Where to Do Legal Research
Bloomberg Law`s AI-based tools significantly reduce the time spent on legal research. Whether you`re looking for quick answers to legal research definitions or general advice on the legal research process, Bloomberg Law`s Core Litigation Skills toolkit is here for you. There are 2 other free online legal research tools that you didn`t mention: www.Casebriefs.com www.Lawpipe.com legal encyclopedias for lawyers, which are useful when more specific coverage of the law is needed. These encyclopedias provide a thematic summary of the law and numerous references to primary sources, including court decisions and other judicial authorities. Legal research – that is, identifying, finding, and citing the applicable information and laws needed to support your legal decision-making – strengthens your case and adds substance to your legal work, resulting in a better outcome for your clients. When it comes to online search, some people start with free legal search options, including search engines like Google or Bing. However, if you want to make sure your legal research is complete, consider using an online search service designed specifically for the law, such as Westlaw. Online solutions like Westlaw not only have all the legal sources you need, but they also include artificial intelligence (AI) and other tools to help you do your legal research quickly. Here are some of Bavis` websites for free online legal research: How should I use technology to improve my legal research? [Read our article: Six ways legal technology supports your workflow.] Bloomberg Law subscribers can access our expert guide to writing a research note written by Aaron Goodman, an attorney at Baker McKenzie. The start of your legal research will be different for each assignment.
To get started, make sure you understand your goal by asking questions and taking notes carefully. Ask for general information, logistical questions such as registration deadlines, customer/file number, and billing instructions. What does it take to become a legal research professional? You need to start with a strategy and know how to use legal research tools to your advantage. Sharon Miki writes for Clio about legal technology and legal affairs. As an experienced freelance writer, she is passionate about creating fascinating, useful and well-researched articles. You can also try elawjournal.com for free litigation and legal research The services listed below offer a variety of plans that help improve the search for primary legal documents, although they have fewer search features than premium legal databases. Also, although these products offer Citators, the update features are not the same as Shepards, Keycite, or BCite. Finding legal questions will help you orient yourself on an issue before diving into the full reading of cases. Points of Law uses machine learning to identify key legal principles that are expressed in court notices and are easily searchable by keywords and jurisdictions.
This tool helps you quickly find other cases that have expressed the same legal point and guides you to related legal issues that might be relevant to your search. It is automatically updated with the latest reviews, saving you time and helping you quickly access relevant cases. The Goodson Law Library has a small collection of books designed to explain legal issues to non-lawyers. Studying law can be challenging, and these books provide basic information and general advice on various legal topics. Using these resources can help you find an answer to your question. Reference librarians can also guide you to other library resources and explain how to use them. However, library staff cannot do research for you or give you “legal advice,” which means they cannot interpret legal documents for you or explain how the law would apply to your particular situation. Sure, these sites may not have everything you need, but they should help you get started. If you are an individual practitioner or a small firm and legal research costs are a priority, bookmark these sites. Often, it is best to familiarize yourself with a new area of law by reading general information. Not only does this shorten the time it takes to find what you need, but when it`s time to switch to your paid subscription service, you already have your search terms. With paid subscription databases where every search and click costs money, fewer searches means less cost to you and your customer.
When conducting legal research, it`s easy to descend down rabbit holes. Resist the urge to first look at individual cases that may be irrelevant. Instead, start with secondary sources, which often provide a predominant legal statement for a particular topic. These sources save you time and direct you to the legal field and the most important topics. While new cases are preferred (after all, they are more likely to reflect current legal changes that could impact case law – and are therefore less likely to become obsolete), timeliness is not mandatory. Secondary sources of law explain or interpret legal principles in detail or summarize current legal status – thus a particular area of law is better understood. Secondary sources are also useful for identifying the primary sources of your case (more on that later). Examples: Primary legal sources are essential to legal research because they determine the current law on every legal issue you work with. Some of the primary sources you can find by searching legal research databases such as Fastcase or Casetext include: When faced with a legal problem, it`s natural to dive in and search for cases. But it is in your best interest to first gather important details about the legal issue at stake.
What if I am new to the field or raise a particular legal issue? Whether you`re a student still in law school or a seasoned lawyer with years of experience, strong research skills are essential to making a winning argument. That`s why it`s so important to know how to conduct legal research, including where to start and what steps to take. First, under Process Analysis, use the Lawyer tab to view the case history and preview the legal strategies that the appeal may apply against you. In Litigation Analytics, also use the Court tab to get aggregate rates of claim and appeal results for all federal courts, with the ability to make comparisons across jurisdictions and filter by company, law firm, and attorney. Tools such as “Points of Law,” “Folders,” and “Issue Analyzer” can also increase efficiency, especially if you refine your searches to confirm that you`ve found everything perfect. In the past, lawyers had to spend many hours (and a lot of money) sifting through several court reports to make sure they didn`t miss a case. Now, there are tools that can speed up this process significantly. For example, if you search for legal issues, you may immediately be redirected to other cases where the same legal principle is discussed.
Compiling your research into a legal brief is a necessary part of legal research, as you can identify information gaps that could have consequences at a later date. Legal writing presents challenges in itself, and it`s not a bad approach for you to supplement your legal case research with a book from a local law library on how to present your findings. In general, a legal brief does five things: Another important step in legal research is to check that all the cases and laws you come across in your legal research are still “good” laws – meaning that any legal decision you are looking for is always valid and relevant.