legal research project examples

Research Projects

Filter results by.

Legal Research Strategy

Preliminary analysis, organization, secondary sources, primary sources, updating research, identifying an end point, getting help, about this guide.

This guide will walk a beginning researcher though the legal research process step-by-step. These materials are created with the 1L Legal Research & Writing course in mind. However, these resources will also assist upper-level students engaged in any legal research project.

How to Strategize

Legal research must be comprehensive and precise.  One contrary source that you miss may invalidate other sources you plan to rely on.  Sticking to a strategy will save you time, ensure completeness, and improve your work product. 

Follow These Steps

Running Time: 3 minutes, 13 seconds.

Make sure that you don't miss any steps by using our:

• Legal Research Strategy Checklist

If you get stuck at any time during the process, check this out:

• Ten Tips for Moving Beyond the Brick Wall in the Legal Research Process, by Marsha L. Baum

Understanding the Legal Questions

A legal question often originates as a problem or story about a series of events. In law school, these stories are called fact patterns. In practice, facts may arise from a manager or an interview with a potential client. Start by doing the following:

• Read anything you have been given
• Analyze the facts and frame the legal issues
• Assess what you know and need to learn
• Note the jurisdiction and any primary law you have been given
• Generate potential search terms

Jurisdiction

Legal rules will vary depending on where geographically your legal question will be answered. You must determine the jurisdiction in which your claim will be heard. These resources can help you learn more about jurisdiction and how it is determined:

• Legal Treatises on Jurisdiction
• LII Wex Entry on Jurisdiction

This map indicates which states are in each federal appellate circuit:

Getting Started

Once you have begun your research, you will need to keep track of your work. Logging your research will help you to avoid missing sources and explain your research strategy. You will likely be asked to explain your research process when in practice. Researchers can keep paper logs, folders on Westlaw or Lexis, or online citation management platforms.

Organizational Methods

Tracking with paper or excel.

Many researchers create their own tracking charts.  Be sure to include:

• Search Date
• Topics/Keywords/Search Strategy
• Citation to Relevant Source Found
• Save Locations
• Follow Up Needed

Consider using the following research log as a starting place: 

• Sample Research Log

Tracking with Folders

Westlaw and Lexis offer options to create folders, then save and organize your materials there.

• Lexis Advance Folders
• Westlaw Edge Folders

Tracking with Citation Management Software

For long term projects, platforms such as Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley, or Refworks might be useful. These are good tools to keep your research well organized. Note, however, that none of these platforms substitute for doing your own proper Bluebook citations. Learn more about citation management software on our other research guides:

• Guide to Zotero for Harvard Law Students by Harvard Law School Library Research Services Last Updated Sep 12, 2023 225 views this year

Types of Sources

There are three different types of sources: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary.  When doing legal research you will be using mostly primary and secondary sources.  We will explore these different types of sources in the sections below.

Secondary sources often explain legal principles more thoroughly than a single case or statute. Starting with them can help you save time.

Secondary sources are particularly useful for:

• Learning the basics of a particular area of law
• Understanding key terms of art in an area
• Identifying essential cases and statutes

Consider the following when deciding which type of secondary source is right for you:

• Scope/Breadth
• Depth of Treatment
• Currentness/Reliability

For a deep dive into secondary sources visit:

• Secondary Sources: ALRs, Encyclopedias, Law Reviews, Restatements, & Treatises by Catherine Biondo Last Updated Apr 12, 2024 3804 views this year

Legal Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Legal dictionaries.

Legal dictionaries are similar to other dictionaries that you have likely used before.

• Black's Law Dictionary
• Ballentine's Law Dictionary

Legal Encyclopedias

Legal encyclopedias contain brief, broad summaries of legal topics, providing introductions and explaining terms of art. They also provide citations to primary law and relevant major law review articles.  

Here are the two major national encyclopedias:

• American Jurisprudence (AmJur) This resource is also available in Westlaw & Lexis .
• Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS)

Treatises are books on legal topics.  These books are a good place to begin your research.  They provide explanation, analysis, and citations to the most relevant primary sources. Treatises range from single subject overviews to deep treatments of broad subject areas.

It is important to check the date when the treatise was published. Many are either not updated, or are updated through the release of newer editions.

To find a relevant treatise explore:

• Legal Treatises by Subject by Catherine Biondo Last Updated Apr 12, 2024 2741 views this year

American Law Reports (ALR)

American Law Reports (ALR) contains in-depth articles on narrow topics of the law. ALR articles, are often called annotations. They provide background, analysis, and citations to relevant cases, statutes, articles, and other annotations. ALR annotations are invaluable tools to quickly find primary law on narrow legal questions.

This resource is available in both Westlaw and Lexis:

• American Law Reports on Westlaw (includes index)
• American Law Reports on Lexis

Law Reviews & Journals

Law reviews are scholarly publications, usually edited by law students in conjunction with faculty members. They contain both lengthy articles and shorter essays by professors and lawyers. They also contain comments, notes, or developments in the law written by law students. Articles often focus on new or emerging areas of law and may offer critical commentary. Some law reviews are dedicated to a particular topic while others are general. Occasionally, law reviews will include issues devoted to proceedings of panels and symposia.

Law review and journal articles are extremely narrow and deep with extensive references. 

To find law review articles visit:

• Law Journal Library on HeinOnline
• Law Reviews & Journals on LexisNexis
• Law Reviews & Journals on Westlaw

Restatements

Restatements are highly regarded distillations of common law, prepared by the American Law Institute (ALI). ALI is a prestigious organization comprised of judges, professors, and lawyers. They distill the "black letter law" from cases to indicate trends in common law. Resulting in a “restatement” of existing common law into a series of principles or rules. Occasionally, they make recommendations on what a rule of law should be.

Restatements are not primary law. However, they are considered persuasive authority by many courts.

Restatements are organized into chapters, titles, and sections.  Sections contain the following:

• a concisely stated rule of law,
• comments to clarify the rule,
• hypothetical examples,
• explanation of purpose, and
• exceptions to the rule  

To access restatements visit:

• American Law Institute Library on HeinOnline
• Restatements & Principles of the Law on LexisNexis
• Restatements & Principles of Law on Westlaw

Primary Authority

Primary authority is "authority that issues directly from a law-making body."   Authority , Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019).   Sources of primary authority include:

• Constitutions
• Statutes 

Regulations

Access to primary legal sources is available through:

• Bloomberg Law
• Free & Low Cost Alternatives

Statutes (also called legislation) are "laws enacted by legislative bodies", such as Congress and state legislatures.  Statute , Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019).

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 other relevant statutes. This can quickly connect you to the most relevant cases related to a particular law. Unannotated Codes provide only the text of the statute without editorial additions. Unannotated codes, however, are more often considered official and used for citation purposes.

For a deep dive on federal and state statutes, visit:

• Statutes: US and State Codes by Mindy Kent Last Updated Apr 12, 2024 2236 views this year
• 50 State Surveys

Want to learn more about the history or legislative intent of a law?  Learn how to get started here:

• Legislative History Get an introduction to legislative histories in less than 5 minutes.
• Federal Legislative History Research Guide

Regulations are rules made by executive departments and agencies. Not every legal question will require you to search regulations. However, many areas of law are affected by regulations. So make sure not to skip this step if they are relevant to your question.

To learn more about working with regulations, visit:

• Administrative Law Research by AJ Blechner Last Updated Apr 12, 2024 461 views this year

Case Basics

In many areas, finding relevant caselaw will comprise a significant part of your research. This Is particularly true in legal areas that rely heavily on common law principles.

Running Time: 3 minutes, 10 seconds.

Unpublished Cases

Up to  86% of federal case opinions are unpublished. You must determine whether your jurisdiction will consider these unpublished cases as persuasive authority. The Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure have an overarching rule, Rule 32.1  Each circuit also has local rules regarding citations to unpublished opinions. You must understand both the Federal Rule and the rule in your jurisdiction.

• Federal and Local Rules of Appellate Procedure 32.1 (Dec. 2021).
• Type of Opinion or Order Filed in Cases Terminated on the Merits, by Circuit (Sept. 2021).

Each state also has its own local rules which can often be accessed through:

• State Bar Associations
• State Courts Websites

First Circuit

• First Circuit Court Rule 32.1.0

Second Circuit

• Second Circuit Court Rule 32.1.1

Third Circuit

• Third Circuit Court Rule 5.7

Fourth Circuit

• Fourth Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Fifth Circuit

• Fifth Circuit Court Rule 47.5

Sixth Circuit

• Sixth Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Seventh Circuit

• Seventh Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Eighth Circuit

• Eighth Circuit Court Rule 32.1A

Ninth Circuit

• Ninth Circuit Court Rule 36-3

Tenth Circuit

• Tenth Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Eleventh Circuit

• Eleventh Circuit Court Rule 32.1

D.C. Circuit

• D.C. Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Federal Circuit

• Federal Circuit Court Rule 32.1

Finding Cases

Headnotes show the key legal points in a case. Legal databases use these headnotes to guide researchers to other cases on the same topic. They also use them to organize concepts explored in cases by subject. Publishers, like Westlaw and Lexis, create headnotes, so they are not consistent across databases.

Headnotes are organized by subject into an outline that allows you to search by subject. This outline is known as a "digest of cases." By browsing or searching the digest you can retrieve all headnotes covering a particular topic. This can help you identify particularly important cases on the relevant subject.

Running Time: 4 minutes, 43 seconds.

Each major legal database has its own digest:

• Topic Navigator (Lexis)
• Key Digest System (Westlaw)

Start by identifying a relevant topic in a digest.  Then you can limit those results to your jurisdiction for more relevant results.  Sometimes, you can keyword search within only the results on your topic in your jurisdiction.  This is a particularly powerful research method.

One Good Case Method

After following the steps above, you will have identified some relevant cases on your topic. You can use good cases you find to locate other cases addressing the same topic. These other cases often apply similar rules to a range of diverse fact patterns.

• in Lexis click "More Like This Headnote"
• in Westlaw click "Cases that Cite This Headnote"

to focus on the terms of art or key words in a particular headnote. You can use this feature to find more cases with similar language and concepts.  ​

Ways to Use Citators

A citator is "a catalogued list of cases, statutes, and other legal sources showing the subsequent history and current precedential value of those sources.  Citators allow researchers to verify the authority of a precedent and to find additional sources relating to a given subject." Citator , Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019).

Each major legal database has its own citator.  The two most popular are Keycite on Westlaw and Shepard's on Lexis.

• Keycite Information Page
• Shepard's Information Page

Making Sure Your Case is Still Good Law

This video answers common questions about citators:

For step-by-step instructions on how to use Keycite and Shepard's see the following:

• Shepard's Video Tutorial
• Shepard's Handout
• Shepard's Editorial Phrase Dictionary
• KeyCite Video Tutorial
• KeyCite Handout
• KeyCite Editorial Phrase Dictionary

Using Citators For

Citators serve three purposes: (1) case validation, (2) better understanding, and (3) additional research.

Case Validation

Is my case or statute good law?

• Parallel citations
• Prior and subsequent history
• Negative treatment suggesting you should no longer cite to holding.

Better Understanding

Has the law in this area changed?

• Later cases on the same point of law
• Positive treatment, explaining or expanding the law.
• Negative Treatment, narrowing or distinguishing the law.

Track Research

Who is citing and writing about my case or statute?

• Secondary sources that discuss your case or statute.
• Cases in other jurisdictions that discuss your case or statute.

Knowing When to Start Writing

For more guidance on when to stop your research see:

• Terminating Research, by Christina L. Kunz

Automated Services

Automated services can check your work and ensure that you are not missing important resources. You can learn more about several automated brief check services.  However, these services are not a replacement for conducting your own diligent research .

• Automated Brief Check Instructional Video

Contact Us!

  Ask Us!  Submit a question or search our knowledge base.

Chat with us!  Chat   with a librarian (HLS only)

Email: [email protected]

 Contact Historical & Special Collections at [email protected]

  Meet with Us   Schedule an online consult with a Librarian

Hours  Library Hours

Classes  View  Training Calendar  or  Request an Insta-Class

 Text  Ask a Librarian, 617-702-2728

 Call  Reference & Research Services, 617-495-4516

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. 

• Last Updated: Sep 21, 2023 2:56 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/law/researchstrategy

Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

Business development

• Billing management software
• Court management software
• Legal calendaring solutions

Practice management & growth

• Project & knowledge management
• Workflow automation software

Corporate & business organization

• Business practice & procedure

Legal forms

• Legal form-building software

Legal data & document management

• Data management
• Data-driven insights
• Document management
• Document storage & retrieval

Drafting software, service & guidance

• Contract services
• Drafting software
• Electronic evidence

Financial management

• Outside counsel spend

Law firm marketing

• Attracting & retaining clients
• Custom legal marketing services

Legal research & guidance

• Anywhere access to reference books
• Due diligence
• Legal research technology

Trial readiness, process & case guidance

• Case management software
• Matter management

Recommended Products

Conduct legal research efficiently and confidently using trusted content, proprietary editorial enhancements, and advanced technology.

Fast track case onboarding and practice with confidence. Tap into a team of experts who create and maintain timely, reliable, and accurate resources so you can jumpstart your work.

A business management tool for legal professionals that automates workflow. Simplify project management, increase profits, and improve client satisfaction.

• All products

Tax & Accounting

Audit & accounting.

• Accounting & financial management
• Audit workflow
• Engagement compilation & review
• Guidance & standards
• Internal audit & controls
• Quality control

Data & document management

• Certificate management
• Data management & mining
• Document storage & organization

Estate planning

• Estate planning & taxation
• Wealth management

Financial planning & analysis

• Financial reporting

Payroll, compensation, pension & benefits

• Payroll & workforce management services
• Healthcare plans
• Billing management
• Client management
• Cost management
• Practice management
• Workflow management

Professional development & education

• Product training & education
• Professional development

Tax planning & preparation

• Financial close
• Income tax compliance
• Tax automation
• Tax compliance
• Tax planning
• Tax preparation
• Sales & use tax
• Transfer pricing
• Fixed asset depreciation

Tax research & guidance

• Federal tax
• State & local tax
• International tax
• Tax laws & regulations
• Partnership taxation
• Research powered by AI
• Specialized industry taxation
• Credits & incentives
• Uncertain tax positions

A powerful tax and accounting research tool. Get more accurate and efficient results with the power of AI, cognitive computing, and machine learning.

Provides a full line of federal, state, and local programs. Save time with tax planning, preparation, and compliance.

Automate workpaper preparation and eliminate data entry

Trade & Supply

Customs & duties management.

• Customs law compliance & administration

Global trade compliance & management

• Global export compliance & management
• Global trade analysis
• Denied party screening

Product & service classification

• Harmonized Tariff System classification

Supply chain & procurement technology

• Foreign-trade zone (FTZ) management
• Supply chain compliance

Software that keeps supply chain data in one central location. Optimize operations, connect with external partners, create reports and keep inventory accurate.

Automate sales and use tax, GST, and VAT compliance. Consolidate multiple country-specific spreadsheets into a single, customizable solution and improve tax filing and return accuracy.

Risk & Fraud

Risk & compliance management.

• Regulatory compliance management

Fraud prevention, detection & investigations

• Fraud prevention technology

Risk management & investigations

• Investigation technology
• Document retrieval & due diligence services

Search volumes of data with intuitive navigation and simple filtering parameters. Prevent, detect, and investigate crime.

Identify patterns of potentially fraudulent behavior with actionable analytics and protect resources and program integrity.

Analyze data to detect, prevent, and mitigate fraud. Focus investigation resources on the highest risks and protect programs by reducing improper payments.

News & Media

Who we serve.

• Broadcasters
• Governments
• Marketers & Advertisers
• Professionals
• Sports Media
• Corporate Communications
• Health & Pharma
• Machine Learning & AI

Content Types

• All Content Types
• Human Interest
• Business & Finance
• Entertainment & Lifestyle
• Reuters Community
• Reuters Plus - Content Studio
• Advertising Solutions
• Sponsorship
• Verification Services
• Action Images
• Reuters Connect
• World News Express
• Reuters Pictures Platform
• API & Feeds
• Reuters.com Platform

Media Solutions

• User Generated Content
• Reuters Ready
• Ready-to-Publish
• Case studies
• Reuters Partners
• Standards & values
• Leadership team
• Reuters Best
• Webinars & online events

Around the globe, with unmatched speed and scale, Reuters Connect gives you the power to serve your audiences in a whole new way.

Reuters Plus, the commercial content studio at the heart of Reuters, builds campaign content that helps you to connect with your audiences in meaningful and hyper-targeted ways.

Reuters.com provides readers with a rich, immersive multimedia experience when accessing the latest fast-moving global news and in-depth reporting.

• Reuters Media Center
• Jurisdiction
• Practice area
• View all legal
• Organization
• View all tax

Featured Products

• Blacks Law Dictionary
• Thomson Reuters ProView
• Recently updated products
• New products

Shop our latest titles

ProView Quickfinder favorite libraries

• Visit legal store
• Visit tax store

APIs by industry

• Risk & Fraud APIs
• Tax & Accounting APIs
• Trade & Supply APIs

Use case library

• Legal API use cases
• Risk & Fraud API use cases
• Tax & Accounting API use cases
• Trade & Supply API use cases

Related sites

United states support.

• Account help & support
• Communities
• Product help & support
• Product training

International support

• Legal UK, Ireland & Europe support

New releases

• Westlaw Precision
• 1040 Quickfinder Handbook

Join a TR community

• ONESOURCE community login
• Checkpoint community login
• CS community login
• TR Community

Free trials & demos

• Westlaw Edge
• Practical Law
• Checkpoint Edge
• Onvio Firm Management
• Proview eReader

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

Request a trial and experience the fastest way to find what you need

• Smokeball Legal Community
• CLEs, Webinars & Events
• E-Books, Guides & Case Studies
• Smokeball ROI Calculator
• Hacking Law Firm Success
• Why Smokeball
• Referral Program
• Diversity and Inclusion

Client Login

Legal Research 101: A Step-by-Step Guide

Legal Tech Stack

Rebecca Spiegel

March 20, 2023

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.

Building Your Legal Tech Stack: A Legal Technology Starter Guide

Learn more about smokeball.

• Schedule your personalized demo
• Get your free trial of Smokeball Start
• Explore our features
• Meet our team
• View pricing

Related Product Content

Learn more about smokeball document management for law firms, book your free demo.

Ready to see how Smokeball client intake software helps you Run Your Best Firm? Schedule your free demo!

This field is required.

Your personal data will be kept confidential. For more information about how we collect, store, and use your personal data, please read our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions .

Share this legal blog on social media.

Director of Content & Social

More from the Smokeball blog

What Is an Attorney Trust Account?

Attorney trust accounts are critical to making sure that money given to lawyers by clients or third-parties is kept safe and isn’t comingled with law firm funds or used incorrectly. Click to learn about trust fund lawyers, IOLTA account rules and what an attorney trust account is.

Law firms are entering a new era, and their ethics are shifting. Here’s how legal ethics are changing in 2023. Law firms, small and large, are building their legal tech stack. But what’s the most important legal technology to know about? Here’s a guide to get you started.

Bill Better From Anywhere: How Legal Billing Software Boosts Your Profitability

Thankfully, legal billing technology can manage most of the manual tasks and heavy lifting. Your firm can bill from anywhere and get paid at any time, no matter where your team (or clients) are located.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get regular updates, webinar invites and helpful content, delivered directly to your inbox!

• Platform Overview All-in-one legal research and workflow software
• Legal Research Unmetered access to primary and secondary sources
• Workflow Tools AI-powered tools for smarter workflows
• News & Analysis Paywall-free premium Bloomberg news and coverage
• Practical Guidance Ready-to-use guidance for any legal task
• Contract Solutions New: Streamlined contract workflow platform
• Introducing Contract Solutions Experience contract simplicity
• Watch product demo
• Law Firms Find everything you need to serve your clients
• In-House Counsel Expand expertise, reduce cost, and save time
• Government Get unlimited access to state and federal coverage
• Law Schools Succeed in school and prepare for practice
• Customer Cost Savings and Benefits See why GCs and CLOs choose Bloomberg Law
• Getting Started Experience one platform, one price, and continuous innovation
• Our Initiatives Empower the next generation of lawyers
• Careers Explore alternative law careers and join our team
• Press Releases See our latest news and product updates
• DEI Framework Raising the bar for law firms
• Request Pricing
• Legal Solutions

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.

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.

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.

[ 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.

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.]

Recommended for you

See bloomberg law in action.

From live events to in-depth reports, discover singular thought leadership from Bloomberg Law. Our network of expert analysts is always on the case – so you can make yours. Request a demo to see it for yourself.

Harvard Empirical Legal Studies Series

5005 Wasserstein Hall (WCC) 1585 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA02138

Contact the Graduate Program

The  Harvard Empirical Legal Studies (HELS) Series  explores a range of empirical methods, both qualitative and quantitative, and their application in legal scholarship in different areas of the law. It is a platform for engaging with current empirical research, hearing from leading scholars working in a variety of fields, and developing ideas and empirical projects.

HELS is open to all students and scholars with an interest in empirical research. No prior background in empirical legal research is necessary. If you would like to join HELS and receive information about our sessions, please subscribe to our mailing list by completing the HELS mailing list form .

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact the current HELS coordinator,  Tiran Bajgiran.

All times are provided in U.S. Eastern Time (UTC/GMT-0400).

Spring 2024 Sessions

Empire and the shaping of american constitutional law.

Aziz Rana, BC Law

Monday, Mar. 25, 12:15 PM Lewis 202

This talk will explore how US imperial practice has influenced the methods and boundaries of American constitutional study.

Historical Approaches to Neoliberal Legality

Quinn Slobodian, Boston University

Thursday, Mar. 28, 12:15 PM Lewis 202

Fall 2023 Sessions

On critical quantitative methods.

Hendrik Theine , WU, Vienna/Univ. of Pennsylvania Monday, Nov. 6, 12:30 PM Lewis 202

Economic inequality is a profound challenge in the United States. Both income and wealth inequality increased remarkably since the 1980s. This growing concentration of economic inequality creates real-world political and societal problems which are increasingly reflected by social science scholarship. Among those detriments is for instance the increasing economic and political power of the super-rich. The research at hand takes a new radical look at media discourses of economic inequality over four decades in various elite US newspapers by way of quantitative critical discourse analysis. It shows that up until recently, there was minimal media coverage of economic inequality, but interest has steadily increased since then. Initially, the focus was primarily on income inequality, but over time, it has expanded to encompass broader issues of inequality. Notably, the discourse on economic inequality is significantly influenced by party politics and elections. The study also highlights certain limitations in the discourse. Critiques of inequality tend to remain at a general level, discussing concepts like capitalist and racial inequality. There is relatively less focus on policy-related discussions, such as tax reform, or discussions centered around specific actors, like the wealthy and their charitable contributions.

Spring 2023 Sessions

How to conduct qualitative empirical legal scholarship.

Jessica Silbey , Professor of Law at Boston University Yanakakis Faculty Research Scholar

Friday, March 31, 12:30 PM WCC 3034

This session explores the benefits and some limitations of qualitative research methods to study intellectual property law. It compares quantitative research methods and the economic analysis of law in the same field as other kinds of empirical inquiry that are helpful in collaboration but limited in isolation. Creativity and innovation, the practices intellectual property law purports to regulate, are not amenable to quantification without identifying qualitative variables. The lessons from this session apply across fields of legal research.

Fall 2022 Sessions

How to read quantitative empirical legal scholarship.

Holger Spamann , Lawrence R. Grove Professor of Law

Friday, September 13, 12:30 PM WCC 3007

As legal scholars, what tools do we need to read critically and engage productively with quantitative empirical scholarship? In the first session of the 2022-2023 Harvard Empirical Legal Studies Series, Harvard Law School Professor Holger Spamann will compare and discuss different quantitative studies. This session will be a first approximation to be able to understand and eventually produce empirical legal scholarship. All students and scholars interested in empirical research are welcome and encouraged to attend.

How do People Learn from Not Being Caught? An Experimental Investigation of a “Non-Occurrence Bias”

Tom Zur , John M. Olin Fellow and SJD candidate, HLS

Friday, November 4, 2:00 PM WCC 3007

The law and economics literature on specific deterrence has long theorized that offenders rationally learn from being caught and sanctioned. This paper presents evidence from a randomized controlled trial showing that offenders learn differently when not being caught as compared to being caught, which we call a “non-occurrence bias.” This implies that the socially optimal level of investment in law enforcement should be lower than stipulated by rational choice theory, even on grounds of deterrence alone.

Empirical Legal Research: Using Data and Methodology to Craft a Research Agenda

Florencia Marotta-Wurgler , NYU Boxer Family Professor of Law Faculty Director, NYU Law in Buenos Aires

Monday, November 14, 12:30 PM Lewis 202

Using a series of examples, this discussion will focus on strategies to conduct empirical legal research and develop a robust research agenda. Topics will include creating a data set and leveraging to answer unexplored questions, developing meaningful methodologies to address legal questions, building on existing work to develop a robust research agenda, and engaging the process of automation and scaling up to develop large scale data sets using machine learning approaches. 

Resources for Empirical Research

• HLS Library Empirical Research Service
• Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Research (IQSS)
• Harvard Committee on the Use of Human Subjects
• Qualtrics Harvard
• Harvard Kennedy School Behavioral Insights Group

Past HELS Sessions

Holger Spamann (Lawrence R. Grove Professor of Law) – How to Read Quantitative Empirical Legal Scholarship?

Katerina Linos (Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law) – Qualitative Methods for Law Review Writing

Aziza Ahmed (Professor of Law at UC Irvine School of Law) – Risk and Rage: How Feminists Transformed the Law and Science of AIDS

Amy Kapczynski and Yochai Benkler –(Professor of Law at Yale; Professor of Law at Harvard) Law & Political Economy and the Question of Method

Jessica Silbey – (Boston University School of Law) Ethnography in Legal Scholarship

Roberto Tallarita – (Lecturer on Law, and Associate Director of the Program on Corporate Governance at Harvard) The Limits of Portfolio Primacy

Susan S. Silbey – (Leon and Anne Goldberg Professor of Humanities, Sociology and Anthropology at MIT) HELS with Susan Silbey: Analyzing Ethnographic Data and Producting New Theory

Cass R. Sunstein  (University Professor at Harvard) – Optimal Sludge? The Price of Program Integrity

Scott L. Cummings  (Professor of Legal Ethics and Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law) – The Making of Public Interest Lawyers

Elliot Ash  (Assistant Professor of Law, Economics, and Data Science at ETH Zürich) – Gender Attitudes in the Judiciary: Evidence from U.S. Circuit Courts

Kathleen Thelen  (Ford Professor of Political Science at MIT) – Employer Organization in the United States: Historical Legacies and the Long Shadow of the American Courts

Omer Kimhi  (Associate Professor at Haifa University Law School) – Caught In a Circle of Debt – Consumer Bankruptcy Discharge and Its Aftereffects

Suresh Naidu  (Professor in Economics and International and Public Affairs, Columbia School of International and Public Affairs) – Ideas Have Consequences: The Impact of Law and Economics on American Justice

Vardit Ravitsky  (Full Professor at the Bioethics Program, School of Public Health, University of Montreal) – Empirical Bioethics: The Example of Research on Prenatal Testing

Johnnie Lotesta  (Postdoctoral Democracy Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School) – Opinion Crafting and the Making of U.S. Labor Law in the States

David Hagmann  (Harvard Kennedy School) – The Agent-Selection Dilemma in Distributive Bargaining

Cass R. Sunstein  (Harvard Law School) – Rear Visibility and Some Problems for Economic Analysis (with Particular Reference to Experience Goods)

Talia Gillis  (Ph.D. Candidate and S.J.D. Candidate, Harvard Business School and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Law School) – False Dreams of Algorithmic Fairness: The Case of Credit Pricing

Tzachi Raz (Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at Harvard University) – There’s No Such Thing as Free Land: The Homestead Act and Economic Development

Crystal Yang (Harvard Law School) – Fear and the Safety Net: Evidence from Secure Communities

Adaner Usmani (Harvard Sociology) – The Origins of Mass Incarceration

Jim Greiner (Harvard Law School) – Randomized Control Trials in the Legal Profession

Talia Shiff  (Postdoctoral Fellow, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and Department of Sociology, Harvard University) – Legal Standards and Moral Worth in Frontline Decision-Making: Evaluations of Victimization in US Asylum Determinations

Francesca Gino (Harvard Business School) – Rebel Talent

Joscha Legewie (Department of Sociology, Harvard University) – The Effects of Policing on Educational Outcomes and Health of Minority Youth

Ryan D. Enos (Department of Government, Harvard University) – The Space Between Us: Social Geography and Politics

Katerina Linos (Berkeley Law, University of California) – How Technology Transforms Refugee Law

Roie Hauser (Visiting Researcher at the Program on Corporate Governance, Harvard Law School) – Term Length and the Role of Independent Directors in Acquisitions

Anina Schwarzenbach (Fellow, National Security Program, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School) – A Challenge to Legitimacy: Effects of Stop-and-Search Police Contacts on Young People’s Relations with the Police

Cass R. Sunstein (Harvard Law School) – Willingness to Pay to Use Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, and More: A National Survey

Netta Barak-Corren (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) – The War Within

James Greiner & Holger Spamann (Harvard Law School) – Panel: Why​ ​Does​ ​the​ ​Legal​ ​Profession​ ​Resist​ ​Rigorous​ ​Empiricism?

Mila Versteeg (University of Virginia School of Law) (with Adam Chilton) – Do Constitutional Rights Make a Difference?

Susan S. Silbey (MIT Department of Anthropology) (with Patricia Ewick) – The Common Place of Law

Holger Spamann (Harvard Law School) – Empirical Legal Studies: What They Are and How NOT to Do Them

Arevik Avedian (Harvard Law School) – How to Read an Empirical Paper in Law

James Greiner (Harvard Law School) – Randomized Experiments in the Law

Robert MacCoun (Stanford Law School) – Coping with Rapidly Changing Standards and Practices in the Empirical Sciences (including ELS)

Mario Small (Harvard Department of Sociology) – Qualitative Research in the Big Data Era

Adam Chilton (University of Chicago Law School) – Trade Openness and Antitrust Law

Jennifer Lerner (Harvard Kennedy School and Department of Psychology) – Anger in Legal Decision Making

Sarah Dryden-Peterson (Harvard Graduate School of Education) – Respect, Reciprocity, and Relationships in Interview-Based Research

Charles Wang (Harvard Business School) – Natural Experiments and Court Rulings

Guhan Subramanian (Harvard Law School) – Determining Fair Value

James Greiner (Harvard Law School) – Randomized Control Trials and the Impact of Legal Aid

Maya Sen (Harvard Kennedy School) – The Political Ideologies of Law Clerks and their Judges

Daria Roithmayr (University of Southern California Law School) – The Dynamics of Police Violence

Crystal Yang (Harvard Law School) – Empiricism in the Service of Criminal Law and Theory

Oren Bar-Gill (Harvard Law School) – Is Empirical Legal Studies Changing Law and Economics?

Elizabeth Linos (Harvard Kennedy School; VP, Head of Research and Evaluation, North America, Behavioral Insights Team) – Behavioral Law and Economics in Action: BIT, BIG, and the policymaking of choice architecture

Meira Levinson (Harvard School of Education) – Justice in Schools: Qualitative Sociological Research and Normative Ethics in Schools

Howell Jackson (HLS) – Cost-Benefit Analysis

Michael Heise (Cornell Law School) – Quantitative Research in Law: An Introductory Workshop

Susan Silbey (MIT) – Interviews: An Introductory Workshop

Kevin Quinn (UC Berkeley) – Quantifying Judicial Decisions

Holger Spamman (Harvard Law School) – Comparative Empirical Research

James Greiner (Harvard Law School) – Randomized Controlled Trials in the Research of Legal Problems

Michael Heise (Cornell Law School) – Quantitative Research in Law

James Greiner (Harvard Law School) – A Typology of Empirical Methods in Law

David Wilkins (Harvard Law School) – Mixed Methods Work and the Legal Profession

Tom Tyler (Yale Law School) – Fairness and Policing

Modal Gallery

Gallery block modal gallery.

Directed Research Projects

• Getting Started
• Preparing to Research
• The Research Process

Structuring Your Paper

Writing tips, writing resources.

• Checking your Sources
• Getting it Published

There is no strict structure to writing a legal research paper.  Unlike legal memos written for class or documents prepared for court proceedings that require formatted headings such as "Question Presented," "Statement of Facts," etc., legal research papers are not required to contain prescribed content or abide by a particular structure.

That said, below is a typical approach to organizing the content of your research project.

• Introduction (clear statement of your thesis)
• Background information (what is the existing law, if any)
• The problem (explain why the status quo does't work)
• Recommendation for change (what can be done to improve the field and how)
• Conclusion (tie back to your thesis)

If you have any questions about formatting your research project, you should seek advice from your faculty advisor.  Below are some basic guidelines, but keep in mind formatting requirements set forth by your faculty advisor will always supersede instructions provided here.

Generally, directed research papers are formatted as follows:

• 12-point font (Times New Roman or similar)
• Double-spaced lines
• One-inch margins on both sides, top, and bottom
• 10-point font for footnotes (same font as text)
• Bluebook style and rules for all footnotes citations
• Roman numerals and/or letter headings and subheadings (same font as text but bolded and/or underlined)
• Numbered pages in the footer (same font as text)

Table of Contents

Although not required (unless your faculty advisor states otherwise), a table of contents can be helpful to provide your reader with an overview of your research paper and direct them to certain sections.  Your table of contents should mirror your headings and subheadings.  Below is an example of a table of contents.

When to Cite

You must include a citation every time you refer to, paraphrase, or quote a law, case, or another's work.  Most of your sentences will include a citation.  Additionally, when you cite to a law, always cite to the primary source.

How to Cite

The Bluebook, formally titled  The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation , is the style manual for citing to legal documents within the United States.  You should use the Bluebook for all your citations in your legal paper.  The white page section contain the citation rules for legal academic publications.

Writing a Strong Introduction

Your introduction is arguably the most important section of your paper because many people will decide to continue reading based on the introduction.  It must grab the reader's attention and explain why what you are writing about is important.

Essentially, the reader should be able to skim the rest of your paper after reading your introduction and have a good understanding of its layout and arguments.  A good introduction should present the theme of the paper in a succinct manner while providing an overview of your paper.

Generally, a strong introduction will

• State the legal problem/issue;
• Describe why it is important and how your paper contributes to the discussion;
• Provide a road map of your paper; and
• State your conclusion.

Being Objective & Subjective

After your introduction, you should discuss background information on the issue you chose to write about.  This should be an objective overview of the relevant facts and existing law.  Your objective background information section should not be an all encompassing.  Keep this portion of your paper focused on the essential law and relevant facts that support your recommendation for change. 

The bulk of your paper lays in your discussion of the problem and recommendation for change.  This is the subjective portion of your paper.  In this section you should extract the relevant objective material to support your subjective analysis.

Writing a Strong Conclusion

Your conclusion should restate your thesis, summarize your major points, and remind the reader why the issue you've chosen is important.  The conclusion should essentially reword your introduction in a condensed fashion. 

• << Previous: The Research Process
• Next: Checking your Sources >>
• Last Updated: Oct 21, 2022 4:32 PM
• URL: https://guides.law.stanford.edu/c.php?g=1255722

• Stanford Home
• Maps & Directions
• Search Stanford
• Emergency Info
• Terms of Use
• Non-Discrimination
• Accessibility

© Stanford University , Stanford , California 94305 .

Basic Legal Research Guide: Research Strategy

• Getting Started
• Dictionaries
• Encyclopedias
• Law Reviews
• Restatements
• Statutes and Codes
• Administrative Law
• Illinois Resources
• Research Strategy

Research Strategy for 1L Research Memo

• Research Memo Strategies Presentation - Fall 2023

This short Powerpoint presentation outlines some of the techniques and strategies that might be helpful for your Research Memo.

• The Process of Legal Research

It may be helpful to see a visual display of the research process. Attached is a general flowchart for the legal research process. This file was originally created by Sarah Glassmeyer at CALI (The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) . 

Sloan - Basic Legal Research: Tools and Strategies, 6th ed.

On pages 304-307 of Amy Sloan's  Basic Legal Research textbook, you will find sample legal research flowcharts that show the thought process for handling certain types of research questions.

Approaching Your First Research Assignment: Introduction

The purpose of this page is to outline a basic strategy for approaching your first open-research assignment. It is most likely that this assignment will be your trial brief in the second semester of Legal Writing. The steps outlined here are intended to assist you in that endeavor. If, by chance, you are reading this page and looking for information on how to approach your first research assignment for work as a clerk or an extern, you will find the approach outlined here to be fundamentally the same because the process of legal research, regardless of the setting, will bear similar characteristics. If you are looking for more in-depth information on applying this process to assignments in the workplace, see the Summer Associate Research Guide .

In many respects, following a “legal research plan” is much like briefing cases; there are certain steps that ought to be followed and certain landmarks to look for along the way. Once you become familiar with briefing cases, you no longer need to work through the process every time you read a case, as that process occurs in the background. So it is with legal research. Working through the steps outlined below might seem tedious at first, but they will become commonplace. In the future, even though you may not work through the steps individually, you can be more confident that your research is complete, thorough, and accurate. Since you've worked through the process a number of times, you’re following the steps whether you recognize them or not. Here are the steps :

• Step 1: Preliminary Analysis
• Step 2: Formulate a Research Strategy
• Step 3: Record Your Actions, Sources, and Results
• Step 4: When Do I Stop Researching?
• Step 5: Update Your Research
• Step 6: Begin Writing Your Brief 
• Step 7: Keep Calm and Carry On

Step One: Preliminary Analysis

Before you can begin researching, it is important to spend some time analyzing the materials that you’ve been given, looking for clues to assist you in researching the question that you have been asked to answer. You need to have a plan . Very often research goes wrong because the researcher attempts to begin researching without being able to answer some very fundamental questions about the topic. Librarians call this the “shot in the dark” approach. It cannot be emphasized enough (especially with your first research projects) that you take the time to answer the following questions and extract as much information as possible, before you begin researching . Part of the reason for this is that the answers to some of these questions will guide your research process in terms of locating and studying sources.

Before you attempt to answer a legal question, you must understand it. In order to understand the question, you have to review the preliminary materials that you have been given as a starting point. It is crucially important that you read everything that you’ve been given carefully, and ask yourself the following questions:

• What is the legal issue? Sometimes the legal question at hand may be ascertained easily from preliminary materials. For example, you may be given documents that comprise an initial case file and be asked (based on the facts) whether a potential client has a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) against a co-worker. Other times, it will be less obvious. Part of your research process may involve "learning” enough about an unfamiliar subject area to determine exactly what the proper legal question is. Legal research can sometimes be frustrating because it is a recursive process. In other words, sometimes you need to conduct a significant amount of research just to determine what the question is that you are trying to answer. Only then can you do additional research--often using the same sources--to determine what the answer to the question is.
• Who are the parties involved ? When asking yourself these questions, think in terms of potential legal relationships and not necessarily labels. For example, when considering whether an employee has a potential cause of action against a co-worker, it may be important that the co-worker is the employee's supervisor. The supervisor–employee relationship might indicate that one person or party can exercise authority or control authority over another person or party.
• What is the thing in controversy ? Is there a contract involved? Is a piece of property at issue? The answer to this question may be helpful because it often leads the researcher to specific legal subject areas. Knowing that a question is a matter of tort law or contract law reduces the universe of possible resources to consult and may lead directly to certain sources like a treatise on torts as a starting point.
• What type of relief is being sought? In other words, what are the possible bases of action or defenses? Is a party seeking monetary damages for an injunction? Again, knowing the answer to this question (if ascertainable at this point) may lead the researcher to a specific legal topic, such as what standard needs to be met in order to be granted an injunction given a particular set of facts
• What jurisdiction governs the legal question at hand ? Again, at this point, it may be difficult to answer this question. Some legal topics are governed primarily by federal law (e.g., environmental, immigration, copyright) and some by state law (e.g., contracts, torts, criminal law). When you’re done with law school, you will be in a much better position to answer this question initially. If you did know the answer with some certainty, again this would restrict your universe of possible sources. If you knew, for example, that the question was governed by Illinois law, you could eliminate the federal law and forty-nine other states as potential research sources, or at least as primary authority. Doing so will allow you to focus your research much more narrowly and save a great amount of valuable research time.
• When did the events take place ? The answer to this question helps to determine whether you are researching current law or historical.
• Are there any starting points embedded in the preliminary materials ? For example, you may be pointed to a particular statute as a starting point. Or, you may have been given the name of the seminal case. If, for example, you knew that the answer involved a particular federal statute, you might begin by reading that statute and looking at annotations in an annotated federal code like U.S.C.A . or U.S.C.S .
• Is there any language that you don’t understand? If you need to look up terminology in a legal dictionary, by all means do so, and do so before you continue on. There’s no prize for assuming you know what a term means or how it is being used. If you make an assumption, and it turns out that you're wrong, you will need to start your research over again. That is a tremendously inefficient way to proceed.

Step Two: Formulate a Research Strategy

At the conclusion of the Preliminary Analysis stage of the research plan, a researcher ought to have a basic understanding of the legal question and a list of search terms based on the questions above. The researcher might also know the jurisdiction to be searched, as well as whether it is current or historical information that is sought. A researcher's level of confidence will next guide the research strategy by indicating what resources should be searched, and in what order.  So, the first question is this:

Can you state your legal issue in a sentence?

• If you are not confident that you can state your answer in a sentence, don't be dismayed. This is perfectly natural. But, before you start looking for answers when you don’t understand the question, it’s time to take a step back. You can’t find a needle in a haystack if you can’t identify the haystack you need. This is where most beginning researchers go wrong. Don’t go jumping into a rolling sea of contradictory opinions without the proper context for understanding the information that your research has gleaned. You'll just waste precious time.
• If you can’t state your legal issue in a sentence at this point--in other words, if you are not confident that you have or understand all the terms of art, what the governing jurisdiction is, or what the governing law is--it's best to begin by trying to ascertain a very broad overview of your subject area. This is the Google Maps equivalent of changing your focus so you see a broader area in less detail. One way to "learn" about unfamiliar legal topics (like IIED, employment discrimination, or injunctions) is to begin with basic secondary sources like national or state encyclopedias or hornbooks. Students are often loath to take this intermediary step because it’s not the fastest way to get research done. One important point to keep in mind here is that often preliminary research involves looking for starting points rather than necessarily looking for answers. A basic secondary source will identify the answers to some of the questions asked above: Is IIED a question of state or federal law? Is it primarily governed by statutes? Case law? Or both? Are there particular statutes or cases in the area that you must be aware of in order to answer the question asked? Are there important terms of art that you need to know to execute an effective online search?.
• After you review one or more basic secondary sources, you should at some point feel confident that you can state your legal issue in a sentence. When that happens, keep reading below.
• if you have done a thorough job with your preliminary analysis, you may at this point be able to state your legal issue in a sentence. This is an extremely important point, because if you can state your issue in a sentence, it may be possible for you to begin searching for answers or pieces of an answer using a natural language or terms and connectors search. That technique, however, is not recommended if you are exploring an unfamiliar area of law.
• Before you begin researching, take stock of what resources you have at your disposal. Don’t just go looking for cases. If you know that your question involves a state or federal statute, or section of code, retrieve that statute or section from an annotated code . Then, read it, and look at the annotations, especially references to secondary sources like law review articles or treatises that discuss and dissect the entire statute or section.
• Likewise, now would be a good time to look for more advanced secondary sources covering your topic like treatises or law review articles. If you are not familiar with the treatises in the particular subject area, don’t be afraid to ask your friendly reference librarian for input. Doing so may save a lot of time in the long run. Another trick is to look at the practice pages on Lexis ,  Westlaw , and Bloomberg  to see what major works or treatises are available through these resources.
• Finally, remember that legal research is a recursive process. As you read more and learn more, you may have to adjust your question. Again, this is perfectly natural. However, it leads to the next important point about executing a research plan.

Step Three: Record your Actions, Sources, and Results

Executing a well-thought-out legal research plan is a lot like briefing cases. It’s drudgery at first, but it becomes a natural process after you’ve done it a few times. Those who don’t do it become stuck using the same poor technique or series of sources with no understanding of whether that technique will work or not. When all you have is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail. The best lawyers still brief cases. Very good lawyers brief cases mentally--whether they know it or not. Good researchers record their actions in some manner, shape, or form. Once you become familiar with a particular area of law and its related research resources, your research process will become intuitive. Your search history and Lexis , Westlaw , and Bloomberg can aid greatly with this part, but not every source is available through those three commercial services. So, it’s important to have a log separate from the database research histories, even though there will be some overlap.

For now, here are six good reasons why you ought keep a "research log" for your first few assignments, followed by an example of what one might look like:

• It’s helpful to have a a written, recorded research log to keep track of sources consulted because, if your question changes slightly as you learn more about your legal topic, you will have a record of what has and hasn't been searched, what terms or techniques were used, and what the results were so you do not re-create the wheel and waste your own time.
• Keeping a research log will give you some assurance that you haven’t missed anything. You can compare your list of potential sources like treatises, law reviews, annotated codes, case databases etc. against what you’ve actually researched. This will give you confidence that there isn’t more information lurking out there somewhere that you ought to have found.
• If you need to consult with a partner, professor, or a librarian about your research, it would be most helpful to have a written record of what your searches have been and where you have looked. From looking at the record, an expert will be able to determine whether there are sources that you should have searched, or whether your search terms need modifying, 
• In the real world, whether you are clerking, have an externship, or you are a summer or young associate, if the answer turns out to be "I cannot find an answer," you will need to prove that result is justified. The best way to do that is by presenting the assigning attorney with your research log based on your research strategy and searching.
• If you have to set aside your research project for any length of time, a research log will help you by identifying where you have been and what you have learned. Again, don’t re-create the wheel. If every time you sit in front of a computer you start fresh, you’re going to waste a lot of precious time, and you will have no confidence that you found everything that there is to find because you have no list or record.
• Finally, as you are researching, you will probably identify sources that seem interesting, or possibly helpful, but that may be outside the scope or focus of your current research. Write those down, and keep them somewhere--perhaps in a separate folder labelled "maybe." Never look serendipity in the mouth. Often times skillful researchers end up finding very good resources or bits of information in places they never thought they’d be. Don’t lose the opportunity to take advantage of this information simply because you failed to record its existence when you had the opportunity.

What a sample research log might look like:

Derived from Robert M. Linz, Research Analysis and Planning: The Undervalued Skill in Legal Research Instruction , Legal Reference Services Quarterly, 34:1, 60–99 (2015).

You can also use PowerNotes (available from the Law Library's A-Z Databases Page ) to create a research log. This short video demonstrates how to export your research from PowerNotes into an Excel spreadsheet.

Step Four: When do I Stop Researching?

How do I know when to stop? In the real world, the answer to this question often depends on budgets and time restrictions (for more on this, see the Summer Associate Research Guide ). For purposes of your first research assignment, however, the simple answer is that you stop when you keep seeing the same information, and new information that you come across is not any more helpful than what you already have. Generally speaking, you will keep coming across the same statute or section of code, the same cases interpreting that statute or section, and the same law review articles or treatise sections that discuss the primary law. Once you have this set of information—information that has been recorded in your research log—you can begin attempting to answer the question asked.  As you begin writing, however, you may uncover loose ends that need to be further investigated. So, in a sense, your research is never really done.

Step Five: Update Your Research

No matter what your research turns up, it’s important to update all of your sources using the citators available online: Lexis (Shepard’s), Westlaw (KeyCite) and Bloomberg (BCite).

• You must always make sure that authorities that you are citing are current and reliable; i.e., have not been overruled, superseded, or subsequently distinguished out of existence.
• Beyond that, if you are working on a brief as part of litigation, you can be assured that the opposing party will read your brief, read all your sources, and find any way to discredit or weaken the authority that you are relying on. If you cannot account for these, you run the risk of having your position undermined.
• Finally, remember that a good researcher uses a citator, both to ensure the validity of authority, and to locate additional related authority.

Step Six: Begin Writing Your Memo or Brief

This step is misplaced because, for a number of reasons, you should begin writing well in advance of finishing your research. First, no matter how much research you have done, if you wait until the last minute to start writing, your written product will suffer. Second, the process of writing helps with your analysis. In other words, your brain won't let you write something that doesn’t make any sense. If you’re about to write something that doesn’t make any sense, it’s time to look back at the information that you’ve gleaned. If you wait too long to allow this natural process to occur, you lose the opportunity to fully explore the inconsistencies that your writing uncovers. Also, writing may uncover holes in your research that need to be filled. You need to allow for that possibility as well.

Step Seven: Keep Calm and Carry On

The surest way to be confident that your research is current and complete is to try several different approaches to the same problem. For example, to locate cases, you might employ a terms and connectors search, follow headnotes that are common among identified cases, and use a citator to locate additional authorities. If you were still considering more complex legal or policy issues, you might consult law review articles or a treatise. Each of these sources serves a slightly different purpose and will yield slightly different results. It's the sum of all these parts—and the realization that no matter where you look, you keep coming across the same information—that allow you to conclude that you have found all relevant materials, and you know exactly what to do with them.

Subject Guide

Helpful Free Online Legal Research Resources

Includes federal and state government Web sites, university Web sites, and organizational Web sites.

• Loyola University Chicago Law Library
• Loyola University Chicago Law Library - Research Guides Subject guides to print and online resources available to Law Library users.
• Loyola University Libraries Access to the Main Campus Library's database list, electronic journals search box, subject guides, and more.
• Loyola's Online Catalog Includes holdings of both print and online resources.
• Illinois General Assembly Illinois legislation, legislative history, and administrative law.
• Congress.gov The newly redesigned legislative information Web site of the Library of Congress provides access to Congressional bills, Public Laws, and legislative history documents.
• USA.gov The U.S. Government's official Web portal includes an A-Z listing of administrative agencies.
• GovInfo This Web site from the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) includes links to official government publications such as the CFR, Federal Register, and the U.S. Code.
• United States Courts Provides links to the Web sites of all federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Circuit Court of Cook County General information, court calendars, and circuit court rules.
• Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Includes downloadable PDF court forms.
• Fastcase Legal Research via State and Local Bar Associations A listing of state and local bar associations that provide free access to Fastcase as a benefit of association membership.
• Illinois Secretary of State Portal to Secretary of State services and forms (including corporate forms) and the Illinois Register (chronological Illinois administrative law publication).
• Cornell University's Legal Information Institute Links to federal and state legal information, including the U.S. Code, as well as Wex, the collaboratively-created online legal encyclopedia/dictionary.
• FindLaw Links to various state and federal legal information resources and legal forms.
• Law Library Resource Exchange Articles on legal technology topics.
• << Previous: Illinois Resources
• Last Updated: Apr 11, 2024 2:11 PM
• URL: https://lawlibguides.luc.edu/firstyearlegalresearch

University of Bristol Law School

Law working papers series.

Welcome to the Bristol Law Working Papers Series. The series publishes a broad range of legal scholarship in all subject areas from members of the University of Bristol Law School. All papers are published electronically and available to download as pdf files.

Working papers

Exceptions and Regulatory Autonomy (PDF, 1,504kB) Author: Joshua Paine

Default Norms in Labour Law- From Private Right to Public Law (PDF, 1,525kB) Author: Alan Bogg

An Analysis of the UK–Australia FTA’s Investment Chapter (PDF, 630kB) Author: Joshua Paine

A Kantian moral cosmopolitan approach to teaching professional legal ethics (PDF, 693kB) Author: Omar Madhloom

COVID-19 at Work: How risk is assessed & its consequences in England & Sweden (PDF, 837kB) A‌uthors: Peter Andersson and Tonia Novitz

Capturing the value of community fuel poverty alleviation (PDF, 1,891kB) Authors: Colin Nolden, Daniela Rossade and Peter Thomas

Bridging the Spaces in-between? The IWGB and Strategic Litigation (PDF, 522kB)   Author: Manoj Dias-Abey

View past papers

Law 627: Legal Research: Unit 2: Planning & Process

• Unit 1: Overview
• Unit 2: Planning & Process
• Unit 3: Courts
• Unit 4: Cases
• Unit 5: Statutes
• Unit 6: Regulations
• Legal Encyclopedias
• Restatements, Uniform Laws & Model Acts
• Legal Periodicals
• American Law Reports
• Unit 8: Intermediation
• Unit 9: Searching
• Unit 10: Putting It All Together

Unit 2: Overview

This page will provide you with an outline of legal research planning and process.

At the end of this lesson you should be able to:

• Summarize the basic steps for tackling a legal research problem
• Identify strategies for breaking a research problem into manageable components
• Articulate the value of legal research planning

Unit 2: Readings

Principles of Legal Research (3rd Ed.), Ch. 1, pp. 13-30  (§ §  1.2 and 1.3)

Legal Research in a Nutshell ( 14th  Ed . ), Ch. 1, pp. 23-30  (§ 1-7)

So, How Do I Make a Plan?

If there is no right way then how does one make a legal research plan? Well, start with a self-assessment. You probably have a sense of what comes more naturally to you, as well as where your strengths and weakness lie. Remember the best method is the one that helps you to stay on task, tracks where you have been, and guides you to the information you need. A basic research plan will break down your questions into specific research tasks, identify sources to use in your research, and begin to identify search terms.

• Checklist A legal research checklist is a list of steps and sources to be considered. The checklist format serves as a reminder of the considerations you should move through as you research. The checklist format also allows a researcher to easily assess what he or she has done so far--which is helpful so you do not waste time accidentally repeating your research. A checklist will, however, likely require a corollary log or some other method of note keeping.
• Checklist - Exam Compatible Reformatted to work with ExamSoft
• Legal Research Guided Template Some researchers prefer a more guided tool, especially as they are first learning. A guided template is helpful during the planning phase, but can be utilized throughout the research process. Users of a guided template should be careful, however, to maintain flexibility beyond the document. While a guided template is very useful, every research problem is different and researchers must be prepared to deviate as needed.
• Legal Research Guided Template - Exam Compatible Reformatted to work with ExamSoft
• Legal Research Log A legal research log is simply a record of where you have looked and what you have searched. Some researchers like to incorporate the legal research plan into their search log. After breaking the research problem apart, use the log to identify your first steps. Keep track of the results and reassess and reevaluate your path along the way.
• Log Template - Exam Compatible Reformatted to work with ExamSoft

Legal Research Process

You may have heard or read the phrase "legal research process" before. This phrase refers to the steps undertaken by a legal researcher in order to meet their research objective. While a singular phrase, legal research process, is often used to talk about research activities, there is no one process that is uniformly best every time for every problem. There are, however, certain steps every researcher should employ along the way. The order of these steps--or even the inclusion of a step--may vary depending on a variety of factors including how much you know before you start and the scope of the project.

For example, if you are an experienced personal injury attorney researching in an area of law you know well you may spend less time on the beginning steps than a novice researcher.

Plan and Organize Your Research

The first step for any researcher should be to plan out your path. This step, though often the most overlooked, is one of the most valuable. Spending just a little time on planning can be the key to efficient and effective research results.

• "Untangle" the problem:

Your research problem will often start as a cumbersome memo from a senior attorney or result from a mass of notes scribbled during a client interview. It is important to begin by reviewing what information you have and separating out the parts. Who are the players? What is the jurisdiction? Which details are superfluous? Which details are operative facts? And, most importantly, what is the issue (or issues) you need to research?

At this stage it is also important to make sure you understand the scope of what you are being asked to do, the desired work product (deliverable), and any relevant time or money limitations.

• Identify key knowledge gaps:

Once the research problem has been broken into parts and the key issues have been identified, a broader picture will emerge. At this stage a legal researcher must identify his or her own knowledge gaps. Take note of broad themes, key terms, and basic background areas you will need to explore.

• Draft an actual plan:

It is not enough to simply think about what you will do--you need to keep a written plan. Keeping a written plan will help you use your time efficiently. A research plan will identify where you need to go and what you need to gather, as well as keep track of where you have been. It is easy to forget a step when you do not have a guide to reference along the way. Look to the left-hand column of this page for more information about making a research plan.

• Keep notes :

As you move through the preliminary stage of your plan be sure to keep notes, and continue to take notes along the way. Some researchers like to keep a formal log. Others like to jot down comments on the sources they find. Using digital organization opportunities, such as the foldering systems on Lexis+ or Westlaw Edge or digital workspace platforms like Evernote, can be another way to keep track of and annotate your project. There is no right way to keep track of your research. It is important though that whatever method you use your notes are organized, detailed, and complete. It is likely you will need to refer back to them many times.

Use Commentary to Define and Understand Issues

When attacking a research problem, begin with building on what you already know about the problem and its area of law. Identify the gaps in your knowledge base and try to bridge them with background reading. Secondary sources can be a helpful review or a great starting place if you are unfamiliar with the subject.

Secondary sources will help you flesh out the steps above and fill in any holes. Background reading should help you confirm the appropriate jurisdiction for your legal issue, whether federal or state law applies, and identify the types of authority involved (i.e. whether the issues are governed by case law, statutory law, administrative law or a combination).

Secondary sources will also help you identify any “terms of art” specific to this area of law. These terms will help you refine your search queries. Additionally, secondary sources will often cite directly to governing statutes and regulations and cite to key case law. This makes them an ideal starting point for searching for primary law.

Find Relevant Primary Sources in the Applicable Jurisdiction (cases, statutes, regulations)

Secondary sources are the best with which to start legal research, but to answer your legal question you will need to find relevant primary sources. Some ways to locate primary sources are:

• Using finding tools (Intermediation)

Remember, there are a whole host of tools which can assist you in your research. If you discovered a citation during your background reading, you can use these tools to turn that citation into a jumping off point. Likewise, if your prior reading revealed a term of art important to your topic, try using an index or the topic and key number system to get started.

• Searching and evaluating results

After working with the finding tools, you may still need to conduct some traditional searching in one of the legal databases. Keep in mind the value of controlling your search results with Boolean searching and search filters.

Restate and Refine

As your legal research progresses, you will likely come across new terms, or even new issues. It is important to take time throughout the research process to assess what you have done so far. Did you miss anything after you became familiar with the area of law? Does your issue statement need to be refined? Do you have new sub-issues which you must address?

Consider the Law of Other Jurisdictions (Persuasive Primary Sources)

If after your reassessment you are not finding enough primary authority to answer your question, it may be time to consider law outside your jurisdiction. If you have not been tracking this all along, go back and rerun some of your searches with a broader scope in mind.

Update and Verify

It is always important to make sure the law you are using is "good law," meaning that it has not been overruled (such as with a case) or superseded (such as with a statute or regulation). It is considered professional incompetence to fail to accurately verify the status of a precedent.

You may have been checking this as you uncovered sources. If your research is being done in small time window (for example, a day), this is likely sufficient. If you are working on a project over several days or weeks, it is imperative that you take a moment when finished to ensure nothing has changed since you started the project.

Remember, law is a living entity and constantly changing.

Know When to Stop Researching

Knowing when to stop is one of the toughest legal research skills to master. Unit 10: Putting it all Together will discuss this in greater detail.

• << Previous: Unit 1: Overview
• Next: Unit 3: Courts >>
• Last Updated: Sep 6, 2023 11:47 AM
• URL: https://libguides.law.illinois.edu/Law627

• Latest News
• Latest Issue
• Asked and Answered
• Legal Rebels
• Modern Law Library
• Bryan Garner on Words
• Intersection
• On Well-Being
• Mind Your Business
• My Path to Law
• Storytelling
• Supreme Court Report
• Adam Banner
• Erwin Chemerinsky
• Marcel Strigberger
• Nicole Black
• Susan Smith Blakely
• Members Who Inspire
• 5 tips from a law school librarian for assigning…

5 tips from a law school librarian for assigning research projects to interns

By Matthew Flyntz

March 28, 2022, 8:39 am CDT

Matthew Flyntz.

As a law school reference librarian, I field a lot of questions from law students working at internships, externships and summer jobs. Over the years, I’ve seen some recurring issues with the research assignments given to law students, and I thought it might be helpful to discuss some of them here.

Tip 1: Provide as much detail as possible.

Students sometimes come to the reference desk with very vague research questions. Things like, “I’ve been asked to research [insert broad topic],” or “I’ve been asked to find cases on [insert broad topic].” We will then ask clarifying questions to try to make the project more manageable, but students will often respond with “I don’t know.” Unfortunately, when this happens, we have to tell students to go back and ask for clarification. If assigning attorneys can provide a higher level of detail up front, this can save time for everyone.

Ideally, when a student comes to us for research assistance, they should be able to provide: 1) a brief summary of the case they are working on; 2) a concise statement of the specific issue to be researched; and 3) a clear understanding of what they are trying to find (e.g., If they are searching for cases, from which court(s)? If articles, how recent? And so on …).

Tip 2: Suggest a starting point.

Students sometimes say to me, “I’ve been given a research project, and I have no idea where to start.” We librarians are happy to help, of course, but assigning attorneys—as subject-matter experts—may know better than we do about the best starting places. If you know of a relevant treatise, practice guide or article, or you have a citation to a potentially useful statute or case, let the student know. In my experience, students sometimes struggle to find a way into a research project, but once they get a foothold, they have an easier time with it.

Tip 3: Consider setting time limits or check-in points.

Students visit the reference desk frazzled and say, “I’ve been spinning my wheels on this for eight hours, and I am so confused!” This is presumably not how you want your interns spending their time. When I assign research projects to my students, I generally say something like, “If you’ve put in two hours of good faith effort and are still confused, come talk to me.” I’ve also learned that students take significantly longer on research projects than I think they will. For example, if I assign something expecting it to take one or two hours, many students will spend more like three to four hours on it. Setting check-in times can help ensure students are spending a reasonable amount of time on each project.

Tip 4: Cultivate a culture where asking questions is encouraged.

Of course, in order for Tip 3 to work, there needs to be a culture of openness and psychological safety. Students need to feel safe in asking questions. In my experience, students seem very reluctant to go back to the assigning attorney to ask clarifying questions. Even in my classes, I can sense that students are sometimes reluctant to ask me questions. This may have something to do with law student psychology, where students are wary of seeming foolish in front of their peers, professors and employers. Regardless of where this tendency comes from, I think we all need to remind students that asking questions is expected—and even desirable—and that we will not judge them for doing so.

Tip 5: Try to avoid making students ‘prove a negative.’

I field a lot of questions from students like this: “My assigning attorney asked me to research [insert extremely specific topic]. They said they doubt there are any cases out there but have asked me to double-check.” This is essentially asking students to “prove a negative”—that is, they are not finding the law; they are proving that there is no law. I think these make poor research projects for student interns for at least three reasons. First, from a pedagogical standpoint, they don’t reinforce good research habits. Because there are no good secondary sources, and no cases or statutes to start with, students do not get practice using the essential research skills they are taught in law school. And indeed, the research process students are taught to follow essentially breaks down in these situations, and students end up taking a “kitchen sink” approach—frantically searching anywhere and everywhere for any morsel of relevant information.

Second, these assignments put a lot of stress and anxiety on students. In my experience, students are fearful of returning to their assigning attorney empty-handed, even though the assignment is essentially designed for them not to find anything. If this type of assignment must be given, I’d encourage supervising attorneys to make sure interns understand that they may very well find nothing, and that is OK.

Third, this type of research project takes a surprisingly long time to do well. I’ve already mentioned that students take longer than we expect to do most research projects, and this is doubly true with this sort of project. Proving a negative is much more difficult and time-consuming than proving a positive. I’d encourage supervising attorneys to consider if this is really how they want their interns to spend their time.

In conclusion

I love helping students with their research projects; I think most librarians do. It’s a big reason many of us became librarians! These tips are not meant to suggest that we do not want to help student interns or to off-load the burden of helping students with research onto someone else. They are meant to make the research process go more smoothly for everyone involved and to help make sure our students get the most meaningful experiences they can.

Matthew Flyntz is the research law librarian for instructional services at the University of California at Irvine School of Law, where he designs and teaches first-year and upper-level legal research courses. He has published articles on legal information, law librarianship and legal research instruction in Legal Reference Services Quarterly , Legal Information Review, The Second Draft and ABA Student Lawyer, among others.

ABAJournal.com is accepting queries for original, thoughtful, nonpromotional articles and commentary by unpaid contributors to run in the Your Voice section. Details and submission guidelines are posted at “ Your Submissions, Your Voice .”

This column reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Association.

Related topics:

Law schools | law libraries | practice management | law students | careers | career & practice | legal education | multidisciplinary practice | professional development | columns, you might also like:.

• Incarceration series includes female inmates but doesn't tell full story
• Tikkun Olam: When public service is a sacred obligation
• A return to civil, pragmatic conflict resolution
• Chemerinsky: Will SCOTUS consider it cruel and unusual punishment to prosecute homeless people for sleeping in public?
• Carnegie and Me: Refuting the culture war on American libraries

Give us feedback, share a story tip or update, or report an error.

Your voice submissions.

The ABA Journal wants to host and facilitate conversations among lawyers about their profession. We are now accepting thoughtful, non-promotional articles and commentary by unpaid contributors.

Read the Your Voice submission guidelines.

Law firms either keep up with tech or get left behind

How do catholic church lawyers determine the credibility of sex assault allegations, the case for bar associations: why they matter, judging the judges: with all due respect, of course.

Articles and commentary ...

Legal Research

• Statutory Law
• Regulations
• Secondary sources
• Citing Legal Resources

Case Law Resources

• Caselaw Access Project The Caselaw Access Project (CAP), maintained by the Harvard Law School Library Innovation Lab, includes "all official, book-published United States case law — every volume designated as an official report of decisions by a court within the United States...[including] all state courts, federal courts, and territorial courts for American Samoa, Dakota Territory, Guam, Native American Courts, Navajo Nation, and the Northern Mariana Islands." As of the publication of this guide, CAP "currently included all volumes published through 2020 with new data releases on a rolling basis at the beginning of each year."
• CourtListener Court Listener is a free and publicly accessible online platform that provides a collection of legal resources and court documents, including court opinions and case law from various jurisdictions in the United States. It includes PACER data (the RECAP Archive), opinions, or oral argument recordings.
• FindLaw Caselaw Summaries Archive FindLaw provides a database of case law from the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, as well as several state supreme courts. It includes U.S. Supreme Court Opinions, U.S. Federal Appellate Court Opinions and U.S. State Supreme, Appellate and Trial Court Opinions. Search for case summaries or by jurisdiction.
• FindLaw Jurisdiction Search FindLaw provides a database of case law from the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, as well as several state supreme courts. It includes U.S. Supreme Court Opinions, U.S. Federal Appellate Court Opinions and U.S. State Supreme, Appellate and Trial Court Opinions. Search for case summaries or by jurisdiction.
• Google Scholar for Case Law Google Scholar offers an extensive database of state and federal cases, including U.S. Supreme Court Opinions, U.S. Federal District, Appellate, Tax, and Bankruptcy Court Opinions, U.S. State Appellate and Supreme Court Opinions, Scholarly articles, papers, and reports. To get started, select the “case law” radio button, and choose your search terms.
• Justia Justia offers cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, and U.S. District Courts. Additionally, you may find links to many state supreme court and intermediate courts of appeal cases. Content includes U.S. Supreme Court Opinions, U.S. Federal Appellate & District Court Opinions, Selected U.S. Federal Appellate & District Court dockets and orders and U.S. State Supreme & Appellate Court Opinions.

An interdisciplinary, international, full-text database of over 18,000 sources including newspapers, journals, wire services, newsletters, company reports and SEC filings, case law, government documents, transcripts of broadcasts, and selected reference works.

• PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) PACER is a nationwide database for accessing federal court documents, including case dockets. It covers U.S. District Courts, Bankruptcy Courts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals. Users can search for and access federal case dockets and documents for a fee.
• Ravel Law Public Case Access "This new Public Case Access site was created as a result of a collaboration between the Harvard Law School Library and Ravel Law. The company supported the library in its work to digitize 40,000 printed volumes of cases, comprised of over forty million pages of court decisions, including original materials from cases that predate the U.S. Constitution."
• The RECAP Archive Part of CourtListener, RECAP provides access to millions of PACER documents and dockets.

State Courts

• State Court Websites This page provides a list of various state court system websites by state.
• Pennsylvania Judiciary Web Portal The Pennsylvania Judiciary Web Portal provides the public with access to various aspects of court information, including appellate courts, common pleas courts and magisterial district court docket sheets; common pleas courts and magisterial district court calendars; and PAePay.
• Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Opinions

US Supreme Court

• US Reports he opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States are published officially in the United States Reports.
• US Reports through HeinOnline
• << Previous: Start
• Next: Statutory Law >>
• Last Updated: Apr 5, 2024 3:44 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.cmu.edu/legal_research

Legal Methods

• Getting Started
• Introduction to Legal Research
• Secondary Sources
• Case Law Research
• Research with Citators
• Statutory Research
• Federal Legislative History
• Federal Administrative Law Research
• Electronic Legal Research
• Developing a Research Plan
• Tip - Subject Matter Service Research
• Legal Research and Writing Titles on West Academic Digital Library
• Legal Research and Writing Titles on LexisNexis Digital Library
• Legal Research and Writing Titles on Aspen Learning Digital Library

Where to Begin Research Project

There are two preliminary steps to take:

• Define the scope of your project - evaluate the type of work product you are expected to produce and the amount of time you have.
• Generate search terms - construct a random list of words that seem relevant to the issue; the parties involved in the problem and relationships to each other, the places and things involved in the problem, the potential claims and defenses that could be raised, and the relief sought by the complaining party.

Primary Mandatory Authority -- if you have background on your topic -- seek out research notes in Constitutions, Court Opinions, Statutes, and Regulations.

Secondary Authority -- helps generate search terms and what authority you should research -- provide commentary on and analysis of the law.

Primary Persuasive Authority -- rarely used to start research projects.

Types of Authority

Mandatory (binding).

• Constitutional provisions, statutes, and regulations in force within a jurisdiction are mandatory authority for courts within the same jurisdiction.
• Decisions from higher courts within a jurisdiction are mandatory authority for lower courts within the same jurisdiction.

Persuasive (Nonbinding)

• Decisions from courts within one jurisdiction are persuasive authority for courts within another jurisdiction.
• Decisions from lower courts within a jurisdiction are persuasive authority for higher courts within the same jurisdiction.
• Secondary authority is not mandatory authority.
• Secondary authority is persuasive authority.

Legal System - Federal

Legal system - state.

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) acts as a non-profit provider of many services to the courts including: research studies, consulting, a variety of educational programs, an extensive web database of information on court administration, the largest library of materials on court administration in the world, and continued assistance in the improvement of inter-branch relations through its lobbying and advocacy services.

The State Court Web Sites page of the NCSC provides judicial branch links for each state, focusing on the administrative office of the courts, the court of last resort, any intermediate appellate courts, and each trial court level.

Pennsylvania

The Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania (AOPC)

The judiciary’s entry-level courts are located in more than 500 magisterial districts and in municipal courts in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The next level, the state’s trial courts or Courts of Common Pleas, are in judicial districts which mostly follow county boundaries. The statewide intermediate appellate courts — Superior and Commonwealth — hear criminal and civil appeals from the trial courts and some original cases brought against the state and its agencies.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest arbiter of cases in the judicial system, and has administrative authority over the entire court system. The  Pennsylvania court system  is structured like a pyramid with the Supreme Court at the top.

Pennsylvania District Courts

What's the difference between state and federal courts.

Pennsylvania state courts decide cases involving child custody matters, divorce, most criminal cases, real estate issues, juvenile issues, contract disputes, traffic violations, personal injury issues, and inheritance matters, to name a few. These courts can also hear cases that are appeals from state or local agencies. For example, an appeal from a local zoning decision would normally go to the local Common Pleas Court.

But, there are certain categories of legal disputes that are resolved in federal courts. Federal courts may hear cases that involve the U.S. Constitution, federal law, the United States government, or controversies between states or between the U.S. government and foreign governments. In addition, they may hear “diversity of citizenship” cases – cases between citizens of different states (for example, between a citizen of Pennsylvania and a citizen of New York), or between a citizen of a state and a non-U.S. citizen. Note that diversity of citizenship cases must involve claims that exceed $75,000.

The federal courts also hear appeals from federal agencies. For example, an appeal from a denial of social security benefits by the Social Security Administration, would go to the federal courts, once all administrative appeals are finished.

Federal district courts in Pennsylvania are: the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Magisterial District Courts

Together with the Pennsylvania State Data Center, the Pennsylvania Courts have created a new interactive tool to help the public find information related to the Magisterial District Courts. The  Interactive Magisterial District Court Map  clearly lays out the boundaries of all of Pennsylvania's 509 magisterial district courts. To locate your magisterial district court office, run a search for your address. From your search result on the map, left click within the boundaries of the district to see the Judge's name, contact information and office location for your address.

The home button on the top left portion of the map will return you to the default, statewide view.

In addition to information about magisterial district courts, the map also indicates county courthouses, law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities.

Unlike other counties in Pennsylvania with magisterial district courts, Philadelphia has The Municipal Court. For more information about The Municipal Court in Philadelphia, see the  Philadelphia Court's website .

Legal Citation

• << Previous: Getting Started
• Next: Secondary Sources >>
• Last Updated: Mar 5, 2024 9:52 AM
• URL: https://libguides.law.widener.edu/legalmethodsbasiclegalresearch

Basic Legal Research: Making a Research Plan

• Issue Spotting
• Jurisdiction
• The Hierarchy of Authority
• Making a Research Plan
• Researching in Print or Online
• Secondary Sources- Intro
• Secondary Sources- Encyclopedias, Restatements and ALR
• Secondary Sources- Treatises, Looseleafs, and Periodicals
• Updating Your Research
• Writing Your Document
• Researching with Lexis
• Researching with Westlaw
• Researching with Bloomberg BNA

Fact Situation

Darin drank a few beers, then took his skateboard down to the corner store to pick up some more. On the way back, he swerved into the path of Nadine, who was riding a bike, causing a crash in which Nadine's arm was broken. A police officer was on the scene, noticed that Darin seemed intoxicated, had him do a field sobriety test, and arrested him for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol (DUI).

Developing Search Terms

To research a question, you first need to outline the concepts you're dealing with, and find keywords that fit those concepts.

Darin was charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. There are three major concepts here:

One way to come up with keywords is to look at related words for each concept.

• Operating: driving, running, controlling
• Vehicle: car, skateboard, bicycle, truck, conveyance
• Alcohol: drink, beverage, drug

These words can be narrower than the concept (car, skateboard, etc. are types of vehicles) or broader (vehicles are a type of conveyance). When you're searching, don't just stick with the words given to you, but have as many backup keywords as possible.

Boolean Searching

• Boolean Cheat Sheet

Boolean searching (named for the mathematician George Boole) is a more precise method of constructing a search than entering all your search terms together in a box. By using logical operators, such as AND, OR, or NOT, you can create a search that will yield results more on point. The below document contains the most used operators and examples of their use.

Terms and Connectors

CALI Lessons on Research Planning

• Legal Research 101: The Tools of the Trade Using a lawyer-under-construction theme, we take the law student on as an apprentice and introduce him or her to the basic tools of legal research.
• Legal Research Methodology This exercise is designed to help law students develop their abilities to handle legal research assignments.
• Introduction to Search Logic and Strategies Students will learn about keyword search formulation strategies and the mechanics of Boolean searching.
• Hold 'Em, Fold 'Em, Walk Away or Run: When To Stop the Search Knowing when to stop is important for efficient and cost effective legal research. This exercise will cover several factors which you may wish to consider.
• << Previous: The Hierarchy of Authority
• Next: Researching in Print or Online >>
• Last Updated: Jan 16, 2024 6:45 AM
• URL: https://library.famu.edu/basiclegalresearch

Legal Research: Meaning, Definitions, and Example

Legal research is the process of finding the law that governs an activity and materials that explain or analyze that law. Legal research includes various processes ranging from gathering information to analyzing a problem’s facts and communicating the investigation results. Doing research aims to add new knowledge to the existing knowledge in an area of interest.

Understand the meaning of legal research, its dimensions, and its importance. Also, it is an example of legal research.

Legal Research Definition

Legal research means scientific and purposive investigation or inquiry of a problem or issue of any discipline. Likewise, legal research is a scientific investigation into a legal issue or problem and the process of gathering evidence or information for ascertaining an assumption or verifying some hypotheses.

Like other research activities, legal research is a systematic and methodical study directed toward developing new knowledge or verifying existing knowledge. Legal research is not merely concerned with the technical knowledge of the law. Rather, one of the purposes of legal research is to find philosophical or policy arguments in law.

Legal research is an inquiry and investigation made by judges, lawyers, and legal researchers in the quest for a deeper and fuller understanding of the true nature of legal problems.

It seeks to expound on various aspects of the legal system, the legislative and judicial process, and the nature and function of law in society. Legal research is also concerned with “the understanding and internal coherence of legal concepts and reasoning.

Legal research is not a mere description of facts but a purposive investigation to explain or interpret a legal phenomenon. It goes beyond description and requires analysis.

In this sense, it is a creative process and involves normative activities. Legal research is diligent, and continued search is for the more probably accepted answer to a legal question.

The such search involves the choice of hypothesis, the assortment ascertainment of facts, their classification, elimination of relevance, the use of both Inductive and deductive reasoning, and the assertion of a conclusion. In essence, it involves analysis of facts, ordering legal propositions and doctrines, and applying legal reasoning to conclusions.

Legal research essentially seeks to expound the logical coherence of law concepts and determine and define the terms and presuppositions used in law.

Legal research is identifying and retrieving information necessary to support judicial decision-making.

In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a problem and concludes with the application and communication of the investigation results.

The processes of legal research vary according to the country and the legal system involved. However, legal research generally suggests such tasks as:

• Find primary sources of law or central authority in a given jurisdiction (cases, statutes, regulations, etc.)
• Searching secondary authorities (for example, law reviews, legal dictionaries, legal treatises, and legal encyclopedias such as American Jurisprudence and Corpus Juris Secundum) for background information about a legal topic; and
• Searching non-legal sources for investigative or supporting information.

Dimensions of Legal Research

Legal research has two fundamental dimensions: creative and non-normative. Legal research is creative because it interprets theories, concepts, and rules, creates new knowledge, or enriches existing knowledge.

Legal research is also normative as it establishes the norms that apply to a particular legal system.

The normative aspect of legal research implies that the researcher should not reproduce the text of the law or describe the legal doctrine for theory; rather, he or she should state what ought to be done according to the legal point of view within a particular legal system or how the law to be applied in a particular context.

10 Importance of Legal Research

Legal research is also necessary for ascertainment of law on a given topic or subject, to highlight ambiguities and inbuilt weaknesses of law, and to critically examine legal provisions, principles, or doctrines to see consistency, coherence, and stability of law, to make suggestions for reform of the law.

The Role of Legal Research in Modern Legal Education

Legal research for law students, legal research for practicing lawyers, legal research in practice, legal research as a catalyst for legal reform, identifying areas for legal reform, the process and purpose of legal research, the mindset of a legal researcher, achieving objectivity in legal research, the ethical responsibilities of a researcher.

Legal research is an important element of the modern system of legal education.

Legal education performs several related functions: attaining theoretical knowledge, practical training, and a general education contributing to proper legal reasoning , effective communication, and ethical responsibility. Legal research can facilitate attaining these objectives by placing law in a broader intellectual context.

Legal research methodology is important for legal researchers in many ways.

Legal research helps one use his acquired knowledge of how the law works and understand the principles that underlie the operation of the law and the legal system.

A law student should learn about research to critically analyze information on a variety of legal issues.

Legal research is also important for a lawyer, who should be familiar with those areas of law in which he claims to have the expertise as a real-life problem solver. There is no denying that a lawyer should provide competent representation to a client.

Every lawyer must use fundamental legal research tools and implement an effective and efficient research plan to provide competent representation.

In everyday exercises, lawyers have to identify and analyze factual material, identify the legal context in which factual issues arise, identify legal issues, and apply relevant legal provisions to facts. They have to relate the central legal and factual issues to each other and identify the legal, factual, and other issues presented by documents.

They have to provide ACC-rate and insightful advice and draft documents effectively. All these investigations of factual and legal issues require legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness, and preparation from lawyers for effective representation of clients.

Legal research is critically important for initiating legal reform and change in society.

Legal research may be driven by current and proposed legislation’s social, political, and economic implications. Law must keep pace with social change. Law has to either respond to social change or initiate social change.

Because of changing social, moral, and political contexts, many laws may lose relevance or seem inadequate to meet society’s needs.

Legal research can help find out the old laws that need reforms.

Legal research can initiate a new theory of law change with your help carrying existing theory. Legal research findings may help bring about desired changes in existing laws and legal institutions.

Research methodology is not an end but must fit into the structure of the topic , questions, and arguments, producing good research. The purpose of any legal inquiry at the practical level should be to arrive at a legally reasoned and sound conclusion of a given factual situation.

As essential steps of methodology, the l egal research analysis of the facts evaluates what legal concepts may be relevant , finds primary and secondary sources, synthesizes the relevant principles, and apply them to the research problem.

R esearch is an intellectual exercise requiring endurance and patience. A researcher must have perseverance and a scientific frame of mind.

A researcher must be a genuine seeker of truth. He must be alert to appreciate any change in situation or facts considered in research. He must have intimate knowledge of his area of research. He must be objective in his approach. Attaining objectivity remains a great challenge to every researcher.

The findings should not be influenced by personal prejudices and biases to attain objectivity in research work. The researcher should examine the issues at hand dispassionately and must be free from personal emotions and self-interest.

A researcher should be open-minded and self-reflective. He should also be cautious about claims based on his research findings.

Legal Research Examples

For example, let’s take India’s juvenile justice system and compare it with that of the USA.

In this paper, the diversion and alternative measures of the juvenile justice system of the USA and India have been discussed to get an idea of how the philosophy of juvenile justice functions in a democratic country with different cultures like the USA and a developing country of monolithic culture like India from a comparative perspective.

The paper also focused on the rationality of advisory jurisdiction exercised by the Supreme Court of different countries, especially the USA, UK, Canada, Sri Lanka, and India, and discussed how these examples could be of use in India in nurturing its Constitution, democracy, and the rule of law.

The author argues that juvenile delinquency and violence against children are indications that social organization is not running correctly.

Available data suggest that juvenile delinquency in India has increased in recent years. They are involved in theft, robbery, hijacking, and extortion and have different types of deadly weapons.

Many of the arrested juveniles are members of organized criminal gangs.

Comparing the available statistics of India and the USA, the author put forward some recommendations to keep the problems at a minimum, ensuring an egalitarian society where children’s causes will be fully guaranteed.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Meet Our Team

Our Customers Say It Best

Expert research, case-specific analysis, accurate writing solutions, sample work.

• Submit A Project
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Legal Compliance Surveys
• Regulatory Risk Assessment
• Legal Risk Assessment
• Standards and Best Practice
• Litigation White Papers
• Litigation Blog
• Compliance White Papers
• Compliance Blog
• Search for: Search Button

You should see our work.

(no, really. take a look before you hire us.), sample: legal research.

In today’s world, clients often embark upon business ventures across state lines.  Yet, most attorneys infrequently engage in multijurisdictional practice, preferring instead to focus on local matters.  So, when a Colorado attorney needed to advise a client on business matters controlled by California law, LegalResearch.com was there to help.  LegalResearch.com discussed the background facts, thoroughly examined California law on point, explored persuasive authority nationwide to underscore the applicable law, and ensured that he possessed the current, authoritative law he needed to properly advise his client.

LegalResearch.com excels when the arguments are the most difficult and your back is against the wall, but no job is too small.  For instance, a Massachusetts attorney simply asked LegalResearch.com to deliver authoritative decisions finding an oral settlement agreement not reduced to writing to nonetheless constitute a binding, enforceable settlement agreement.  In no time, LegalResearch.com ran the appropriate searches, collected and verified the authorities, and delivered them for review.  Confirming LegalResearch.com’s value, the attorney remarked, “Your work product and copies of cases on point were exactly what I had requested.”

Sample: In-house Memorandum of Law

Sometimes, knowing the substantive law is not enough. LegalResearch.com also drafts damages assessments, compiles verdict and settlement reports, and offers other damage-related research.  In this example, LegalResearch.com helped a Massachusetts attorney understand not only substantive issues presented under Nevada law, but the range of potential damage awards his fact pattern implicated as well.

Sample: Letter Report

In law, as in medicine, it’s often wise to seek a second opinion.  Thankfully, an experienced Arizona litigator with a very specialized practice recently did just that.  After doing his own research, our customer determined that a settlement of his client’s personal injury claims would not preclude later claims to be brought by his beneficiaries in the event of his unfortunate death.  Poised to authorize the settlement, the attorney first asked LegalResearch.com to independently analyze the issue, and he’s glad he did.  “I had initially researched this question and planned a course of action that would have potentially been disastrous.  I’m very grateful for your excellent work.”  LegalResearch.com’s analysis indicated that, contrary to the attorney’s research, the settlement very likely would have foreclosed his client’s beneficiaries’ rights.

Sample: Trial Court Memorandum

A Louisiana attorney more experienced in state court than federal court asked LegalResearch.com to confront opposing counsel’s use of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination to disrupt the discovery process in a civil rights case.  After initially drafting a motion to dismiss himself, opposing counsel filed an opposition brief attempting to justify his client’s rights.  LegalResearch.com thoroughly reviewed the briefing, exhaustively researched controlling law, and persuasively analyzed the issues to prepare a persuasive, successful court-ready reply brief negating opposing counsel’s arguments.

In a multijurisdictional practice, staying abreast of the recent developments and local nuances of a foreign jurisdiction can be daunting.  That’s why, when a Colorado litigator with a highly specialized nationwide practice received a motion for a protective order in a case filed in Missouri, he turned to LegalResearch.com.  LegalResearch.com’s experience navigating legal issues in states throughout the country enabled us to quickly identify the applicable procedural requirements, comprehensively examine the substantive law, and succinctly challenge the motion.

How may we help you today? Submit a Project Ask Us!

“Your brief is absolutely wonderful! That you did it so fast is amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Linda Holstein

“I have confidence that Legal Research Center team will get my legal analysis and writing done right. They exceed my picky standards and reflect the quality and accuracy I require in serving my clients.”

Richard Plattner

“Your research was responsible for a settlement more than eight times the initial offer we had received.”

Omar Habbas

We just heard the court of appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court! In other words....WE WON! Just wanted to say thank you for all that you have done for us! You have no idea how this little boy's life will be greatly impacted as a result! We needed to win this for TK and could not have done it without you!

Experienced Litigator

Litigation partner, on-demand litigation research & writing, free, no obligation consultation.

Remote Associates

• Hourly Associates

Contract Lawyers

Custom Solutions

Solo & Small Firms

Mid Size Firms

Large Law Firms

• Work As a Remote Associate

• Terms and Conditions
• Practice Areas
• Immigration Law
• Business & Corporate Law
• Personal Injury
• Hiring Attorneys
• Freelance Attorneys

Delegation Resources

• Ideas of Work to Delegate
• Project Delegation Exercise
• Delegation Worksheet

Whitepapers

• Economics of Law Firm
• Definitive Guide to Legal Outsourcing
• Recession Proofing Your Firm
• Strategic Hiring Guide
• Unauthorized Practice of Law
• Mid-Size Law Firm Guide

Sample Projects

• Appellate Projects
• Bankruptcy Projects
• Blog Projects
• Business, Corporate & Real Estate
• Class Action Projects

Every single week, we see many attorneys turning to our network of freelance lawyers for time-consuming research projects.

The fact of the matter is that most lawyers get to a point in their careers where it’s hard for them to find enough hours in their day to dig into certain issues that need to be fully researched.

And when you reach that point in your career, the best thing to do is to delegate that work.

The problem is finding someone who’s incredibly savvy with the skills and experience to get the work done, but at a rate you can afford to still maintain and grow profitability.

That’s where we come in.

In this post, we’ll cover:

• How you can use LAWCLERK, our freelance lawyer marketplace, to find the best possible talent for your legal research needs.
• Real examples of legal research projects that attorneys posted on our marketplace, including the project description, price they paid, and comment/rating they left for the freelance lawyer (so you can see what kind of work you yourself might be able to get help with by using our platform). 

Note: Interested in signing up for LAWCLERK and posting your first Project? We match busy attorneys with our nationwide network of freelance lawyers, who have experience in all areas of law. There are no signup fees or monthly fees, and you only pay when you’re actually hiring someone to help you with work — making it a flexible, affordable way to get the help you need, when you need it. Learn more and sign up here .

How You Can Use Our Freelance Lawyer Marketplace to Find the Talent You Need

Here’s how to post your first Project on our marketplace, step by step:

Once you’re logged in and see your dashboard, click on the plus sign icon (+) for “Post a New Project or Build a New Team,” then on the pop-up, “Create a New Project.”

Step 1 : Set the Project’s parameters, including:

• The Project name.
• The length of time  you’d like to accept applications.
• The Project’s deadline .
• The deadline date for the review draft (if applicable) .
• The flat fee price you’re offering.
• Which area(s) of law the Project falls under.
• Which Project type(s) the Project falls under.
• The skill level you’d like applicants to be.
• Whether you’d like to post the Project to the entire marketplace, or if you’d like to take advantage of our Teams feature and post it directly to a freelance lawyer on your team.

Step 2 : Give more information about the Project, including:

• The Project’s description  (sample language is provided, to give you an idea of how to write it if you’re unsure or have never posted before) .
• Details about the Project (also with sample language) .
• Selecting whether it’s applicable to a state, federal, or other legal jurisdiction.

Note: As soon as you sign up for your account, you’re going to be matched up with one of our Dedicated LAWCLERK advisors . They can help you with any questions related to posting your Project, such as the price you should set, best practices when drafting your Project description, and so on. 

That’s all there is to it!

Once your Project is set up and applications roll in, you can select the applicant that best suits your needs and let them handle the work for you.

Each applicant profile includes a bio, resume, writing samples, and reviews/ratings they’ve received from other attorneys on our marketplace (so you can make an informed decision to select the most qualified applicant).

There’s no locked-in cost for doing business beyond the cost of the Project (unless you prefer a subscription — more on that below). 

Rather than spending the time and money to find, train, outfit, and maintain a full-time associate or even part-time paralegal, LAWCLERK allows you to simply post the Project you want done, choose the applicant who meets the need you have right now, and get the work done with no major investment or commitment on your part. Which all leads to significant cost savings.

Want Consistency? Try Our Virtual Associate Subscription Program

If you want to lock in how much help you get each month at an easy-to-budget price, you can sign up for our Virtual Associate Subscription Program .

After we launched LAWCLERK, many of our users were thrilled with the service — but we had some customers ask for a way to further integrate freelance lawyers into their law firm , for a significant number of monthly hours (rather than on a per-Project basis) .

Our subscription service was born from this need. Here’s how it works:

• Hiring law firms and attorneys, such as yourself, can select the expertise level of the freelancer and the amount of hours you’d like to use them for each month.
• You set how many hours you’ll need help per month in increments of 10 hours — from 10 hours up to 120 hours per month.
• You get assistance from your Dedicated LAWCLERK Advisor to determine those variables.
• We handle the timekeeping, bookkeeping, and even tax reporting.
• There’s no long-term commitment, as the contract is month to month with only 30 days cancelation.
• You now know exactly how much help you can count on from your freelancer(s) each month.

Note: For more information about our Virtual Associate Subscription Program, click here .

Example Freelance Lawyer: Dayna Maeder

Here’s an example of one of the many talented freelance lawyers on LAWCLERK who excels at legal research:

And here are some highlights about Dayna:

• She has completed over 60 projects on LAWCLERK, either meeting or exceeding expectations on 100% of them.
• She’s a former journalist (her undergraduate studies were in journalism/mass communication), and she’s experienced in complex legal research projects and drafting appellate briefs. She enjoys research and writing projects.
• She’s admitted in the Northern, Middle, and Southern District Courts of Florida, with primary interests in appellate law, family law, civil litigation, employment law, and criminal law.
• In the past, she was a teaching assistant for government compliance and healthcare courses in the Florida State University College of Law Juris Master program, and she assisted in felony cases with the Children in Prison Project.
• She also holds a Master’s in Education with a concentration in curriculum and instruction, and in her spare time, she trains students in the art of courtroom and client advocacy procedures. She’s also an associate editor for the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division.

Note: Dayna Maeder is just one of the more than 3,500 lawyers in the LAWCLERK network. When you post a Project, on average, 12 candidates apply, and hiring attorneys are often incredibly surprised by their talent level, credentials, and years of experience.

Examples of Legal Research Projects by Practice Area

For examples of the kinds of research projects the freelance lawyers on LAWCLERK can do for you, below you can find multiple samples of work that have actually been done via our platform, categorized by the following areas of law:

• Business, Corporate, and Real Estate
• Employment, Labor, and Education
• Entertainment and Sports
• Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts, and Probate
• Immigration
• Intellectual Property

We include the Project Description and Project Details as listed on LAWCLERK, as well as the hiring attorney’s comments about how well the Project was completed by the freelance attorney .

Note : This is just the tip of the iceberg. The following were taken from the “Sample Projects by Area of Law” section on our Attorney Resources page . For more examples of projects that you can delegate to freelance lawyers, such as document drafting, discovery, and more, click here .

Appellate (see more examples)

Bankruptcy  (see more examples)

Business, Corporate, and Real Estate (see more examples)

Criminal (see more examples)

Employment, Labor, and Education (see more examples)

Entertainment and Sports (see more examples)

Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts, and Probate (see more examples)

Immigration (see more examples)

Intellectual Property  (see more examples)

Litigation (see more examples)

Non-Profit (see more examples)

Personal Injury (see more examples)

Tax (see more examples)

Interested in Signing Up for LAWCLERK and Posting Your First Project?

We match busy solo attorneys and small firms with our nationwide network of freelance lawyers, who have experience in all areas of law.

There are no sign-up fees or monthly fees, and you only pay when you’re actually hiring someone to help you with work — making it a flexible, affordable way to get the help you need, when you need it. Learn more and sign up here .

Kristin Tyler, Co-Founder Lawclerk

DON’T FORGET TO SHARE THIS POST!

• This post was originally published on March 5, 2021

The Best Place to Find Remote Attorney Jobs

Upcoming webinars – october 2020, how to succeed as a freelance attorney and get repeat business.

MOST POPULAR

Are You a Mid-Size Law Firm Looking To Hire in 2024?

8 simple ways to reduce overhead at your law firm, recessions pose unique opportunities for law firm owners – part 4, 6 proven ways to improve law firm profitability based upon my 15 years as a managing partner, how to become a freelance lawyer & start making money, 12 ways i grew my career as a freelance lawyer, feature enhancement: duplicate projects with ease on lawclerk, 7 stress-reduction tips for lawyers, data driven staffing decisions for law firms.

Related Posts…

Announcing a New Feature: Build a Team

5 Things to Include in Your Engagement Letter When Flat Fee Billing

Join for free today.

Marketplace

Useful links, about lawclerk.

Copyright 2024 LAWCLERK.LEGAL