Legal research
Legal research is “the process of identifying and re- 2 Third-Party Legal Research
trieving information necessary to support legal decision-
making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes
Providers
each step of a course of action that begins with an
analysis of the facts of a problem and concludes with Legal research is known to take much time and effort,
the application and communication of the results of the and access to online legal research databases such as Lex-
investigation.”[1] isNexis and Westlaw can be costly. Consequently, law
firms and other practitioners may turn to third-party le-
The processes of legal research vary according to the gal research providers to outsource their legal research
country and the legal system involved. However, legal needs.
research generally involves tasks such as: 1) finding pri-
mary sources of law, or primary authority, in a given On August 5, 2008, the American Bar Association,
jurisdiction (cases, statutes, regulations, etc.); 2) search- Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Re-
ing secondary authority (for example, law reviews, legal sponsibility, issued Formal Opinion 08-451, entitled
dictionaries, legal treatises, and legal encyclopedias such “Lawyer’s Obligations When Outsourcing Legal and
[3]
as American Jurisprudence and Corpus Juris Secundum), Nonlegal Support Services.” Among other things, this
for background information about a legal topic; and 3) Opinion expressly acknowledges:
searching non-legal sources for investigative or support-
ing information. Outsourcing affords lawyers the ability to
Legal research is performed by anyone with a need reduce their costs and often the cost to the
for legal information, including lawyers, law librarians, client to the extent that the individuals or en-
and paralegals. Sources of legal information range tities providing the outsourced services can
from printed books, to free legal research websites do so at lower rates than the lawyer’s own
(like Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Insti- staff. In addition, the availability of lawyers
tute, Findlaw.com, Martindale Hubbell, Lawyers.com, and nonlawyers to perform discrete tasks may,
CanLII) and information portals to fee database vendors in some circumstances, allow for the provi-
such as Wolters Kluwer, Chancery Law Chronicles,[2] sion of labor-intensive legal services by lawyers
LexisNexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law. Law li- who do not otherwise maintain the needed hu-
braries around the world provide research services to man resources on an ongoing basis. A small
help their patrons find the legal information they need in firm might not regularly employ the lawyers
law schools, law firms and other research environments. and legal assistants required to handle a large,
Many law libraries and institutions provide free access to discovery-intensive litigation effectively. Out-
legal information on the web, either individually or via sourcing, however, can enable that firm to rep-
collective action, such as with the Free Access to Law resent a client in such a matter effectively and
Movement. efficiently, by engaging additional lawyers to
conduct depositions or to review and analyze
documents, together with a temporary staff of
legal assistants to provide infrastructural sup-
port.
• ***
There is no unique blueprint for the provi-
sion of competent legal services. Different
1 Databases and software lawyers may perform the same tasks through
different means, all with the necessary “legal
knowledge, skill, thoroughness and prepara-
An Australian team created AustLII, a database collect- tion.” One lawyer may choose to do all of the
ing all primary sources from each Australian jurisdiction work herself. Another may delegate tasks to a
and some secondary sources, all freely available. It has team of subordinate lawyers and nonlegal staff.
now been replicated in many countries as BAILII, Can- Others may decide to outsource tasks to inde-
LII, WorldLII, etc. pendent service providers that are not within
1
2 5 REFERENCES
their direct control. Rule 1.1 does not require
that tasks be accomplished in any special way.
The rule requires only that the lawyer who is
responsible to the client satisfies her obligation
to render legal services competently.[4]
The Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Re-
sponsibility thus concluded that "[t]here is nothing un-
ethical about a lawyer outsourcing legal and nonlegal ser-
vices, provided the outsourcing lawyer renders legal ser-
vices to the client with the 'legal knowledge, skill, thor-
oughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the
representation,' as required by Rule 1.1.”[5]
3 See also
• IndexMaster (database)
• Legal research in the United States
• List of sources of law in the United States
• Oxford Law Citator
• Legal periodical
• Legal treatise
• Law dictionary
4 External links
• Legal research at DMOZ
• Are All Caselaw Citators Created Equal? A
comparison of Google Scholar, Fastcase, Case-
maker, LexisNexis, WestlawNext, and Bloomberg
at Internet For Lawyers
5 References
[1] J. Myron Jacobstein and Roy M. Mersky, Fundamentals
of Legal Research, 8th ed. (Foundation Press, 2002) p. 1.
[2] clcbd.org
[3] http://legalresearchexperts.com/outsourcing.html#
fn1text
[4] http://legalresearchexperts.com/outsourcing.html#
fn1text
[5] http://legalresearchexperts.com/outsourcing.html#
fn1text
3
6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses
6.1 Text
• Legal research Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_research?oldid=662201409 Contributors: Edward, Michael Hardy, Ronz,
Rossami, Taxman, Nricardo, JesseW, Enochlau, Macrakis, MacGyverMagic, Omassey, Rich Farmbrough, Bobo192, Hooperbloob,
PullUpYourSocks, Dr Gangrene, Jersyko, Commander Keane, BD2412, Gurch, Wavelength, RussBot, Yjones, Gaius Cornelius, Nawl-
inWiki, Raven4x4x, Modify, Archaelicos, JLaTondre, Finell, MeiStone, Thumperward, Famspear, Aquarius Rising, Bolivian Unicy-
clist, Fuhghettaboutit, Stronger03, Beetstra, TastyPoutine, Hu12, Dreftymac, Mpoulshock, Klausness, AntiVandalBot, Barek, MER-C,
Prester John, Hiamoduril, Djr13, Affinitrix, Genealbert, Y, Calliopejen1, Lawlalaw, Mhuhl, Willy, your mate, MichelleTripp, Wshein,
Linexlegal, Tihunter, Manupatra1, Jennnyyyp, Lcw84, Fgnievinski, Misterx2000, Senator Palpatine, James500, Srich32977, Klauchla,
Spellern, DrilBot, Jonkerz, Lotje, Mean as custard, Donner60, Plennon78, Jsarsen, Robertrswanson, Javierdomm, Berberous, Mahbub1975,
Csusarah, Dogb18, Mzeditor and Anonymous: 73
6.2 Images
6.3 Content license
• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
