Legal research and analysis is the process lawyers use to determine which laws apply to the facts of their case, what facts are relevant to their claim, what type of appeal they can seek in court, and what other matters might influence the judge`s decision. Google Scholar: Search online for case law and law journals. For more information, see the Google Scholar Guide from the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas School of Law. Practical guides provide legal commentary on various areas of law. As a rule, these guides provide a shorter summary of the law than treaties. Practice guidelines are used by lawyers who already know the law, but who need specific information beyond their basic understanding. The easiest way to find out if something is still a good law is to use a legal tool known as a Citator, which will show you subsequent cases where your source has been cited, as well as any negative stories, including whether they have been overturned, overturned, questioned, or simply differentiated. In the past, the legal research process was cumbersome, in part because the researcher was tied to a physical location — whether it was a local legal library or a law firm computer — to access resources through legal databases. Documents, manuals and how-to guides are commonly referred to as secondary resources. Secondary resources are a good starting point for finding specific legal information. They summarize the current state of the law and tell you which specific cases and laws are important. This is where lawyers usually begin their legal research.
Primary sources of law are essential to legal research, as they determine the current law on every legal issue you work with. Primary sources you can find by searching legal research databases such as Fastcase or Casetext include: There`s a reason there are entire courses in law schools and countless books focused solely on legal research methodology. In fact, many lawyers will spend their entire careers honing their research skills – and even then, they may not have perfected the process. Usually, lawyers draft a document known as a “legal memorandum” at that time. A legal brief summarizes the facts, explains the problem, applies the laws to the facts, counter-analyzes the other party`s perspective, and predicts the likely outcome of a case. A legal memorandum is complex and difficult to process. Consider seeking help from a private lawyer, perhaps through limited representation. Now that you`ve gathered the facts and know your legal problem, the next step is to know what to look for. After all, you need legislation to support your legal argument, whether you`re giving advice to a client or writing an internal memo, brief, or other legal document. However, keep in mind that legal research is not always a linear process. You can start going from source to source as described above, and then find that you need to go back to secondary sources once you have a better understanding of the legal issue.
In other cases, you may even find the answer you`re looking for in a source not mentioned above, such as an example of a brief filed with the court by another lawyer. At the end of the day, you have to go where the information takes you. In addition to important background information about your legal topic, secondary sources save time: instead of starting from scratch, you can use the expert work you`ve already done. [Read our article: Six ways legal technology supports your workflow.] During the legal analysis, you apply the law to the facts of your case. Once you`ve determined which law applies to your case, make sure it`s binding and up-to-date, and once you`ve read it, now it`s time to start your legal analysis and drafting. TexasLawHelp.org contains a variety of abstracts, articles, self-help forms, fact sheets and external links to information on many legal topics. These statutes and forms are drawn up by approved lawyers. Topics are organized by area of law and include, but are not limited to: Whether you`re new to legal research or have been doing legal research for years, once you have a solid understanding of the process, use strategies and tools to maximize the effectiveness of legal research. Here are three strategies to consider: Learn about the best free legal research tools available. Lawyers use form books to find templates for drafting legal documents submitted to the court or a counterparty.
Typically, there is a short explanatory section before each submission, but be careful as these sections do not contain a full explanation of the law and are only intended to help lawyers determine whether the submission is appropriate for their situation, what they need to include in their files, and what additional research needs to be done. Creating research is an essential skill when it comes to legal research. While many legal research platforms, including Bloomberg Law, offer natural language search, searching for terms and connectors (also known as Boolean) remains an important legal research skill and should be used when searching for court notices, waybills, legal questions, and other primary and secondary sources. TexasLawHelp`s mission is to provide low-income Texans with free and reliable legal information. The information on TexasLawHelp can give you a general idea of the law before you begin further legal research. This information can also help you determine where to start your legal research. Follow these tips when starting a search to make sure you don`t miss any relevant material: What if I`m new to the field or have a particular legal problem? For example, while no two legal research projects are the same, the order in which you want to search for different types of sources might look like this: A pause to collect and record critical details (such as who, what, when, where, and how of your case) lays the groundwork for a more focused and streamlined legal research process. Regardless of the legal research project, you need to identify the relevant legal problem, as well as the desired outcome or facilitation. This information guides your research so you can stay focused and focused on the topic.
Effective legal research must be thorough and accurate, which traditionally takes a lot of time. To speed up this process without compromising the quality of your legal research, artificial intelligence can help legal research. However, it is important to remember that digital research and analysis tools should be seen as enhancing the legal research experience, not crowding out a lawyer`s review, analysis and judgment. A lawyer uses his knowledge of his client, facts, precedents, expert opinions and his own experience to predict the likely outcome in a particular case. Digital research products improve this process by providing more data on a wider range of variables, allowing a lawyer to examine even more information. This short article can`t tell you everything you need to know about legal analysis. In fact, lawyers take quite a few courses on legal analysis and writing in law school. You should consider reading a book on legal analysis and writing. Electronic databases such as Westlaw and LexisNexis sell subscriptions that allow users to quickly search for electronic versions of treaties, statutes, jurisprudence, rules and regulations. Searching these databases may require some training. Subscriptions are usually too expensive for individuals.
However, if your local law library provides access to users, these are great resources for legal research. You can use these databases to search for specific terms or to learn more about an entire area of law. Some terms can be searched through the database search engine. How can legal research help with development or strategy? 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.