LEGAL RESEARCH TIPS LAW STUDENTS NEED TO KNOW

INTRODUCTION

Most paralegals never set foot in a legal library to conduct legal analysis, as most data is currently accessible to electronically processed subscription services such as Cognition. Westlaw creates it simple to perform legal analysis by cataloguing, indexing, cross-indexing and providing different tools that create finding the statutes and case law that you want additional economical and fewer time overwhelming. You’ll be able to find free resources for legal analysis by looking on-line conjointly (i.e. varied court websites, law colleges, legal associations, etc.). However, you decide to do your legal analysis, and a legal assistant must consult all the mixed sources to consult for data from different genres that are employed by lawyers to prove or defend the claims set forth by them. Will go Within the case.

TIPS FOR BETTER RESEARCH

• The first and most significant step you would like to require once you’re preparing to try to legal analysis for a case is to understand the question that you simply just are researching.
• If you are doing not perceive the legal issue, you’ll pay hours researching a matter solely to understand that it doesn’t directly relate to your case.
• Use each primary and secondary source - Some paralegals attach more importance to primary sources (i.e. statues, case law, and judicial orders) to begin with. In contrast, others begin from secondary sources (i.e. legal encyclopedias, legal periodicals, manual inspections, etc.)
• It doesn’t matter that one you begin with as long as your analysis each source. Each offers valuable data which will support your client’s claims.
• In fact, secondary sources can usually analyze, make a case for and critique a neighbourhood of law so provide you with the actual citations to the primary law.
• Never stop researching till you submit the assignment. If you’ve got time, then you’ve got time to analysis. The concept here is to encourage paralegals to ne’er neutralize legal analysis and to repeatedly being operating till the second to ensure that they didn’t miss a big piece of study which will seriously impact the case.
• Always use Shepard’s to assure all case law. You’d wish to be fully certain that your case wasn’t turned, reversed or remanded. You would like to possess “good law” to support your case as a result of you will be ready to be sure of the opposing counsel with postponing each of your cases to make sure they have not been commissioned and to see if your case law directly contradicts the status of the verdict.
• Be familiar with the sources you’re victimization. Suppose you fail to familiarise yourself alongside your sources. In that case, you’ll not notice that the case digest you were victimization that aforementioned “1981 to Present” wasn’t the foremost current digest (it was current in 2001 once it was published).
• Taking time to be told concerning your sources can assist you to avoid expensive mistakes.
• Use computerized legal analysis – this will be an honest because of notice sources that you won’t have at your native law library furthermore on keeping change your analysis results in victimization curators till you hand in your transient and legal analysis to your professional.
• Do not forget to look at websites for state and federal courts, government agencies, law colleges and bar associations throughout your legal analysis. They’ll be an honest supply of every primary and secondary legal resource.

CONCLUSION

You can’t view legal research as a search for a pot of gold. In many instances, you merely won’t find the precise case law or statute you’re trying to find. Once you feel as if you can’t possibly look any longer, you almost certainly cannot do it. Use what you found and the simplest IRAC you can write.

If possible, invite another set of eyes. If it’s for a school of law assignment, ask your TA or mentor to require a glance to ascertain if you would possibly have missed something. If this is often an internship assignment, ask your supervising attorney if you think that you’ve done enough. Though you’ll desire a failure if you haven’t found the case which will land your client a victory, know that many lawyers often struggle to seek out the proper law.