process .

Step 1: Key questions to ask yourself when starting legal research

Before you begin looking for laws and court opinions, you first need to define the scope of your legal research project. There are several key questions you can use to help do this.

What are the facts?

Always gather the essential facts so you know the “who, what, why, when, where, and how” of your case. Take the time to write everything down, especially since you will likely need to include a statement of facts in an eventual filing or brief anyway. Even if you don't think a fact may be relevant now, write it down because it may be relevant later. These facts will also be helpful when identifying your legal issue.

What is the actual legal issue?

You will never know what to research if you don't know what your legal issue is. Does your client need help collecting money from an insurance company following a car accident involving a negligent driver? How about a criminal case involving excluding evidence found during an alleged illegal stop?

No matter the legal research project, you must identify the relevant legal problem and the outcome or relief sought. This information will guide your research so you can stay focused and on topic.

What is the relevant jurisdiction?

Don't cast your net too wide regarding legal research; you should focus on the relevant jurisdiction. For example, does your case deal with federal or state law? If it is state law, which state? You may find a case in California state court that is precisely on point, but it won't be beneficial if your legal project involves New York law.

Where to start legal research: The library, online, or even AI?

In years past, future attorneys were trained in law school to perform research in the library. But now, you can find almost everything from the library — and more — online. While you can certainly still use the library if you want, you will probably be costing yourself valuable time if you do.

When it comes to online research, some people start with free legal research options , including search engines like Google or Bing. But to ensure your legal research is comprehensive, you will want to use an online research service designed specifically for the law, such as Westlaw . Not only do online solutions like Westlaw have all the legal sources you need, but they also include artificial intelligence research features that help make quick work of your research

Step 2: How to find relevant case law and other primary sources of law

Now that you have gathered the facts and know your legal issue, the next step is knowing what to look for. After all, you will need the law to support your legal argument, whether providing guidance to a client or writing an internal memo, brief, or some other legal document.

But what type of law do you need? The answer: primary sources of law. Some of the more important types of primary law include:

Case law, which are court opinions or decisions issued by federal or state courts
Statutes, including legislation passed by both the U.S. Congress and state lawmakers
Regulations, including those issued by either federal or state agencies
Constitutions, both federal and state

Searching for primary sources of law

So, if it's primary law you want, it makes sense to begin searching there first, right? Not so fast. While you will need primary sources of law to support your case, in many instances, it is much easier — and a more efficient use of your time — to begin your search with secondary sources such as practice guides, treatises, and legal articles.

Why? Because secondary sources provide a thorough overview of legal topics, meaning you don't have to start your research from scratch. After secondary sources, you can move on to primary sources of law.

For example, while no two legal research projects are the same, the order in which you will want to search different types of sources may look something like this:

Secondary sources . If you are researching a new legal principle or an unfamiliar area of the law, the best place to start is secondary sources, including law journals, practice guides , legal encyclopedias, and treatises. They are a good jumping-off point for legal research since they've already done the work for you. As an added bonus, they can save you additional time since they often identify and cite important statutes and seminal cases.
Case law . If you have already found some case law in secondary sources, great, you have something to work with. But if not, don't fret. You can still search for relevant case law in a variety of ways, including running a search in a case law research tool.

Once you find a helpful case, you can use it to find others. For example, in Westlaw, most cases contain headnotes that summarize each of the case's important legal issues. These headnotes are also assigned a Key Number based on the topic associated with that legal issue. So, once you find a good case, you can use the headnotes and Key Numbers within it to quickly find more relevant case law.

Statutes and regulations . In many instances, secondary sources and case law list the statutes and regulations relevant to your legal issue. But if you haven't found anything yet, you can still search for statutes and regs online like you do with cases.

Once you know which statute or reg is pertinent to your case, pull up the annotated version on Westlaw. Why the annotated version? Because the annotations will include vital information, such as a list of important cases that cite your statute or reg. Sometimes, these cases are even organized by topic — just one more way to find the case law you need to support your legal argument.

Keep in mind, though, that legal research isn't always a linear process. You may start out going from source to source as outlined above and then find yourself needing to go back to secondary sources once you have a better grasp of the legal issue. In other instances, you may even find the answer you are looking for in a source not listed above, like a sample brief filed with the court by another attorney. Ultimately, you need to go where the information takes you.

Step 3: Make sure you are using ‘good’ law

One of the most important steps with every legal research project is to verify that you are using “good" law — meaning a court hasn't invalidated it or struck it down in some way. After all, it probably won't look good to a judge if you cite a case that has been overruled or use a statute deemed unconstitutional. It doesn't necessarily mean you can never cite these sources; you just need to take a closer look before you do.

The simplest way to find out if something is still good law is to use a legal tool known as a citator, which will show you subsequent cases that have cited your source as well as any negative history, including if it has been overruled, reversed, questioned, or merely differentiated.

For instance, if a case, statute, or regulation has any negative history — and therefore may no longer be good law — KeyCite, the citator on Westlaw, will warn you. Specifically, KeyCite will show a flag or icon at the top of the document, along with a little blurb about the negative history. This alert system allows you to quickly know if there may be anything you need to worry about.

Some examples of these flags and icons include:

A red flag on a case warns you it is no longer good for at least one point of law, meaning it may have been overruled or reversed on appeal.
A yellow flag on a case warns that it has some negative history but is not expressly overruled or reversed, meaning another court may have criticized it or pointed out the holding was limited to a specific fact pattern.
A blue-striped flag on a case warns you that it has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court or the U.S. Court of Appeals.
The KeyCite Overruling Risk icon on a case warns you that the case may be implicitly undermined because it relies on another case that has been overruled.

Another bonus of using a citator like KeyCite is that it also provides a list of other cases that merely cite your source — it can lead to additional sources you previously didn't know about.

Perseverance is vital when it comes to legal research

Given that legal research is a complex process, it will likely come as no surprise that this guide cannot provide everything you need to know.

There is a reason why there are entire law school courses and countless books focused solely on legal research methodology. In fact, many attorneys will spend their entire careers honing their research skills — and even then, they may not have perfected the process.

So, if you are just beginning, don't get discouraged if you find legal research difficult — almost everyone does at first. With enough time, patience, and dedication, you can master the art of legal research.

Thomson Reuters originally published this article on November 10, 2020.

Related insights

Westlaw tip of the week: Checking cases with KeyCite

Why legislative history matters when crafting a winning argument

Case law research tools: The most useful free and paid offerings

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How to Conduct Legal Research

September 21, 2021

Conducting legal research can challenge even the most skilled law practitioners.

As laws evolve across jurisdictions, it can be a difficult to keep pace with every legal development. Equally daunting is the ability to track and glean insights into stakeholder strategies and legal responses. Without quick and easy access to the right tools, the legal research upon which case strategy hinges may face cost, personnel, and litigation outcome challenges.

Bloomberg Law’s artificial intelligence-driven tools drastically reduce the time to perform legal research. Whether you seek quick answers to legal research definitions, or general guidance on the legal research process, Bloomberg Law’s Core Litigation Skills Toolkit has you covered.

What is legal research?

Legal research is the process of uncovering and understanding all of the legal precedents, laws, regulations, and other legal authorities that apply in a case and inform an attorney’s course of action.

Legal research often involves case law research, which is the practice of identifying and interpreting the most relevant cases concerning the topic at issue. Legal research can also involve a deep dive into a judge’s past rulings or opposing counsel’s record of success.

Research is not a process that has a finite start and end, but remains ongoing throughout every phase of a legal matter. It is a cornerstone of a litigator’s skills.

[Learn how our integrated, time-saving litigation research tools allow litigators to streamline their work and get answers quickly.]

Where do I begin my legal research?

Beginning your legal research will look different for each assignment. At the outset, ensure that you understand your goal by asking questions and taking careful notes. Ask about background case information, logistical issues such as filing deadlines, the client/matter number, and billing instructions.

It’s also important to consider how your legal research will be used. Is the research to be used for a pending motion? If you are helping with a motion for summary judgment, for example, your goal is to find cases that are in the same procedural posture as yours and come out favorably for your side (i.e., if your client is the one filing the motion, try to find cases where a motion for summary judgment was granted, not denied). Keep in mind the burden of proof for different kinds of motions.

Finally, but no less important, assess the key facts of the case. Who are the relevant parties? Where is the jurisdiction? Who is the judge? Note all case details that come to mind.

What if I’m new to the practice area or specific legal issue?

While conducting legal research, it is easy to go down rabbit holes. Resist the urge to start by reviewing individual cases, which may prove irrelevant. Start instead with secondary sources, which often provide a prevailing statement of the law for a specific topic. These sources will save time and orient you to the area of the law and key issues.

Litigation Practical Guidance provides the essentials including step-by-step guidance, expert legal analysis, and a preview of next steps. Source citations are included in all Practical Guidance, and you can filter Points of Law, Smart Code®, and court opinions searches to get the jurisdiction-specific cases or statutes you need.

Points of Law Bloomberg Law feature on a desktop computer screen

Searching across Points of Law will help to get your bearings on an issue before diving into reading the cases in full. Points of Law uses machine learning to identify key legal principles expressed in court opinions, which are easily searchable by keyword and jurisdiction. This tool helps you quickly find other cases that have expressed the same Point of Law, and directs you to related Points of Law that might be relevant to your research. It is automatically updated with the most recent opinions, saving you time and helping you quickly drill down to the relevant cases.

How do I respond to the opposing side’s brief?

Whether a brief is yours or that of the opposing party, Bloomberg Law’s Brief Analyzer is an essential component in the legal research process. It reduces the time spent analyzing a brief, identifying relevant authorities, and preparing a solid response.

To start, navigate to Brief Analyzer available from the Bloomberg Law homepage, within the Litigation Intelligence Center , or from Docket Key search results for briefs.

Bloomberg Law Brief Analyzer tool on litigation intelligence center

Simply upload the opposing side’s brief into the tool, and Brief Analyzer will generate a report of the cited authorities and arguments contained in the brief.

You can easily view a comparison with the brief and analysis side by side. It will also point you directly to relevant cases, Points of Law, and Practical Guidance to jump start your research.

Bloomberg Law Brief Analyzer citations and analysis feature

[ How to Write a Legal Brief – Learn how to shorten the legal research cycle and give your legal brief a competitive advantage.]

How to optimize your search.

Crafting searches is a critical skill when it comes to legal research. Although many legal research platforms, including Bloomberg Law, offer natural language searching, terms and connectors (also called Boolean) searching is still a vital legal research skill and should be used when searching across court opinions, dockets, Points of Law, and other primary and secondary sources.

When you conduct a natural language search, the search engine applies algorithms to rank your results. Why a certain case is ranked as it is may not be obvious. This makes it harder to interpret whether the search is giving you everything you need. It is also harder to efficiently and effectively manipulate your search terms to zero in on the results you want. Using Boolean searching gives you better control over your search and greater confidence in your results.

The good news? Bloomberg Law does not charge by the search for court opinion searches. If your initial search was much too broad or much too narrow, you do not have to worry about immediately running a new and improved search.

Follow these tips when beginning a search to ensure that you do not miss relevant materials:

Make sure you do not have typos in your search string.
Search the appropriate source or section of the research platform. It is possible to search only within a practice area, jurisdiction, secondary resource, or other grouping of materials.
Make sure you know which terms and connectors are utilized by the platform you are working on and what they mean – there is no uniform standard set of terms of connectors utilized by all platforms.
Include in your search all possible terms the court might use, or alternate ways the court may address an issue. It is best to group the alternatives together within a parenthetical, connected by OR between each term.
Consider including single and multiple character wildcards when relevant. Using a single character wildcard (an asterisk) and/or a multiple character wildcard (an exclamation point) helps you capture all word variations – even those you might not have envisioned.
Try using a tool that helps you find additional relevant case law. When you find relevant authority, use BCITE on Bloomberg Law to find all other cases and/or sources that cite back to that case. When in BCITE, click on the Citing Documents tab, and search by keyword to narrow the results. Alternatively, you can use the court’s language or ruling to search Points of Law and find other cases that addressed the same issue or reached the same ruling.

[Bloomberg Law subscribers can access a complete checklist of search term best practices . Not a subscriber? Request a Demo .]

How can legal research help with drafting or strategy?

Before drafting a motion or brief, search for examples of what firm lawyers filed with the court in similar cases. You can likely find recent examples in your firm’s internal document system or search Bloomberg Law’s dockets. If possible, look for things filed before the same judge so you can get a quick check on rules/procedures to be followed (and by the same partner when possible so you can get an idea of their style preferences).

Careful docket search provides a wealth of information about relevant cases, jurisdictions, judges, and opposing counsel. On Bloomberg Law, type “Dockets Search” in the Go bar or find the dockets search box in the Litigation Intelligence Center .

If you do not know the specific docket number and/or court, use the docket search functionality Docket Key . Select from any of 20 categories, including motions, briefs, and orders, across all 94 federal district courts, to pinpoint the exact filing of choice.

Bloomberg Law Dockets Search feature on a desktop computer screen

Dockets can also help you access lots of information to guide your case strategy. For example, if you are considering filing a particular type of motion, such as a sanctions motion, you can use dockets to help determine how frequently your judge grants sanctions motions. You can also use dockets to see how similar cases before your judge proceeded through discovery.

If you are researching expert witnesses, you can use dockets to help determine if the expert has been recently excluded from a case, or whether their opinion has been limited. If so, this will help you determine whether the expert is a good fit for your case.

Dockets are a powerful research tool that allow you to search across filings to support your argument. Stay apprised of docket updates with the “Create Alert” option on Bloomberg Law.

Dive deeper into competitive research.

For even more competitive research insights, dive into Bloomberg Law’s Litigation Analytics – this is available in the Litigation tab on the homepage. Data here helps attorneys develop litigation strategy, predict possible outcomes, and better advise clients.

To start, under Litigation Analytics , leverage the Attorney tab to view case history and preview legal strategies the opposition may practice against you. Also, within Litigation Analytics, use the Court tab to get aggregate motion and appeal outcome rates across all federal courts, with the option to run comparisons across jurisdictions, and filter by company, law firm, and attorney.

Use the Judge tab to glean insights from cited opinions, and past and current decisions by motion and appeal outcomes. Also view litigation analytics in the right rail of court opinions.

Docket search can also offer intel on your opponent. Has your opponent filed similar lawsuits or made similar arguments before? How did those cases pan out? You can learn a lot about an opponent from past appearances in court.

How do I validate case law citations?

Checking the status of case law is essential in legal research. Rely on Bloomberg Law’s proprietary citator, BCITE. This time-saving tool lets you know if a case is still good law.

Under each court opinion, simply look to the right rail. There, you will see a thumbnail icon for “BCITE Analysis.” Click on the icon, and you will be provided quick links to direct history (opinions that affect or are affected by the outcome of the case at issue); case analysis (citing cases, with filter and search options), table of authorities, and citing documents.

How should I use technology to improve my legal research?

A significant benefit of digital research platforms and analytics is increased efficiency. Modern legal research technology helps attorneys sift through thousands of cases quickly and comprehensively. These products can also help aggregate or summarize data in a way that is more useful and make associations instantaneously.

For example, before litigation analytics were common, a partner may have asked a junior associate to find all summary judgment motions ruled on by a specific judge to determine how often that judge grants or denies them. The attorney could have done so by manually searching over PACER and/or by searching through court opinions, but that would take a long time. Now, Litigation Analytics can aggregate that data and provide an answer in seconds. Understanding that such products exist can be a game changer. Automating parts of the research process frees up time and effort for other activities that benefit the client and makes legal research and writing more efficient.

[Read our article: Six ways legal technology aids your litigation workflow .]

Tools like Points of Law , dockets and Brief Analyzer can also increase efficiency, especially when narrowing your research to confirm that you found everything on point. In the past, attorneys had to spend many hours (and lots of money) running multiple court opinion searches to ensure they did not miss a case on point. Now, there are tools that can dramatically speed up that process. For example, running a search over Points of Law can immediately direct you to other cases that discuss that same legal principle.

However, it’s important to remember that digital research and analytical tools should be seen as enhancing the legal research experience, not displacing the review, analysis, and judgment of an attorney. An attorney uses his or her knowledge of their client, the facts, the precedent, expert opinions, and his or her own experiences to predict the likely result in a given matter. Digital research products enhance this process by providing more data on a wider array of variables so that an attorney can take even more information into consideration.

[Get all your questions answered, request a Bloomberg Law demo , and more.]

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Legal Research 101: A Step-by-Step Guide

Legal Tech Stack

Rebecca Spiegel

March 20, 2023

Woman sitting at desk using the computer

Legal research is crucial for lawyers, paralegals, and law students. And it can be a struggle for even the most experienced legal professionals—but it can be overwhelming for beginners.

In this blog post, we’ll cover the basics of legal research, including primary and secondary sources, case law, statutes, regulations, and more. Whether just starting your legal career or looking to refresh your knowledge, this guide will provide a solid foundation for effective legal research. Let’s dive in!

What is legal research?

Legal research is the process of identifying and analyzing legal information to support a legal argument or decision. It involves searching for and analyzing primary and secondary sources, such as case law, statutes, regulations, legal dictionaries, treatises, and law review articles.

There are many reasons you might conduct legal research, including:

Looking for case law that backs up your motion or brief
Identifying case law that refutes an opposing argument
Supporting the general narrative of your case
Providing legal counsel to clients
Putting together a memo or brief for law school

Effective legal research can make all the difference in the success of a legal case or argument. Legal research is essential for lawyers, judges, law students, paralegals, and anyone involved in the legal industry. It requires critical thinking, analytical skills, and attention to detail to ensure that legal information is accurate, relevant, and up to date.

How to do legal research

Legal research can be overwhelming and takes many forms depending on your goals. Here are some general steps you’ll likely take in any given legal research project.

Step 1: Gather and understand the key facts of your legal case

A solid legal case starts with strong legal research. So before scouring case laws and court opinions for data, stepping back and setting a few goals is important. What are you hoping to accomplish with this case, and what key facts will support your argument?

Once you understand the information you’re looking for, ask yourself these questions to start your research on the right foot.

Key questions to ask yourself before starting legal research

What are the basics.

Whether working with a client or writing a law brief for school, always start with the basics. What’s the “who, what, why, when, where, and how?”

Write a quick summary, especially since you’ll likely need it for a statement of facts in a filing or legal brief. You never know what facts might be helpful later! Even if details you think may not be relevant now, include them on your list.

Pro tip: Record your essential facts in a case management tool . While it may be tempting to skip this step, a case management tool will help you streamline your legal process, reduce human error, and save you time in the long run as you juggle multiple clients.

What's the legal issue?

Next, identify the actual legal issue you’re hoping to solve. Does your client need help to settle a property ownership dispute? Or are they pursuing worker’s compensation for an accident that happened on the clock?

No matter the legal research project, having a clear sense of the legal problem is crucial to determining your desired outcome. A clear end goal will help you stay focused and on topic throughout your casework.

What jurisdiction are you operating in?

When it comes to legal research, casting a wide net can be a bad thing. There are endless amounts of court opinions and legal databases that you could sort through. But your research will have been for naught if they’re irrelevant to your case.

That’s why it’s necessary to identify the relevant jurisdiction for your case. Does it deal with federal or state law? If a state, which one? You might find applicable case law from a Washington state supreme court that supports your argument, but it won’t hold up with opposing counsel if you’re operating in Montana.

Create a research plan

Now, it’s time to think about where you’ll go to perform legal research. While Google might be a good start for some of the basic facts you need, it’s probably not enough. Legal encyclopedias and law journals have traditionally supported lawyers as they’ve conducted research, but technology has also made the process a lot easier now. Law firms might invest in an online legal research service to comb through relevant statutes legal topics.

Step 2: Gather sources of law

The next step as you conduct legal research is to gather relevant law sources.

There are two different kinds of sources: primary law and secondary law. As you start your research, it's important to note that you should start with secondary law materials.

Why? Because these sources will help you understand what experts have to say about a legal topic before you start your case and investigate primary materials. Think of it as building a knowledgeable foundation for your argument: you'll sound smarter (and win your case) if you know what experts are saying about the legal topic you're researching.

What are secondary legal sources?

Secondary legal sources are publications that analyze, interpret, or explain primary legal sources. They are not the law itself, but rather resources that provide commentary, context, or background information on the law. Examples of secondary legal sources include:

legal encyclopedias and dictionaries
law review articles
legal treatises
practice guides
annotated codes
Law journals
Legal news
Jury instructions

Secondary sources can be helpful for several reasons, including providing a deeper understanding of legal concepts, identifying key issues and arguments, and finding additional primary sources. They can also help determine the law's current state and identify any changes or developments in legal trends or interpretations.

It is important to note that secondary legal sources are not authoritative sources of law and should not be relied upon as legal precedent. Instead, they can be used to support and supplement primary legal sources in legal research and analysis.

What are primary legal sources?

Primary legal sources establish legal rules and principles. The existing laws, regulations, and judicial decisions create, interpret, and enforce legal principles and rules. Examples of primary legal sources include:

Statutes: Written laws enacted by legislative bodies at the federal, state, or local level.
Case law: Decisions made by courts in the course of resolving disputes.
Regulations: Rules and standards issued by administrative agencies to implement and interpret statutes.
Constitutions: Written documents that establish the basic principles and structure of a government.

Primary legal sources are considered the most authoritative sources of law and are relied upon to determine legal rights and obligations. They are often used in legal research and analysis to interpret and apply the law to specific cases or situations. It is important to note that primary legal sources can be complex and require careful analysis and interpretation to determine their meaning and scope.

Step 3: Make sure you’re using “good” law

Another important step in the legal research process is to verify that any cases and statutes you use are still "good law" — in other words, that they're still valid and relevant. Overruled or unconstitutional statutes won't help you win any cases.

Can older cases still be considered "good?"

Whenever possible, it's a good idea to use the most recent cases possible. They're more likely to be relevant to your case and are less likely to have been rendered obsolete. That said, recency isn't mandatory.

A case that's 30 years old could still be considered "good law" if it hasn't been overruled or otherwise made irrelevant. If it fits with the facts of your case and falls within your jurisdiction, it could still be helpful for your argument!

Use a citator

A citator can help you check to see if your research contains "good" law. Citators verify legal authority by providing the history and precedent for any cases, statutes, and legal sources you use.

Most legal databases have their own citator tools, which flag negative materials and can help you evaluate whether a case is "good" law. Citator tools can also help you find other relevant cases that cite the opinion in question.

Step 4: Sum up results and look for gaps

Once your initial legal research process is complete, compile it into a legal memorandum. This will help you identify any gaps in the facts you've collected and anticipate any additional information you might need.

A good legal memorandum:

States the facts of the case
Identifies the issue
Applies “good” law to the facts
Predicts any counterpoints
Assesses the outcome of the case

The best tips and strategies for conducting legal research

Conducting legal research can be a challenging task, requiring both expertise and a strategic approach. Here are our best tips and strategies for conducting effective legal research, to help you to navigate the complexities of the legal system with confidence.

Think about the opposing counsel’s arguments

Consider your case from all angles. What will your opposition's arguments look like? Think competitively as you perform legal research, and search for facts that will refute any legal basis the opposing party may claim.

Don't stop researching

Your research isn't over until your assignment is submitted or your case is closed. Don't cut corners and use all of the time you have available to you. You never know when you're going to find a vital piece of research that could positively impact your case.

Take advantage of legal research tools

In recent years, legal research technology has transformed the way lawyers and legal professionals conduct research. With the help of advanced search algorithms, machine learning, and natural language processing, legal research technology can help to streamline the research process, increase efficiency, and provide more accurate and comprehensive results.

Here are a few tools that help streamline the legal research process:

ROSS Intelligence is a legal research platform that's driven by AI. ROSS lets you highlight statements in your memorandums and briefs to instantly search for cases and statutes that cover similar laws. You can also use ROSS to look for negative case treatment in your pleadings and law briefs.
Casetext’s CARA AI search technology and automated review tools help lawyers speed up their legal searches. You can use Casetext to start your research with a complaint or legal brief, and find highly relevant, tailored search results and resources. Not only does Casetext find facts and legal issues, but it will filter results to the jurisdiction you're looking for. Casetext’s citator also makes it easier to check and flag any bad law.

Document your research with law practice management software

A poor documentation system can ruin your entire legal research process. Law practice management software can help you record your research in an efficient, streamlined, and automated way—so that no detail ever falls through the cracks.

Smokeball's legal case management software keeps your entire law firm organized by helping you collect details during client intake, saving them to the correct case matter and auto-populating the documents you need with the correct information. And our Client Portal helps you communicate with clients, request more details when you need it, and share research results.

Download Now: Getting Automated: An End-to-End Guide to Law Firm Automation

In conclusion, legal research is an essential skill for lawyers, law students, and other legal professionals. By mastering the basics of legal research, including identifying primary and secondary legal sources, using legal research tools effectively, and developing a strategic approach to research, legal professionals can improve the quality of their work and provide better outcomes for their clients.

With the help of Smokeball's legal practice management software, legal research can become a more efficient, and effective process. We're here to support your law firm from the initial research stage to client communication to i nvoicing and billing when your case is closed.

FAQs about legal research

What is shepardizing in legal research.

Shepardizing is a process used in legal research to determine whether a particular case or statute is still good law. It involves checking the history and subsequent treatment of the case or statute to ensure that it has not been overruled, superseded, or otherwise invalidated. Shepardizing is an important step in legal research to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the sources being used.

Can I use Google for legal research?

Yes, Google can be a great first step to find basic details for your case. Google Scholar is also a good resource for lawyers conducting legal research. It contains an extensive database of state and federal cases, with superior search functionality.

However, Google is clear that the resources they provide are not vetted or approved by a legal professional:

“Legal opinions in Google Scholar are provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied on as a substitute for legal advice from a licensed lawyer. Google™ does not warrant that the information is complete or accurate.”

So it's important to verify that any of the sources you pull from Google Scholar are accurate, and are considered "good" law.

How to do legal research as a paralegal?

A good paralegal will follow the steps of D.I.S.P.U.T.E . to define the legal issues of the case and find relevant case law.

D id you identify all of the relevant parties involved in the case?
I s the location important?
S ome items or objects may be important to the case.
P ut the events in chronological order.
U nderstanding the events will give you the basis of action or the issues that are involved in the case.
T ake into consideration the opposing counsel’s arguments in the case.
E valuate the legal remedy or the relief sought in the case.

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Conducting Legal Research

Five Step Legal Research Process
Major Secondary Sources
Major Primary Sources
Using Shepard's Citator in Lexis
Using KeyCite's Citator in Westlaw
Using Headnotes in Westlaw
Using Headnotes in Lexis
Finding Aids
Additional Research Resources
Free Sources of Law Online
Research Tips

Five Steps of Legal Research

This five-step research process can be applied to almost any research project, but it’s important to remember that it is not a rigid formula. Be flexible. Sometimes you will get to step three and realize you should go back and revise your research plan. Other times you might have some preliminary knowledge, so you can start with step two or three. Sometimes, it's easier to do Steps 3 and 4(a) together.

Ultimately, the five steps provide structure for your research and can help you when you don’t know where to go next.

Here are the five steps:

1. Formulate a Research Plan 2. Consult Secondary Sources 3. Consult Primary Sources 4. (a) Expand Primary Law, and (b) Update Primary Law 5. Analyze & Organize Results

The Five Steps

Step One: Formulate a Research Plan

Consider the following preliminary questions:

Legal question(s) that you need to answer
Parties & the relationship between the parties
Area(s) of law
Jurisdiction
Most relevant facts
Legal terms of art

Generate search terms before you begin your research. This will help you to:

Navigate indexes and tables of contents, and conduct keyword searches; and
Create both natural language and terms and connectors search terms.

You may not be able to answer every preliminary question and that's okay. Part of the research process is identifying known and unknown information. Answer what you can, then move to Step 2.

Step Two: Consult Secondary Sources

Depending on your familiarity with a particular area of law, you will consult different types of secondary sources.

If you are unfamiliar with an area of law, consult General Secondary Sources such as:

Legal Encyclopedias, either state-specific, e.g., Florida Jurisprudence 2d (FlaJur); or national, e.g., American Jurisprudence 2d (AmJur) or Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS)
American Law Reports (ALR)
General law journals (e.g., Florida Law Review )

If you are familiar with an area of law, consult Subject-specific Secondary Sources such as:

Treatises focused on a discrete area of law (e.g., Wharton’s Criminal Law )
Restatements (e.g., Restatement (Second) of the Law of Torts )
Subject-specific law journals (e.g., Florida Journal of International Law or Harvard Environmental Law Review )

As you develop your knowledge of a particular area, subject-specific secondary sources become more useful.

Step Three: Consult Primary Sources

The secondary sources you consulted in Step 2 should lead you directly to primary sources via references and footnotes.

Once you find relevant primary sources, those primary sources should lead you to other relevant primary sources:

Annotated codes and regulations lead you to case law, other code sections, and secondary sources.
Cases lead you to authorities they rely upon – statutes, regulations, and other cases.

Step Four: Expand & Update Primary Law

Step Four has two parts: (a) expanding your research, and (b) updating the primary law that you’ve found to ensure that the law is still good law. Both parts rely on Shepard’s and/or KeyCite.

(a) Expand your research by looking at the cases that a case you've found cites to or that cite to that case; by exploring relevant headnotes in the cases you’ve already found to find other cases that cite to that case for the law in that headnote; or by using the Topic or Key Number system to find additional cases indexed under the same topic as a relevant case.

(b) Update your research (using either Shepard’s or KeyCite) to make sure that the cases, statutes, and regulations you plan to use in your argument haven’t been overruled or otherwise treated negatively; and to determine whether there is more recent case law that discusses the same issue.

Step Five: Analyze & Organize Results

In Step 5, analyze your research and, by extension, any arguments and drafts that you have started to write. Focus on the following:

Yes = return to research
No = move forward
Yes = move forward
No = return to research

If you need to return to research, go back to Steps One and Two.

Try a different jurisdiction to see if there are synonyms for the terms you have used.
Try natural language searches instead of terms and connectors (or vice versa).
Try to find a subject-specific source (treatise, journal article).
Use different finding methods to identify secondary sources (indexes, tables of contents, annotated codes).
Next: Major Secondary Sources >>
Last Updated: Apr 18, 2023 4:07 PM
URL: https://guides.law.ufl.edu/legalresearch

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The ultimate guide to conducting legal research

We run through three basic steps that will help lawyers conduct effective legal research, showing them how to create research plans, gather effective information, and review that information.

Legal research is defined as the process of identifying and retrieving information to support legal decision-making. It is essential to lawyers at all stages of their legal careers. It helps students to study for exams, graduates to prepare for careers, and seasoned lawyers to find effective case law to back up their motions, support the over-arching narrative of their case, or refute an opposing argument.

Every lawyer, regardless of their position, should practice legal research. The benefits are obvious. Legal research gives you access to the best facts and knowledge, helps you to form coherent arguments and find effective solutions using the latest information, supports the decision-making process, allows you to curate up-to-date and relevant teaching material for students, and much more.

In short, legal research is essential. But the value you gain depends on the way you conduct the research. In this article, we are going to explore the steps lawyers and legal counsel can take to boost productivity and maximise value with legal research, starting with the creation of a research plan.

Creating a research plan

The first step is finding out what you need to find out. If you are trying to identify and understand the facts of a case, for example, start by recording what you know in a case management tool, such as Visualfiles . That will help you develop a course of action, narrowing down the research.

You’ll then need to build on the initial facts. First, identify where you’re planning to search. Lawyers and legal counsel too often rely on free services like Google to find information. Indeed, the LexisNexis 2022 Bellwether report found that a concerning 74% of lawyers use Google for research.

The problem is that Google often provides information that is unreliable and outdated . And that can prove problematic and time-consuming, as lawyers and legal counsel will need to cross-check and fact-check the information they find, ensuring that it is accurate – or finding that it is inaccurate.

A better option is to find a trusted platform. Take the legal tech tool, Lexis+® UK , for example. Lexis+® UK offers quick and accurate answers using practical guidance and provides leading legal content. It allows you to start with a natural language search or question and offers loads of incredible optimisation features that help lawyers quickly sift through primary and secondary sources.

Once you’ve figured out where to search, you will need to work out what to search. You might want to start by asking yourself questions, such as: What are the main issues that arose when gathering initial facts? What’s the most helpful case law or practical guidance on those issues? Are there any significant gaps in my knowledge? And so on. The answers will define the start of your legal research.

Gather the best information

The next step in the process is to gather all the best information to help you meet your objective. For lawyers working on cases, that usually means gathering relevant sources of law. You should start with secondary law materials , which will help ensure you are up to date on what the experts have to say about a particular topic before you start the (slightly more laborious) task of reading primary sources.

Secondary sources are vital – and one of the massive benefits of legal research tools . Secondary sources include, among other things, practice guides, legal treatises, legal guidance, review articles, journals, legal news, legal dictionaries and encyclopaedias, and some more obscure resources.

Secondary legal sources are, simply put, educational materials that describe or interpret the law. Students can read them to understand how lawyers might analyse a particular case. Lawyers can use secondary sources to build a case. Teachers can use them to show students about the merits of a case.

Then you will need to look at primary legal sources. These are formal documents officially issues by the body that establishes law. They are, in short, the law. Primary sources include , among other things, case law provided by the courts, legislation passed by parliament, tribunals and statutes, court records and court decisions, government documents, and other elements issued by official bodies.

Studying primary sources is the most authoritative act of research, but often time consuming, as the documents can be challenging to read, particularly for students and graduates early in their careers. But you can use secondary sources to make more sense of the primary sources, cross-referencing and cross-checking, exploring interpretations and analysis to simplify the act of research.

Once you’ve checked out the secondary and primary sources, you should have built a strong portfolio of information. At that stage, the legal research process is nearly complete. You’ll just need to review.

Review your information

The final step is the quickest one. It is mainly about practicing caution and ensuring you adopt a thorough approach. You just need to ensure that the legal sector broadly considers the information you have gathered reliable. You may want to double-check, for example, that case law has not been overturned or questioned. Or you may want to check the information you have gathered is up to date.

The above is an easy task, especially if you are using legal research software . Legal software often offers a quick and easy option to view how cases have been treated in court, for example, or view analysis of legal developments, allowing you to double-check information with the click of a button.

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How to Conduct Legal Research

IN THIS ARTICLE

Where do I begin my legal research?

What if i’m new to the practice area or specific legal issue, how do i respond to the opposing side’s brief, how can legal research help with drafting or strategy, how do i validate case law citations, how should i use technology to improve my legal research.

[Learn more about Bloomberg Law’s complete legal research resource – enabling smarter, faster decisions and confident action for your clients, practice, and organization.]

Conducting legal research can challenge even the most skilled law practitioners.

What is legal research?

Research is not a process that has a finite start and end, but remains ongoing throughout every phase of a legal matter. It is a cornerstone of a litigator’s skills.

[Learn how our integrated, time-saving litigation research tools allow litigators to streamline their work and get answers quickly.]

Finally, but no less important, assess the key facts of the case. Who are the relevant parties? Where is the jurisdiction? Who is the judge? Note all case details that come to mind.

Address your litigation research needs – day or night

No matter when you’re working, we’ve got the smarter, faster resources you need, including faster case law research, complete dockets access, and 24/7 expert support.

To start, navigate to Brief Analyzer available from the Bloomberg Law homepage, within the Litigation Intelligence Center , or from Docket Key search results for briefs.

[ How to Write a Legal Brief – Learn how to shorten the legal research cycle and give your legal brief a competitive advantage.]

How to optimize your search.

Follow these tips when beginning a search to ensure that you do not miss relevant materials:

Make sure you do not have typos in your search string.
Search the appropriate source or section of the research platform. It is possible to search only within a practice area, jurisdiction, secondary resource, or other grouping of materials.
Make sure you know which terms and connectors are utilized by the platform you are working on and what they mean – there is no uniform standard set of terms of connectors utilized by all platforms.
Include in your search all possible terms the court might use, or alternate ways the court may address an issue. It is best to group the alternatives together within a parenthetical, connected by OR between each term.
Consider including single and multiple character wildcards when relevant. Using a single character wildcard (an asterisk) and/or a multiple character wildcard (an exclamation point) helps you capture all word variations – even those you might not have envisioned.
Try using a tool that helps you find additional relevant case law. When you find relevant authority, use BCITE on Bloomberg Law to find all other cases and/or sources that cite back to that case. When in BCITE, click on the Citing Documents tab, and search by keyword to narrow the results. Alternatively, you can use the court’s language or ruling to search Points of Law and find other cases that addressed the same issue or reached the same ruling.

[Bloomberg Law subscribers can access a complete checklist of search term best practices . Not a subscriber? Request a Demo .]

Dockets are a powerful research tool that allow you to search across filings to support your argument. Stay apprised of docket updates with the “Create Alert” option on Bloomberg Law.

Writing a research memo? Here’s a how-to guide.

Bloomberg Law subscribers can access our expert-written guide on writing a research memo, authored by Aaron Goodman, Of Counsel at Baker McKenzie.

Not a subscriber? Request a demo

Dive deeper into competitive research.

Use the Judge tab to glean insights from cited opinions, and past and current decisions by motion and appeal outcomes. Also view litigation analytics in the right rail of court opinions.

Checking the status of case law is essential in legal research. Rely on Bloomberg Law’s proprietary citator, BCITE. This time-saving tool lets you know if a case is still good law.

[Read our article: Six ways legal technology aids your litigation workflow .]

[Get all your questions answered, request a Bloomberg Law demo , and more.]

Reference Shelf

Litigation Essentials – Legal Tech Tools for the Modern Practitioner
Six Steps to an Efficient Litigation Workflow
Give Your Legal Brief a Competitive Advantage
Artificial Intelligence for Lawyers Explained
Litigators Sound Off on Their Most Time-Consuming Task
The Art of the Brief: Critical Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

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How to Do Legal Research: The Ultimate Overview

By The MyCase Team

Sep 25, 2023

Whether you’re brand new to practicing law or a seasoned pro, effective legal research is one of the cornerstones of being a successful lawyer. Throughout your career, legal research skills can help you stay abreast of evolving precedent.

However, it’s not just the law itself that’s changing but many of the methods for conducting legal research have transformed in the digital age. These days, crafting a perfect legal argument takes a winning combination of experience, intuition, and the ability to leverage technology.

To make sure you’re getting the most from your legal research, we’ve put together a guide that covers the basic steps of effective legal research and the latest tools and best practices at your disposal.

What is Legal Research?

Legal research is the process of finding relevant laws, case summaries, and other information to back up your legal arguments and decision making. In addition to preparing for a filing or trial, an attorney may do legal research to accurately answer a client’s questions and provide guidance.

Specific laws and decisions also are subject to change over time. So while doing research, legal experts must also make sure they’re using “good” law–in other words, that the decision or specific case they’re citing is still relevant.

Why is Effective Legal Research Important?

Effective law research helps achieve better outcomes for clients and develop smarter strategies.

Without a solid foundation of quality legal research, it can be difficult to know if a given argument or precedent is valid or will work. Beyond that, using well-researched arguments backed by the most up-to-date citations will help you:

Get a complete and accurate picture of the case at hand
Achieve better outcomes for clients
Develop smarter and more sophisticated case strategies
Help you stay up to date on the law and legal trends in your practice area

Additionally, using legal analytics and other digital tools to supplement your research can also help you predict success rates, understand the costs and time of a given case, and work more efficiently overall.

How to Conduct Legal Research in 5 Steps

For many years, a lawyer’s best research tools were largely limited to libraries, books, and physical documents. Now, there is a plethora of available online tools and resources to help. However, even the most sophisticated tools (like AI) aren’t worth much unless you already have a solid understanding of how to conduct legal research..

Regardless of what you use to research, there are several basic steps that go into effective legal research:

1. Gather the Facts

Before building an argument, you need to understand the exact nature of the issue you’re faced with. The initial fact-finding process helps you determine:

What is the jurisdiction?
Is it a federal or state issue?
A reasonable goal/desired outcome to expect
The facts of the case: who, what, where, when, how

By answering these initial questions, you can then narrow your search to be more specific. Many legal experts use case management software to assist with tracking client and case information right from the intake stage. Software will also make it easier when locating or attaching relevant documents in the future as well.

2. Create a Research Plan

Using the facts you’ve already gathered, you’ll then determine what primary sources and case law will be most relevant to your case. Instead of diving straight into the research, it can be extremely helpful to develop a research plan first.

At this stage, it’s less important to know exactly what sources you’re looking for and more about creating a list of relevant legal terms and what filters you should apply (more on that later). You do this by analyzing the facts of the case, assessing what you still need to learn, and creating a list of potential search terms.

3. Gather Sources

Armed with a list of relevant terms and facts about your case, it’s time to get into law research. You’ll generally find two types of sources valuable.

Primary Sources: Primary legal sources are formal documents issued by a state or federal government that establish law such as:

Court decisions
Regulations
Constitutions

Secondary Sources : Secondary sources provide summaries of legal matters and court decisions. Some examples of secondary sources include:

Legal articles
Practice guides
Legal dictionaries

Ultimately, the most important citations you can provide will be primary legal sources—but often the fastest route to finding them is by mining secondary sources that point you in the right direction. It also lets you see what other legal experts have said about similar issues, giving you further insights into what direction your strategy and research should take.

While physically going to the library and cracking the books still has its place, technology has made the initial research stages much easier. There are a number of free and paid online resources , like Google Scholar , available for lawyers — which you use depends on your budget, how big your firm is, and what kind of advanced features you’re looking for.

Search tools that incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) let you use natural language or informal search terms to find relevant documents, significantly accelerating the research process. AI can also be used to provide succinct summaries of lengthy documents like cases, laws, deposition transcripts, and more.

4. Ensure That You’re Using “Good” Law

As we touched on briefly before, it’s vital to make sure you’re using “good” law. What is “good” law? Basically, it’s making sure a legal decision, case, or other source you’re using is in good standing with the courts and still relevant. A perfect example from a ruling might seem great at first until you find out the decision was overturned at a later date, appealed, or made obsolete by a new law.

A good rule of thumb is to try and find recent cases as they are more likely to still be relevant. Of course, that doesn’t mean old cases should be avoided outright.

Using a citator—a legal tool that cross references your document with other citations—is vital to ensuring the document you’re using doesn’t have any negative history. Many newer citators will also provide a summary of the findings and point you towards similar cases.

In addition to looking only for negative history (like decisions that were overturned), it’s also important to note differentiators or unique factors that contributed to one outcome or another. This is another area where legal analytics and AI can shine, helping you understand meaningful patterns in case law.

5. Check Your Work

The legal research process can get intense, and sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the details. Before finalizing, it’s a good idea to summarize your findings to show how your full body of research supports your desired conclusion. This is also called a legal memorandum, and while it might seem redundant, a legal memo can be useful for:

Fostering internal collaboration within your law firm
Communicating strategy with your clients
Documenting your legal processes and findings

Tips to Improve Your Legal Research Skills

Practice management technology can boost your legal research skills by improving workflows.

With a solid foundation of basic legal research skills you can take advantage of the latest best practices and tools to make your law research process even more efficient. When determining how to improve your legal research skills, here are some important starting points.

Use Legal Technology

Effectively representing your clients and drafting winning arguments comes from utilizing every tool at your disposal. Specialized legal software comes with a number of built-in capabilities that streamline legal research and ensure it’s more effective. Supplementing this with the capabilities of leading case management software can help further with things like:

Custom Workflows : Workflows can be set up based on the type of case to automate tasks, create deadlines, pull specific documents, and more.
Case Analytics : Analytics tools provide a 360-degree view of every case that leads to actionable insights. Analytics tools not only help during the research process, but can also be used to better understand your own case history and workflows in order to find areas for improvement or gaps.
Time Tracking and Scheduling : Case management can make it easier to track the time you spend on research and other tasks. Not only does this make tracking billable hours easier, it allows you to stay on top of important deadlines which is vital when handling multiple cases at once.
Document Management : Keep all relevant case files in one place with comprehensive document management tools. Software like MyCase ensures all of your documents are organized, accessible, and secure—bolstering collaboration and helping to establish a single source of truth.

Leverage AI to Check Your Work

The topic of AI has exploded within the last year and generated a lot of excitement. When you look at its capabilities within the legal field, it’s easy to understand why. There are already several tools out there that help speed up research without losing quality or accuracy.

AI tools can help check your work by summarizing your sources, pointing you towards others, and checking for anything you’ve missed. While many traditional online searches get stuck when you fail to use the exact right wording, AI helps get around this by generating tailored search results based on plain language.

Boost Your Legal Research Efficiency With Best-In-Class Technology

Learning how to conduct legal research effectively is crucial for the long term success of any lawyer. Having a solid research process not only helps lawyers achieve better outcomes for their clients, but allows them to use their time more efficiently.

Leading law firms across the country rely on MyCase to help centralize their documentation, client communication, calendaring, and more. Features like full text search , which allows you to instantly search for terms within your digital files, are also crucial for finding relevant documents quickly.

By leveraging a best-in-class case management platform to support their research processes and workflows, law firms can boost efficiency and collaboration like never before.

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Legal Research Basics

Introduction, step 1: preliminary analysis, step 2: create a research plan, step 3: consult secondary sources, step 4: search for primary authority – statutes, regulations, and cases, step 5: evaluate your search strategy and results as you go, step 6: update & final check.

Secondary Sources
Primary Law - Mandatory v. Persuasive Authority
Court Structure
Regulations
Legislative History
Legal Citations
Boolean Operators
Free Sources of Legal Information

Whenever you conduct legal research, it is essential that you follow a process. Many researchers simply throw words into Westlaw or Lexis+ and try their best to sift through the thousands of results, without first coming up with a research plan. They end up lost, confused, and frustrated. Taking the time to develop a research plan (and having the discipline to follow it) will make your research more efficient and productive. The major steps of the research process are detailed below.

Relevant and material facts (Who? What? Where? When?)
Parties (who is the Plaintiff and who is the Defendant?)
Jurisdiction(s) – Is the issue resolved under federal, state (which state?), or both?
Area(s) of law
Primary legal issues: what are you trying to resolve?
Legal concepts, terms of art, possible legal theories, and defenses
What entities have authority?
What types of law do you expect to find (e.g., statutes, regulations, case law)?
How familiar are you with the area of law? What do you know about the issues?
Create a list of general and specific search terms (unique or distinctive facts) and legal concepts (include synonyms and related terms).
Decide where to begin (usually secondary sources).
Identify primary authority sources to search (federal, state, or both; statutes, regulations, and cases).
Locate the sources you wish to search, choose the format, understand the scope and coverage of the resource and how to navigate / search (table of contents, index, full-text search conventions).
Identify one or more secondary sources relevant to your issue.
Find the relevant sections using the index, table of contents, or search features.
Read all the relevant sections. Take notes as you go.
Note any citations to primary law. Repeat this until you have a good understanding of the issue.

If you don't know what secondary source to use, consult our list of Recommended Treatises . You can also contact your Research Librarians if you need assistance getting started.

Search for statutes first (enacted laws control before case law).
Search for administrative regulations related to relevant statutes.
Search for case law interpreting the statute(s).
If there are no applicable statutes or regulations, look for mandatory case law (See Mandatory v. Persuasive Authority for more detail).
Search for persuasive authority if there is no mandatory authority, or to find contrary authority (it can be good to know what authority the other side is going to use to make their case).
Identify new search terms and legal concepts.
Refine research strategy to incorporate findings.
Try utilizing a research log to track what terms you've already used, in what combination, and where you searched them.
Add more terms, use more specific terms, set filters, adjust proximity connectors (e.g., AND instead of OR, /s instead of /p).
Use fewer terms, use synonyms for original terms, use broader terms, remove filters, adjust proximity connectors (e.g., OR instead of AND, /p instead of /s).
Periodically consult your notes/facts to ensure you are staying on track.
Consider other relevant sources (e.g., surrounding sections of statutes, definitions, related authority).
Make sure you have addressed all issues completely.
Update all primary authority you are relying on or citing to make sure it is still good law (using KeyCite and/or Shepard’s).
Proofread your work.
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Next: Secondary Sources >>
Last Updated: Jun 11, 2024 3:12 PM
URL: https://libguides.law.chapman.edu/legalresearchbasics

Introduction to Legal Research: How to Start

Home: Introduction to Legal Research
How to Start
Secondary Sources
Regulations
Updating Case Law
Getting Help

Research Strategies

Use secondary sources to learn about the law and get references to primary law.
Use a known case to find citations to other cases and statutes.
Use a known statute to find citations to cases.

Key Questions

Be sure you have the basic facts . Ask the "who, what, when, where, why and how" questions. You have to be sure you understand the facts surrounding your legal issue before you start.
Articulate the legal issue . What jurisdiction is involved? Federal or state? Is this a civil or criminal matter? Who are the parties and what relief is sought?
Consider which of three groups may have established the law on this issue : the legislature, the courts, or the executive branch. It is quite possible that two and possibly all three groups have touched on the topic. Then look for to the statute, case, or regulation that applies.

Search Terms

To begin to research, you need a list of search terms . Here are three ways to come up with search terms:

Brainstorm by jotting down as many synonyms and related words as you can because different resources use different terminology to refer to the same topic. For example, "children" could be listed under "infants," "minors," or "parent and child."
Use a dictionary, especially a legal dictionary (see Secondary Sources ).
Ask a librarian or other person familiar with the topic for suggestions.
<< Previous: Home: Introduction to Legal Research
Next: Secondary Sources >>
Last Updated: Jan 12, 2024 12:19 PM
URL: https://guides.library.cornell.edu/legalresearchintro

How to Prepare for Law School
Head start on legal research
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How to do Legal Research in Law School

What are we going to cover?

Introduce you to an important skill for law students and lawyers.

How are we going to cover it?

Walk through the standard legal research process.

Why is it important to me as an incoming 1L?

You’ll have a class dedicated to legal research during the year, and learning legal research is part of the process of becoming a lawyer.

The Process
Starting Your Search
3 S’s of Legal Research

Question: What is “Legal Research?”

Answer: Legal research is the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making.

Question: So why do it?

Answer: Support legal decision-making:

COMPLEX legal issues
Applied to SPECIFIC facts
Requiring COMPLETE answers
For clients that PAY for your expertise

The Legal Research Process is based upon The Legal Research Pyramid

Starting on the Open Web such as Google and/or bing. This is a good place to start but:

Not specific enough
Rarely authoritative (can’t cite to Google in court)
Credibility of sources is always a question
Collapse All

Step #1:Legal Research Process

Secondary Sources: Sources of information that describe or interpret the law, such as legal treatises, law review articles, and other scholarly legal writings, cited by lawyers to persuade a court to reach a particular decision in a case, but which the court is not obligated to follow.
Don’t reinvent the wheel
Learn from Legal Experts
Get most important authority
Read important background information
Practice Guides
Annotations & Digests
Law Reviews & Journals

Step #2:Legal Research Process

Primary Sources : A document that establishes the law on a particular issue, such as a case decision or legislative act.
Authoritative
Precedential
Controlling
Regulations

Step #3: Legal Research Process

Shepardizing®: The process of consulting Shepard's® to see if a case has been overturned, reaffirmed, questioned, or cited by later cases.
Your research needs to be “Good Law”
You can’t use reversed or overruled authority
See “Precedential Value”
Shows if authority is overruled
Ensures research is “Good Law”

Step #4: Rinse & Repeat?

Law is Always Changing
Legal research is never done
Need to update your research as the law evolves
Don’t find out your research is obsolete from opposing counsel
Start with Secondary Sources
Support with Primary Sources
Shepardize ™

Legal Research & Practical Guidance

Build your legal strategy and do vital work using authoritative primary law, analysis, guidance, court records and validation tools.

Search vast LexisNexis resources without selecting sources or using search commands.

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Current practical guidance from leading practitioners for managing transactional matters.

Lexis Securities Mosaic

Track and analyze SEC filings, U.S. agency information, industry news and current awareness.

News, Company Research & Media Monitoring Solutions

Quickly uncover up-to-date facts, news and insight essential to your decisions and business development.

LexisNexis Newsdesk

A fresh take on media monitoring & analysis to help you find the hidden gems that can impact your business.

Current, authoritative news, social media, company, financial and industry sources.

Media Intelligence Research & Analytics

Identify prospects and compile business profiles that help you close more deals.

Lexis Diligence

Corporate due diligence research tool.

Intellectual Property

Stay up to speed with trends, track your competition, promote innovation and protect your intellectual assets.

TotalPatent One

The world's largest collection of full-text and bibliographic patent databases.

Patent Advisor

Predictive and revealing analytics for more efficient patent prosecution.

PatentOptimizer

Patent application drafting and analysis tools.

The CaseMap Suite of Litigation Tools

Comprised of four unique components, the CaseMap Suite can help you organize, analyze and present your entire case.

Compile relevant case facts, documents, research and issues into a centralized location for better assessment.

Manage litigation documents—share, search, review, produce, etc.—across your discovery team.

Quickly assemble your data and produce impactful timelines for pennies apiece.

See case presentations from a new angle with technology-driven Sanction software.

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Address the business side of your legal activities with solutions to manage, track and analyze matters, finances, critical processes, relationships and performance.

CounselLink

A centralized repository for matter, e-billing and spend management.

Dashboards that display, track and manage your practice, clients and business tasks.

TimeMatters

Organize, associate and track case contacts, documents, events, phone calls, billing, etc.

InterAction

Comprehensive customer relationship management system for law firms.

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Stay on top of regulatory and legislative changes, perform due diligence and manage compliance with ease, speed and confidence.

Customizable tools for tracking and reporting legislative and regulatory activity.

IntegraCheck | Integrity Due Diligence

In-depth due-diligence investigation reports.

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Legal Research: Steps to Follow

Self-Help Support

Here, learn what to do if you:

Have general questions about the law;
Want to learn about the law before using pro se forms;
Want to do preliminary research to decide whether to file a lawsuit or hire a lawyer;
Have been turned down for services from legal aid, cannot afford an attorney, and have no other option but to represent yourself.

What is legal research?

Legal research and analysis is the process that lawyers use to determine what laws apply to the facts of their case, which facts are relevant to their claim, what type of remedy they can ask for in court, and what other cases might impact the judge’s decision.

The process of applying the law to the facts of your case and arguing for a specific outcome requires more training than any single guide can provide. So, this guide does not replace the expertise of an attorney, particularly when presenting the findings of legal research to a judge in court.

Step 1: Gather and Understand the Facts of Your Case

The first step in legal research is to write a statement of facts . Do this to help gain a complete understanding of everything that has happened, or is happening, in your case. Sit down and write out everything that has happened so far, and everything that is currently going on. Do include facts you consider unimportant. Sometimes facts that seem unimportant can make a big difference in the court process. Revise it to make sure it is accurate and reflects the facts of your case.

Make sure to include dates when each incident took place. Use those dates and your statement of facts to make a case timeline as well. On the case timeline, list dates from the time your problems started until the present day, along with the events that occurred on those dates. This easy visual reference will help you keep important dates in your case straight as you go through the legal research process.

Step 2: Determine Your Legal Problem and Your Desired Outcome

The second step is to get an idea of the legal problem you are facing, and what your ideal outcome at the end of the legal process would be. Simply figuring out where to start your legal research can often be a very hard part of the process. It may help to sit down and write down the issues you are facing, along with your ideal outcome. Also think about what a good compromise could be.

The legal issue you are facing will guide what type of law you research. For example, if you are currently a noncustodial parent under a court order—but you would like to become the custodial parent—that means you may be seeking to modify the prior court order. Here, you have a family law issue involving modification. Thus, your legal research would be focused on family law and modification.

Step 3: Finding Legal Information and Reading About the Law

Read Finding Legal Information and Reading About the Law . It describes Texas legal information resources, both online and offline.

Finding General Legal Information
Finding Specific Legal Information
Online Legal Research Resources
Glossary of Legal Terms
Offline: Law Libraries
Treatises, Handbooks, and Practice Guides
Statute Compilations
Case Reporters
Electronic Databases

Step 4: Legal Analysis, Legal Writing, and Beyond

During legal analysis, you apply the law to the facts of your case. Once you have determined which law applies to your case, make sure it is binding and current, and have read up on it, it is now time to start your legal analysis and writing.

This short article cannot tell you everything you need to know about legal analysis. Attorneys take an entire series of classes on legal analysis and writing in law school. Consider reading a book on legal analysis and writing.

Normally, attorneys will write a document known as a “legal memorandum” at this stage. A legal memorandum summarizes the facts, states the issue, applies the laws to the facts, does a counter-analysis from the other side’s perspective, and predicts what the likely outcome of a case will be. A legal memorandum is complex and tough to do on your own. Consider contacting a private attorney for help, perhaps through limited scope representation.

Once done, a legal memorandum provides you with a fundamental understanding of the law of your case at a glance. Any book about legal writing and analysis should include a guide to writing a legal memorandum .

To know what to do at each stage of your case, contact an attorney in private practice for limited scope representation. You can also refer to practice guides, handbooks, and form books (also known as practice manuals).

If you must write your own memorandum or brief, you will need to know about how to correctly cite the law. The Indigo Book can help you with that.

For a general guide to the Texas civil litigation process, read Civil Litigation in Texas: The Basics in Three Phases .

There are many methods for conducting legal research that may yield good results. The key to good research is to be patient, careful, and thorough as you read. For other legal research methods, you may consider reading through other published research guides posted by the Texas State Law Library.

Have been turned down for services from legal aid; cannot afford an attorney, and have no other option but to represent yourself. If you find yourself in this situation, consider contacting an attorney for limited scope representation , also known as unbundled legal services. This is a more affordable way to get help from an attorney in private practice. Not all attorneys offer this service, but it might be an option for you.

What are alternatives to conducting your own legal research?

If you have been turned down for services from legal aid, cannot afford an attorney, and have no other option but to represent yourself, consider contacting an attorney for limited scope representation (also known as "unbundled legal services"). This is a more affordable way to get help from an attorney in private practice. Not all attorneys offer this service, but it might be an option for you.

Related Guides

I need to do legal research..

Court Basics

Civil litigation in texas: the basics, how to select a lawyer, gathering and presenting evidence, justice 101: the client's guide to texas civil litigation, tips for the courtroom.

Court How-Tos (Civil Procedure)
Going to Court

Legal Treatises by Subject

Introduction & index, administrative law, admiralty & maritime law, agency, partnership, and limited liability corporations, american law & jurisprudence, antitrust law, civil procedure, commercial law, constitutional law, corporations and non-profit corporations, criminal law & procedure, e-discovery, education law, eminent domain & takings, employment law (see labor & employment law), entertainment law, environmental law, freedom of information, federal practice & procedure, immigration law, insurance law, intellectual property, including copyright, patents, and trademarks, international law, internet law, jurisdiction, labor & employment law, law & philosophy, legal ethics, legal research & writing, libel & slander, municipal law and zoning, native american law, negotiation, products liability, real property, securities law, taxation of financial products, trade secrets, trusts & estates, find more treatises, getting help, introduction.

Quick start: use the Guide Index to the left to find treatises on your topic.

Use treatises--books on legal topics--to begin your research. They will help you save time by providing explanation, analysis, context, and tips on the most relevant primary sources .

Treatises range from single volume overviews for students to extensively detailed multi-volume sets for practitioners. They may come in the form of bound books updated with pocket parts or supplements, or in the form of loose-leafs with easily replaced pages.

If you need help finding a relevant treatise, this guide will provide you with some of the most useful titles in each subject. We have noted if and where the treatise is available on online. Please keep in mind that this availability may change without notice.

Note: this guide now contains blurbs about and contents of the books where available. This text is taken from info provided by the publishers and does not imply any special endorsement.

HLS Library Guide to Secondary Sources. For more about using treatises, see the HLS Library Guide to Secondary Sources.

This guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License .

You may reproduce any part of it for noncommercial purposes as long as credit is included and it is shared in the same manner.

Topics Covered A-B

Hover over the A-B tab above to access these topics:

Admiralty & Maritime Law

Agency, Partnerships, & Limited Liability Corporations

American Law & Jurisprudence

Subject Guide

Admiralty and Maritime law

Agency, Partnerships, and Limited-Liability Corporations

American Law and Jurisprudence

Topics Covered C-E

Hover over the C-E tab above to access these topics:

Corporations (see also Non-Profit Corporations)

Criminal Law and Procedure

Eminent Domain (see Takings)

Corporations

Non-profit corporations

E-Commerce Law

Employment Law

See Labor & Employment Law.
Evidence in trials at common law by John T. McNaughton Call Number: KF8935 .W54x Publication Date: 1961- (kept current with supplements)

Topics Covered F-K

Hover over the F-K tab above to access these topics:

Federal Practice and Procedure

Indian Law (see Native American Law)

Intellectual Property (see also Copyright, Patents, and Trademarks)

Intellectual Property

Topics Covered L-M

Hover over the L-M tab above to access these topics:

Labor and Employment Law

Law and Philosophy

Legal Research

Libel and Slander

Municipal Law (see also Zoning and Planning)

Municipal Law

Local Government Law by Michael E. Libonati, John Martinez Call Number: Available on Westlaw Publication Date: 1999- This set gives you a fundamental understanding of local government law and upcoming trends. It focuses on the entity's power to act and provides a fresh approach to solving local government problems. It thoroughly describes the regulatory powers of government and their application. The text also takes municipal law a step further by emphasizing the interrelationships among the various units of government: local and federal government, localities and the state, and between local government entities.

Zoning and Land Use

Topics Covered N-S

Hover over the N-S tab above to access these topics:

Non-Profit Corporations (see also Corporations)

Patents (see also Intellectual Property)

Topics covered in T-Z

Hover over the T-Z tab above to access these topics:

Trademarks (see also Intellectual Property)

Trusts and Estates

Zoning and Land Use Law (see also Municipal Law)

Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Intentional Torts to Persons, tentative draft, No. 2 by American Law Institute Call Number: available on Lexis and Westlaw Publication Date: 2017 This draft includes Chapter 1, Definitions of Intentional Torts to Persons: Transferred Intent, of which Sections 101-105;110 were submitted for approval. These sections, with the exceptions noted below, were approved by the membership at the 2015 Annual Meeting, subject to discussion at the meeting and to editorial prerogative. This approved material may be cited as representing the Institute’s position until the official text is published. The following was subject to discussion only and is not considered approved material: Chapter 1 § 101(d), and Comments f, g; § 104(b), and Comment d; and § 105(c), and Comment j.
Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Liability for Economic Harm, tentative draft by American Law Institute Call Number: KF1249.4 .R475; available on Lexis and Westlaw Publication Date: 2012- (kept current with supplements) This draft covers portions of Chapter 1 Unintentional Infliction of Economic Loss (§§ 6-8), and Chapter 2 Liability in Tort for Fraud (§§9-15). This draft was approved by the membership at the 2014 Annual Meeting, subject to the discussion at the Meeting and to editorial prerogative. This material may be cited as representing the Institute’s position until the official text is published.

This guide is just a start. Below are some additional ways to find treatises.

HLS Library guide to secondary sources. More information about using treatises is included in this guide.
Ask Us Ask a librarian at HLS (or your place of employment or a local law library) to help you find a treatise.
Browse the stacks Once you have an idea of the call number for your subject, you can browse shelves in that area for books that might be helpful. Keep in mind that not everything we have is on the shelf: items may be checked out by others, some treatises are now only available online, and some of our print collection is housed offsite at the Harvard Depository and is only findable through HOLLIS. Most treatises at the Depository are no longer updated.
Explore subject headings To find more titles in the HOLLIS catalogue, click through to an individual title in this guide, then click the relevant subject heading links for more books on that subject.
Search HOLLIS HOLLIS is the catalogue of materials owned by Harvard in both print and electronic formats. Use the HOLLIS tab to find books. Do a keyword or subject search, then use the facets to limit your search to the HLS Library. Note: Most treatises don't include the word treatise in their titles, so it tends not to be a useful search term.
Search HOLLIS Classic Another way of accessing the Harvard Library collection, HOLLIS Classic is particularly good for subject searches or if you have a specific title in mind.
Consult the Legal Information Buyer's Guide and Reference Manual by Ken Svengalis Call numbert: Reference Desk KF1 .L425; available on Lexis Svengalis's book reviews treatises in many subjects, noting their strengths, weaknesses, currency, and intended audiences.
Consult Legal Looseleafs: Electronic and Print by Arlene Eis Call number: Reference Desk KF1 .L43; available online at link. Legal Looseleafs: Electronic and Print provides detailed information on over 2,600 looseleafs published by over 100 publishers.

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Legal research

Tips to conducting an effective legal research

Top legal websites for legal research, all you need to know about legal research.

This article is written by Surbhi Jindal , a law student at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Law University, Sonipat Haryana. Through this article, she attempts to put forth the concept of legal research and its importance. She further attempts to discuss some of the effective tips to do legal research.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Legal profession cannot move forward without research and findings. The main reason behind this is the dynamic nature of law. Legal research forms an integral part in the life of law professionals, whether they are law students, lawyers, academicians, practitioners who are interested in legal knowledge. Even if you are someone preparing for a career in law and trying to understand what kind of education is needed for a lawyer , legal research will come in handy. With the changing of society and laws every day, it becomes essential to scrutinize the pool of laws and social rules. The primary purpose of legal research remains to either find the lacunas in the laws, so they are made following the society’s needs or add some vastness to the subject matter of rules to make it comprehensive.

Through this article, we shall ascertain the true meaning of research and, after that, understand the legal research. There exist different types of legal research. We shall also look at them by having a comparative analysis between them. Furthermore, in the last part of this article, I will share a few legal websites that can do legal research. Not only this, but the article will also provide you with some of the best tips to conduct effective legal research. So, let us get started.

What is research

Research means to investigate, inquire or probe in any particular area of discipline. It is a careful and detailed study of a topic to gather more information about it. This can be done by adding, deleting, updating, separating, or correcting the previous knowledge.

People intentionally or unintentionally are involved in the process of research in their day-to-day life. The human mind is full of curiosity. It conducts an inquiry about something at some point in a day. The term research is itself made up of two words, ‘Re’ and ‘Search’. Re means again, and Search is to scrutinize or probe. In other words, searching, again and again, is what we call research.

According to M Stephenson and D Slesinger in the encyclopedia of social sciences, research is

“The manipulation of things, concepts or symbols to generalize to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in the construction of theory or the practice of an art”

There are three objectives of conducting research. These are as follows:

To contribute to the existing field of knowledge in any specified discipline.
To get a better understanding of how to formulate policies
To answer a specific area of question or fact.

After understanding the meaning of research, it would be much easier to know what legal research is and its objectives. We would also understand the various kinds of legal research. Also, it is pertinent to note that research must be done carefully and systematically with minimal errors because their outcome impacts the public at large. It must be done in an organized system so that answers to the questions are simplified.

What is legal research

Law is a subject that has broad dimensions of knowledge in society. There are several laws in India, making it difficult for a prudent man to remember them all. With the growing needs and challenges of society, laws also have to change. This means the area of law is as dynamic as our society. A complementary relationship of law and society here comes to play a vital role.

Therefore, it becomes essential to review the laws and see whether they are suited to the best interests of society or not. Here, legal research comes into play. A systematic finding and ascertainment of the law on any identified topic to advance the science of law is known as legal research.

As discussed earlier, the law is a vast area. With a mass of statutes, constant amendments, and supplementary rules and regulations, it becomes challenging for a prudent man to understand and grasp everything from it. Therefore, a probe is conducted for different underlying principles and their reasons to make advancements in the law and simplify various acts and statutes.

Legal research is a broad area that leads to an inquiry and investigation consistently made by judges, lawyers, advocates, law students, and legal researchers in the quest for a deeper and fuller understanding of the law. To support legal-decision making, legal research comes into the limelight. It identifies and retrieves the information to make the complex process simplified.

Purposes of legal research

Law is dynamic as our society is. It operates in a complex structure of society. Behavioural norms and attitudes are controlled and moulded by the law. However, with the nature of these norms changing with time and space, it becomes essential that law becomes adaptable to the changing order of society.

Legal research is also essential to write plagiarism-free content. Plagiarism is a common practice with severe consequences. Most students avoid legal research and stick to paraphrasing or plagiarizing from the content written by others. This can lead to serious consequences such as a copyright complaint, a Google penalty, deduction of marks in universities, etc. So, legal research is an essential step to avoid resorting to such practices. Some students also order free from plagiarism essays from professional writers to succeed with the tasks and help them in their assignments.

Here, in such a situation, legal research becomes essential for the ascertainment of law, clearing ambiguities in the law, identifying the weak points in a direction, and critically examining the order to ensure consistency, coherence, and stability in the law, etc. There are various purposes for which legal research is conducted. These are:

With various laws, rules, and regulations existing in society, it becomes essential to filter the laws presently applicable to the given situation. It is not easy to find the law or a judicial pronouncement at a particular point in time. Here, legal research makes the task easier. It makes the ascertainment of the law easier and much more helpful.
It is not always true that law, once made, can never bring rise to any contingency in the future. There exist some ambiguities and gaps which might be removed with the help of legal research. The nature of law is both reactive and proactive in that it answers the question arising out of such ambiguities and gaps. Apart from helping in removing ambiguities, it also helps in determining coherence, stability, and consistency.
Legal research also helps in predicting the future. It also helps to understand the social factors that had indirectly impacted the making of law. Social auditing of law helps in identifying the gap between the legal ideal and social reality. It further helps in suggesting reforms based on analytical, historical, and comparative research.

Types of legal research

The research can be broadly divided into various types by having a comparative analysis with respect to another kind of research. These are:

Descriptive and analytical legal research

On the basis of	Descriptive legal research	Analytical legal research
Meaning	Descriptive legal research indicates the phenomenon or situation under study and its various characteristics. ‘What has happened’ and ‘what is happening’ is the main focus of this research. It does not attempt to answer the question ‘why it has happened’. In other words, it does not try to find out the causes of the phenomenon, rather it seeks to describe the study as it is at present.	Analytical legal research indicates the use of already available facts and information to critically study the situation. It analyzes the whole range of facts and information critically.
Methods used	Surveys, comparative and correlational methods, other fact-finding requirements.	Already available facts and information are used for this kind of research.

Applied and fundamental legal research

On the basis of	Applied legal research	Fundamental legal research
Meaning	It aims to find the solution for the problem practically. Here, a legal researcher tries to do his research in a practical context.	It is concerned with the generalization and formulation of the theory. This research is done merely to increase the knowledge in a field of inquiry.
Also known by	Action research.	Pure research or Basic research.
Central aim	It aims to discover a solution for a pressing practical problem.	It aims to find additional information and thereby to add to the existing knowledge.

Quantitative and Qualitative legal research

On the basis of	Quantitative legal research	Qualitative legal research
Meaning	It is conducting research based on numerical data. It seeks to measure the quantity or amount. A systematic and scientific investigation of quantifiable reports for understanding their inter-relation.	It is basically concerned with the qualitative phenomenon i.e. relating to quality or characteristic. It relies on the reasoning behind various aspects of behavior.
Methods used	Questionnaires, surveys, structured interviews, and experiments.	Participant surveys, unstructured interviews, and life histories.

Conceptual and Empirical legal research

On the basis of	Conceptual legal research	Empirical legal research
Meaning	It is related to an abstract theory or idea. Generally used by philosophers and thinkers either to develop or re-interpret the existing concept.	It is done by relying upon experience or observation alone, often without due regard for any system or theory. It is also known as experimental research.
Relies upon	It relies upon the existing concept to either re-interpret it into a new concept or formulate from it.	It makes use of experiments and observations of a researcher. It uses facts and data to prove its hypothesis.

Legal research comes with a cost. Legal websites like Manupatra, SCC Online aren’t available for free. You would have to spend more than a penny on these sites in order to access their features. However, several authentic websites provide ways to access legal research easily without any hassle. This will be dealt with in the latter part of this article. In this section, the primary purpose is to tell you some tips for conducting effective legal research.

Always start with secondary sources. Though some people prefer to start from the primary sources, creating from secondary sources is the best way, to begin with, legal research. It helps in saving time and makes the research process effective and efficient.
You can always start with the news articles. There you will mostly get reliable information and also the opinions of different jurists.
To find the correct and reliable legal information, you can always refer to the legal websites (discussed later on) to boost your research.
Try to read judgements as they are a great source of information and can help make articles exhaustive.
Remember that whatever information you search for and find relevant for yourself, bookmark it somewhere. Otherwise, you will have to go back again and find that pertinent piece of information.
Also, you can follow the 10-minute rule by Ramanuj Mukherjee (CEO, Lawsikho ) to save your time in conducting legal research. The 10-minute rule says that you do the research for 10 minutes and after it, whatever you read, write for 10 minutes. In this way, you will not miss out on any critical points while doing research and writing. This will save you a lot of time and will have a positive effect on your article.
Avoiding plagiarism at all costs. If you have used somebody’s idea in the information you’re disseminating, duly credit them. It becomes really easy if you have saved the sources. Also, you can cite the sources without facing any difficulty. There are different types of citation methods like Bluebook , Chicago , Oscola etc. In case you haven’t saved the sources, you can simply run the document through the free plagiarism checker . This tool analyzes content and lets you know the source from where your text is duplicated.

These were some of the practical tips that could help a person conduct effective and efficient legal research.

Conducting legal research is very easy till one knows how to do it. However, not everyone can access legal databases such as Manupatra , SCC Online etc. Either you have to purchase them, or your college will provide access to them. But don’t worry; there are many legal websites you can refer to for your legal research. These all are user-friendly and can be of great use if one looks at its structure. A lot of information can be accessed on these websites very easily.

Indian Kanoon : The Indian Kanoon was founded by Sushant Sinha in 2008. It is one of the best tools that law students can use for understanding complex judgments simply.
Livelaw : The website Livelaw was started by Rashid M.A. in 2013. The most prominent blog in India seeks to create awareness in society by providing accurate and reliable information.
iPleaders : iPleaders was started by the two NUJS graduates Ramanuj Mukherjee and Abhudyay Aggarwal, in 2010. It is an educational start-up whose primary purpose is to make legal education accessible to all. It has its blog called iPleaders blog, which focuses on legal issues and legal questions.
Path Legal : It is a legal directory started by Sunil Joseph in 2011. The main aim of Path Legal is to provide free legal advice online, telephone consultation, free legal advice, free LPO training, legal papers etc.
Lawctopus : It was founded by the NUJS graduate Tanuj Kalia in 2010. It is one of the exclusive sites for law students that provide information regarding internships, career opportunities etc.
Bar and Bench : It was established in 2011. It is a place where comprehensive news and analysis is provided for the legal community. The entire legal spectrum of information like interviews, news, column sources are provided on this website.
SCC Online : Eastern Book Company, an internationally renowned publishing house, has its own reliable and comprehensive law reporting of the Supreme court of India through SCC Online. It has been providing its legal services across India. However, if you want to access SCC, you would have to purchase the subscription plan to avail the benefits.
Legally India : It was founded by Kian Ganz in 2009. It is one of the leading blog pages whose primary function is to report news and information that pertains to Indian law firms, Indian lawyers, international law firms and business lawyers in India.
Law Times Journal : Founded in 2014, law times journal is one of the leading online education portals devoted to the law. It believes in promoting free education in the legal sector. Besides this, it also provides resume services that help students in obtaining internships.

Henceforth, legal research is fundamental. To understand the intricacies of complex laws, it becomes essential for us to know the process of simplifying them. One should always start with secondary sources such as commentaries, textbooks, articles, journals, etc. From secondary, one should move on to primary sources, i.e. statutes, constitution, etc. After having a better grasp of these sources, one should analyze and look for relevant information.

There are various kinds of research, any of which can be employed to conduct research. It is a systematic understanding of the law to advance it. Research is essential both for the law and society since they both have an impact on each other. Every method has its value in research. Hurdles that come while conducting research can be best avoided by proper planning by the researcher.

https://chilot.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/legal-research-methods.pdf
https://www.mylawman.co.in/2020/05/law-notes-legal-research-types-and.html

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How do states fill vacancies in the U.S. Senate? It depends on the state

This year, as in every even-numbered year, about a third of U.S. Senate seats are up for election. Given the 51-49 split in the Senate between Democrats and Republicans (including the four independents who caucus with Democrats), each of those races has the potential to tip the chamber’s balance of power. But elections aren’t the only way that can happen.

We compiled information on state procedures for filling U.S. Senate vacancies from each state’s online code of state law. Data on senators’ ages, party affiliation and length of service comes from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress .

All ages are calculated as of July 31, 2024. In the comparison of senators’ and governors’ party affiliations, the four independent senators are counted as Democrats, since they all caucus with the Senate Democrats.

Should a sitting senator resign, die or otherwise leave office during their term, governors in 45 states have the power to appoint a temporary replacement. In most of those states, governors have free rein to appoint whomever they wish, with the appointee serving until a successor is elected to fill out the rest of the term.

This has already happened twice during the current Congress. In January 2023, Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska resigned to become president of the University of Florida. Nebraska’s GOP governor, Jim Pillen, appointed the state’s former governor , Pete Ricketts, to replace Sasse. (Ricketts is running in a special election this year to complete the rest of Sasse’s term, which ends in January 2027.)

And in September 2023, longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, died at age 90. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Laphonza Butler to fill the vacancy. (Butler is not running for the remainder of Feinstein’s term or for the new term that begins in January 2025.)

A third senatorial appointment likely will come soon. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who has been convicted of multiple federal corruption charges , has said he will resign his seat effective Aug. 20. Gov. Phil Murphy, a fellow Democrat, is expected to quickly appoint a successor to Menendez.

There may be another appointment, too. Should the Republican presidential ticket of Donald Trump and JD Vance win in November, GOP Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine would appoint someone to fill Vance’s Senate seat.

A bar chart showing that more than a third of U.S. senators are 70 or older.

The possibility of appointed senators tipping the partisan balance – or at least giving an electoral advantage to one party or the other – is brought into sharper relief when one considers that this is the oldest Senate of any in U.S. history . The mean age of current U.S. senators, as of July 31, is 65.2. Almost a third of senators (31) are in their 70s, five are in their 80s, and one (Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley) will turn 91 in September.

One senator in the 80-plus club, Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin (age 80), is retiring at the end of his term this year. Two octogenarian independents – Bernie Sanders of Vermont (82) and Angus King of Maine (80) – are running for reelection. Iowa’s Grassley won his eighth term in 2022. The terms of the other two oldest senators – Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell (82) and Idaho’s Jim Risch (81) – don’t expire until 2027.

Senate replacement procedures vary by state

The current system for filling vacant Senate seats dates to the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913. Along with letting people elect their senators directly – state legislatures had chosen them up to that point – the amendment gave states the option of letting their governors appoint temporary replacements.

A map showing how states fill vacancies in the U.S. Senate.

The only states not to do so are Kentucky, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. In those states, vacancies can only be filled by special election. Kentucky is the latest to join this group, after its majority-Republican legislature took the appointment power away from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear earlier this year.

Among the 45 states that do give their governors authority to name replacement senators, 11 limit their field of choice in some way. Six states – Hawaii, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming – make the governor choose from a list of three nominees submitted by the previous senator’s party. Utah requires the same kind of list, but from the state legislature. Arizona, Nevada and Oklahoma simply require the governor to choose someone from the previous senator’s party.

Connecticut has the most restrictive rules: The governor can fill a Senate vacancy only if there’s a year or less remaining in the term, and their choice must be approved by a two-thirds vote in each house of the state legislature.

One reason for such limitations is to prevent a governor from appointing someone of their own party to a Senate seat formerly held by the other party. In 2013, for instance, New Jersey’s then-Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, appointed state Attorney General and fellow Republican Jeffrey Chiesa to the seat that had been held by the late Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat. Chiesa served for just under five months, until Democrat Cory Booker won the special election for the rest of Lautenberg’s term.

Currently, 13 of 50 governors belong to a different party than at least one of their state’s senators. But only seven of those 13 would be able to do what Christie did in New Jersey. The others either can’t appoint temporary senators at all or are required to choose someone of the same party as the former senator.

The 17th Amendment also gives states considerable leeway in deciding how long temporary senators can serve until a special election. In 31 states, special Senate elections are held concurrently with regular general elections. In some cases, those special elections coincide with the next scheduled general election, but in other cases – especially if the vacancy occurs late in the election cycle – they coincide with the general election after the next one.

Six states have specific timetables for holding special Senate elections, usually a certain number of days following the start of the vacancy. Nine states either set a separate date for the special election or hold it concurrently with the next general election, depending on when the vacancy occurs. And four states have few or no rules on when a special election must be held, effectively leaving the decision up to the governor.

Note: This is an update of a post first published May 3, 2022.

State & Local Government

Drew DeSilver is a senior writer at Pew Research Center .

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The unintended consequences of california’s $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers.

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(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

California officials are reportedly considering a further increase to the recently implemented $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers. The California Food Council, which was established by Governor Gavin Newsom, is planning to propose an additional 3.5% raise for 2025 at their upcoming meeting in late July, according to Restaurant Business.

California’s minimum-wage law, which went into effect in April 2024, currently requires that fast-food restaurants with 60 or more locations nationwide increase their workers' pay to $20 an hour, which is $4 higher than the state’s minimum wage.

Additionally, it installed the Council, composed of industry representatives and restaurant workers, who are authorized to boost the wage annually by up to 3.5%, based on inflation. The Council also advises on health and safety standards for fast-food workers and combats issues like wage theft.

Although the bump in pay is intended to help improve the standard of living for more than half a million fast-food workers, there may be unintended consequences that could do more harm to these employees, including restaurant closures, job cuts, reduced hours and increased deployment of automation to bring down expenses.

Technologies To Replace Human Workers

There has been an increase in automation and self-service technology. Restaurants are deploying self-order kiosks, kitchen automation software and other labor-saving technologies to reduce reliance on human workers.

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A major Burger King franchisee in California confirmed plans to install kiosks at all locations in response to the $20 wage, Business Insider reported.

"We are installing kiosks in every single restaurant," Harsh Ghai, who owns 180 fast-food restaurants in California, including about 140 Burger King locations and numerous Taco Bell and Popeyes restaurants, told BI in an interview in early April.

Fast-food chains are adopting a range of AI, robotics and automation technologies across their customer-facing and back-end operations in order to reduce labor costs and address staffing shortages, while robotic kitchen assistants and software are automating more behind-the-scenes tasks.

Restaurants like McDonald's, Shake Shack, Panera Bread are deploying self-service kiosks that allow customers to place orders themselves, reducing the need for human cashiers.

The self-ordering systems offer improved precision in order-taking and tend to encourage higher spending from customers.

“Average kiosk sales see 10% higher checks than front counter sales and excellent profit flow-through,” Yum Brands CEO David Gibbs told investors last August.

The additional use of mobile apps for ordering and paying streamlines transactions and further reduces staffing needs. AI and automation are also being applied to back-office processes, like inventory management and scheduling, to increase efficiency.

Making Cuts And Reconsidering Plans

Some restaurants are cutting employee hours, having fewer workers per shift to control labor costs, while others are letting go of staff.

Michaela Mendelsohn, the CEO of Pollo West Corporation, one of the largest franchisees of California restaurant chain El Pollo Loco, who was also appointed to Newsom’s Fast Food Council, confirmed to Good Morning America in April that El Pollo Loco had to cut employee hours by 10% to reduce costs.

Moreover, Pizza Hut announced layoffs of over 1,200 delivery drivers in California due to the wage hike.

Chains, like Vitality Bowls , have streamlined menus by adding more pre-made items and eliminating labor-intensive offerings to reduce ingredient costs and prep work.

Some franchisees have reconsidered plans to open new locations in California due to the wage hike. Existing restaurants may close or pause hiring if they cannot sustain profitability with the increased labor costs.

Rubio's Coastal Grill has shut down 48 of its locations in California due to the high operational costs in the state.

"Making the decision to close a store is never an easy one," the company said in a statement. "The closings were brought about by the rising cost of doing business in California.

Higher Food Prices For Consumers

To offset the higher labor expenses, fast-food restaurants are raising menu prices for customers. According to Ghai, his restaurants usually implement annual price increases of 2% to 3%. However, in the past year, he has been forced to raise prices more significantly, between 8% and 10%.

He explained that most of this price hike is being used to offset the rising costs of food ingredients due to inflation. Ghai pointed out that these increases are not even sufficient to cover the additional labor expenses resulting from the recent minimum wage legislation.

Chipotle implemented a price increase of 6% to 7% on menu items in its approximately 500 California locations to offset the reduced profit margins resulting from the new minimum wage law.

Finding a balance between raising wages to improve the quality of life for workers and ensuring businesses remain profitable is a key challenge. The law's focus on large chains failed to take into account the impact on smaller, independent fast-food restaurants that might struggle to absorb high labor costs.

It's important to note that these are just some of the early observations. As more time passes, we'll have a clearer picture of its full impact on workers, businesses and consumers.

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COMMENTS

Legal Research Basics: A Step-By-Step Guide to Brushing Up ...
Step 1: Record the Facts of Your Case and Create a Research Plan. Handling a legal task with authority requires confidence in the process. This is true in any practice, jurisdictional setting, or level of legal expertise. A good process should start by taking time to identify and understand the facts of your case.
Legal research: 3-step how-to guide
1. Identifying the legal issue is not so straightforward. Legal research involves interpreting many legal precedents and theories to justify your questions. Finding the right issue takes time and patience. 2. There's too much to research. Attorneys now face a great deal of case law and statutory material.
Legal Research Strategy
We typically start primary law research here. If there is a controlling statute, cases you look for later will interpret that law. There are two types of statutes, annotated and unannotated. Annotated codes are a great place to start your research. They combine statutory language with citations to cases, regulations, secondary sources, and ...
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Start by determining your topic—this should be specific and something you find interesting. Then, conduct the necessary research to form a well-supported thesis. Create an outline to structure your thoughts before writing an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Finally, edit and proofread.
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Beginning your legal research will look different for each assignment. At the outset, ensure that you understand your goal by asking questions and taking careful notes. Ask about background case information, logistical issues such as filing deadlines, the client/matter number, and billing instructions. It's also important to consider how your ...
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How to do legal research . Legal research can be overwhelming and takes many forms depending on your goals. Here are some general steps you'll likely take in any given legal research project. Step 1: Gather and understand the key facts of your legal case . A solid legal case starts with strong legal research.
A paralegal's guide on how to do legal research
Step 1: Identify the facts, issues, and jurisdiction. Before you can begin your research, you must first determine the facts, the issues, and the jurisdiction of the legal research project. Eliminate the unimportant facts and focus on the essential facts such as who, what, where, and how.
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American Law Reports (ALR) General law journals (e.g., Florida Law Review) If you are familiar with an area of law, consult Subject-specific Secondary Sources such as: Treatises focused on a discrete area of law (e.g., Wharton's Criminal Law) Restatements (e.g., Restatement (Second) of the Law of Torts)
The ultimate guide to conducting legal research
First, identify where you're planning to search. Lawyers and legal counsel too often rely on free services like Google to find information. Indeed, the LexisNexis 2022 Bellwether report found that a concerning 74% of lawyers use Google for research. The problem is that Google often provides information that is unreliable and outdated.
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After you've clarified your objective, begin committing your case to heart. Memorize all the vital information in the case, determine its jurisdiction, and develop a firm understanding of the ...
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Checking the status of case law is essential in legal research. Rely on Bloomberg Law's proprietary citator, BCITE. This time-saving tool lets you know if a case is still good law. Under each court opinion, simply look to the right rail. There, you will see a thumbnail icon for "BCITE Analysis.".
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How to use this guide. This guide contains selected, free, online United States federal and state legal research materials. Many lawyers have access to paid databases. Yet, combining paid and free resources, can help them to avoid potentially expensive searches. According to a 2020 Legal Technology Survey Report, nearly 60% of lawyers "say ...
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How to do legal research in 3 steps

What is legal research, and where do I start?

Why is legal research hard?

Step 1: Key questions to ask yourself when starting legal research

What are the facts?

What is the actual legal issue?

What is the relevant jurisdiction?

Where to start legal research: The library, online, or even AI?

Step 2: How to find relevant case law and other primary sources of law

Searching for primary sources of law

Step 3: Make sure you are using ‘good’ law

Perseverance is vital when it comes to legal research

Related insights

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How to Conduct Legal Research

What is legal research?

Where do I begin my legal research?

What if I’m new to the practice area or specific legal issue?

How do I respond to the opposing side’s brief?

How to optimize your search.

How can legal research help with drafting or strategy?

Dive deeper into competitive research.

How do I validate case law citations?

How should I use technology to improve my legal research?

Recommended for you

Legal Research 101: A Step-by-Step Guide

Rebecca Spiegel

What is legal research?

How to do legal research

Step 1: Gather and understand the key facts of your legal case

Key questions to ask yourself before starting legal research

What's the legal issue?

What jurisdiction are you operating in?

Create a research plan

Step 2: Gather sources of law

What are secondary legal sources?

What are primary legal sources?

Step 3: Make sure you’re using “good” law

Can older cases still be considered "good?"

Use a citator

Step 4: Sum up results and look for gaps