How efficient is your legal research process? When working in the fast-paced legal environment, conducting a thorough research can become challenging. Effective, comprehensive legal research is essential and this slide deck is designed to ensure you are covering the critical bases; and may just be the inspiration you need for your next research.

2. Outline materials and information
related to relevant area of practice.
Though it’s tempting to just jump into search mode, pause instead.
Conducting a high level review of the applicable practice area and
preparing a concrete outline of the issues that need researching is time
well spent. Why not put pen to paper and make a list.

3. Gain perspective on a particular point of law
through resources like encyclopedias.
When it’s time to start narrowing your search and focusing on a specific
point of law, be sure to consult a variety of sources for a comprehensive
assessment of the issue. And make sure those resources are updated on
a regular basis – in legal research, referring to the most current
information isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have.

4. Investigate how applicable terms have been
interpreted in the jurisprudence.
Does your matter deal with a specific word or phrase that is at issue? It’s
critical for you to know how that term has been defined and judicially
considered over the years, in as many jurisdictions as possible.

5. Review different, relevant points of law in
legislation, case law and commentary.
Before you get down to the nitty gritty of your research, you may want
to gain some insight into the broader points of law in question and
discover how they’ve been treated in the legislation, case law and
associated commentary. Better to cast your net wide than risk missing
something.

6. Conduct specific searches in legislation, case
law and commentary, and verify results.
Once you’ve identified the points you need to understand and examine
in detail, leverage the power of Boolean searching to delve more deeply
into how those specific issues have been discussed in Australian and
International legislation, case law and commentary.

7. Workflow Approach Summary

8. Download the full, comprehensive whitepaper –
5 Critical Steps to Legal Research