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Research as a Process: Research Process

Introduction

When you conduct legal research, it is essential that you follow a process. Many researchers simply throw words into Westlaw or Lexis+ and try their best to sift through the thousands of results, without first coming up with a research plan. They end up lost, confused, and frustrated. Taking the time to develop a research plan (and having the discipline to follow it) will make your research more efficient and less infuriating. The major steps of the research process are detailed below.

Components of the Legal Research Process

Credit: LexisNexis

Suggested Research Strategy

Constructing a research strategy is an important first step in the legal research process. If you have developed a successful research strategy in the past, you may only need to adapt it to legal research.

Take a look at our Suggested Step by Step Strategy below for more information.

You may also find the Strategy Worksheet and Search Terms Worksheet helpful.

Before you begin research, take time to think about what you are being asked to do. Consider deadlines, time available, work product expected, as well as dollar, time, and resource limitations. Do you have all the information you need to get started? Try to clarify and break complex issues into manageable parts. Reevaluate the issues as needed.

Step 1: Analyze the Situation

  • Identify / Clarify:
    • Relevant and material facts (Who? What? Where? When?)
    • Who are the Parties involved? What is the relief sought?
    • Jurisdiction(s) – Is the issue resolved under federal, state (which state?), or both?
    • Area(s) of law
    • Cause of Action, Legal Doctrine
    • Primary legal issues: what are you trying to resolve?
  • What entities have authority?
  • What types of law do you expect to find (e.g., statutes, regulations, case law)?
  • How familiar are you with the area of law? What do you already know about the issues?
  • Create a list of general and specific key search terms (unique or distinctive facts) and legal concepts (include synonyms and related terms)

    • There are acronyms such as TRAPP to help you think of concepts/keywords of legal or factual significance from your issue/fact pattern.

T - Things involved
R - Relief sought
A - Causes of Action or Defenses
P - Person or Parties involved
P - Places

Step 2: Create a Research Plan

The single most important aspect of successful legal research is the need for a PLAN. Before you begin, think about what you want to accomplish. Make yourself an outline describing what you know, and then make another outline describing how you will go about finding the information you do not know. This plan should follow the following steps:

  • Ask yourself what you already know about the area of law and what you DO NOT.
  • Identify sources for background research (usually secondary sources) 
  • Identify primary authority sources to search (federal, state, or both; statutes, regulations, and cases)
  • Locate the sources you wish to search, choose the format, understand the scope and coverage of the resource and how to navigate/search (table of contents, index, full-text search conventions)

Keeping Track of Your Research

As your research progresses, be sure to keep track of all the sources you have consulted in a research log.

Make sure you have all relevant citation information (full case and code citations, author, title, publisher, dates, library call numbers and web addresses) as you go along so you won't have to go back and check again for a cite you missed. Be aware of and write down all related terms and descriptors for your facts and issues as you proceed.

Items you might want to record in a research log include:

  • Author, title, edition, and publication year
  • Library call number and location (avoid looking it up again in the library catalog)
  • Web site address and date accessed
  • Words and phrases in the table of contents, index, or text that deal with your research topic
  • Citations to constitutional provisions, statutory and/or regulatory sections, cases, and other primary sources (when you notice the same sources cited repeatedly you know you are on the right track)
  • Other secondary sources that you want to consult
  • Database name or identifier from an online service
  • Notes about information found in each source
  • Date when you searched each source

Why Record Information?

Recording this information serves several purposes:

  • Helps you avoid duplication and saves time
  • Provides a list of words and phrases that are useful in searching other materials
  • Facilitates construction of Bluebook or ALWD citations
  • Speeds your return to a specific resource as your research progresses
  • Allows someone who is familiar with the topic to confirm that you searched the relevant sources OR that you missed critical sources

Sample Research Log Template

Research Log (Sample Template)

Facts:

Preliminary Analysis from Step 1 of Legal Research Strategy:

Jurisdiction:

Key terms:

Legal concepts:

Question:

 

 

Source

Title & author / Case name / Statute title / Website /

Database name

 

Date

of case or law or article /

Date website was accessed

Location

Call # /Web site address

Citation  to case or statute or regulation or article

Best Search Terms

Results and Next Steps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3: Consult Secondary Sources

  • Check secondary sources using key terms derived from the Cause of Action or Legal Doctrine
    • To understand the area of law
    • To find citations to primary authority
    • To discover new search terms and legal concepts
    • To focus and refine issues

Step 4: Search Primary Authority – Statutes, Regulations, and Cases

  • Search for statutes
  • Search for administrative regulations related to relevant statutes
  • Search for case law interpreting the statute(s)
  • If there are no applicable statutes or regulations, look for mandatory case law
  • Search for persuasive authority if there is no mandatory authority or to find contrary authority

Step 5: Evaluate Your Search Strategy and Results As You Go

  • Identify new search terms and legal concepts
  • Refine research strategy to incorporate findings
  • Too many and/or irrelevant results? – Narrow search:
    • Add more terms, use more specific terms, set filters, adjust proximity connectors (e.g., AND instead of OR, /s instead of /p)
  • Not enough results? – Broaden search:
    • Use fewer terms, use broader terms, clear filters, adjust proximity connectors (e.g., OR instead of AND, /p instead of /s)
  • Periodically consult your notes/facts to ensure you are staying on track
  • Consider other relevant sources (e.g., surrounding sections of statutes, definitions, related authority)

Know When to Ask for Help

If you get stuck, take a break, or move on to something else. If you find yourself moving in circles, ask someone for their opinion of your strategy. You will not always be able to find an answer. Much of lawyering concerns cases of first impression, so sometimes what you are looking for simply does not exist.

Step 6: Update & Final Check

  • Make sure you have addressed all issues completely
  • Update all primary authority you are relying on or citing to make sure it is still good law (using KeyCite and/or Shepard’s)
  • Proofread your work

Knowing When Your Research is Done

One of the trickiest research tasks is knowing when your research is completed. Legal analysis is nuanced, and thorough research involves looking at a number of sources and types of materials. Finding one on-point authority does not mean your research is complete. However, it also is simply not possible to run every conceivable search in every conceivable resource and review every conceivable search result. Good legal researchers find the sweet-spot between one-and-done and scorched-earth type research.

The following may signal that you have found a good spot to conclude your research:

  • Your searches keep turning up the same set of relevant authorities. If you are no longer finding relevant new sources, you have probably found the bulk of what is available.
  • You have searched in a variety of available sources (i.e. secondary sources, cases, etc.) and resources (Westlaw/Lexis/Bloomberg, government websites, other available resources).
  • You have searched using a variety of keywords.
  • You have searched using a variety of methods (using secondary sources to find primary authority, keyword searching, mining headnotes to explore Topics/Key Numbers, reviewing citing references, etc.).
  • For your most relevant search results, you have reviewed both the sources they cite and sources that cite to those materials.

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