Using this guide, you will learn how to do legal research. What is the definition of legal research, What are its types, What are the examples of legal research?
You can find more information about legal research at the below links -
https://legodesk.com/legopedia/types-of-legal-research/
https://legodesk.com/legopedia/how-to-do-legal-research/
https://legodesk.com/legopedia/importance-legal-research-legal-practice/
2. Introduction:
According to Wikipedia, "Legal research is the process of identifying and retrieving
information necessary to support legal decision-making." It begins with an analysis of
the facts of a problem and concludes with the investigation results. Legal research
skills are of great importance for lawyers or law rms to solve any legal case, regardless
of area or type of practice. The rst step in legal research should be to nd a
noteworthy case governing the issues in question. The main goal of legal research is to
regulate human behavior by examining the relationship between the world of law and
the world that the law tries to control
3. Types of Legal Research
The main objective of legal research is to nd a connection between the research question and
the research method. Legal research should be done effectively. This is where the methodology
comes into play. Different cases should be approached in different ways. Hence, these are the
different types of legal research methodologies:
Descriptive Legal Research
Descriptive legal research is speci ed as a
research procedure that describes the
characteristics of the population or
phenomenon that is being studied. This
methodology focuses more on the“what”
of the research subject rather than the
“why”.
Quantitative Legal Research
Quantitative legal research is a
characteristic of descriptive legal research
methodology that tries to collect
quanti able information to be used for
statistical analysis of the population
sample. It collects data from existing and
potential data using
population sample. It collects data from
existing and potential data using
sampling methods like online surveys,
online polls, questionnaires, etc., the
outcomes of which can be represented in
numerical form.
4. Qualitative Legal Research
Qualitative legal research is a subjective
form of research that depends on the
analysis of controlled observations of the
legal researcher. In qualitative research,
data is collected from a relatively small
group of subjects. The various methods
used for collecting data in qualitative
research are grounded theory practice,
narratology, storytelling, and ethnography.
Applied Legal Research
Applied legal research is a procedure used
to nd a solution to a pressing practical
problem at hand. It is a simple practical
approach to the case you are handling. It
Pure Legal Research
Pure legal research is also known as basic legal
research usually concentrates on the
generalization and formulation of a theory.
This type of research procedure aims to
broaden the understanding of a speci c eld
of investigation. It is a more common form of
approach to the case you are handling.
involves doing full- edged research on a
certain area of law followed by collecting data
on all technical legal rules and principles
applied and constructing an opinion on the
possibilities for the client in the scenario.
Analytical Legal Research
Analytical legal research is a speci c type of
research that comprises critical thinking
skills and the evaluation of facts and
information relative to the research being
conducted. From analytical research, a
person learns critical details to add new
ideas to the material being produced.
5. approaches from different social sciences,
evaluation studies, Big Data analytics, and
empirically informed ethics.
Conceptual Legal Research
Conceptual legal research is de ned as a
procedure wherein research is performed
by observing and analyzing already
existing information on a given topic.
Conceptual research doesn’t involve
performing any practical investigations. It is
related to abstract concepts or ideas.
Empirical Legal Research
Empirical legal research illustrates how to
analyze the roles of legislation, regulation,
legal policies, and other legal arrangements
at play in society. This multidisciplinary
Doctrinal Legal Research
Doctrinal legal research is related to nding
the law, precisely analyzing it and coming up
with logical reasoning behind it. Hence, it
greatly contributes to the continuity,
consistency, and certainty of law.
Non-doctrinal Legal Research
Non-doctrinal legal research is also known as
socio-legal research and it looks into how the
law and legal institutions mould and affect
society. It utilizes techniques taken from other
disciplines to produce empirical data to
answer the questions.
Comparative Legal Research
This includes a comparison of legal doctrines,
legislations, and foreign laws. It underlines the
cultural and social character of law and how it
acts in different settings. So it is useful in
evolving and revising and modifying the law.
6. Advantages of Legal Research
The advantages of legal research are the lawyer’s understanding and analysis of a case should
begin in the research stage when the lawyer identi es the relevant facts and determines the
legal issues that must be researched. Another advantage of legal research in this analysis is
re ned as they decide where, how, and what to search. As the lawyers nd seemingly relevant
legal materials, it must be understood by them and how they should apply to the facts of their
case. This research provides a crucial analytical foundation that will inform their decisions for the
remainder of the case.
1. The possibilities of winning a case could be
bigger as by analyzing the data of previous
trials, valuable acumen could be derived
regarding the crucial issues like time, judge’s
decision, and also speci c things that might
help the rm cultivate a smarter strategy to
win a speci c case.
2. Cases frequently continue for a long
duration before emerging as a loss. To save
money and time wasted on a speci c case,
the legal analysis could assist lawyers to
conclude whether to go on or to negotiate.
3. Frequently, law rms need to employ
external expertise to assist with their case, the
decision being expensive must be supported
by factual data. With legal analysis, it would
be simpler to go through data considering a
speci c client and his conduct in synonymous
cases in the past.
4. There could be a crucial development in
the eld of operational capability. In the
maximum situations, a huge amount of time
is invested by lawyers in categorizing case
papers and other data. This way they waste
their time in nding previous information
when they could be paying attention in
offering consultation to a possible client and
attaining another case thereby adding
nancial advantage to the rm. The task of
data analysis should always be dealt by the
legal analytics system.
7. How can Legodesk help in legal research?
Now that you are sure that you need legal research to run your law rm, Legodesk can be the
perfect option for you. It's easier than ever to conduct legal research with Legodesk.
With a simple search option nd any information related to your case. Also, Legodesk has a
legopedia section that is lled with enormous information about various topics. If you have a
doubt about anything, visit the legopedia and help yourself.
If you wish to look at any old cases similar to your case, you simply have to go to your Legodesk
dashboard, click on the research option, and then on the judgment. Now just type in any
keyword related to your case and you can see several old cases appear on your screen.
You can observe their case histories, judgments, hearing details, etc.
Also, Legodesk’s all-in-one dashboard offers insights into the number of case hearings, the
number of invoices due, daily tasks and events, storage space, client queries, etc.
This integrated legal case management system not only offers help through old cases or blogs,
but you get many different features that are going to help you in your legal career. You can create
custom form templates to collect information, send automatic email updates to your clients,
track your case performance from anywhere anytime, and so on.
Moreover, It makes law practice a lot easier as lawyers don’t have to run from one place to
another for their legal research. Legodesk is a one-stop-shop for your legal research problems.