How to Do Legal Research: The Ultimate Overview

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

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

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

How to Conduct Legal Research in 5 Steps

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

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

1. Gather the Facts 

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

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

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

2. Create a Research Plan

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

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

3. Gather Sources

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

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

• Court decisions
• Case law
• Statutes
• Regulations
• Constitutions

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

• Legal articles
• Practice guides
• Legal news
• Journals
• Legal dictionaries

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5. Check Your Work

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

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

Tips to Improve Your Legal Research Skills